A Chindali and English Dictionary with an Index to Proto-Bantu Roots

514 Pages·2008·64.491 MB·The Chindali Language of Malawi. Volume 1

by  Robert Botne, Loveness Schafer

Chindali
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English
Dictionary
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Proto-Bantu Roots
Volume
1
<
Robert Botne
oveness Schafer
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American Philosophical Society
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
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A
Chindali and English
Dictionary
with an Index to Proto-Bantu Roots

The Chindali Language ofMalawi
Volume
1
A
Chindali and English
Dictionary
with an Index to Proto-Bantu Roots
compiled by
Robert Botne
in collaboration with
Loveness Schafer
American Philosophical Society
Philadelphia • 2008
—
Lightning Rod Press
American Pliilosophical Society
Held at Piiiladelphia forPromoting Useful Knowledge
Number
1
Copyright © 2008 by the American Philosophical Society forits Lightning Rod
Press series. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-60618-909-2
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Botne, Robert Dale Olson, 1950-
The Chindali language ofMalawi / compiledby Robert Botne, in collaboration with
Loveness Schafer.
—
p. cm. (Lightning rodpress series ; 1-3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60618-909-2
— —
1. Ndali l—anguage Dictionaries En—glish. 2. English langu—age
Dictionaries Ndali. 3. Ndali language Grammar. 4. Malawi Social life and
customs. I. Schafer, Loveness, 1965- II. Title.
PL8547.N26B68 2008
496'.393—dc22 2008035129
Cover Design and Editorial by International Graphic Services.
Printed by Diane Publishing Company.
79
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Guide to the Dictionary xiii
Bibliography: Linguistic Studies ofChindali xxii
References xxiii
A Chindali -English Dictionary 1
An English-Chindali Index 31
An Index toProto-Bantu Roots 41
Appendices 441
A. ChindaU Kinship Terms 443
B. Paradigms ofChindali Pronouns 456
C. Paradigms ofChindali Demonstratives 466
D. Numbers andTime 472
E. Verbs ofPerception 475
F. Verbs ofLocation andPosition 476
G. Verbs ofMotion 477
Map: General Region in Which ChindaliIs Spoken 481
References 485
NOTE
The useofBritishpunctuationin thisvolumefollows the stylepreferredby
theauthor.
Preface
Chindali is a Bantu language of eastern Africa, spoken in the southwest
Mbeya region of Tanzania and in the northern Chitipa District of Malawi.
Estimates of the number of speakers suggest that there are approximately
70,000 speakers in Malawi and 150,000 in Tanzania (Gordon 2005, citing
2003 source and 1987 source, respectively). The language is classified as
M.21 in the Tervuren (Bastin 1978) revision of Guthrie's (1967-70) zone
classification. However, there is much dialectal variation. In Malawi, not
only are there varieties known as Chindali, but also the very closely related
variety known as Chisukwa. This dictionary focuses on the Chindali varieties
spokenin northern Malawi,excludingChisukwa.
The dictionary is the result of research on the Malawian end of the
Chindali spectrum, begun in a Field Methods class at Indiana University
during the academic year 1995-96. Data have come from Loveness Schafer,
the primary consultant and collaborator on the dictionary, as well as from
texts collected from 30-i- speakers ranging in age from lateteens to mid-fifties.
Significant supplementary comments were provided by Wapulumuka Mu-
Iwafu, while E. G. Kayange provided a long manuscript of lexical items he
had transcribed. Although the data focus on use in Malawi, data from two
Tanzanian sources have been included as well. Catherine Labroussi gra-
ciouslyprovided dataon approximately 1,000 items elicitedin 1993 and 1995
from a female informant bom and raised in Isoko village ofthe Ileje District
ofMbeya. The abbreviation IS indicates items from this source. The second
source ofdata is a wordlist collected as part of a larger survey ofTanzanian
languages carried out in the 1970s by a group oflinguists at the University of
Dares Salaam underthe direction ofDerek Nurse and GerardPhilippson. The
speaker in this case was also a young woman, from the village ofBundali in
the Rungwe District ofMbeya. In this case as well, there were approximately
1,000items, identified inthedictionary as BU.
The dictionary, in most cases, provides more than a cursory translation
equivalent of the Chindali lexical item. Many examples of actual use have
been included to provide information on grammatical context, social setting,
orcultural information. In addition, examples ofproverbs, adages, and idioms
have also been included. All ofthis tends to make the dictionary more ency-
clopedic in nature, helping the dictionary user, we hope, to better understand
thelanguage, its setting,andits speakers.
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