FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   >>   >|  
Plural. Class 1. Umu- (Ngu-mu-).[11] Class 2. Aba (Mba-ba or Nga-ba).[11] " 3. Umu- (Ngu-mu-). " 4. Imi- (Ngi-mi-). " 5. Idi (Ndi-di-). " 6. Ama- (Nga-ma-). " 7. Iki- (Nki-ki-). " 8. Ibi- (Mbi-bi-). " 9. I-n- or I-ni- (?Ngi-ni-). " 10. Iti-, Izi-, Iti-n-, Izi-n- (?Ngi-ti-). " 11. Ulu (Ndu-du-). " 12. Utu (?Ntu-tu-); often diminutive in sense. " 13. Aka (?Nka-ka-); usually diminutive, sometimes honorific. " 14. Ubu- (?Mbu-bu-); sometimes used in a plural sense; generally employed to indicate abstract nouns. " 15. Uku (?Nku-ku-); identical with the preposition "to," used as an infinitive with verbs, but also with certain nouns indicating primarily functions of the body. " 16. Apa (Mpa-pa-); locative; applied to nouns and other forms of speech to indicate place or position; identical with the adverb "here," as Ku- is with "there." To these sixteen prefixes, the use of which is practically common to all members of the family, might perhaps be added No. 17, _Fi-_ or _Vi-_, a prefix in the singular number, having a diminutive sense, which is found in some of the western and north-western Bantu tongues, chiefly in the northern half of the Congo basin and Cameroon. It is represented as far east (in the form of _I-_) as the Manyema language on the Upper Congo, near Tanganyika. This prefix cannot be traced to derivation from any others among the sixteen, certainly not to No. 8, as it is always used in the singular. Its corresponding _plural_ prefix is No. 12 (_Tu-_). Prefix No. 18 is _Ogu-_, which has, as a plural prefix, No. 19, _Aga-_. These are both used in an augmentative sense, and their use seems to be confined to the Luganda and Masaba dialects, and perhaps some branches of the Unyoro language. These, like No. 17, are regular prefixes, since they are supplied with the concord (_-gu-_ and _-ga-_). Lastly, there is the 20th prefix, _Mu-_, which is really a preposition meaning "in" or "into," often combined in meaning with another particle, _-ni_, used always as a suffix.[12] The 20th prefix, _Mu-_, however, does not seem to have a complete concord, as it is only used adjectivally or as a preposition and has no pronominal accusati
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
prefix
 

diminutive

 

plural

 

preposition

 

western

 
singular
 
identical
 

language

 
prefixes
 

sixteen


concord

 

meaning

 
derivation
 

chiefly

 
traced
 

represented

 
Cameroon
 
Tanganyika
 

Manyema

 

tongues


northern

 

combined

 

particle

 

suffix

 

supplied

 

Lastly

 

adjectivally

 

pronominal

 

accusati

 

complete


Prefix

 
augmentative
 

branches

 

Unyoro

 

regular

 
dialects
 

Masaba

 
confined
 

Luganda

 
honorific

generally
 

employed

 
adverb
 
position
 

speech

 

practically

 
number
 

family

 
common
 

members