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1 


^ 


I 


^.NGA- Bantu 
Grammar 





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-ar" ■- 

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1 



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' ''i 



MACKEY'S GRAMMAR 



OF THE 



BENGA-BANTU LANGUAGE. 



REVISED BY 

REV. R. H. NASSAU, D. D., 

\\ 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL 

SOCIETY, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL 

ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.. 



GABOON AND CORISCO MISSION, 
WEST AFRICA. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 

1892. 






Mi 



PREFACE. 



Recognizing that the task assigned me by the 
Mission was a revision, and not a new book, I have 
followed the order of the parts of speech as arranged 
in Mr. Mackey's Grammar. (" A Grammar of the 
Benga Language," by Rev. James L. Mackey, New 
York, 1855.) But on many points I have made ^ 
additions, enlarging and ^illustrating it. There are 
some alterations, but few corrections. The chief 
additions have been to the Noun and to the Verb : 
to the latter of which a correction is made in the 
form take^j^ as typical of the Passive Voice. The 
effort is made also to have the orthography consist- 
ent, by recognizing and calling into use the vocal 
coalescences so prominent in the Bantu languages. 

Acknowledgment is made to Tregelles' " Heads 
of Hebrew Grammar " for some suggestions and one 
or two quotations. 

But almost all the additions or alterations are 
from my own notes and suggestions, extending over 
many years and made at various times in confer- 
ences with different native assistants, and from 
original deductions and inferences in intervals of 
study. 



4 PREFACE. 

As giving succinctly the distinguishing features 
of the Bantu Family, to which the Benga belongs, 
the following copious extracts are made from Hove- 
lacque, who, in his " Science of Language *' (" The 
Science of Language, Linguistics, Philology, Ety- 
mology," by Abel Hovelacque. Translated by A. 
H. Keane, B. A. London : Clapham & Hall, 193 
Piccadilly, 1877. Chap. 4, pp. 44-58 et seq.), ar- 
ranges all forms of articulate speech into three 
groups : 

A. The Monosyllabic, Isolating Languages, e. g., 
Chinese. 

B. The Agglutinating, or Agglomerative. 

C. The Inflective, e. g., Hebrew. 

"Of all known languages, those that by their 
form belong to this second (B) class are by far the 
most numerous. Beyond all manner of doubt they 
belong to a great many stocks, veiy distinct, inde- 
pendent, and incapable of being reduced to a com- 
mon source While in the idioms of the first 

(A) class (Isolating: Chinese, Siamese, etc.) the 
words are invariably monosyllabic forms, following 
each other without the least fusion or connection, 
and each retaining its proper force, in those of the 
second (B) category, many elements are placed in 
close association, in a way agglutinating, or agglom- 
erating together, whence their name of "Aggluti- 
nating Languages." Of these diverse elements, one 
alone contains the leading idea, the main thought 



PREFACfi. 5 

or conception, the others losing their independent 
value altogether. , They certainly still retain a per- 
sonal or individual sense, but this is now entirely 

relative In any case, let us state at once that 

in the a^lutinating tongues there is no true declen- 
sion or conjugation ; the use of these terms, as well 
as of the corresponding words case^ nominative^ ac- 
cusative^ genitive^ and so on, .... is merely a con- 
ventional way of expressing oneself, not perhaps to 
be absolutely condemned, but yet to be taken with 
great reserve 

" Section 1 of the Agglutinating languages is the 
South African. (By * South African,' as here used, 
is understood the languages of the Hottentots and 
of the Bushmen only.) Subdivisions: (1) Hotten- 
tot ; (2) Bushmen. 

" Section 2. Languages of the African Negroes: 
(1) Woloflf, Senegal; (2) Mandingo Group, Sene- 
gambia; (3) Felup Group, Gambia; (4) Sonrai 
(Southeast of Timbuctoo) ; (5) Hausa, east of Niger ; 
(6) Bomu, west of Lake Chad ; (7) Kru Group, 
Qrebo, Bassa ; (8) Ewe Group, Toruba, Akra. 

" Section 3. The Bantu or Kafir Family y occu- 
pies a wide domain, roughly comprising the whole 
of the southeast of the continent, reaching south- 
wards to the neighborhood of the Cape, and north- 
wards a little beyond the Equator, where it meets 
the Ethiopian group of the Hamitic family, and the 
dialects of the negroes of Guinea, thus spreading 



6 I^REFACE. 

north and south over about one-half of the whole 
continent. 

" About one-fourth of the natives of Africa speak 
the various dialects of this family. These are very 
numerous, and are all derived from one common 
source, which .... is far from being the case with 
the languages spoken by the negro tribes in the 
centre and west of the continent. The mother- 
tongue of this great family is utterly unknown, but 
it may possibly yet be restored in all its essential 
grammatical and lexical features. 

" The general name of Kafir, often given to the 
Bantu family, is purely conventional. The word, 
which is Arabic and means infidel^ was at first ap- 
plied to all the tribes of Southeast Africa, but was 
gradually limited, until it has now come to be re- 
stricted to those stretching from the northeast of 
Cape Colony to Delagoa Bay. Hence it cannot 
with propriety be any longer applied to such lan- 
guages as the Ki-Suaheli, spoken in Zanzibar, or to 
the Fernandian, in the Gulf of Guinea. 

" The term Bantu is in every way preferable. It 
is the plural of a word meaning man ; has the sense 
of men, population, people, and may readily be ex- 
tended to the language itself. 

" The phonetic system of the whole family is one 
of the richest, nor is it lacking in harmony. As a 
rule, words are modified, not by suffixing, but by 
prefixing the various elements of relationship. 



PREFACE. 7 

" It i8 divided into three great branches, a West- 
em, a Central, and an Eastern, each of which is 
again subdivided into a number of minor groups. 
They are thus classified by Fr. Mtiller and Hahn : — 
Eastern Branch : languages of the Zanzibar district ; 
languages of the Zambesi ; Zulu-Kafir group. Cen- 
tral Branch: Sechuana and Tegeza. Western 
Branch : Kongo, Herero, etc .... 

" On the West or Atlantic coast, we find the Ban- 
tu system less prevalent than on the East coast. 
Northwards it stretches four or five degrees beyond 
the Equator, thus bordering on the languages of 
the negroes proper. 

" The northern division of this western branch 
comprises the dialects of Fernando Poy IstibUy Benga, 
Mpongwe, Dikele, and Kongo ^ which last is the most 
important of the group. ^ 

" More to the south are the Bunda (in Angola), 
Benguela, Londa^ and Herero^ about 19 degr. south 
latitude, and reaching southwards as far as the Hot- 
tentot-Namaqua dialect .... 

" The phonetics of the Bantu family call for no 
particular remark, except that the rowels are liable 
to contraction, to euphonic suppressions, and to 
other rather numerous variations, but always in 
accordance with well-determined principles. In 
this respect the Kafir idioms are more refined than 
many other agglutinating tongues, instances occur- 
ring in them of true vowel harmony, that is, of the 



8 PREFACE. 

vowel of one syllable assimilating to that of another 
in the same word. 

" The consonantal system seems somewhat com- 
plex, owing to the great number of double conso- 
nants, whose first element is a nasal ; nt, nd, mp, 
etc. 

" On the other hand, we again meet here with 
some of the click letters of the Hottentot phonetics. 
The Kafirs seem to have borrowed them from their 
Hottentot neighbors, as they occur in those Kafir 
dialects only that border on the Hottentot domain, 
as, for instance, in those of the Zulu branch. The 
farther we proceed from this neighborhood, the less 
frequent these letters become ; hence they do not 
occur at jiU in Mpongwe or Benga . . . The num- 
ber of other consonants is very considerable. They 
are subject to fixed euphonic laws, and interchange 
regularly between the various members of the Bantu 
family, a great many of such coincidences being 
already well known and determined. (Bleek : * A 
Comparative Grammar of South African Languages.' 
London, 1869.) .... All these languages have this 
in common, that the word is built up by elements 
not suffixed, but prefixed to the principal root. Of 
these prefixes, some denote the singular, others 
the plural .... These various formative prefixes of 
course differ in the various idioms of the Bantu 
family, but they all nevertheless derive from older 
common forms. At some unknown period there 



PREFACE. 



existed a common Bantu tongue, which subsequent- 
ly broke up into different dialects, all characterized 
by special euphonic laws. Hence the various pre- 
fixes of this primitive speech were naturally modi- 
fied in the various idioms derived from it 

" Subjoined is a table of the singular and plural 
forms of the word * Bantu' in some of the lan- 
guages in question : 





Singular* 


Plural. 


Ki-Suaheli 


mtu 


watu 


Ki-Nita 


mutu 


atu 


Ki-Kamba 


mundu 


andu 


Ki-Sambala 


muntu 


wantu 


Ki-Hiau 


mundu 


vandu 


Sena 


muntto 


vanttu 


Makua 


mtittu 


attu 


Kafir 


umntu 


abantu 


Zulu 


umuntu 


abantu 


Sehlapi 


mothu 


bathu 


Sesuto 


motu 


batu 


Tegeza 


amuno 


vano 


Herero 


omundu 


ovandu 


Sindonga 


umtu 


vantu 


Nano 


omuno 


omano 


Angola 


omutu 


oatu 


Kongo 


omuntu 


oantu 


Benga 


moto 


bato 


Dualla 


motu 


batu 



" The adjective is formed with the same deriva- 



10 PREFACE. 

tive element as the noun- it qualifies, or, if there be 
a difference, it is at least very slight. Thus, ' n6n6' 
in Benga being greats and the word *elombo,* 
things being * belombo ' in the plural, * elombo 
enfine,' great thing; 'belombo benene/ great 
things. In a word, the adjective necessarily agrees, 
even in its formation, with its noun. Thus the 
word *nen6,' great, may, in a sentence, have four 
or five different prefixes, if it happen to be repeated 
so many times, as qualifying so many words also 
formed by means of those prefixes. This process is 
common to all the members of the Bantu family, 
whence the title of * alliteral ' languages which has 
been given them. 

"The methods which express the relations of 
mood and tense seem, at first sight, somewhat in- 
tricate, but are really quite simple, consisting, as is 
usual in agglutinating tongues, in tacking indepen- 
dent particles on to the principal root. But, as 
already stated, the special feature of the Bantu fam- 
ily is the formation of words by means of prefixes, 
hence the secondary elements are here placed, not 
after, but before, the chief radical." 



PREFACE. 



II 



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BEMGA GRAMMAR. 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 

ALPHABET. 

The sounds used in the Benga language may all 
be expressed by the following signs : 

a, a, b, d, e, 6, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, s, t, u, 
^, w, y. 

In the adjacent Kombe and Mpongwe tribes, r 
is a very prevalent sound. Also ch, sh, and zh, rep- 
resented respectively by ty, sy, and zy. 

VOWELS. 

The vowels are four short, a, e, 6, i ; and three 
long, d, o, u. 

a sounded as a in far, e. g., kalaka, speak thou. 



a 


<( 


a 


law, '* 


tandaka, love thou. 


e 


<( 


e 


they, 


en^, arm. 


g 


t( 


e 


met. " 


kw61ek6, chop thou. 


i 


t( 


• 

1 


maohine, <' 


ipivia, thought. 





(( 





note, *• 


ikogo. shoe. 


u 


(i 


oo 


moon, * ' 


itutu, smoke. 



14 BENGA GRAMMAR. 



DIPHTHONGS. 



The diphthongs are formed by prefixing to any 
other vowel, long or short, the short vowel a. 

EXAMPLES. 

ai sounded as i in pine, e. g., Paia, my father. 

ae •* i " " t^kae, this. 

au " as ow in how, '• maupa, dews. 

ao •• ow •• •• Paia- o, my father. 

