SOMETHING ON DIALECTICAL DIFFERENCE

Something on dialectical differences!

My people it has been a while since I last wrote. I and my family are doing fine. I trust this communication finds you people well wherever you are across the globe.

There is an interesting connection between’ Ch’ and ‘Ki’ in languages! For those of you who may have visited Uganda or are currently living there especially in Kampala you probably have come across a place called Kireka near the famous Nakivumbo Stadium now renamed Nelson Mandela stadium. When you hear the ‘natives’ mention this place you would hear them pronounce ‘Chireka’. The same is the case for the famous teacher training campus called ‘Kyambogo’ which is pronounced ‘Chambogo’.

Here in Kenya, if you have been to Ukambani, you may have come across a school called ‘Kyanguli’, which is pronounced Changuli or even a person’s  name ‘Kyalo’ which is pronounced ‘Chalo’. For those of us who have studied Swahili in school, you may have had a challenge telling the following words apart: Choo, Vyoo, Kioo, Vioo e.t.c. and particularly being able to distinguish which is the plural of which!

Back home, you may have noticed that while some would say Cheekwooni for “we are coming”, others would say Keekwoonii.  Some would say Chubeeti/Cheebeetii for we are going while others would say keebeetii. Some can urge you Cheesartekeey for let’s walk faster while another would say Keesartekeey.

A more interesting scenario is where this particular aspect is transferred from one language to another. You may have heard somebody talk of Wachimbizi for refugees instead of Wakimbizi. Or even a runner saying “sisi tunaenda kuchimbia” instead of kukimbia!

For the Sabaot, in the course of language standardization we chose to go by ‘Kee’ instead of ‘Chee” or to be more specific K instead of Ch. So for the written Sabaot it is expected that we go by K instead of Ch for these kinds of words. But people are free to use whatever form they are comfortable with when it comes to speaking! It is just like the l and n where we chose to go with l in writing but people are free to use n in spoken. I know of a friend who told me that whenever he reads the Sabaot Bible he often substitutes ‘Kini’ for ‘Kule’ since he speaks the Book dialect!

Blessings,

Sabila Ng’ania

                                               

FIRE IN SABAOT

Maata              Fire

Naam              Ignite a fire or to light a lamp/candle

Lay-                 to get burned

Laay                 Start a fire     

Rikitiit               A fire burning fiercely / with big flames

Ywookyi           Increase the intensity of the fire

Ng’asyan          Glowing (ng’ēsyēnē  ãng’oong’tiit)

Āng’oong’tiit  This refers to glowing charcoal/ firewood. This is what some of us would go and borrow from a neighbour to come and light your own fire or that which you would cover with areek (Ash) so that in the morning you will have something with which to naam  or laay your fire/ maata

Mis                  To go off

Miis                 To put off a fire/flame

Mēl                  Scorch Like chicken after removing the feathers and now you want to clear the remaining hair/fur. This also applies to the practice of passing a stick through fire with the intention of hardening it.

Lalaany           To warm something like water for bathing so that the water becomes lebleb

Peel                 Burn or roast like you would do with green maize

Yooy                Boil in water; like if you want a boiled egg or even boiled maize

Waatan           Roast like nyama choma

Suus                To fry using oil

Chuchuuy       Decrease the intensity of a fire/ reduce the intensity

 

QESTIONS:

1.     What is the appropriate terminology for Milk, Tea or Water

Do we peel cheeko or Yooy cheeko?

What about tea do we peel or yooy

What bout water do we lalaany, peel or yooy beeko?

2.     Is there anything other than meat that we Waatan?  e.g. Potatoes?

 

 

 

A LANGUAGE WHERE DIFFERENT VOWELS DO NOT FOLLOW EACH OTHER IN A WORD!

Today I feel inspired to share with you all a very unique aspect of our Sabaot language that affects both the spoken and the written language. Once you internalize this aspect, you will make great strides in as far as how our language is written and it may also help you to some extent in the spoken language.

Did you know that at no time do different vowels follow each other in a Sabaot word!

For purposes of this discourse I will limit myself to the five vowels that we are all familiar with and these are: 

a             e             I              o             u

In most cases you will find that when you are to have different vowels to follow each other then, the vowels will melt into either :

y ness or w ness (yness or wness) for instance:

Chai in Kiswahili will translate to Chaayiik (chaayiit) 

To begin will never be toou but will always be toowu

Saait for watch or time will be saayit

This also applies when you have words that have been formed by different affixes

We have four tenses in the Sabaot language

Present                                               a                           e.g. aweeti Now  (verb  to go)

Recent past (past perfect)                 Ka                         e.g. Kaweeti (earlier today)

Middle past                                      Ko (Ku)                 e.g. Koweeti (Kuweeti) (Yesterday)

Distant past                                      Ki                           e.g Kiweeti   (The day before yesterday and  

                                                                                                all   other days before that)

 

If you want to say:

I went (distant past)

 you will say Kyaweeti   (This should have actually been Kiaweeti) Ki -being the distant past marker while a stands for the first person (anii) and weeti being the verb but i and a will melt to ya

You have gone (recent past)

You will say Keewe which will be Ka (recent past marker) + i (second person marker for inyiing) + we  here a and i will melt and bring ee

NB/ for the other Kalenjins you will hear them say, Kaiwe for you have gone, Koinyoo(n) you came e.t.c

All for today:

Remember that unlike vowels (different vowels) do not follow each other in a word in Sabaot.  This is for the same reason that we call ourselves Sabawoot and not Sabaot ! Next I will discuss a few exceptions to this rule and how we provide for it in writing.

