BANTU LANGUAGES

[s. 83] : Among all branches of the Bantu race in Africa, the existence of kinship seems to be shown by the peculiarities of their language. The resemblances between the speech of widely separated tribes have not as yet been studied and fully interpreted. But enough is 5 Bantti Race Bantn Ijansnases known to lead to a supposition that the Zulu and the Kafir-Xosa languages may be the oldest and most fully developed of the whole family. The Zulu would seem, also, to have been least modification affected by abrasion or other through contact with other languages, having been developed, fixed, and kept by its own indigenous, automatic principles. Hence the belief that the distinguishing grammatical features of the entire Bantu family are more manifest and clearly defined in the Zulu than in any its branches. In Zulu, the incipient element of the noun, the nominal “prefix” or most of preformative, is more complete than other of m the Bantu dialects. Thus the prefix um, as in umfana, boy, is simply m, mfana, in some branches. Mpongwe, the name of a country and tribe in the northwest part of the Bantu field, would be Umpongwe in the southeast among the Zulus and Kafirs. The Zulu plural prefix, aba, as in abafana, boys, becomes ba, as hafana, in some dialects. For person, the Zulus have umuntu; another tribe has muntu; another, mutu; another, mtu; another, mundu. For the Zulu plural of this word, abantu, people, some other tribes say bantu; some, antu; some, atu; some, wantu; some, watu; some, wandu, and some, andu. Mtesa (late king of Uganda) would be Umteza in Zulu, and the Lake Nyanza would be in Zulu, Inyanza. On the Lualaba, a branch of the Congo, the natives say nyama, meat; instead of which the Zulus say inyama, meat. Among the Zulus The bula amayte means thresh or break stones. Congo people called Stanley “Bula Matadi,” The Zulu and Kafir tribal “the Rock Breaker.” names, Amazulu, and Amaxosa, would be, in some dialects, Mazulu, Maxosa, just as other tribal names in other parts of the Bantu field, such as Makua, Maravi, Manyema, would begin with a, Amakua among the Zulus. Among the distinguishing grammatical features of the entire Bantu family of languages, one is what may be called a system of pronominal This mode is a imilations and repetitions. sometimes designated as the “alliterative,” because of the frequent recurrence of some particuEspelar letter or syllable in a given sentence. cially in the Zulu, nouns may be grouped into eight distinct cla es, according to their “prefix” Each cla of nouns has its or incipient element. own pronominal forms, all of which bear a striking resemblance to the initial element of the noun to which they refer, or for which they stand. as Thus one cla of nouns comprises all those whose and for this cla the relative is incipient is Hi; the demonstrative leli, this; lelo, that; the personal pronoun, nominative, and accusative, oblique form, la; definitive, lona, and fragli; mentary form, simply I. Another cla of nouns comprises all those whose incipient is isi, as isibaya; and for this the relative pronoun is esi; the demonstratives, les i and leso; personal, si; eli, definitive, son a, and fragmentary, simply s. Each cla and number has its own preformative letter to be used in forming the po e ive; as, u, which pa es over into its semivowel w, for the first cla , singular; 6 for the plural; I and a for the second cla ; y and z for Thus, for the po e ive my or mine, the third. we have, wami, bam i; lam i, ami; yam i, zami, according to the cla and number of the noun; abafana bam i, my as, umfana wami, my boy; oblique, so; boys. For the po e ive his or her, if the noun be of the first cla , we have wake, bake, lake, etc., noun po e ed; as, according to the cla of the lake, his word; tmf ana lake, his boy; iUzwi the po e ive For zake, his cattle. a6a as nouns erring to persons or to have wabo, we people; ahantu, boys; abatona talTlabo, Ib’o, yabo, etc, -And tor tne cattle. V ^^^ j’ f,!word; izinkomo zabo, their Momo m SrTef ^f po e ive their, referring to nouns give to Many of the names which the natives are also coin persons, places, rivers, mountains, compound, and, whether simple or pound teLs; the most of them are significant. m izxn as ^:Somo, we have, in I’l-. -^^f their voice, /-f Vo’e ’ Inzo azo vazo, etc., as, Sayasazo, their ‘fold; xhz% lazo, izimpondo zazo, their in which the ^°One