CONSONANTS. 

The simple consonant sounds are expressed by 
b, d, f, g, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, y ; each of 
these letters has one well-defined sound. 

Note. — g is always hard ; y preceded by a be- 
comes a vowel, and the resultant combination is 
represented by the diphthong ai, e. g., mba yowe 
(spoken mbaiyowe), I do not know. 

COMBINED CONSONANTS. 

There are some peculiar sounds which can only 
be expressed by combinations of consonants. These 
are found, for the most part, at the beginning of 
words. 



Also, 



EXASfPLRR. 


bw, AS in 


bwalo, canoe. 


mb, *' 


mboka, town. 


uj. •• 


njea, path. 


mw, '• 


mwanga, a garden. 


ng. *• 


ngowa, hog. 


kw, * * 


kw§16, to chop. 


ngw. " 


bangwe, father. 


mbw, *' 


mbwedi, captive. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 1 5 

These are nothing more, however, than the com- 
bined sounds of the component simple consonants, 
and are easily remembered and pronounced after 
being heard a few times. It may assist one begin- 
ning to allow a half-suppressed initial vowel sound, 
somewhat after the manner of a Hebrew vocal 
sh'va. 

EXAMPLES- 

mboka, &8 if umboka. 
ngowa, •' iDgowa. 

When ng* appears in other than the first syllable 
of a word, its proper sound is not readily caught by 
most foreigners. Example : hangw6. The mistake 
is usually made of dividing the syllables as if they 
were thus, hang-we, precisely as in the English 
word "singer." But there is no such sound in 
Benga. (There is, most abundantly, in Mpongwe ; 
and it is represented by the sign n). The proper 
sound for ng* in Benga, as in Mpongwe also, may be 
readily obtained by noticing the nasal reduplica- 
tion, of which one's own nose is conscious, in slow- 
ly and firmly pronouncing the English word " fin- 
ger." The ng* in hangwe will therefore be pro- 
nounced as if it were spelled in English, hang-ngwe, 
the ng being doubled after the manner of a He- 
brew dagesh forte. 

CONTRACTIONS. 

Invariably every. Benga word ends in a vowel; 
many of them also begin with a vowel. Hence it 



1 6 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

frequently happens that two vowels come together, 
one ending and one beginning a word. When .this 
is the case, in most instances, either (1) one of the 
vowels is elided, or (2) a coalescence of the two oc- 
curs, forming a new sound. 

EXAMPLES OF CONTRACTION BT ELISION. 

ESkg o nhgkg, go to the beach. 
Elided K6k' o 'h6k6. 

VSkg umba epokolo, give me a hat. 
Elided Vgkg 'mba 'pokolo. 

EXAMPLES OF CONTBACTION BY COALESCENCE. 

Koho iitg, many parrots ; pronounciid Kob* wit6. 
Ndabo eyamu, a good house ; *' Ndab' weyam*. 

Sometimes also there may be both elision and 
coalescence in the same word : — e. g., Ndabo edve, 
thy house, is first elided into ndabo 'ave, and then 
coalesced into ndab* wav6. But in our Benga books 
such instances of coalescence as ndabw&ve, though 
properly so pronounced, are not so written ; such 
phonetics would be inconsistent with the beautiful 
symmetiy of the language. The words are written 
ndabo 'ave, and the reader learns very readily to 
apply the coalescence by the following rules : 

Rule 1st. When either of the three long vowels 
is final and followed by itself or any other vowel, 
long or short, the resultant sound is w. 

EXAMPLES. 

(1) A fiual long vowel followed by itself, Etaka 'ave, thy fam- 
ily, pronounced etakwave. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 1 7 

(2) A final loDg vowel followed by a short vowel, Jambo iyamS 
a good affair, pronounced jambwiyam'. 

(3) A final long vowel followed by another long vowel, Upu- 
Inngu *ave, thy cave, pronounced upulnngwave. 

Eule 2d. Wlien either of the four short vowels 
(except a) is final and followed by another vowel, 
long or short, the resultant sound is y. 



EXAMPLES. 



e a ) ( ^'^ ) ( 

e a y written -J Sa > pronounced -I 

i e ) ( 16 ) ( 



ya 



Exception (1), a before another short vowel, 
wherever located, becomes a diphthong ai, e. g., 
tekae, this ; mbambag, truly ; paia, father. 

Exception (2), a before a long vowel, wherever 
located, becomes a diphthong on ; e. g., maupa, 
dews, as if moupa ; Paia O ! oh ! my father, as if 
Paiou. 

There is no rule to indicate, in a given collision 
of any two vowels, in which of the two ways, elision 
or coalescence, the contraction shall occur. But a 
reader's ear soon learns from the harmony of the 
language what is the proper pronunciation in the 
case. 

The chief difficulty is in understanding the words 
when spoken, the contractions being of such fre- 
quent occurrence. Sometimes a whole sentence is 
spoken as if it formed but one word ; and it is diffi- 
cult, without considerable knowledge of the language, 
to detect the words of which it is made up ; e. g., 

BengK Grnnimar. 2 



1 8 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

E le epokolo ea nja ekae? Whose hat is this? is 
spoken, Elepokolan jakai ? 

There are also contractions caused by dropping 
of an entire syllable, e. g., mwana-mwajo, daughter 
(literally, woman-child), contracted, mwa'-mwajo ; 
mbi valandi, I 'm going ; contracted, mb* 'alandi. 

• ACCENT. 

The accent is almost always on the penult. 

EXAMPLES. 

I->£a-du, a hand ; v^-ke, give ; e-ja-nga-na-if^-bo, a book ; le- 
va-i»-de, show. 

Exception 1. Verbs followed by a monosyllabic 
objective. 

EXAMPLE. 

Y^Jke 'mba, give me ; Levaki<// ma, show him. 

Here the accent is carried forward to the last 
syllables ke and d6. But indeed this exception ie 
only apparent, and would disappear if the pronom- 
inal objectives 'mba and ma were written, as in He- 
brew, as suffixes to their verbs, thus ; v6k6mba, le- 
vakidemd. 

Exception 2. The word beja, food, and perhaps 
a few others, like miba, water, and diba, marriage, 
seem to accentuate the last syllable. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. J9 

ETYMOLOGY. 

NOUNS. 

Nouns have distinct forms to indicate their num- 
ber and classification, but none to show their gen- 
der or case. 

NUMBER. 

There are two numbers, the singular and the 
plural, indicated by their initial syllables. 

1. But a large list of nouns has only one form to 
express both the singular and the plural, e. g., pavo, 
knife; payo, knives; mbanja, a bamboo; mbanja, 
bamboos. 

2. Some nouns have two forms for their plural, 
the singular remaining the same. 

EXAMPLES 

mboka, town { ^^^^^^ [towns 

njea.path { ^jea }p^^^« 
ndabo, house { ^^^^^^1^^ [houses 

3. The names of liquids and other nouns of 
quantity are always used in the plural form and 
take plural adjuncts, e. g., miba, water; mavule, 
oil ; makandd, sap. 

CLASSDIOATION. 

The classification of nouns depends upon the 



20 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

manner in which they form their plurals and take 
their adjuncts. 

1st. Nouns which form their plurals in a similar 
manner are arranged together in one class. These 
are found, without exception, to take similar ad- 
juncts. There are thirteen modes of forming plu- 
rals in the language ; so this • rule, strictly adhered 
to, woum lead to the formation of thirteen classes. 

2d. But the number of classes may be reduced 
to eight, by uniting under a class all nouns whose 
singular takes like adjuncts, though their plurals 
may not be similarly formed. 

The above and the meaning of the word adjunct, 
or " vinculum," will be clearly understood by com- 
paring the tables of nouns and pronominal prefixes 
given under each class of nouns. 

GENDER. 

The natural gender is indicated by attaching to 
the noun the words momo, man, or mwajo, woman. 

EXAMPLES. 

i . . A. ^wa?«-°^omo ) ^ man-child, i. e. , a son. 
(contracted) mwa'-momo j 

. . . ^x n^^ana-mwajo j ^ woman-child, i. e. , a daughter, 
(contracted) mwa'-mwajo J 

The form used to indicate the gender of irra- 
tional animals is different, e. g., momi mwa kuba, 
male of chicken, i. e., cock ; mwadi mwa tomba, fe- 
male of goat. 

Inanimate objects have no gender. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 21 

CASE. 

Subjects and objects are known, as in English, 
by their position in a sentence. But the possessive 
case is always preceded by a compound adjunctive 
particle which answers in signification to the prep- 
osition " of," e. g. : 

ub&ki mua Tonda. • 

axe of Tonda, i. e., Tonda's axe. 
ele ea buda. 
tree of kuda, i. e., a kuda tree. 

CLASSES OF NOUNS. 

FIBST GLASS. 

This very large class comprises all nouns com- 
mencing with e and y : the plural is formed by 
changing those letters into be. 





EXAMPLES OF E. 




Singular. Plural. 


Hat 


epokolo bepokolo 


Arm 


ena bena 


Tree 


ele bele 




EXAMPLES OF Y. 




singular. Plural. 


FTeat 


yomu beomu 


A flat basket 


yapa beapa 


A large family fetish yaka beaka 


A peculiar-shaped boat yalo bealo 


Yam 


yoma beoma 



Note. — If, as the harmony of the language would 
allow, it were agreed to write this second list of ex- 



22 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

amples thus : eoma, eapa, etc., the pronunciation 
would be unchanged, and this entire first class would 
then have for its initial letter only the letter e, with 
the single exception of the name for the Supreme 
Being, Anyambe, whose plural is beanyambd. 

EXAMPLE OF ADJUNCT OF THE FIRST CLASS OF_ NOUNS. 

Sing • Tree of life, Ele { ^^^^^ ^^ \ 'mgnS. 
Plural Trees of life, Bele { 1%^^ ^^^^ \ 'mgnS. 

SECOND CLASS. 

This class comprises all nouns beginning with i^ 
dl, and J. The plurals are formed by (1) changing 
the first syllable into ma ; (2) by substituting for the 
initial letter the letter m. 



EXAMPLES OF 


(I). 




Sing. 


Plural. 


Hand 


ikadu 


makadu 


Shoulder 


ibekg 


mabSkS 


Egg 


dike 


makg 


Ear 


dita 


mata 


Door 


jambe 


mambe 


Boil 


Jala 


mala 



EXAMPLES OF (2). 

Sing. Plural. 

Afiair jambo mambo 

•Sun joba moba 

Eye diha mih& 

Name dina mina 

Fire-plaoe diya miya 

But there are some exceptions. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 23 

EXAMPLES. 

Sing. Plural. 
Dew j^^P^^ manpa 
Ten jomu mabo 

Note 1. Under this second class are regularly 
inflected the cardinals from 2 to 5 inclusive. 

ibale ; Two hands. makadn mabale 

ilalo; Three •* ** malalo 

inai ; Four " " manai 

itano; Five ** '* matano 

Note 2. Those nouns which are names of liquids 
and not used in the singular, belong to the plural 
of this class ; e. g., milk, many&nga ; rum, maku ; 
blood, makiya ; water, miba (old form maiba). 

Note 3. Some nouns beginning with i change 
this letter into lo for the plural ; these belong to 
the seventh class, which see. 





EXAMPLES. 






Singular. 


Plural. 


Bird 


inani 


lonani 


Place 


iboko 


loboko 


Pepper 


ikadada 


lokadada 


Spider 


ibobeli 


lobobeli 



EXAMPLE OF ADJUNCT OF THE SECOND CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. Name of Jesus. Dina ja Jisu. 

PI. Names of Jesus. Mina ma Jisu. 