SABAOT SENTENSE CONSTRUCTION (word order)

My people,

Today I share with you something unique about the arrangement of words in a Sabaot sentence.

Did you know that unlike Swahili and English, the Sabaot sentence begins with a verb?

For those of us who know Sabaot try to write down the following Kiswahili sentences in Sabaot (I am assuming you know Kiswahili.

1.      Baba amekuja                                                 Ka(ku)cho baaba.

2.      Mtoto amekufa                                              Ka(ku)me leekweet.

3.      Shangazi alienda                                             Kiwo senge.

For those of us who know something about kinds of words in a language or what is sometimes referred to as Parts of speech you will realize that:

While the Swahili sentence begins with nouns, the Sabaot sentences on the other hand begin with Verbs (doing words/ Action words). This is true for other Kalenjin languages.

Something more interesting is what I am going to discuss further:

In a sentence, we usually have an action (verb) and the thing or person doing that action. It is also possible to have a thing or person to whom the action is done or directed at.

The thing or person doing or performing an action is called The Subject

While the person or thing to whom a particular action is being done or directed at is called The Object

Kabir baaba leekweet

Kimwoochi Yeesu ruubiikyi

In the above sentences, both the Subject and Object are very ambiguous.   In the first sentence it could either be the Father or the Child who is beating the other, while in the second it could either be Jesus or his disciples telling the other and vice versa.

In the Sabaot writing system, to solve this problem we have come up with the following mark : which comes before a word that is supposed to be the subject in a sentence.  For the above sentences if we mark them as follows:

Kabir :baaba leekweet

Kimwoochi :Yeesu ruubiikyi

Here it would mean in the first sentence it is the Father doing the beating and in the second it is Jesus telling the disciples.

For those who are proficient in spoken Sabaot, they should have no problem in making the correct intonation to communicate the same! For the rest of us you need to do a lot of practice.

This is the same reason that makes it very difficult for other communities to be proficient in our language. 

NB/ This ambiguity can never be solved by changing the word order.

In Kiswahili you would say:

Baaba amemchapa mototo

Yeesu aliwaambia wafuasi wake.

Here the subject comes first then the verb and finally the object

SYNONYMS IN SABAOT

My people,

Today I talk about synonyms in Sabaot, this basically refers to different words that have the same or nearly the same meaning as another in a language. My experience with the Sabaot language is that synonyms are very many. I know that in some instances this is because of dialectical difference whereby one dialect would predominantly use one word whereas another would use the other. If one goes to Book you may find them talking of the tongue more as meesiit while the Koony side would talk of ng’elyebta. 

I would love to get more examples together with brief definitions of more synonyms in Sabaot. I hereby give five pairs. There are also instances where we have more than two words having the same meaning! I would love to get such examples!

Next we will look at words with more than one meaning:

1.      Bunte (arrive)

Yit (arrive)

2.      Saamiiyta (bush)

Wuuyēēt (bush)

3.      Kēēsyēēt (Marriage)

Kamutiisyeet (marriage)

4.      Wōōkyi (return or again)

Kētyi (return or again)

5.      Bēl (defeat)

Biir(Defeat)

Reagards,

Sabila Ng'ania

NEWS KEY TERMINOLOGIES

My people,

Today again I seek your opinion and suggestion on a critical part of language development: A language is a dynamic aspect of culture that should evolve and change in a way that it should always adequately serve the communication needs of the community.

I am sure that until the time that we were enacting the new constitution, most, if not all of us had never come across or even used the word promulgation, or again before the Armenian brother’s saga none of us had heard of or used the Swahili word Mamluki.

Now if any of us today was given the task of broadcasting news in Sabaot, there are a number of words that you would honestly struggle with to find the Sabaot equivalent or translation for that matter.

I am therefore requesting that you give your suggestions on how any of the following words should be rendered or said in Sabaot.  You may also give some more words that you have also been wondering how they would be said in Sabaot (I mean add to the list)

For example we have words such as Mokoryontēēt and Nyēē Koonyitoot How would one use them in respect to our leaders? With due respect if your were to refer to the president of this nation would you say Mokoryontēēt Uhuru Kenyatta or  Nyēē Koonyitoot Uhuru Kenyatta what of 1^st lady, is she Cheebyoosyeet nyēē bo taay nyēē bo Kōōrēētaab Keenya? Or how would you say it

News Key terms:

·        His Excellency as in President Uhuru Kenyatta

·        Deputy President

·        1^st lady

·        Accident

·        Terrorists

·        Cabinet Secretary

·        Trade Union as in KNUT, COTU e.t.c.

·        Senate

·        National Examinations

·        Continent

·        Member of Parliament

·        Court As in High court, Court of Appeal e.t.c.

·        Appeal

·        Injunction

·        Ruling or Judgement

·        Constituency

·        Station as in Radio Station/ Police Station/ Railway Station

·        Commission (Revenue allocation Commission, National Land Commission e.t.c)

·        Tax

·        Fine (penalty in court)

·        Party (e.g. a political party like Cord)

·        Coalition

·        Leader of Majority/Leader of Minority

·        Demonstration

·        Riots