1847.] Orthography. 753 In all three dialects, almost every word terminates in a vowel sound. In Grebo nh final is employed to designate the nasal sound of the vowel; and it is possible that ng final in Mac Brair's Mandingo grammar may serve the same purpose. M final occurs in a very few Grebo words; and the vowel sound after m in certain Mpongwe words is scarcely audible. In relation to the incipient syllable, the usage is variable. In Grebo with the exception of a few of the personal pronouns, which are simple vowels, as is the case in both of the other dialects, every word commences with one or more consonants. In Mandingo, perhaps one fifth of the verbs and nouns commence with vowels; whereas in Mpongwe, at least one half of the nouns and verbs, if we take into the account the derivative parts of the verb, have vowels for their initial letters. Almost every noun in the Mandingo terminates in o; in the other two languages the final termination is variable. The prevalence of initial vowels in Mpongwe, accounts for the great number of contractions and coalescences which are to be met with in that language. ORTHOGRAPHY. The same alphabet of simple sounds has been employed in writing all three of these dialects, but it must not be inferred that the same system is equally adapted to each. The sounds in the Mandingo and Mpongwe are generally easy and natural, and are accurately represented by Mr. Pickering's system of orthography. The Grebo, on the contrary, has a great many difficult sounds that cannot accurately be represented by any combination of articulate sounds. Each vowel in this language has, besides its natural power, a corresponding long and short as well as nasal sound. The vowels in Mpongwe and Mandingo have none but their natural sounds, and such variations as are common to most European languages. The letters v and z are entirely wanting in the Mandingo and Grebo dialects, but are of more frequent use in the Mpongwe than almost any other consonants.' There are a good many consonant combinations, chiefly at the beginning of words, that deserve to be noticed. Some of these are common to all three of these dialects; some are peculiar to one. It may be remarked that although v is but once used in Grebo and z never, yet both of these letters are freely used in the Basa dialect which is closely allied to the Grebo. The following are common to all three, viz. ny and ng; ny is a natural and easy sound and commences a large number of words in all three dialects; ng is found at the beginning of a good many words, especially in the Grebo and Mandingo, and in this position is very difficult of pronunciation; but in the middle of a word the letters have their natural sounds, but are never separated. Mw, bw and ty are common to the Grebo and Mpongwe, though the two former occur but seldom in the Mpongwe, and the first not often in the Grebo. None (of a peculiar or unusual character) are common to the Grebo and Mpongwe. The following are so common, as the incipient letters of Mpongwe words, that they mark this dialect most decidedly; and, although they seldom or never occur at the commencement of Mandingo words, they are common in the middle syllables, viz. mb, as in the words mboa, dog; mboni, goat; mp as in mpolu, large; nd as in ndondwi, high; nk as in nkala, town; nj as in njōnga, the name of a man; nt as in ntondo, basket; nty as in ntyâni, shame; ngw as in ngwe, mother; gw as in gwi, where; fw and vw represent ing sounds intermediate to these component letters; zy as in zyele, is not; nl which represents a mixed sound of these two letters as in ininla, spirit. Ng in the middle of words is a favorite combination both with the Mandingo and Mpongwe. The following are peculiar to the Grebo and are found at the beginning of words, viz. ml as in mlěně, to swallow; hl as hla, to strike; hli, to speak; hy as in hya and hyĕiru, child, children: kh as khimi, small; kb as in kbuně, fashion, habit, etc. When kb is preceded by a vowel, the k unites itself with that and b has its natural sound, but when united at the beginning of a word, is very difficult of enunciation. ETYMOLOGY. Neither of these dialects has an article, definite or indefinite; the place of the indefinite article in the Mpongwe and Grebo, and probably in the Mandingo also, being supplied by the numeral for one. Thus, in Grebo, gnebwi du â nede, man one lived there, for a man lived there; and in the Mpongwe oma mári, person one, for a person. The want of a definite article in Grebo is supplied by the personal pronoun for he, thus gnebwi na, “person he,” for the person, and by the demonstrative pronouns něnu, this, and nânâ, that. In Mpongwe this deficiency is variously supplied by the definite pronoun yi, and more frequently by the demonstrative pronoun for this and that, as oma yinâ, this man, or oma yâná, that 1847.] Particles. 