THIRD CLASS. 

The third class of nouns comprises all (except 
verbal nouns of agency) beginning with u and inw 
(equivalent mu). To form the plural, they change 
those letters into me. 



24 BENGA GRAMMAR. 





EXAMPLES. 




Singular. Plural. 


Axe 


ubaki mebaki 


Garden 


mwanga meanga 


Female 


mwadi meadi 




EXCEPTIONS. 




Singular. Plural. 


Head 


molo meolo 


Male 


momi meomi 



EXAMPLE OF THE ADJUNCT OF THE THIRD CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. Garden of plantains, Mwanga mua bekai. 
PI. Gardens *< Meanga mea bekai. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

The fourth class comprises all the nouns begin- 
ning with bo (equivalent bw); and the plural is 
formed by changing into me either (1) bo (bw) or 
(2) b alone. 

EXAMPLES OF (l). 

Sing. Plural. 

Orange bolohi melohi 

Canoe bwalo mealo 

Medicine bwanga meanga 

EXAMPLES OF (2). 

Sing. Plural. 

Face boho meoho 

Rainy season boka meoka 

Exceptions : Buhwa, day, belongs to this fourth 
class in the singular, but the plural, hwi, which is 
irregular, takes its adjunct with the singular of the 
second class. Bobe, sin, belonging to this fourth 
class in the singular, has its plural, mabe, like the 
plural of the second class. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 2$ 

EXAMPLE OP ADJUNCT OF THE FOURTH CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. Canoe of a stranger, Bwalo boa mwengi. 
PI. Canoes " ** Mealo mea mwengi. 

FIFTH CLASS. 

This class consists of the very large number of 
the verbal nouns of agency, whose initial letter is 
u ; the plural is formed by changing u into ba. 

EXAMPLES. 

Singular. Plural. 

Builder ulongi balongi 

Fisher uhombwedi bahombwedi 

Saviour uyongi bayongi 

EXAMPLE OF ADJUNCT OF THE FIFTH CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. The builder of a house, Ulongi mna ndabo. 
PI. The builders '* " Balongi ba ndabo. 

SIXTH CLASS. 

A few nouns, names of rational beings, begin- 
ning with mo and mi/v (equivalent mu) constitute 
a sixth class. They form their plural by changing 
mo into ba and mw (mu) into b. They are thus 
separately constituted from the fifth class because 
of the form n6 they take in their adjunct of the 
definite demonstrative pronoun, which see. 





EXAMPLES. 






Singular. 


Plural. 


Person 


moto 


bato 


Man 


momo 


bamo 


Woman 


mwajo 


bajo 


Child 


mwana 


bana 



26 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Mwada, wife, is irregular in its plural bajo. 
Query : Is polygamy thus wrought into the very 
language itself? 

EXAMPLE OF ADJUNXT OF THE SIXTH CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. Man of sorrows, Momo ua betuniya. 
PL Men of ' ' Bamo ba betuniya. 

SEVENTH CLASS. 

The seventh class comprises diminutives and all 
other nouns beginning with ri. The plural is 
formed by changing (1) v into 1, (2) vi into 1, (3) 
vi into lo. 



EXAMPLES OF (l). 






Singular. 


Plural. 


River 


viho 


liho 


Torch 


vitwa 


litwa 


Nose 


vijo 


lijo 


EXAMPLES OF (2). 






Singular. 


Plural. 


Song 


viembo 


lembo 


Salt 


vianga 


langa 


Lime-fruit 


viaha 


laha 



EXAMPLES OF (3). 

Singular. ~ Plural. 

A little thing vilolombo lololombo 
A small fish vijajaka lojajaka 

A little piece vipupuhu lopupuhu 

The exceptions mentioned in note (3) of the 
second class of nouns, beginning with I, but which 
make their plural in lo, belong to this seventh 
class, e. g., inani, bird ; plural, lonani (not man&ni). 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 2^ 

EXAMPLE OF ADJUNCT OF THE SEVENTH CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sing. Song of praise, Viembo via ibenda. 
PI. Songs " Lembo la ibenda. 

EIGHTH CLASS. 

The eighth class embraces all nouns which un- 
dergo no change to form the plural. But they are 
declinable in their adjuncts, taking in the singular 
the adjunct of the singular of class first, and in the 
plural the adjunct of the singular of class second. 

Examples : mbanja, bamboo ; fato, stocking ; 
tomba, goat ; kuba, chicken ; pele, way ; nyanga, 
sake. 

Note 1. Pele and nyanga are used sometimes as 
nouns and sometimes as adverbial phrases in con- 
nection with the preposition o. 

EXAMPLES AS NOUNS. 

O pSle 'pakw§ ea viho, On the other side of the river. 

pel* eyamu, In a good way. 

A wakind' o nyang' 'ahu, He died for onr sake. 

EXAMPLES AS ADVERBIAL PHRASES. 

O pSl' *am§. About me. 

nyang* 'ame, As fur as I am concerned. 

Note 2. Some nouns belonging to this eighth 
class have a second form for the plural, taking the 
plural adjunct of the second class. 

EXAMPLE. 

Siug., Adjunct. PI., Adjunct. 

House, Ndabo, enjj^^*^?', J^ 
' ' ' ] mandabo, ma 



28 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

EXAMPLE OF ADJUNCT OF THE EIGHTH CLASS OF NOUNS. 

Sinf(. Chicken of my friend, Euba ea mbwe< 'ame. 
PI. Chickens " " Euba ja mbwe* *ame. 

DERIVATIVES. 

At least five kinds of nouns may be derived from 
verbs or from other nouns. 

1. ABSTRACT NOUNS. 

These are derived from the second person sin- 
gular imperative of the verb, by dropping the last 
syllable and prefixing i. 

EXAMPLES. 

Longaka, build thou. Ilonga, building. 
Langaka, read thou. Ilanga, reading. 

Kalaka, talk thou. Ikala, talking. 

These nouns all belong to class second, both in 
singular and plural. 

2. NOUNS OF AGENCY. 

These are formed from the second person sin- 
gular imperative of the verb, by dropping the last 
syllable, changing the vowel which precedes it to i, 
and prefixing u. 

EXAMPLES. 

Longaka, build thou. Ulongi, a builder. 
Langaka, read thou. Ulangi, a reader. 

Ealaka, talk thou. Ukali, a talker. 

These nouns all belong to class fifth, both in the 
singular and plural. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 29 

3. NOUNS OP MODE OB MANNER. 

These are formed by changing u of the noun of 
agency into i, and suffixing di, 

EXAMPLES. 

Ulongi, a builder. IloDgidi, mode of building. 
UlaDgi, a reader. Ilangidi, way of reading. 

Ukali, a talker. Ikalidi, manner of talking. 

These nouns all belong to class second both in 
singular and plural. 

4. NOUNS OF PLACE OR LOCALITY. 

These are formed by adding to the abstract 
noun the syllables nido. 

EXAMPLES. 

Ilonga, a building. Ilonganido, site for a house. 

Ihamba, a price. Ihambanido, a market-place. 

Ijabua, fording. Ijabwanido, a ford. 

These nouns all belong to class second both in 
singular and plural. 

5. NOUNS OF DIMINUTION. 

These are formed (1) from nouns beginning with 
a vowel by changing this vowel to vl, and redupli- 
cating the second syllable, (2) from nouns begin- 
ning, with a consonant, by^ prefixing vi and redu- 
plicating the first syllable. 

EXAMPLES OF (l). 

Singular. Plural. 
Food, eja ; a little food, vijaja, lojaja. 
Hand| ikadu ; a small hand, vikakadu, lokakadu. 

EXAMPLES OF (2). 

Door, jambe ; A small door, vijajambe lojajambe. 
House, ndabo ; A small house, vindandabo londandaV >. 



30 BENGA. GRAMMAR. 

These nouns all belong to class seventh both in 
singular and plural. 

6. NOUNS OF INTENSITY. 

They express the quaUty of the noun in the 
greatest degree. Formed by redupUcating any 
noun, and suffixing e, e. g., motomotwe, a real 
man ; ndabondabwe, a very fine house ; ekalikalifi, 
simply talking, i. e., gabbling. 

See also other forms of verbal nouns under note 
to the paradigm of verbs and their species. Thus : 

From the relative species Kalakiya, speak for 
or to. 

EXAMPLES. 

Kind of noun 1. Ikaliya, prayer. 

2. Ukaliyi, one who prays. 
5. Vikakaliya, a little, prayer. 

From the reciprocal species, Kalanaka, speak 
together. 

EXAMPLES. 

Kind of noun I Ikalana, conversation. 

2. Ukalani, one who converses. 

3. Ikalanidi, way of conversing. 
5. Vikakalana, a little conversation. 









ADJECTIVES. 

Adjectives have number and classification, but 
they have neither case nor gender, and no proper 
degrees of comparison. 

NUMBEB AND CLASS— INFLECTION. 

Adjectives have a singular and plural form, and 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 3 1 

they are also inflected so as to agree in class with 
the nouns which they qualify. 

The following examples exhibit a noun of each 
class joined with the adjective " good " in the sin- 
gular and plural. 

1st i ^^°S- C^ood hat, epokolo eyamn. 

I PI. Good hats, bepokolo beyamu. 

Q^ r Sing. Good boat-landiug, ibongo iyamii. 

\ PI. Good boat-landings, roabongo mayamu. 

g J f Sing. Good axe, nbaki uyamu. 

I PI. Good axes, mebaki meynmu. 

^., j Sing. Good face, boho boyamu. 

I PL Good faces, meoho meyamn. 

5th i ^^^S- Good builder, ulongi uyamtL 

I PI. . Good builders, balongi bayamu. 

g.i ( Sing. Good person, moto uyamu. 

I PI. Good persons, bato bayamu, 

„. V 1 Sing Good candle, vitwa viyamu. 

1 PI. Good caudles, litwa loyamu. 

«.| j Sing. Good house, ndabo eyamu. 

I PI. Good houses, ndabo iyamu. 

We find here the forms eyam*, beyam* ; uyam*, 
mayam* ; uyam*, meyam*, etc., which the adjective 
yamu takes to agree with a noun of each class. 

All the adjectives, with a few exceptions noted 
below, and possessive and adjective pronouns, are 
inflected in the same manner. 

Exception (1.) A few adjectives are not inflected, 
but are used in connection with the nouns which 
they qualify, without any variation of their simple 
root form, e. g., nyevi, nice ; kena, excessive. 

Exception (2.) The cardinals from 6 to 9 inclu- 
sive, utoba, hembwedi, logwambi, ibuwa. 



32 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

COMPARISON. 

Objects are compared (1) by a circumlocution, 
(2) by merely stating the quality of the object 
which possesses the particular quality in the high- 
est or lowest degree, (3) by peculiar intonation and 
emphasis. 

To aid in expressing comparative and superla- 
tive degrees, the verb keba, to surpass, and the 
adverb wa, more, are frequently used. 

EXAMPLES IN COMPARATIVE DEGREE. 

My hat is better than yours. 
Epokol* 'aine e kebakgnd' eavS. 
(LiteraUy) Hat my it excels yours. 

This is a larger fish than that 
Ejaka tSkae e ud* euene wa na 'kae. 
(Literally) Fish this it is large more with that. 

Ogula is older than Komba. 
Eomba ua Ogula ; Ogur a nd' utodu. 
(Literally) Eomba and Ogula ; Ogula he is old. 

EXAMPLES IN SUPERLATIVE DEGREE. 

My hat is the best of all. 
Epokol' 'am§ e kebakendi beehepi. 
(Literally) Hat my it surpasses all [hats]. 

