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Shabo language: Encyclopedia BETAFree Encyclopedia |
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* and are in free variation * and , and sometimes also , are in free variation, as in Majang; Teferra speculatively links this to the traditional practice of removing the lower incisors of men. * and occasionally alternate. Consonant length is found in several words, such as walla "goat", kutti "knee"; however, it is often unstable. Teferra tentatively postulates 9 vowels: , possibly with further distinctions based on advanced tongue root. Five of these - - have long counterparts. Occasionally final vowels are deleted, shortening medial vowels: eg deego or deg "crocodile". The syllable structure is (C)V(C); all consonants except and can occur syllable-finally. The language is tonal, but its tonology is unclear. Two minimal pairs are cited by Teferra 1995, including há "kill" versus hà "meat". GrammarSyntaxBasic word order is subject-object-verb; there are postpositions rather than prepositions.Pronouns
VerbsNegation is by adding the particle be after the verb or noun negated: gumu be "(it is) not (a) stick", Ê"am be-gea "he will not come" ("come not-?"). Negative forms in b are widespread in Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic languages.There appears to be a causative suffix -ka: mawo hoop, "water boiled" > upa mawo hoop-ka "(a) man boiled water". A particle git (infinitive? subjunctive?) marks the verb in constructions with "want": moopa git inÉ—eet ("sit git want") "I want to sit". Much of the verbal morphology is uncertain; there appears to be a 3rd person singular future suffix -g- (eg inÉ—age t'a-g "he will eat") and a 2nd person plural suffix -É—e (eg subuk maakÉ›le kak t'a-É—e "You (pl.) ate corn", "you-pl. corn past? eat-2nd-pl.") Ehret (1995) mentions the following tense-aspect suffixes: * -gg imperfect * -e perfect * -kkus present perfect * no affix: imperative NounsThe plural system is unclear. Three plural forms given by one person were:* "house" É—oku > "houses" É—okuk * "dog" kaal/kaan > "dogs" kaalu/kaanu * "leg" bicca > "legs" biccaka However, another speaker did not form separate plurals at all, or added them by uniformly adding the word yɛɛro afterwards. There is a suffix -k which seems to sometimes mark the direct object, eg upa kaan-ik ye "a man saw a dog" ("man dog saw"). A similar suffix is found in many Eastern Sudanic languages. Case markings mentioned by Ehret (1995) include: * -ti ablative * -uk, -ik instrumental * -ke, -e genitive * -kak, -gak accusative PostpositionsShabo uses postpositions after nouns, eg: upa mana pond É—É›pik moi "a man sat on a rock" (lit. "man rock on ? sat").NumbersThe number system, as given by Tefera and Unseth, is as follows:# iÅ‹ki# bap# jiita# aÅ‹an# tuul# tulu(Å‹/m)# tulikakiÅ‹ki (possibly error for 6?)# tunajiita# tulaaÅ‹an# bapif (bap if = "two hands")# mabafifiÅ‹ki and 20 is iÅ‹k upa kor ("one person complete"). Sample sentencesmawo hoop: water boiledupa mawo hoop-ka: A man boiled water (lit. "man water boiled-caus.") gumu be: it is not a stick (lit. "stick not".) ma gumu: it is a stick (lit. "stick ?") dÉ›rbakan kaal nu É—e-be: Derbakan does not have a dog (lit. "Derbakan dog poss.? ?-not") dÉ›rbakan kaal nu yaaÅ‹k: Derbakan has a dog (lit. "Derbakan dog poss.? positive?") Ê"am be-gea: he will not come (lit. "come not-?") inÉ—igi am-k: he will come (lit. "? come ?") tin-ta be-ge: he will not eat (lit. "? eat not ?") inÉ—age t'a-g: he will eat (lit. "? eat ?") paar bap: two snakes (lit. "snake two") upa kaan-ik ye: a man saw a dog (lit. "man dog-obj. saw") kaan upa-k ye: a dog saw a man (lit. "dog man-obj. saw") koto upa dÉ›pik ye: a woman saw a man (lit. "woman man tense? saw") gom c'uwa t'a: fire burned wood (lit. "fire wood ate") cu É—É›pik ibalabiyan-an É—e (word divisions uncertain): you (pl.) came (lit. "you(pl.) ? ? come-2pl.") subuk maakÉ›le kak t'a-É—e: you (pl.) ate corn (lit. "you(pl.) corn aux? eat-2pl.") wo ka git inÉ—eet: I want to drink (lit. "drink ? infin.? want") moopa git inÉ—eet: I want to sit (lit. "sit ? infin.? want") abiyaÅ‹ge: they came upa kakaak jaal kaki ye Ê"am: I saw the man who came yesterday (lit. "man came yesterday ? saw ?") upa mana pond É—É›pik moi: a man sat on a rock (lit. "man rock on aux.? sat") LexiconMain article: Shabo lexicon. Bibliography* Peter Unseth. 1984. Shabo (Mekeyir). A first discussion of classification and vocabulary. [Unpublished manuscript]* Tefera Anbessa and Peter Unseth. 1989. "Toward the classification of Shabo (Mikeyir)." In M. Lionel Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan linguistics, 405-18. Nilo-Saharan, 3. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. ISBN 3-87118-927-8 (NISA 3). (This was the primary source for this article.) * Tefera Anbessa. 1991. "A Sketch of Shabo Grammar". in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30. * Fleming, Harold C. 1991. "Shabo: presentation of data and preliminary classification", in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30. * Teferra Anbessa 1991. "A sketch of Shabo grammar", in: M. Lionel Bender (ed.), 1991, Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo Saharan Conference Bayreuth, Aug. 30. * Teferra Anbessa. 1995. "Brief phonology of Shabo (Mekeyir)". Robert Nicolaï et Franz Rottland, eds., Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 août 1992. Proceedings, pp.169-193. Köln, Köppe Verlag. Sep. 2, 1989 (Nilo-Saharan 7), Hamburg: Helmut Buske. pp. 29-38. (Used in this article.) * Christopher Ehret. 1995. "Do Krongo and Shabo belong in Nilo-Saharan?". Robert Nicolaï et Franz Rottland, eds., Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 août 1992. Proceedings, pp.169-193. Köln, Köppe Verlag. Sep. 2, 1989 (Nilo-Saharan 7), Hamburg: Helmut Buske. pp. 389-402. ISBN 3-927620-72-6. External links* Red Book of Endangered Languages* Ethnologue report
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