1988 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Investigation and Analysis of Bantu Languages and their Comparative Study
| Project/Area Number |
63043021
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Overseas Scientific Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | Field Research |
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| Research Institution | Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku) |
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Principal Investigator |
YUKAWA Yasutosi Professor, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所, 教授 (20011299)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
BESHA Ruth M. Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Kiswahili, Faculty of Literature and Arts, University, エス・サラーム大学・文学部スワヒリ語学科, Senior Lec
KAGAYA Ryohei Associate Professor, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia a, アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所, 助教授 (70014511)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1988
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| Keywords | Bantu Languages / Tanzanian Languages / Tone / Nilamba / Chaga / Sukuma / Pare / シャンバラ語 |
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| Research Abstract |
Among about twenty Tanzanian Bantu languages which we investigated in 1987-88, we analyzed such languages as the following in this fiscal Vear.
The Machame dialect of Chaga, Pare, Zalamo, Gogo, Makonde, Nyiha, Nyaturu, Langi, Nilamba, Sukuma and Haya.
Most of the outcomes of the analysis are included in Studies in Tanzanian Languages written in English and published by the Monbusho international Scientific Research Program. In writing our papers, we tried to solve various tonological problems we had found in several languages, especially those concerning their verbs, which had not been studied well by Bantu linguists in Europe or in America, as well as we tried to show the grammatical and phonological outlines of those languages. Many Bantu languages are 'tone languages' similar to Japanese and their tonological study is very important from the viewpoint both of the linguistic research of individual Bantu languages and of general and theoretical linguistics. Dr. Besha, our co-researcher in Tanzania, wrote her paper on Shambala making use of her knowledge of that language which she has as its native speaker, and it is also included in the above-mentioned book.
AT the same time we compiled and published two booklets dealing with the vocabularies of Nilamba and Pare in which each word is represented not only phonologically but also tonologically and its semantically corresponding Swahili word is given.
Although further analysis of our data and further field research is necessary to clarify the liguistic situations in Tanzania, we are sure that we have done some important contribution to the development of the research of Tanzanian languages and to the descriptive and comparative studies of Bantu languages in general.
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Research Products
(14 results)