This is the largest fish I have ever seen. 
Ekae nd* ejaka *nene metS eame eha yene n' ivakwS. 
(laterally) This is fish large very mine which not seen before. 

The Bible is the best of books. 
£ible e nd' ejanganangobo eyam' wa na beSh^pi. 
(Literally) Bible it is book good more with all [books]. 

Emphasis and intonation are used to indicate 
extremes in quantity and quality ; precisely as in 
English we express ecstasy of grief or joy, admira- 
tion or detestation, by an emphatic prolongation of 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 33 

a syllable, e. g., beau-u-tiful ! hor-r-rible ! But the 
native African must be he^rd to appreciate the 
exaggeration of his u-ya-a-a-m*, exceedingly good ! 
e*.ne-6-e-ne, exceedingly great ! 

The list of adjectives in Benga is very short, 
for such common words as good, yamu ; bad, be ; 
large, nen6 ; small, hdle ; special, huhu ; many, ite ; 
black, vindo, etc. But this paucity is supplied by 
the constant use of substantive-adjectives. 

SUBSTANTIVES FOR ADJECTIVES. 

A very frequent construction (somewhat after 
the manner of the Hebrew " hill of holiness," holy 
hill) is to ascribe to a given noun the quality, ma- 
terial, possession, attribute, or habit of some other 
noun, the two nouns being connected by the proper 
class-agreeing prepositional adjunct of the first or 
qualified noun. 

Examples : "Ancient people " is expressed thus: 
bato ba vyo. Here the attribute (age) of the noun 
vyo, ago, is ascribed to the noun bato, people, by 
the sixth class vinculum ba belonging to bato. 

New cloth, unamba muca kya ; literally, cloth of now. 
High bill, ukodl mu* udomba ; literally, hill of height. 

NUMEBAL ADJECTIVES. 

The manner of counting in Benga is strictly 
decimal. And the spoken word is illustrated and 
emphasized by a regular and systematic show of 
the same number of the speaker's fingers of either 
hand. 

Uenf^a Grftniniar. "l 



34 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



hi 
<l 

H 

<l 

D 



CQ 



O 
52; 

O 

» 






<e« V 






O 



»~.»^ —^ 'rm f^ 



is. 



c a 



11 

fl s fi a 



If 

Vl'» W 



iw 



)5*S 



0,0 



«d 






StfiJ.'Sa ti P- 



4>9 



<(di2 0.^ 



U eS 



S-=a 



'S: o o o o 



eS 98 

c s 



4J 



£3 08 03 ^ 08 



3i2 



o 



S OS'S * § 
S cS e3 08 e8 



<d 08 
C 08 

- e8 

dd 



d 

^ 



an - 



o 

■rt SS 08 2 o3 
^A,S d-M 

-f a> a> « » 



0) 

e8 03 
d d 



o o a> o) 



dsssa 



- 08 
d d 






So.^ 



o 

* c3 



O 
^ ■« 



.* rj s d 

.1^ 63 08 08 o3 

.' «, s s s s 



o3«e«A 
<d-d^ 08 
^ s8<(d d 

~">'~'d d aj dj « 



« a3 



S3 08 
;;^£,d d-M •o 

«d S^ 9^ $ S d 
V A .o jo jo .r: 



08 > 

d 



<D o 

^ .0 ™ C -S 

<ce $ 0) a> o 

c8 ti 08 ^ ^ 

a d d d d 



0? V 



08 eSS 

d d (u 



S 2S 55*3 2 5 
08 w 98 08 A 08 

sssass 






U 
«d 

a; 

08 

d 







«? 


m 


1-3 


s 


-«J 


P5 


s 


M 


*i 


S 











<4 



So 

5:s 




3il|£i§Biiaiii|iii|i|||||||i 

-- « +j oj s' rs ws--. oQoooooooddsdddddddc 



dddddddd 



ddddddddddes 



dSddCdddCa«C8OT««WOTTOCag 

'O o o o o o o o o d ScSSSSSS BU 






0000 




rH O O 
000 



rH O 



. BENGA GRAMMAR. 35 

In the preceding table, it will be perceived that 
the numerals from 1 to 5 inclusive are inflected as 
common adjectives to agree with the nouns which 
they qualify^ From 6 to 9 inclusive they are inde- 
clinable. 

Ten and its multiples are used as round num- 
bers, and the nouns which they qualify are con- 
strued after them connected by the regular class- 
prepositional vinculum or adjunct. Thus, "one 
hat " is epokolo eaka ; but " ten hats " is jom* ja 
bepokolo, literally "ten of hats." "Twenty hats" 
is mabo ma bepokolo mabale, literally " tens of hats 
two." " Thirty hats," mabo ma bepokolo malalo ; 
literally, " tens of hats three. 

When a given number of things includes units, 
tens, and hundreds, the noun is repeated for each 
repetition of the qualifying numeral adjective. 
Thus : 

One hundred and six people. 
Kama ea bato paka, na bato utoba. 
(Literally) Hundred of people one, and people six. 

Two hundred and ten people. 
Kama ja bato ibale, na jomu ja bato jaka. 
(Literally) Hundreds of people two, and ten of people one. 

Seven hundred and twenty-five people. 

Kama ja bato hembwedi, na mabu ma bato mabale, na 

bato batano. 
(Literally) Hundreds of people seven, and tens of people two, and 

people five. 

But in common conversation all this is abbrevi- 



36 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

ated by uttering the noun only when the units are 
finally named. Thus : 

Kama hSmbwedi na maba mabale ua bato batano. 
(Literally) Hundreds seven and tens two and people five. 

This may be still further abbreviated by drop- 
ping the conjunction na, except at the final utter- 
ing of the unit. Thus : 

Twelve hundred and thirty-four people. 
Tajen paka kama ibale mabu malalo ua bato banai. 
(Literally) Thousand one, hundreds two,' tens three, and people 
four. 

In the veiy common native African colloquial 
mode of expressing a numeral by exhibiting the 
number of fingers indicating it, the hearer is ex- 
pected to name the adjunct of the class of noun to 
which the indicated number belongs. 

For 1, the speaker lifts up an index finger ; for 
2, the first and second fingers only ; for 3, the sec- 
ond, third, and fourth fingers only ; for 4, the four 
fingers, the thumb being hidden ; for 5, the closed 
fist. 

Thus, if a man going on a journey is asked how 
many days he will be absent, and intends to be ab- 
sent, perhaps, four days, he will reply, " Hwi di," 
(days so), at the same time holding up four fingers ; 
and the interrogator is expected to say, " Inai " 
(four). 

So, also, if there be three axes, and the question 
be, Mebaki meningS ? how many axes ? the reply 



benga grammar. 3; 

is, "Me," with three fingers up; me being the 
plural adjunct of the class third of nouns to which 
mebaki belongs. 

In narration, and very graphically in the telling 
of pa (a summary of incidents told immediately 
after arrival from a journey), this method of num- 
bering is chiefly used ; and it is remarkable with 
what facility hundreds, tens, and units can be rep- 
resented, with no fear on the part of the narrator 
of bemg misunderstood. 

OBDINAL NTJMBEBS. 

The Benga language has no proper series of 
ordinal numbers. But a regular series may bo 
formed in the same manner that some of the neigh- 
boring tribes form their ordinals, i. e., by prefixing 
to the cardinal series the prepositional vinculum 
corresponding to and qualifying the noun thus num- 
bered. In this series, however, bohoboho (face-to- 
face — " the fore ") is used instead of pakd. 

The forms for ordinals used with nouns of the 
several classes would be as follows : 



38 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



09 

a 



00 



B 

be 

o 



fii 



H 

P 






CO 






»c 



^ O O O 

O C fl 

5 o3 e« 08 

n 4^ 4-> '«iX 

*» o8 « a 

^ a a a 



o o 
fl a 



o 
a 

e3 



O 

a 

00 



o -c 



^4< 'rj cd oS ^ 

I e a a fl 

' ? c3 Qi a> 

^ a a a 



-s 


-a 


a 


fl 


Oj 


ClJ 


£ 


£ 



03 

O 






Pis 




o 2 o o 

■3 ^ ^ ^ 

.— 03 o a> 

^ a a a 



o o 
oS "3 



03 



X2 



O 



o 
"3 



C-J 



"3 



08 

a 



C3 o O 
•^ I— ^- 

a 



3 

a 



03 



0) 



a' <w ^ 

J ^ 2 a 



Cfi 



o 
o 

o 



D 



«^ --'2 * ■* «3 * 



SE.23.aaaBaaiiJ->:^g.s^ 



O ts 
>5 



1—1 ^' 



•3 JS 



•« 



JC .C f 

-tJ 4-3 «J 

CO I- oc 



0} 

H 
P 



OQ 
00 

OS 



09 

d 
o 

o 



Ml 

i;.a 

I 

I 



bo 
u 

Oi 

> 




OQ 



H 






c8 
O . 

"»^ a 
bfl a 

00 

O 03 

H O 
t 



. aa ^ «• 






o 



sS e3 o8 .^ •pj 

=3 C fl fl o3 o8^ 
C o3 O) O) p 9 A 

« c a c 2 2 K J. 

03.1) OJ S S C OB 



c 
o 



Eaa"^®.a 



c 
Is 

c 



a> V a> 

^^33*3 

-3 03 <U 0) 

a^aaa 

7 o) OJ « 

D i-j "-J '—' 
*"? 08 03 08 

"AAA 
A 03 0) <» 

^aaa 



093 
AA 
OS (X 
A A 
I I 
0) a; 

ce o3 
AA 



O 03 

3« 

A 09 
O A 



a 
o 

>> 

A 

O 



A 
^-V'S'A 



<ie 



;.u: 



(*-.., 



<ed 



A 

,a 

^^ 

A S 



A 



P^ 03 

' *iS < * "^ 
' A jrf ** 

a^^ 









>-• ^ lo eot-00 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



PRONOUNS. 



39 



There are seven kinds of pronouns: personal, 
relative, definite, interrogative, demonstrative, in- 
definite, and distributive. 

The possessive personal pronouns, the demon- 
strative, and the indefinite, have the form of adjec- 
tives and are declined in all respects similarly. 

PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

These have number, person, and case, but no 
gender. 

TABLE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 





SINGULAR. 






Nominative. 


Possessive. 


Objective. 


1st Person. 


mbi 


me 


umba 


2d Person. 


o 


av6 


av6 


3d Person. 


a 


i^ 


ma; ju 




PLURAL. 






Nominative. 


Possessive. 


Objective. 


1st Person. 


ho 


hu 


• hwe 


2d Person. 


o 


nyu 


iuySni ; inyi 


3d Person. 


ba 


bu 


ba 



Note. There is another form of the nominatives 
of the three persons. 





Singular. 


Plural. 


1st Person. 


mba, mba 


hwa, hu 


2d Person. 


\ya, wn 


wa, wu 


3d Person. 


aa, au 


baa, bu 



Query. The presence of this a in mba, and 
the apparently unnecessary forms of wa and hwa. 



40 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

can be accounted for in two other ways than by 
admitting their existence as actual distinct forms. 
With a harmonious application of the rules for eli- 
sion and coalescence of vowels, the irregular exist- 
ence of those forms can be done away with. 

1st. By recognizing (what is undeniable) that a 
and u are privative, and are one of the signs of ne- 
gation. 

Example of a negative : Mba vahaka, I do not 
wish: 

• SINGULAR. 

1. mbi a vahaka, mb*-^ vabaka, (prouounced) mbk vabaka. 

2. o i\ vahaka, o-^ vahaka, ** wa vahaka. 

3. a a vahaka, a-4 vahaka, " nk vahaka. 

PLURAL. 

