DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49263#0030
xxvi Nubian Phonology
consonant. The cases where w in one dialect equals g in another, as dog, t8go,
sogorti for daw, tawo, sewarti may be explained by supposing an original
gw, gu, of which one dialect has kept the consonant, and the other the semi-vowel.
See J 2.
J 8. The Fricatives h, s, s, z, and j.
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the pure Nilotic languages is the
fact that their alphabets make no use of the fricative consonants h, s, s, z, and j
(as distinct from dy); while f occurs only as a variant of p or b ; that is, no
language regards it as a separate letter. The presence or absence of these letters
in a language of the Niloto-Hamitic group therefore affords good evidence of the
extent to which it has been subject to foreign influence. Thus Nubian, which in
the past has been in contact with various Hamitic and Greek influences, and now
possesses a vocabulary containing 80 per cent, of Semitic (Arabic) loan-words, has
adopted all these letters, even z, which does not occur in such Hamitic languages
as Somali and Bedauye. Masai has adopted only s and s ; while Bari has a j,
but none of the other letters. Bagirmi, which seems to be a Nilotic language,
affected by a Hamitic influence distinct from that which has influenced the languages
just spoken of, has only borrowed s and rejected the other letters.
Curiously enough, in those roots and suffixes containing these fricatives, which
Nubian has borrowed from Hamitic or Semitic sources, the tendency for all these
to interchange dialectically is strongly marked.
(a) h.
The most striking of these interchanges is that of 11 with s,1 which is not
uncommon in Nubian. Within the Mahass dialect, the forms si, siddo, sillogo ;
zi, ziddo, zillogo ; and hi, hiddo, hillogo for who ? whither ? why ? are all recorded
by Reinisch. The s which is inserted in KDM. between the verbal root and
the personal-ending of the verb to mark the past tense is replaced by h in Midob,
thus :
ai tog-s-im KD. I struck, but oi kulla-h-im Mid. I wanted
Puzzling forms sometimes result from the elision of h from certain words, and
the retention of the s in the cognate words of another dialect. Thus we have :
osi KD. leg = di M. for ohi
soil KD. hang = oil M. for holl
More remarkable parallels result from the confusion of h with h by some
Nubians, while others prefer to replace h by k or g. Thus the Hamitic root nh
1 In the central family, Buduma h exchanges with Kanuri s.
consonant. The cases where w in one dialect equals g in another, as dog, t8go,
sogorti for daw, tawo, sewarti may be explained by supposing an original
gw, gu, of which one dialect has kept the consonant, and the other the semi-vowel.
See J 2.
J 8. The Fricatives h, s, s, z, and j.
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the pure Nilotic languages is the
fact that their alphabets make no use of the fricative consonants h, s, s, z, and j
(as distinct from dy); while f occurs only as a variant of p or b ; that is, no
language regards it as a separate letter. The presence or absence of these letters
in a language of the Niloto-Hamitic group therefore affords good evidence of the
extent to which it has been subject to foreign influence. Thus Nubian, which in
the past has been in contact with various Hamitic and Greek influences, and now
possesses a vocabulary containing 80 per cent, of Semitic (Arabic) loan-words, has
adopted all these letters, even z, which does not occur in such Hamitic languages
as Somali and Bedauye. Masai has adopted only s and s ; while Bari has a j,
but none of the other letters. Bagirmi, which seems to be a Nilotic language,
affected by a Hamitic influence distinct from that which has influenced the languages
just spoken of, has only borrowed s and rejected the other letters.
Curiously enough, in those roots and suffixes containing these fricatives, which
Nubian has borrowed from Hamitic or Semitic sources, the tendency for all these
to interchange dialectically is strongly marked.
(a) h.
The most striking of these interchanges is that of 11 with s,1 which is not
uncommon in Nubian. Within the Mahass dialect, the forms si, siddo, sillogo ;
zi, ziddo, zillogo ; and hi, hiddo, hillogo for who ? whither ? why ? are all recorded
by Reinisch. The s which is inserted in KDM. between the verbal root and
the personal-ending of the verb to mark the past tense is replaced by h in Midob,
thus :
ai tog-s-im KD. I struck, but oi kulla-h-im Mid. I wanted
Puzzling forms sometimes result from the elision of h from certain words, and
the retention of the s in the cognate words of another dialect. Thus we have :
osi KD. leg = di M. for ohi
soil KD. hang = oil M. for holl
More remarkable parallels result from the confusion of h with h by some
Nubians, while others prefer to replace h by k or g. Thus the Hamitic root nh
1 In the central family, Buduma h exchanges with Kanuri s.