755 man, for the man. The article, as a distinct part of speech, is perhaps wanting in all the dialects of Western Africa. Prepositions. It has none to Prepositions in the Grebo are not numerous. correspond with to when reference to place is made; thus they say, á mu Bligi, he is gone Bligi, and never to Bligi; the language wants a word to correspond with our preposition with; thus they say, á hla âdui fă, he cut himself knife, instead of with a knife. Many prepositions in Grebo are compound words, one part of which goes before, the other follows the noun which they govern; thus, ko ná mâh, for him to, ko-mâh being one word. A simple uncompounded preposition almost always follows the noun it governs. Another peculiarity about the Grebo preposition is, that a large number of them are verbalized and inflected like any other verbs; thus, wo is used in the sense of from or come from, as the case may be; and in the past tense becomes woda, came from; and so hi, by, when verbalized, means to go by; so kwa, near, when inflected, kwada, near to or came near. The Mandingo prepositions like those of the Grebo, are but few, and with one exception, like them, follow the noun which they govern. Many of them are incorporated with the noun as affixes, but none of them are verbalized, like many in the Grebo. The Mpongwe has a much larger number of prepositions than either of the others; and what forms a marked difference between it and the other two dialects, is, that its prepositions invariably go before the nouns which they govern. Adverbs and Conjunctions. There is nothing of special importance to be noticed in connection with these parts of speech in either language. The adverb ye in the Grebo frequently assumes the inflections of the verb it qualifies, whilst the verb itself remains uninflected. It sometimes incorporates itself with the personal pronoun, as tâ mu for tě â mu, where is he gone? There are a large number of particles in all these languages, that are indiscriminately used as prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs, so that these parts of speech are not very distinctly marked, and cannot therefore be very important in showing the analogies existing among these dialects. Nouns. There are no inflections in either of these languages, to distinguish gender or case; but each has an inflection to distinguish the singular from the plural number. The gender in every case is made by coupling the word for man and woman with the noun; thus nyare nomi, man-cow for bull; idâmbe nyanto, woman-sheep for ewe. The nominative and the objective cases are always of the same form, and can be distinguished from each other by their relative position to the verb. The possessive case is formed in the Mandingo and Grebo by inserting the personal pronoun his between the nominative and the possessive, the nominative case always occupying the second place, Dwě-a-yu, Dwě, his son, for Dwe's, son. In Mpongwe, the definite pronoun, of which we shall have occasion to speak presently, is the connecting link, but the arrangement of the two cases is directly the reverse, thus, Onwa-wa-Dwě, i. e. the child it of Dwě, the definite pronoun always agreeing with the nomi native case. This is a point of important distinction between the Mpongwe and the other two dialects, the more so, as the usage on both sides is uniform and invariable. In Grebo, the plural is formed from the singular, generally, by a change in the final vowel; thus, hya, child, pl. hyě, children; blli, cow, pl. bllè, cows, etc. Sometimes there is not only a change of the final vowel, but an additional syllable so suffixed, thus, kai, house, in the plural, keyě, houses; the plural of yu, child, is iru. Both these examples must be considered exceptions, of which however there are very few. In general, the distinction between the singular and plural of Grebo nouns, is very slight, and many nouns are the same in both numbers; thus, blablě a sheep, pl. blable, sheep; and so wudi, goat, pl. wudě, goats, etc. In Mandingo, the plural is derived from the singular by suffixing lu, when the termination of the singular is in o; thus, When the final letter of the singular is not o, it is changed into it; thus, 1 In Grebo a is the same as â, his, but modified for the sake of euphony. 1847.] Grebo and Mandingo Nouns. 757 In some cases the adjective takes the inflection of the plural, whilst the noun to which it belongs remains in the singular number; thus, This is a peculiarity that does not belong to either of the other dialects. This dialect forms verbal nouns in several ways; the noun of instrument is formed by suffixing rango to the verb; thus, The noun of agency or office is formed from the verb by suffixing possessive pronouns for his or he; thus, from kanta, to keep, comes kantala, a keeper. There is another verbal noun formed by suffixing ro; thus, from sunya, to steal, comes sunyaro, theft. The points of resemblance between Grebo and Mandingo nouns, are, 1st, that the inflections to form the plural are always on the last syllable; and 2d, that both of them can form a noun of agency by suffixing the personal pronoun to the verb. The points in which they differ are, 1st, that Mandingo nouns, generally, terminate in o, whereas those of the Grebo are variable; 2d, that Mandingo nouns, generally, have one well marked mode of forming the plural, and that by affixing a separate syllable; whereas in Grebo, the plural, with few exceptions, is made by changing the final vowel into another vowel, and in many cases the distinction between the two numbers is scarcely perceptible; and 3d, that the Mandingo has a much greater variety and number of derivative or verbal nouns than the Grebo. These facts in connection with those already mentioned, viz. that there are no nouns common to both, and that the greater part of the Grebo nouns are monosyllables, whilst those of the Mandingo, with scarcely a single exception, are words of two, three, four and five syllables, show that there can be little or no affinity between these two dialects. But the Mpongwe branches off still farther, and shows conclusively, not only in relation to her nouns, but also in reference to her adjectives, pronouns, verbs and grammatical construction, as The Grebo does form a noun of agency in this way; thus, from nu, did, comes nud, the doer; but this is not much used in the language. |