1. ho a vahaka, ho-^ vahaka, (prouounced) hw^ vahaka. 

2. o a vahakaui, o-k vahakani, " wa vahakaui. 

3. ba a vahaka, ba-a vahaka, " baa vahaka. 

Example of u negative : Mbu vahaka, I did 
not wish : 

SINGULAR. 

1. mbi u vahaka, mb'-u vahaka, (pronouuced) mbii vahaka. 

2. o u vahaka, o-u vahaka, " wii vahaka. 

3. a u vahaka, a-u vahaka. ' * au vahaka. 

PLURAL. 

1. ho u vahaka, h'-u vahaka, (pronouuced) hii vahaka, 

2. o u vahakaui, o-u vahakaui, *' wu vahakani. 

3. ba u vahaka, b*-u vahaka, " bii vabaka. 

2d. By assuming (what is here made only as a 
suggestion) that in certain tenses (mentioned far- 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 4I 

ther on) of the verb, a is a prefixed portion of the 
verb itself. Why the verb should thus change its 
initial letter, I do not attempt here to explain. 
But reasons for its possibility will be given under 
the paradigm on page 71. 

Example of a, not as a sign of negation, but as 
possibly a part of the verb itself: K* umba mba 
vala. And then I went : 

SINGULAR. 

1. kn umba mbi a vala, k' umba-mb^ avala, k' umba-mb'avala. 

2. ka av6 o a vala, k* flv6-o avala, k* &v6 wa 'vala. 

3. ka ma a a vala, ka ma-a avala, ka mwa 'vala. 

PLURAL. 

1. ka hw6 ho a vala, ka hw6-ho avala. ka hwS-hwa 'vala. 

2. kainySnioa valani, k' injgni-o aviilani. k'inySniwa'valani. 

3. ka ba ba a vala, ka b4-b' avala, ka bii-ba 'vala. 

These forms of the personal pronoun are used, 
(1) in the present and future indicative active of the 
negative aspect of verbs, (2) in the narrative perfect 
indicative active of the affirmative aspect of verbs, 
and (3) in the future potential active of the affirma- 
tive aspect of verbs. 

Example of (1) present indicative active nega- 
tive : Mba tandaka, I do not love : 

SINGULAR. 

1. mbi a tandaka, mb'-a tandaka. mb^ tandaka. 

2. o a tandaka, o-a tandaka, \9k tandaka. 
8. a a iandaka, a-a tandaka, aa tandaka. 



42 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

PLURAL. 

1. ho a tandaki, ho-a tandaka. hwa tandaka. 

2. o a tandakani, o-a tandslkani, v/k tandakani, 

3. ba a tandaka, ba-a tandakH, ba^ taudaka. 

Future indicative active negative : Mba vale, I 
will not go : 

SINGULAR. 



1. 


mbi a Tale, 


mb'-a vale. 


mhk vale. 


2. 


a vale. 


o-a vale. 


vfk vale. 


8. 


a a vale, 


a-a vale, 

PLURAL. 


&k vale. 


1. 


ho a vale, 


ho-a vale. 


hwk vale. 


2. 


a valeui, 


o-a valeni, 


w^ valeni. 


3. 


ba a vale, 


ba-a vale, 


b*4 vale. 



Example of (2) narrative perfect indicative active 
afi^mative : K* umba mba vala, And then I went : 

SINGULAR. 

1. k* umba-mb' a vala, k' umba-mba vala. 

2. k' av8-o a vala, k* avg-wa vala. 
8. ka ma-a a vala, ka mwa vala 

PLURAL. 

1. ka hwS ho a vala. ka hw6-hwa vala. 

2. k' inygni o a valani, k* inyeni-wa vnlani. 

3. ka ba ba a vala, ka Im-ba vala. 

Example of (3) future potential active affirma- 
tive : Mba y&j& kw6, Let me rest awhile. 

SINGULAR. 

1. mbi a yaja. or, mbi ayaja, (pronounced) mba yaja. 

2. o a yaja, or, o ayaja, *' wa yaja. 

3. a a yaja, or, a ayaja, * ' a yaja. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 43 

PLURAL. 

1. ho a yaja, or, ho ayaja, (pronounced) hwa yaja. 

2. o a yajani, or, o ayajani, " wa yajani. 

3. ba a yaja, or, ba ayaja, " ba yaja. 

Suggestion. In the adjacent Mpongwe dialect, 
a becomes, in certain tenses, prefixed to the verb 
itself. It is supposed that this is also the case in 
Fan. Possibly this might be the case also in Ben- 
ga, e. g., aydjd for a yajd, in the example just above 
given. 

One of the forms, ju, of the 3d pers. obj. is used, 
but not invariably, after the conjunction na, e. g., 
Keke na ju. Go with him. But as the object of 
verbs and of prepositions, ma is always used, e. g., 
Vek6 ma beja, Give him food. Keke o md-a jadi. 
Go unto him. 

A euphonic n is sometimes used with the sec- 
ond person singular, as, na n&ve. 

There is also a very frequent combination of the 
objective and nominative as a double subject, like 
the ungrammatical English, " Mr. A. he said ;" but 
which is perfectly correct in Benga. Thus: O 
umba mbi ?dki. When I said. 

SINGULAR. 

1. 'mba-mbi vaki, When me-I said. 

2. O ave-o vaki, When thee-thou saidest. 

3. O maa vaki, When him-he said. 

PLURAL. 

1. hw6-ho vaki, When us- we said. 

2. O 'iiyeni-o vakini, When yoii-ye said. 

3. O ba-ba vaki, When them-they said. 



44 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

FUNCTIONS OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUN IN BENGA. 

Remark 1st. — The personal pronoun, in the pos- 
sessive case, belongs, like an adjective, to the noun 
which it possesses. Its union with the noun is so 
intimate that it sometimes changes the accent of 
the noun, and might almost be said to form with it 
a compound word. Thus : My hand, en^ eame, 
might be written enwamg. 

Remark 2d. — The personal pronouns which rep- 
resent irrational animals and things have a form 
for each class of nouns, e. g., for the first class : 



Singular. 




Plural. 


1st pers. 


e 


be. 


3d pers. 


ea 


bea. 



They were not included in the class table on page 
31, but are treated under Definite Pronouns, which 
see on page 48. 

Remark 3d. — The possessive case is also inti- 
mately united with the preposition a, "of," and 
with the prefixes of the several classes of nouns, 
making thereby a compound definite pronoun, 
agreeing, like an adjective, with the nouns over 
which they express possession. Thus : 

Ena ea ngiidi, A hand olHtrengih. 

Bena bea ngudi, Hands of strength. 

Ubaki mna America, American axe. 

Meb&ki mea America, American axes. 

Remark 4th. — The union of the possessive case 
with the class prefixes might be considered as far- 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



45 



ther compounded by union with the preposition a, 
"of," e. g., as 



e- a- m§ ) 

it of me ) ^ ' 



3- a- ju 
it of him 



!■ his. 



This assumes that the radical forms of the personal 
pronouns are me, hu ; av^, nyu ; ju. bu. 

Eemark 5th. — There may be suffixed to the ob- 
jective of each personal pronoun, the adverb m6t6, 
"very," with the force of "self," as, umba-mete, 
myself ; md-met6, himself ; iny6ni-mete, yourselves. 

Remark 6th. — To the compound possessive per- 
sonal pronoun may be prefixed i, with the force of 
" own," as ijame, ibeam6, imeame, my own ; with or 
without the suffixing of m6te, e. g., ijame mete, 
my very own. 

TABLE OF THE POSSESSIVE PERSONAL PRONOUNS, SHOWING 
THEIR USE WITH THE CLASS-LETTERS OR PREFIXES OF 
THE SEVERAL CLASSES OF NOUNS. 



Class 

of 


Num- 
ber. 


Class 

Pref. 

1 


First 1 


person. 


Second person. 


Third 


person. 


noun. 


Sing. 


Plural. 


Sing. Plural. 


Sing. 


Plural. 






1 

e 


ame 


aim 


'av6 anyu 


aja 


abu 


iBt. j 


Sing 


eam6 


eahu 


eave eanyu 


eaju 


eabu 


PI. 


be beame 


beahu 


heave beanyu 


beaju 


beabu 


2d i 


Sing. 


• 

J 


jame 


jahu 


jave janyu 


jaju 


jabu 


m\Jk» ^ 


PI. 


m 


mame 


mahu 


mave manyu 


maju 


mabu 


3d. . 


Sing. 


ma 


muame 


muahu 


muavg muanyu 


muaju 


muabu 


PL 


me 


meame 


meahu 


meavg m eanyu 


meaju 


meabu 


4th. . 


Sing. 


bo 


boame 


boahu 


boave boanyu 


boaju 


boabu 


PI. 


me 


meame 


meahu 


meave meanyu 


meaju 


meabu 


5th.  


Sing 


mu 


muame 


muahu 


muave muanyu 


muaju 


muabu 


PI. 


b 


bame 


bahn 


have banyu 


baju 


babu 


6th. i 


Sing. 


u 


name 


uabu 


uave uanyu 


uaju 


uabu 


PI. 


b 


bame 


bahu 


have banyu 


baju 


babu 


7th. j 


Sing. 


vi 


viame 


viabu 


viave vianyu 


viaju 


viabu 


PI. 


I 


lamg 


lahu 


lave lanyu 


laju 


labu 


8th. j 


Sing. 


6 


came 


eahu 


eav§ eanyu 


eaju 


eabii 


PI. 


• 

J 


jame 


jahu 


javd janyu 


jaju 


jabu 



46 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

In the foregoing table there is a contraction, 
consistent with the rule for elision, throughout the 
entire second person singular. Thus : 

it of you I y®^"* ea-ave, e'ave, eave. 
RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 

There are no proper relative pronouns except 
the interrogatives. Their place is supplied by the 
definite pronouns. Thus : 

I am the person who did it. 
Umba ndi moto a ma ha ea. 
(Literally) Me is the person Ag has done it. 

In this example the " who " of English is rep- 
resented by a in Benga, which is the definite 
pronoun standing for moto. It does. not agree in 
person with umba, which it would do were it a per- 
sonal pronoun, as its English representative in the 
literal translation is. 

EXAMPLES. 

These are the men whom I saw. 
Ekaba ndi bamo bame ba ma yene. 
(Literally) These are men of mine tAgy have seen. 

We are the people who did that work. 
Hwe ndi bato ba ma ha 'havu tSne. 
(Literally) Us are people tAgy have done work that. 

INTERROGATIVES. 

These are: iija, who; ve, which; and nde, 
what. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 47 

EXAMPLES. 

Who says so ? Nj* a ma Ta nonan' S. 

Who art thou ? Av§ 1§ a nja-e. 

Who are ye ? Inyi le ba nja-S. 

Who are these people ? Ekaba Ig nja bato-e. 

Sometimes nja is used for " what." Thus : 

What time? Nja 'gombe-S. 
What work ? Nja *havu-e. 

Ve is used very much as the interrogative 
" which," in English. 

EXAMPLES. 

Which [ukata, pen] dost thou want? 
Uve 16 umuave u vahak' e. 
Which [epokolo, hat] ? Eve le. 

It will be observed, in the above examples, that 
ve varies itself as an adjective to agree with the 
noun to which it refers, by prefixing to itself the 
class-letter of that noun, e. g., with ukata, a noun 
of the third class, ve becomes uve ; with epokolo, 
a noun of the first class, ve becomes eve. 

Nde is used, in most cases, synonymously with 
the English " what." Thus : 

What is the matter ? What does he say ? 

E 16 nde. A kalaka 16 nde. 

(Literally) It ? what. (Literally) He speaks? what. 