of the most important points English and Bantu languages differ from the that for the most m fact many others islound the precede the root, that nart the formative letters most fs of word the inflections to which a is begmning of in the sublet, are made by changes boy; ahafana, boys, the word thus, umfana, or ilizwi, word; inkomo covf; izinkomo, cows; izwi umfana adjective: amaTwi I’ords. So in the boys; large boy; aiafana abakulal.rge ZkX enkulu, great cow; inkomo word l zw^ « *’=« «’,fyf^* abafana izinkomo zami, my cows; thzwi So in the po e ive pronouns: bam i, my hoys; 66 Baiitn Languages Baptist Mi ionary ^” incipient so much This’YivTng’to the nominal the pronouns and over of molding influence over to precision and tteTrefi^^es contributes largely It is also thought by the power of inversion. the language some^to add to the euphony of to see that the Indeed, some who at first failed the vital feature of princip e really constitutes a it as nothmg more FanguTge, were wont to regard than a kind of “euphonic alliteration. the Bantu From all this it will be seen that the variety languages allow great scope and and at the arrlngement of words m a sentence precision. same time preserve clearne and m languages, One of the greatest defects of these of words the paucity as might be supposed, is of expre ion the especially those needed for here, and religious thoughts.. Yet, even moral be presumed^ the case is not so difiicult as might a good One root will often give a large stem with amount ot number of branches, and no small ha,ve Thus, from the verb bona, see, we fruit bon is is a show clearly; bonisa, cause to see, show; learn, imitate; bonela, see for; bonelela, look and see for each bonana, see each other; bonelana, to see, show other; bon is an a, cause each other visible; bona each other; bonakala, appear, be seer; umboneh, a kalis a, make visible; umloni, a umftomsi, an spectator; umbonelo, a spectacle; istbono, a sight, overseer; umboniso, a show; isvbonakalo an isiboniso, a vision; curiosity; and all appearance; is i bona kali so a revelation— pa ive voice; as, this without going into the seen; bomshonwa, be seen; boniswa, cause to be Perhaps no iswa, cause to be clearly seen etc. the scope and other language exceeds the Zulu of derivaliberty which it gives for the formation, m tive words. The liberty which it gives for combining two significant com or more words, so as to form a ^. 4. pound, is another point worth mentioning. In from two this way we get impnmalanga, east, puma, come out, and ilanga, the sun; Tf/ords inch on alang a, west— from chon a, sink, and tlanga, So, inhlilifa, an heir, comes from combining sun. two words which signify”to eat the estate of the deceased;” while inhlulanhlebe a bat, signifies “a —, long-eared animal;” and ihlolenkosikazi, the jasmine, “queen’s eye.” better claim Perhaps no language can lay a from two great than the Zulu to an exemption superabundance of faults-on the one hand, that exce ive soft vowels and hquids which produces superabundance of ne ; and on the other, that harshne . consonants which produces exce ive m ite The happy mean which it has observed vocalic with inter-mixture of mute consonants pleasing to the and Uquid sounds makes it both ear and easy to speak. One of the striking peculiarities of several called Bantu languages is that sharp, shrill sound par tot ” It constitutes an elementary a “click much so as its the word in which it occurs, as the found vowels or consonants, and is never are three formative part. Of these clicks there name from the kinds, each of which takes its manner in which it is made, as the dental the and the lateral. The origin of these m palatal, m the peculiar sounds may, doubtle , be found Snomatopoetic effort to suit the sound of the word to the thing signified. indigenous literature of all the iiantu The exists with tribes is very scant, since no alphabet songs, to write out thoughts, folk-lore, which They have royal eulogies, and common law. evening songs a variety ot unwritten, simple songs, heroic songs, domestic songs, hunting which songs, and religious songs, or songs V/Mx they give expre ion to a wish or prayer.. with the the singing ot these, accompanied numbu, a musical instrument of one string, they Their language pa many an hour of leisure. abounds in bold, figurative epithets and complimentary terms, of which they make great use The royal