Great! Thanks again!

By Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa (Admin) (cgs_ballard.sas.upenn.edu - 130.91.177.41) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 01:04 pm: Edit

Here's a link on Afro-Cuban Bozal:

http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/research/jpcl/online/snotes/sn54.htm

and another on Kikongo:

http://www.academiemondiale.com/COURS%20DE%20KIKONGO.htm

Hope this whets the appetite

By Arturo Benvenuto (Nyuyok) (ae-pc16.cicsd.unive.it - 157.138.2.18) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 09:24 am: Edit

Thanks a lot for the reply.

Well, is there any site you can suggest me where I can find something about Kikongo and 'Bozal' languages ?

By Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa (Admin) (cgs_ballard.sas.upenn.edu - 130.91.177.41) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 01:34 pm: Edit

Welcome Arturo,

Well, it is an easy error to make. Kikongo is not a recently born language. The first documents written in Kikongo were written in the 1500s. What you are referring to is a vehicular form or creolized dialect of Kikongo (you can pick your preference in term- both are accepted) variously known as Kikongo yaleta, Kikwango, Monokituba, Kituba, Kabulamatadi, etc.

That dialect is a vehicular language, not unlike Lingala, but instead of being based upon the older Bangala of upriver Congo, Kituba is based upon a dialectic form of Kikongo with a simplified grammar and a healthy dose of loan words from (depending on the locale) Portuguese or French. There is some similarity with the language of Palo, in that it represents a highly creolized remnant of the Kikongo language. In essence, the language of Palo is a small vocabulary of Kikongo words (usually between three and five hundred) grafted onto a grammatical foundation of Spanish. This is also called Bozal. Actually, Bozal is Spanish with a simplified grammar and a healthy dose of any African language. Hence, in Cuba you will find a Bozal using Yoruba, one using Kikongo and another using Carabali vocabulary.

Historically, the paleros referred to there being 7 Congo languages in Cuba. To some extent, they actually show some dialectic differences, including some that may indeed include Chokwe or Mbundu words of Angolan origins. In the main though, it is fairly safe to say they represent dialectal differences of Kikongo. The main differences are not the language of origin, but the ways in which they have been reconfigured over time.

I hope this helps.

By Arturo Benvenuto (Nyuyok) (pc15cm.cmm.unive.it - 157.138.2.115) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 07:58 am: Edit

Hi,
this is my first post to this group.

I'd like to know from what Bantu language (or languages, maybe) do the terms used in the various Reglas de Kongo come from.

I've read somewhere that the Palo vocabulary is from Kikongo, but it seems strange to me, since Kikongo is a recently born language, born from the necessity to have a "vehicular" language in one of the Kongo Republics (I can't remember which).

Can anyone give me an insight on this matter?

Thanks

By OLga on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 06:28 pm: Edit

Does anybody knows the origin of the voice "nananina" which seems to be part of the bozal language

By Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa (Admin) on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 11:00 pm: Edit

First of all Kikongo is not a vehicular language. It is in fact the earliest Bantu language to be put into print. You are confusing Kikongo, of which there are a number of dialects and which is spoken as a native language in Congo Kinshasha, Congo Brazzaville, Angola and some areas of Gabon near Cabinda.

Your confusion stems from the vehicular language which is based upon a simplified Kikongo grammar with some additions from French vocabulary. This vehicular Kongo is known variously as Kikongo ya leta, Kikongo simplifie, Kituba, and Kabulamatadi.

Kikongo ya leta is often used in market places and by people who otherwise cannot understand the various dialects they encounter. They are not one and the same. The Kikongo of Cuba while having lost virtually all of the grammatical structure of a Bantu language retains forms that reflect forms which preceded certain pronunciation shifts that have occurred in Kikongo in Africa over the last two hunderd to three hundred years, such as the retention of r where modern Kikongo uses d, as zari, instead of Zadi, or matari instead of Matadi.

Hope this explains.

By Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa (Admin) on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 11:06 pm: Edit

Olga,

The closest I can find anywhere is nini yanga, which means mamey (Colocarpum Sapota). Other names for this plant in Congo Cubano include Yumba, Nyumba, and Nyunga machafio.

Malembe,

Tata Nsasi Masongo Quimbisa