Note.— Lfe and ^ are equivalent to " ? " as signs 
of interrogation, and le has a plural, li. 

An auditor, not having distinctly heard what 
was said, will interrupt the speaker with, " Na, le " 



48 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



(What 's he say ? or, What 's that ?). But the na 
is probably an adverb, " thus" or " namely," e. g., 

And he spoke unto him, saying. 
Ka ma-a va na ju, na. 
(Literally) And him-he said to him, viz. 

DEFINITE PRONOUN. 

This part of speech is not found in the English 
language, nor in any other, so far as is known, ex- 
cept in the various dialects of the Bantu language 
comprised in the southern half of Africa. In some 
positions it supplies the place of a personal pro- 
noun ; in some, that of a relative ; in some, that of 
the genitive case in Latin, or the preposition " of " 
in English, when it signifies possession. But, in 
many positions in which it is used, the English and 
most other languages have nothing corresponding. 
The definite pronoun is inflected, and has a form 
agreeing with each class of nouns. 

NOUNS AND THEIR DEFINITE PRONOMINAL ADJUNCTS. 



Class of noun 



1st. 
2(1. 
3d. 

4th. 

5 th. 

6 th. 
7th. 
8th. 



{ 



Norn. 



Sing, e 
PI. be 
Sing.i 
PI. ma 
Sing, u 
PI. me 
Sing, bo 
PI. me 
Sing, u 
PI. ba 
Sing, u 
PI. ba 
Sing, vi 
PI. lo 
Sing, e 
PI. i 



Noun. 



ena, e 
bena, be 
ikadu, i 
makadu, ma 
ubaki, u 
mebaki. me 
boho, bo 
meoho, me 
ulongi, u 
balongi, ba 
moto, u 
bato, ba 
vitwa, vi 
litwa, lo 
mbanja, e 
mbanja, i 



Objective. 


Possessive. 


ea 


ea 


bea 


bea 




j* 


ma 


ma 


ma 


mua 


mea 


mea 


boa 


boa 


mea 


mea 


ma 


mua 


ba 


ba 


ma 


ua 


ba 


ba 


Via 


via 


la 


la 


ea 


ea 


ja 


ja 



Spoken 

ya 
bya 



mwa 

mya 

bwa 

mya 

mwa 

wa 

vya 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 49 

USES OF THE DEFINITE PRONOUN. 

1st. It interposes itself between all nouns in the 
nominative case and the verbs which they govern, 
as an apposition pronoun, having the same case, 
number, and classification as the noun, thus making 
a double nominative. 

BXAMPLES. 

Ejanganangobo e vaki nouane. Book it says so. 

Lonani lo vevekendi. Birds they fly. 

Bwalo-b'-utangani^^ tamwakandi. Ship it sails. 

In these examples, e, lo, and bo are definite 
pronouns,. agreeing in case, number, and classifica- 
tion with the nouns, respectively, ejanganangobo, 
lonani, and bwalobutangani. 

2d. It sometimes occupies the position of a per- 
sonal pronoun of the objective case. 

EXAMPLES. 

Mbwia i nakandi : mbi taudakand' ojeneyci. 
Bain it rains ; I like to see it. 

Mbi na mebaki ; o vahakand' o bamba mea^. 
1 have axes ; dost thou wish to buy them ? 

Notice the position of ja and mea. 

3d. It is used as a relative, and as such it iden- 
tifies its antecedent with admirablie precision by 
the beautiful alliteration that distinguishes the 
Bantu languages. 

EXAMPLES. 

God made all things which we see. 
AnyambS a velakindi Mombo ^.ihu dg yfineke ^Shepi. 
(Literally) God He made t&ings of ours they see all. 

Benga Orammr A | 





50 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 
Mbi ka vitend' aye o /(7boko /dwe lo ka val§ /^§pi. 
(Literally) I will follow thee to places of yours they shall go all. 

The definite pronoun is used twice in each of 
these sentences, and. in both instances agreeing re- 
spectively with belombo and loboko. The repeti- 
tions be and lo supply the place of the relative 
" which." (See also examples under Relative Pro- 
nouns.) 

Note. — The above harmony of alliteration is 
invariable, except (1) when an abstract noun is per- 
sonified as a concrete. Thus : 

Sin has a thousand treacherous arts. 
Bobe a na megono ti. 

Here " sin '* personified has for its definite pro- 
noun a, and not bo, as in the abstract it-should be. 
As in " My sin is great," bobe boame bo ndi bone- 
ne, where the harmonic alliteration retains its place. 

(2) Only apparent variations caused by con- 
traction. In the examples given in the beginning 
of this Use Third, the words lave and lehepi are 
contracted from leave and loehepi. The contracted 
forms are the ones always used. 

4th. It serves, together with the preposition a, 
" of," as a connecting link or adjunct between two 
nouns, supplying thus the place of the genitive or 
possQssive case. . 

EXAMPLES, r 

Tonda*s house. Ndabo ea Tonda. (Contracted) Ndabo 'a 
Ton da. (Pronounced) Ndabwa Tonda. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



SI 



Mediko'8 boolss. Bejangauangobo bea Mediko, 
Sand of the sea. Mahe ma manga. 

No possessive case can be 'regularly formed 
without the interposition of the definite pronoun. 

TABLE OF DEFINITE ADJUNCTS. 



Class 

of 
noun. 



Igt. ] 

2d, i 
3d 



• 



4th. 



Number. 



Sing. 

PI. 

Sing. 

PL 

Sing. 

PI. * 

Sing. 

PI. 



Definite Pronoun. 



Written. Spoken. 



ea 

bea 

Ija 

ma 

mua' 

mea 

boa 

mea 



bya 



mwa 
mya 
bwa 
mya 



Class 

of 
noun. 



5th. \ 
6th. I 
7th. 
8th. 



Number. 



Sing. 

PI. 

Sing. 

PI. 

Sing. 

PI. 

Sing. 

PL 



Definite Pronoun. 


Written. 


Spoken. 


mua ' 
ba 


mwa 


ua 
ba 


wa 


via 
la 


vya 


ea 
ja 


ya 



5th. It incorporates itself with all adjectives and. 
adjective pronouns, and is indispensable to their 
declension. 



EXAMPLES. 

Good axes. Mebaki meyam*. 



Long axes. 
My axes. 
Their axes. 



Mebaki meyaba. 
Mebaki meame. 
Mebaki meabu. 



In these examples, me of the adjective and of 
the possessive pronoun is the definite pronoun rep- 
resenting mebaki, axes; nnd it is indispensable to 
the regular formation of the qualifying words yamu, 
am6, yaba, and abu. It unites with them, and 
forms the compound words, meyam', meame, me- 
yaba, and meabu. 

6th. It unites with i, in a duplicated form, to 
make a compound personal possessive pronoun, in- 



52 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



eluding the possessor and the thing possessed. 
Thus: 

Ikadu ijame [i-j-a-mS]. My own hand. 

O yokak* ijavS [i-j-a-av6]. Do not listen, your own self. 

Mebaki me nd' imeaju [i-me-a-ju]. The axes are hisovrn. 

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 

The root-forms of the demonstrative pronouns 
are eka, this, these ; and nS, that, those. They 
are declined so as to agree with nouns of each class ; 
the class-adjunct being suffixed to the eka and its 
inflections, but prefixed to nS and its inflections. 
Also by prefixing eka to nS and its inflections, 
another word ekane is formed, meaning thaty those 
(more distant). This is perfectly regular for all 
classes of nouns except parts of the sixth and eighth. 

TABLE OF DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS AND THEIR CLASS- 
AGREEMENTS. 



Class of 
noun. 


Class 
Adjunct. 


Demonstrative Root forms. 


Noun. 




^^- KSl 


^® 1 those 


«^-^{thoL 




1st. 

2d. 

3d. 

4th. 

6th. 

6th. 

7th. 

8th. 


]be 
(di 
\ ma 
\ mu 
\ me 
j bo 
\ me 
j mu 
]ba 
Jng 
 ba 

vi 

lo 

ne 

di 


ekae 

ekabe 

ekadi 

ekama 

ekamu 

ekame 

ekabo 

eknme 

ekamu 

ekaba 

ekanS 

ekaba 

ekavi 

ekalo 

ekanS 

ekadi 


eng 

bene 

dine 

mang 

mune 

mene 

bone 

menS 

mun3 

ban§ 

mane 

bane- 

vin§ 

lone 

yan8 

dine 


ekaeue 

ekabene 

ekadine 

ekamane 

eknmune 

ekamene 

ekabonS 

ekamene 

ekamune 

ekaban§ 

ekanene 

ekaban§ 

ckavine 

ekaloug 

ekanene 

ekadine 


ena 

bena 

ikadu 

raakadu 

uvanda 

mevanda 

bwalo 

mealo 

nyongi 

bayongi 

moto 

baio 

vijo 

lijo 

he 

he 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



53 



All these three, eka, ne, and 'ekane are made 
more emphatic, and become demonstrative adjec- 
tive pronouns by prefixing te to them (their initial 
e being elided after S of te in the combination). 



Class of 
Noun. 

.1st. 
2d. 

3a. 

4th. 
6th. 
6th. 
7th. 
8th. 



Noun. 



fena 
bena 
J ikadu 
} makada 

{uvanda ^ 
me van da 

\ mesSw 
j uyonRi 
I bayongi 
j moto 
I bato 
jvijo 

llijo 

jhe 

Ihe 



This, these. 



tekae 

tSkabc 

tSkadi 

tekama 

tekamu 

tekame 

tekabo 

tekame 

t«kama 

tekaba 

tekane 

tSkaba 

tekavi 

tekalo 

tekang 

tekadi 



That, those. 



teng 

tSbene 

tSdine 

temane 

tSmune 

t6men6 

teboue 

temene 

tSraune 

tebane 

temanS 

tebnne 

tevinS 

tglonS 

tSyang 

tMin§ 



That, those, 
(more distant,) 



t^kaene 

tekabene 

tSkadine 

tSkamane 

tSkamune 

tekamenS 

tekabone 

tSkamene 

tekamune 

tSkabane 

tekaoeug 

tSkabane 

tSkaving 

tSkalon^ 

tekanenS 

tekadine 



EXAMPLES. 



This is a good thing. 
This thing is good. 



Ekae e ndi elombo eyamu. 
Elombo tekae e ndi eyamu. 



Here, " this " standing alone, as a demonstrative 
pronoun, the noun being understood, is always 
ekae and its inflections ; but where it stands with 
the noun expressed, as a demonstrative pronoun, 
e. g., " this thing," it is always t6kae and its inflec- 
tions. 

Bemark (1). T6 can be used in a short abrupt — 
though not necessarily rude or improper — manner, 
without combination (the class-combinations being 



54 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

understood) to indicate any noun of any class, and 
of either number. As, en& te, that arm ; ikadu t3, 
that hand; mebdki te, those axes, and so on, for all 
classes and both singular and plural. 

Remark (2). With moto and words of its class 
(sixth), " that " is often expressed by tfing, instead 
of its regular temdne. As : that person, moto ten6, 
instead of moto temane. 

Remark (3). With nouns of class eight there is 
great irregularity in their singular. 

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. 

These are, in their root-forms, &kd, some ; pd- 
kwe, another; ngani, another's; ite, many; 6hepi, 
all. 

The above are all declined as adjectives, so far 
as their nature admits of such declension. Ngani 
is not inflected, and is available only by the inter- 
position of the adjunct of the class to which its 
agreeing noun belongs, e. g., another's heart, ulema 
mua ngani ; another's face, boho boa ngani. tlhe- 
pi is compound of root ehe and the intensive pi, 
which latter is sometimes omitted, as : Bato behe, 
all people. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



55 



TABLE OF INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. 