singing the praises of their kings. offers ample court upon grand festal occasions, or bard to pour field for the royal rhapsodist profuse and forth his poetic imaginings in a most face, as fervid style, speaking of the king, to his majestic black and beautiful, tall and straight, a oppo elephant, a ravenous hyena, the mercfle waster, nent of every conspiracy, the devourer, ot smasher of all his foes; lovely as a monster raimng and resistle might,”like heaven above,: m m shining.” BAPATLA: A town ot the Kistna district, Madras, India, 40 miles east of Ongole. Healthful Population, chiefly Telugus; station ot location. their the ABMU (1883), with 2 mi ionaries and native wives, 1 mi ionary woman and 47 dl> workers, men and women, 20 outstations, Sunday schools and 2,515 church members. BAPTIST CONVENTIONS OF CANADA; Mi ionary “Work of the: The first ot foreign mi ionary work of the Baptists Canada was done in connection with societies As early as 1838 a in the United States. Mi ions Society for the Maintenance of Foreign was established at Chester, Nova Scotia. Seven Can a years later the first representative of the to dian Baptists on the foreign field was sent Burma and later two others, to labor under Foreign interest in foreign mi ions in Ontario and Quebec till College 1866, when a student in Wood stock desired to go out as a mi ionary and there seemed no way to send him. Dr. Fyfe, the principal, then wrote to the Secretary of trie the ABMU. The was not aroused 67 ABMU. The result was a meeting of six pastors, with Dr. Fyfe and Dr. Murdock of the ABMU, at the parsonage in Beamsville, Ontario, in October of that year. Here the Canadian Auxwas formed, and in October, iliary to the 1867, just one year later, their first two mi ionaries were sent to the Telugu Mi ion of the ABMU. Two years later the Rev. John McLaurin, also a graduate of Wood stock College, and his wife were sent out. Up to 1873 both sections of the Baptists of Canada worked in connection with the ABMU, supporting mi ionaries in Burma and among the Telugus of India, as well as a number of In that year, however, both native helpers. the eastern and western provinces established independent and separate foreign mi ion boards, while remaining in cordial sympathy with the ABMU ABMU. The Foreign Mi ion Board of the Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces in 1873 sent out a party of seven mi ionaries to explore and, if deemed advisable, to establish a mi ion among the Karens of Siam; they failed to find Karens in Siam in sufficient numbers to warrant establishing a mi ion and the project was abandoned. At this juncture an invitation for them to cooperate with the new organization in the western provinces was accepted, and the mi ionaries were transferred to the Telugu country. The Foreign Mi ion Board of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, in 1873, were offered a mi ion of the ABMU, at Cocanada The offer was accepted, and (Madras, India). the Rev. John McLaurin was released from his to take charge of the connection with the He landed at Cocanada with new mi ion. year he was The following in 1874. his family joined by the mi ionaries of the Maritime Provinces, who were in Siam, and thus in 1875 was formed the Canadian Baptist Telugu Mi ion. There are two boards in the. homeland, but their work in the foreign field is very closely ABMU united in interest, in method as well as in terriT he work is carried on along torial relations. evangelistic, educational and medical lines; a strong native church is steadily pre ing toward self-support; Bible women and colporteurs are an especially effective evangelizing agency. Mi ions of the Convention of the Maritime Provinces: District of Vizagapatam, Madras, India; 6 stations, 21 outstations, 21 Canadian mi ionaries, 49 native helpers, 8 churches, 495 communicants, 17 day schools, 1 hospital and dispensary. Mi ions of the Convention of Ontario and Quebec: (1) Godavari and Kistna Districts, Madras, India; 8 stations, 111 outstations, 35 Canadian mi ionaries, 196 native helpers, 38 churches, 4,363 communicants, 18 day schools, schools with 304 1,366 pupils, 9 boarding students, 4 physicians and 3 hospitals and dis America; 3 pensaries. South Bolivia, (2) stations, 7 Canadian mi ionaries, 2 schools. The organ of the Baptist Foreign Mi ionary Societies of Canada is The Canadian Mi ionary lAnk, monthly, Toronto. 85