P. Edelsten / C. Lijongwa: A Grammatical Sketch of Chindamba – A Bantu Language (G.52) of Tanzania [PDF]

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EALD East African Languages and Dialects Volume 21

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Description

2010
174 pp.
1 map, numerous tables and charts, appendix: wordlist Chindamba-English / English-Chindamba, index

Text language: English

This book is a summary of the grammar of Chindamba, the language of the Ndamba people. Chindamba is a Bantu language spoken in the Kilombero valley, south of Ifakara, in Morogoro region, Tanzania. It is classified as G.52 by Guthrie (1967–71). Chindamba is spoken by approx. 55,000 people.

Chiku Lijongwa is a native speaker of Chindamba and interested in preserving the language and its traditions. Peter Edelsten has studied Swahili at the renowned School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London and became interested in the idea of extending the study to Chindamba. However, no previous documentation on Chindamba grammar has been found by the authors. Therefore, they decided to collaborate to document the grammar with additional inputs from other respondents in Tanzania. The fact that the language is in danger of disappearing due to the dominance of Swahili was an additional motivation for this work.

The book comprises seven chapters on phonological processes, nominal and verbal morphology, predicate argument and clause structure as well as short texts collected in the field followed by a word list which was compiled as the study progressed.

CONTENTS

Ch. 1: Introduction
Ch. 2: Phonology
Ch. 3: Nominal morphology
Ch. 4: Verb morphology
Ch. 5: Predicate argument structure
Ch. 6: Syntax
Ch. 7: Texts with glossings and translations (1. How to grow rice, 2. Making beer, 3. Marriage, 4. Bird scaring rhyme, 5. Finger rhyme, 6. Mourning song 1, 7. Mourning song 2, 8. Mourning song 3)

Word list part I: Chindamba–English
Word list part II: English–Chindamba

References
Index

Under these links you will find descriptions and text collections of further, partly endangered East African Bantu languages:

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