Class 

of 
nouns 



l8t. 

2d. 

3d. 

4th. 

5th. 

6th. 

7 th. 

8lh. 



Number 



i Sing. 

1pi. 

j Sing. 

) Sing. 
)P1. 
J Sing. 

i Sing. 
I PI. 

j ir- 

(Sing 
IPI. 





Indefinite Pronouns. 




aka 


pakwe 


it6 


6h6pi 


eaka 


epakwe 


eitd 


edhgpi 


beaka 


bepakwe 


beite 


beghgpi 


jSka^ 


ip&we 


iit6 


j6h6pi 


raaka 


mapakwe 


maitg 


mSh^pi 


umbaka 


upftkwe 


uit6 


mu6h6pi 


meaka 


niep^kw^ 


meitg 


meghgpi 


baka 


bopA,kwe 


boite 


bo(^h6pi 


meaka 


mepakvve 


meitg 


raeehepi 


umbaka 


upakwS 


uite 


muehSpi 


baka 


bapA,kw§ 


baits 


bShgpi 


umbaka 


upA,kwS 


uitg 


ugbgpi 


baka 


ba pakwe 


baitg 


b6h6pi 


j(iak4 


vipakwe 


viitg 


vighgpi 


mk4 


lopJlkwe 


loitg 


Ighgpi 


paka 


ep4kw6 


eitS 


eShSpi 


jaka 


ipA-kwe 


iitg 


j6b6pi 



Nouiv 



eua 

ben a 

ikadu 

makadu 

uvand^ 

mev&nda 

bwalo 

mealo 

uyongi 

ba.yongi 

moto 

bato 

vitwa 

litwa 

njea 

njea 



Id the above table note many (apparent) ir- 
regularities. They are due almost solely to regular 
elisions and coalescences. 

(1.) In the inflection of akd, eak& and be&ka 
will be spoken as if written yaka and byaka ; and 
vidka as if vyakd ; the mb of umbaka is simply eu- 
phonic for uaka; maksl, baka, and lak&, contrac- 
tions for maakd, boakd and baaka, and loaka. 

(2.) In the inflections of 6hepi, eehepi and be6- 
hepi will be spoken as if y^hepi and bjehepi ; me- 
ehepi as if myehepi; and vifihepi as if vyeh^pi; 
bo6h6pi and muehepi as if bwehepi and mwehepi, 
under the regular rule for coalescence ; mehepi and 
behepi contracted from what should (rigidly) be 
maehfipi and ba^hepi. But it is these contracted 
forms only that are always used. 



56 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

VEEBS. 

The verb is quite regular and methodical in its 
conjugation, but at the same time it is difficult for 
a foreigner to master it completely. The extent 
and variety of its inflections are very great. Each 
regular verb has a surprising number of parts reg- 
ularly derived, many of which can be expressed or 
represented iu English only by phrases. 

The simplest form of the verb, and that from 
which the other parts are most easily and naturally 
derived, is the singular of the imperative mood. 
This is therefore taken as the ground-form or radi- 
cal. Various modifications of meaning, which in 
western languages are expressed partly by voices of 
the verb, partly by other verbs, are found in Benga 
in the several derivations or conjugations of the 
same verb. The word " conjugation '' is however 
objectionable ; for its meaning in the grammar of 
other languages is wholly different. The word 
" species " will therefore be used in speaking of these 
forms or modifications. 

SPECIES OF THE VERB. 

By the term " species " are designated derived 
verbs. From the radical of most in the language, 
others are derived, which have a modified meaning, 
e. g., from the radical yowaka, know thou, comes 
yowakide, inform thou. Jalca, eat, means by one of 
its species, jakide, feed. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. $y 

Every regular verb is susceptible of having de- 
rived from it the following four species : 

EXAMPLES. 

1. Badical Ealaka, speak. 

II. Frequentative species Kalakate, speak continuously. 

III. Relative " Kalakia, speak to or for (pray). 

IV. Causative ** KaLikidS, cause to speak. 

V. Reciprocal '• Kalanaka, speak together (con- 

verse). 

1. Kadical Bapake, carry. 

II. Frequentative species Bapakate, continue carrying. 

III. Relative * **^ Bapakia, can-y for (transmit). 

IV. Causative ** Bapakid^, cause to carry (lade). 

V. Reciprocal *• Bapanaka, carry in company. 

I. The radical of the verb expresses the simple 
idea of a verb, without any accessory or contingent 
meaning, as : tandakd, love ; mwetek^, smile. 

II. Frequentative. The frequentative species 
expresses continuance of the action, and in some 
verbs, the intensity of the simple idea of the verb, 
as : kalakate, mbi yokakate, speak on, I hear (clear- 
ly). Jakate, mbi vakate, continue eating, I am 
coming (presently). Also from yeneke, see, y^ne- 
k6te, look sharply. 

III. Relative. The relative species directs the 
action of the verb to or for some one, as : kalakia 
Anyambe, pray to God. Longakia 'mba ndabo, 
build a house for me. 

IV. Causative. The force of the causative spe- 
cies is to cause an act to be performed, as : kalaki- 
de mahonga, gnash the teeth, (literally, cause the 



58 BENGA GRAMMAk. 

teeth to speak). Jakide md, feed him, (literally, 
cause him to eat). Hakide md, employ him, (lit- 
erally, cause him to work). 

V. Reciprocal. The reciprocal species expresses 
mutuality of action, as : ho tamwanakandi, we are 
journeying together. Mbi yonganakandi, I am pur- 
suing. 

Remark 1. While these perfectly harmonious 
derivations are capable of being made from any 
root-form, yet, probably very few series of any one 
verb would all be used in ordinary conversation, 
their meaning forbidding their use. 

Remark 2. The meanings of the derivatives do 
not seem always to be cognate with the meaning of 
the radical. Thus, yongaka, save ; j^ongakidg, re- 
member; yonganaka, pursue. Also, iyakid6, for- 
give; a causative form, which seems to have no 
radical. There are radicals, jaka, eat, and jaka, 
bear (progeny); the one has its reciprocal janaka, 
eat one another (as cannibals), the other, janaka, 
beget. 

COMPOUND SPECIES. 

Other species may be formed by combining with 
the reciprocal either of the other three simple spe- 
cies ; the new species will then express the com- 
bined meanings of the words of which they are 
composed. Thus : 

Kalanakate, a recipro-frequentative, 
Continue speaking with each other. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 59 

Ealanakia, n recipro-relative, 

Speak unitedly for (some one) or to (some one). 

EalanakidS, a recipro-causative, 
Cause to speak together. 

Note. Three forms : (1) ta kala, (2) kalaka be- 
kalikali, and (3) kalaka bo-kalaka, formerly sup- 
posed to be distinct species of a typical radical 
kalaka, are not worthy of being so regarded. The 
words ta, bekalikali, and bo-kalaka are not coin- 
pounded with the verb ; they are only used in eon- 
nection with it, as a' score of other adverbs might 
be. They can be used, not only with the radical, 
but also with any of the species. (1) Ta kala 
means "speak first.'* Ta is part of the defective 
verb taka, precede, which see in the list of irregu- 
lar and defective verbs. (2) Kalaka bekalikali 
means " talk nonsense," the plural of the noun eka- 
likali, foolish talking, being used precisely as kala- 
ka iyowg, speak wisdom, or, kalaka nangudi, speak 
loudly, might be used. (3) Kalaka bo-kalaka, 
speak, and do nothing else. Bo has the force oi 
" only," limiting the action expressed by the verb : 
bo-kalaka is reduplicative, and does not alter the 
form of the verb at all. 

EXAMPLES. 

Kwglgkg bekwSlikwSli, chop at random (useless choppings). 
Kw^lgkg bo-kwglgkg, chop, only chopping, i. e., chop, and do 
nothing else. 

The above four species and the compound spe- 



6o BENGA GRAMMAR. 

cies are all capable of inflection through the aspects, 
voices, moods, and tenses, which belong to the rad- 
ical of a regular verb. But there are many parts 
in the full conjugation of some of them where they 
would be meaningless, and therefore would not be 
used. 

VOICES. 

Benga verbs have two voices, the active and the 
passive. Each has a form of its own, with the use 
of an auxiliary. 

MOODS. 

Benga verbs have five moods : the imperative, 
indicative, subjunctive, potential, and infinitive. 

TENSES. 

There are seven tenses : the present, immediate 
past, perfect, historical, pluperfect, first and second 
future. 

The indicative and subjunctive have all these- 
tenses. The potential has two, present and perfect. 
The imperative has but one, the present. The in- 
finitive has but one. 

ASPECTS. 

Verbs, both regular and irregular, radicals and 
derivatives, have an affirmative and a negative 
aspect, for each voice, extending through all the 
moods and tenses, and which are made partly 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 6l 

without the use of auxiliary particles. An enor- 
mous development is thus made by the doubling of 
every part of every verb. 

Negation is expressed (1) by no change in the 
verb itself, but by peculiar vocal stress, difficult to 
be recognized or acquired by a foreigner, laid on 
the nominative. (In Benga that nominative, if a 
pronoun, is marked with a grave accent, as a sign 
of negation. But in the adjacent Mpongwe, the 
negation is indicated by italicising the vowel of the 
' verb's first syllable.) Example : mbi keke. shall I 
go ? and mbi k6ke, shall not I go ? To acquire the 
vocal-stress laid on the mbi, the learner will be 
aided by thinking of the similar vocal-stress laid 
upon " not ** ip English. 

(2) By a change in the final syllable of the verb 
itself, e. g., keke, go ; o k6ke, do not go. 

(3) By prefixing the privatives a, u, and ha. 
Examples : A vahakandi, he wishes ; aa vahaka, he 
wishes not ; a vahakindi, he wished ; aii vahaka, he 
wished not ; a pakindi, he came ; a ha payete, he 
has not come. 

(4) By any two or even three of these ways to- 
gether ; but by whatever other way negation may 
be indicated, that vocal-stress must also always be 
used. 

(5) Perhaps by a diflference in the pronominal 
nominative itself, as mbi affirmative, mba nega* 
tive. (See tables of Personal Pronouns.) 



62 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

PERSON AND NUMBER. 

Verbs have three persons and two numbers ; but 
these do not vary the verb, except in the second 
person plural, which has the suffix nl for its ter- 
mination in all positions. 

IRREGULAR AND DEFECTIVE VERBS. 

There are a very small number of defective 
verbs ; but even these are for the most part regu- 
lar. The four defective verbs in most frequent use 
are : paka, taka, vaka, vala. 

They are used only in certain moods and tenses. 



EXAMPLES. 



Act. Indie. Pres. A pakaudi, -i 

A pandi, (contracted) / 



he arrives. 



} 



*' •* Perfect. A pakiudi, 

A paki (contr.) J. he arrived. 
A pSkite 

" " Future. A ka pandi > , .,| 

. , *7 J he will amve. 
A ka pate ) 

** " Neg. Fut. A pSye, he will not arrive. 

.a paye } -^^ ^^ ^^^ arrived 
A ha payete 5 

Passive, Ind. Present A pwi > i. • • j 

* ., ,. f "6 IS arnved. 
A pwendi > 



A pwendi 

'* '• Perfect. A pakudwg ^ he has been arrived, 

r.) ^ i. e., 



A p4dw6 (contr.) J i. e., brought. 

" Future. A ka pad we > 

A ka padwete I ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^•^"^^^*' 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 63 

TAKA. 

The word taka means to precede in doing. 
Thus : 

This boat was the first to arrive. 
Eleude tSkae e takindi o pd,. 

Do your own work first. 
Wa ta o ha ehavn '&v6 m§t§. 

