Karamojong

Karamojong (ŋaKarimojoŋ / ŋaKaramojoŋ)

ŋaKarimojoŋ is a Nilotic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family
spoken by at least 370,000 people in Uganda – the ŋiKarimojoŋ
(or ŋiKaramojoŋ) people. The name approximates to “the old men sat down”,
dating from a time of migration 300 or more years ago when this group refused to travel
further on (to what is now Teso). They are a cattle-keeping people practising transhumance
which is reflected in the language as are their traditional religious beliefs; settled
cultivation is relatively recent and thus words associated with this are usually borrowed
from neighbouring languages or from languages introduced by, or as a result of, colonialism
– English, luGanda, kiSwahili. Modern technical words come from these latter also.

Closely related languages and dialects are spoken by many more peoples including the Jie,
ŋiDodos, iTeso (Uganda), ŋiTurkana, iTesyo (Kenya), Jiye, ŋiToposa,
(southern Sudan), also by at least one tribe in Ethiopia.

These peoples are part of the “Karimojong Cluster” of Nilotic tribes (also known by some
as the Teso Cluster).

ŊaKarimojoŋ is a verb-initial language. Verb forms differ in aspect rather
than tense; first person plural personal and possessive pronouns has inclusive and exclusive
forms. Nouns and pronouns have gender prefixes, which can change meaning, eg ekitoi
(m) means tree or medicine obtained from a tree / bush, akitoi (f) means log or
firewood, and ikitoi (n) means twigs used for lighting cooking fires. The neuter
often implies a diminutive – edia means boy and idia means little
boy. There are no articles.

Pronunciation is phonetic (similar to Spanish), except as otherwise noted. There are no
letters “F”, “H” “Q”, “X” or “Z” (but see next paragraph). “Ŋ” (or “ng” – as
in “singing”) and “Ny” are consonants in their own right. Sometimes “P” sounds more like “F”
in English (so, when learning English, ŋaKarimojoŋ speakers sometimes confuse
these sounds). “L” and “R” are NOT confused. There is tendency to mouthe a silent “O” or “U”
on the end of some words ending with consonants. Adjacent vowels are usually pronounced
without diphthongs.

The Roman alphabet is used, orthography rules were established by Missionaries in the 1960s.
These rules varied slightly between the mainly British Anglicans and the mainly Italian Roman
Catholics (RC). The most obvious example of this is the sound which is halfway between an “S”
as in “sausage” and” th” as in “think”. This was tendered by the Anglicans as “th” and the
RCs as “Z”. These days both “S “and “th” are used.

Rules also varied also between different people writing down different languages. For
example, most Nilotic languages in and around Uganda spell the sound ‘ch’ as in church “c”,
whereas in the Bantu languages, at least in Uganda (and excluding kiSwahili), this sound
is spelled “ky” (as in Burmese).

There is some confusion between the use of “I” and “Y” where there is a vowel following.
General tendency is to assume that the “Y” sound comes from the conjunction of the vowels
rather than being a separate letter, but not exclusively. But sometimes there are very similar
words with different meanings: edia means boy, edya however means vegetables
and any difference in pronunciation has little to do with the “y”. Somewhat differently,
akimat means old woman, or, to drink. If you say acamit ayoŋ akimat
you are saying you want the old woman rather than you want to drink, so in this case the
infinitive is rather oddly replaced by the vocative, thus acamit ayoŋ tomat
to avoid confusion when you need a drink.

Almost all plural nouns are pre-fixed with ŋa (f) or ŋi
(m & n). Special uses of these can be seen above for the language and people. There
are generally suffixes on plural nouns which, to the learner at least, have little regularity,
for example emong / ŋimongin – ox / oxen and akai / ŋakais
– house/s, or even removal of last letter, thus emoru / ŋimor – mountain/s
and aberu / ŋaber(u) – woman / women.

Most traditionally known liquids such as water, ŋakipi, and milk,
ŋakile, are feminine plural (though the eng prefix has been lost in some dialects)
whereas more recently introduced liquids such as (bottled) beer – ebiya are
masculine singular. Male names mostly begin with “Lo” whilst female names begin with “Na”,
thus Lokiru and Nakiru are a boy and a girl born at the time of rain. In other Nilotic languages
in the region, this rule applies without the “L” and “N”.

Some commmon words and phrases

Ejoka? – Hello! [literally “Is it good?”]
Ejok-nooi – Hello! [response]
alakara (nooi) – Thank you (very much) [literally “I am (very) happy”]
Ie-ia? (papa/toto/ikoku)? – How are you (father/mother/child)?
Ikianyun! – See you! (as “good-bye”)
Ngai ekonikiro? – What is your name?
Ee – Yes
Mam! – No!
Akuj – God (apparently feminine – also means “north” and “up”)
Ŋakipi – Water
Akim – Fire
Akine – Goat
emoŋin – Ox
emusugut (m sing), amusugut (f sing) – White person
Ai ilothi iyoŋ? or ai ilosi iyong? – Where are you going?

The main books written in the language are the New Testament, published in significantly
different Anglican and RC versions in the 1960s, and a joint one published in the early 1990s.
More recently there have been some educational books and there are various grammars and dictionaries
produced mainly by RCs. The Old Testament is in process with a number of books already completed.

Information compiled by Nick Jewitt, who has worked with the ŋiKarimojoŋ and
speaks some of their language.

Links

Information about the Karamojong language and people
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kdj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karimojong
http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_kmj
http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Karamojong.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/312137/Karimojong
http://www.karamoja.com/karimojong.html

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Lingue
  • Tempo di lettura:7 minuti di lettura