| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YUKAWA Yasutoshi University of Kumamoto, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Science, Professor, 大学院・社会文化科学研究科, 教授 (20011299)
MIYAMOTO Masaoki Chubu University, Faculty of International Studies, Professor, 国際関係学部, 教授 (60066701)
MATSUSHITA Shuji Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Cooperative Researcher, アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所, 研究員 (20014475)
KAJI Shigeki Kyoto University, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Professor, 大学院・アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科, 教授 (10134751)
YONEDA Nobuko Osaka Jogakuin College, Dept.of International and English Interdisciplinary, Associate Professor, 国際・英語学部, 助教授 (90352955)
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| Research Abstract |
Research results during April 2003 - March 2006
The research purposes of this period were : 1) Linguistic investigations of Bantu and adjacent languages, which are very important but not studied yet so far, and 2) Linguistic investigations of languages which are required to re-investigate. Main languages investigated during this period were as follows : 1. Jita, Luguru, Matengo, Kiwoso (of Chaga), Kerewe, Bende, etc. including analysis of Taarabu poetry in Tanzania, 2. Gwere, Ganda, Tooro, etc. in Uganda, 3. Herero in Namibia and language policy of multi-lingual nations like Namibia, 4. Teke, Laari, Njiku, Fang, etc. in DRC, 4. Punu and adjacent languages, etc. in Gabon, 5. Bacha in RSA, 6. Songai in Mali and Niger.
The following are some interesting results. a) In Jita, the tonal system is analyzed completely. Specially, the complicated tonal system of verbs was analyzed and the irregularity of the system was found. The tonal system of Punu and that of Fang are also analyzed for the fir
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st time in the world. b) Investigation of Kiwoso (Chaga) showed evidence that Kiwoso was once influenced very much by the language contact with such language(s) as Maasai, which is completely different genealogically, and that Kiwoso has a different linguistic appearance (e.g., sound shapes of prefixes) from other Bantu languages. c) Noun prefixes of most Bantu languages consist of (V1)-CV2 and these sounds correspond to the prefixes of noun modifiers. But in Luguru, noun prefixes consisting of C1V1-C2V2 were also found. These are new findings on Bantu language structures and it will make clear some language branching. d) Apparently Gwere shows complicated surface tonal patterns, and the tonal system was successfully analyzed. As one of the results, this system shows cues of the diachronic change of tonal systems of Bantu languages. From investigation of Herero and other Namibian languages, we got new data to discuss the national language (or public language) among multilingual societies, though African countries are multilingual societies. Furthermore, investigations on Matengo, Kerewe, Tooro, Bacha, Bende, Songai, etc. show new data on the structure of each language.
After all these of investigations, 61 academic papers have been published so far. Also these data were discussed in various academic meetings. Furthermore, 10 books including 7 vocabulary books were published. They will be distributed to relevant institutions in the world.
Kikuyu language and others, which are the object languages in our first plan, have not been investigated due to the lack of time. However, we will try to investigate them in other occasions. Less
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