1994
XX, 138 pp.
appendix, 2 maps: Distribution and dialects of Lega
Text language: English
Lega, or Kelega (D.25 according to Guthrie), a Bantu language spoken in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo by an estimated number of 400,000 people; it has two dialects: Isile and Lega proper. This dictionary introduces the reader to Beya-Musange which is one of the six major sub-varieties of Lega proper. A guide to the dictionary informs the reader about Lega transcription and alphabetization, consonant and vowel alternations, tone and vowel length, and grammatical classes such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, determiners, verbs and idiophones. The didactically structured vocabulary is presented in a Lega-English and an English-Lega wordlist.
An index to Proto-Bantu roots gives cross-references to Guthrie’s Common Bantu (1971) and Meeussen’s Bantu Lexical Reconstructions (1980). The appendix contains kinship terms, pronoun paradigms, demonstratives, numbers, place and people’s names as well as verbs of perception.