 • 

VAKA. 

Vaka, come, is in frequent use. Thus : 

Come unto me before that I die. 

Vak' o 'mba-mbi jadi, n' amba na tak* o wa. 

He comes ; he is coming 
A vakandi , a vakate. 

The boat is coming from the south. 
Eleude e vakiyandi o diko. 

Ta viya ! First come, i. e., come at once, before 
doing anything else. Ta viya is used interchanga- 
bly with vaka, except that it would not properly be 
addressed to a superior. 

VALA. 

Vala, depart, is in constant use. Thus : 

Mbi vahakand' o vala. 
I wish to depart. 

Mbi valindi. 
I have gone. 

Yalanakia 'mba Igta tSkang. 
Forward for mc this letter. 

A valanudwc na jonga. 
He was trasported safely. 



A 



64 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

CONTRACTIONS. 

There are a few contractions : e. g. (1) the parting 
salutation mb* 'alandi, I am going, contracted from 
mbi valandi. 

(2) Mb* a 'we, I do n't know, and its equivalent n' a 
'we, are constantly used, contracted from the nega- 
tive aspect of the present indicative aetive of the 
verb vowaka, know thou. 

(3) A contraction from the verb yonyaka, weary 
thou, e. g., . 

O ma yooyS 16 o viya. 
(Contracted) O ma 'nyg V o viya. 

Why did you fail to come ? 

(4) 'Mba, na, we, a contraction of umba na, we, 
" me, thus, please," i. e., a call to attention to what 
the speaker is about to say. 

SUBSTANTIVE VERBS. 

The verb to be. 

There is no single verb in the language that de- 
serves to be called the verb of existence. But 
there are a few substantive verbs, expressing some- 
what of the verb to be. 

te. 

Te, am, is used only in the present of the indi- 
cative and subjunctive moods. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 65 

Indicative mood ; present tense. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Mbi te. I am. 
2d pers. te. Thoa art. 

3d pers. A te. He is. 

Plural. 

Ist pert. Ho te. We are. 

2d pers. O teui. Ye are. 

3d pers. Ba te. They are. 

Subjunctive mood ; present tense. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Oniiigg mba te. If t am. 
2d pers. Onitige o te. If thou art. 

3d pers. Oningg a te. If he is. 

Plural. 

Ist pers. Oniugg ho te. If we are. 

2d pers. Oning§ o teni. If ye are. 

3d pers. Oningg ba te. If they are. 

Other forms are ndl and its relative di, as : 

Ba nd* ovone. They are there. 

Ma ndi md,u6. That is he. 

Ma nd' a velakidi he. He it is who created the earth. 

Ma nd' a di bwam^ He it is who is good. 

Another form is 1, e. g., 

A i we. He is there. 

Also, n^ite, e. g., 

A ngite ; a ngite we. 
He is ; he is there. 



66 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Also jadl and its relative dldl5 e. g., 

A didi o ndabo tg a ndi mbwei 'amg. 
He who is in that house is my friend. 

Hangw' 'abu a jad* oba. 

Out Fp.ther who art in heaven. 

• 

Mb' 'aland' o ma-a jadi 
I am going unto him. 
(Literally) I am going where him — ^he is. 

But jadi should properly be reckoned as an 
adverb expressing local personal existence. It is 
never used towards inanimate objects or lower ani- 
mals. 

Also b&kS, use to do, or be accustomed to do, 

Ho bgkgndi ho haka nonanS. 
We usually do so. 

Bapaia ba bSkite ba haka mbSmba tSkadi. 
Our forefathers used to do these customs. 

The negative aspect of te is be and ibS^ e. g. 

I ' b6 nonang. It is not so. 

Indicative mood ; present tense. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mb' ib^. I am not. 
2d pers. ib6. Thou art not, 

8d pers. A ibS. He is not. 

Plural. 

Ist pers. Ho ib6. We are not. 
2d pers. ibfini. Yo are not. 
3d pers. Ba ib6. They are not 



»7 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 6/ 

These substantive verbs are used somewhat as 
auxiliaries, e. g., 

Mbi te mbi kSkS. I can go, i. e., 

I am [in that state of existence that] I can go. 

Mbi ndi lomwSngo. 
I am sent. 

DIYAEA. 

But the regular verb diyaka, live, or dwell, best 
represents the verb to be, and supplies auxiliaries 
to all the other verbs, e. g., 

Imperfect Indicative. 

( diyandi ) 
Mbi ma } (cont.) diyi J- 1 was. 
( '* di' ) 

Pluperfect Indicative. 

Mbi ma di' mb* akala [or, mba kala]. 
I had spoken. 

"TE," AND "NDl" WITH "NA." 

A very commonly used and useful idiom makes 
te and ndl with na to express possession. Thus : 

O te na bejaka ? 
Have you fish ? 
(Literally) Thou art with fish ? 

Inygni dip^, o ndini na bwam. 
Only ye have goodness. 

Or, na alone will express the same possession, 
if te or ndl are understood, e. g., 

na 'hiki 'yam'. There is a happy land. 
(Literally) You [are] with a happy land. 

Sftsa I Please ! is an adverbial phrase. 



68 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES. 

There are three pair of correlatives : oninge and 
vakana, or b6nge ; jaka and te ; and vengg 1^ and 
kumbakide na. 

EXAMPLES. 
I. 

Ouingg wa ha bobe vakaua o ka vomndwS. 

If thou doest ^^rong therefore thou shalt be puuished. 

Oniugg wa ta liya benge o ka benja. 

If thou first plantest then thou shalt reap. 

11. 

A jaka na Jisu au wa, te ho nyangindi. 

If Jesus had not died we would have been lost. 

III. 

O ygngg 16 mba kandid* ayg elombo ehalg, na kumbwakidS na 
enSng 'kae. 

How that I forbade you a little thing, and the much rather 
this great one ! 

CONJUGATION OP THE REGULAR VERB. 

The following synopsis, which is the complete 
conjugation of the radical of a regular verb, will 
give a better idea of the diflferent parts than could 
be given by any mere explanation. 

Synopsis of the verb o loma, to send. 
ACTIVE VOICE. AFFIEMATIVE ASPECT. 

IMPERATIVE MOOD. 

Sing. Lomaka, send thou. 
Pi, Lomakani, send ye. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 69 

INDICATIVE MOOD. 

Present tense, 
Lomakandi, send, or am sending. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mbi lomakandi. 
2(1 pers. lomakandi. 
3d pers. A lomakandi. 

Plural. 

1st pel's. Ho lomakandi. 
2d pers. lomakandini. 
3d pers. Ba lomakandi. 

Immediate Past, 
Ma lomandi. Have (recently) sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mbi ma lomandi. 
2d pers. O ma lomandi. 
3d pers. A ma lomandi. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ma lomandi. 
2d pers. O ma lomandini. 
3d pers. Ba ma lomandi. 

A contracted form of the immediate past is mbi 
ma lomi. 

Perfect, 
Lomindi. Have sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi lomindi. Ho lomindi. 

2d pers. O lomindi. lomindini. 

3d pers. A lomindi. Ba lomindi. 



70 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Historical. 
Lomakindi. Sent (long ago). 

Sing. Plural. 

Ist pers. Mbi lomakindi. Ho lomakiudi. 

2d pers. O lomakindi. O lomakindini. 

3d pers. A lomakindi. Ba lomakindi. 

A contracted form of the historical is lomaki. 
A relative form of it is lomakidi. 

Thus : Simple form : 

God created all things. 

Anyambg a velakindi belombo be^hgpi. 

Contracted : 

It is God who created all things. 
Anyambe nd' a velaki belombo be^hSpi. 

Relative : 

God is He who created all things. 

AnyambS ma nd* a velakidi belombo beghgpi. 

Indeed, any part of the verb capable of a rela- 
tive meaning can be made so in form by the substi- 
tution of di for final ndl. 

The historical has also a narrative form, 

E* umba mba loma. 

Pluperfect, 
Ma di* mba loma. Had sent. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Mbi ma di' mba loma. 
2d pers. O ma di' wa loma. 
3d pers. A ma diyand* a loma. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 7 1 

Plural. 

Ist pers. Ho ma di' hwa loma. 

2d pers. O ma di3'andini wa lomani. 

3d pers. Ba ma di* ba loma. 

Di* is a contraction of diyandi, immediate past 
of the verb diyaka. 

Suggestion. It is possible that the interjected 
a, in mba loma, belongs to the verb itself, and not 
to the subject pronoun. Arguments for this possi- 
bility are, (1) the fact that a is so interjected in 
parts of the verb in the cognate Mpongwe and (pro- 
bably) of the Fan dialects. (2) By admitting this 
a as part of the verb, the apparently irregular 
forms mba, "wa, etc., of the pronoun would have 
no necessity for existence. The pluperfect would 
then be written thus : 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mbi ma di' mbi aloma. 

2d pers. ma di' o aloma. 

3d pers. A ma diyand* a aloma. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ma di' ho aloma. 

2d pers. O ma diyandini o alomani. 

3d pers. Ba ma di' ba aloma. 

By elision the above and all similar tenses would 
then be written thus : 

Singular. 

Ist pars. Mbi ma di' mb '-aloma. 
2d pers. O ma di' o-aloma. 
3d pers. A ma diyand' a 'loma. 



^2 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ma di' ho-aloxua. 

2d pers. O ma diyandiui o-alomani. 

3d pers. Ba ma di' b'-aloma. 

And pronounced, by coalescence and other contrac- 
tions, as if thus : 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mbi ma di' mb' aloma. 
2d pers. ma di' wa %ma. 
3d pers. A ma diyand' a 'loma. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ma di' hwa 'loma. 

2d pers. ma diyandini wa 'lomani. 

3d pers. Ba ma di' ba 'loma. 

First Future, 
Ka lomandi. Will or shall send. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi ka lomandi. Ho ka lomandi. 

2d pers. O ka lomandi. ka lomandini. 

3d pers. A ka lomandi. Ba ka lomandi. 

There is a contingent form of the future, " When 
I shall send." 

Singular. 

1st pers. 'mba-mbi ka loma. 
2d pers. O avS-o ka loma. 
3d pers. ma-a ka loma. 

Plural. 

1st pers. O hwS-ho ka loma. 
2d pers. O inySni-o ka lomani. 
3d pers. O ba-ba ka loma. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 73 

Second Future, 
Ka diyi aloma. Will or shall have sent. 

Sing^ular. 

1st pers. Mbi ka diyi ml)a loma, or, mb* aloma, mba 'loma. 

2d pers. O ka diyi wa loma, " o-aloma, wa *loma. 

8d pers. A ka diyand' a loma, " a-aloma, a 'loma. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ka diyi hwa loma, or, ho-aloma, hwa 'loma. 

2d pers. O ka diyandini wa lomani, *' o-alomani, wa 'lomani. 
3d pers. Ba ka diyi ba loma, '* ba-aloma, ba 'loma. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

All the tenses of this mood are formed from 
the corresponding tenses of the indicative, by 
prefixing the phrase, oninge na, " if, thus." The 
present, pluperfect, and second future have also 
the form of a interjected between the pronoun and 
the verb. 

Present tense, 
Oninge na lomakandi. If send. 

Singular. 

1st pers. OningS na mbi lomakandi. 
2d pers. OningS na o lomakandi. 
3d pers. OningS na a lomakandi. 

Plural. 

1st pers. OningS na ho lomakandi. 
2d pers. Oninge na o lomakandini. 
3d pers. Oningg na ba lomakandi. 



74 BENGA GRAMMAR, 

Another form. 

Singular. 

Istpen. Oning§ mb* a loma, or, m\>* aloma» 
2d pen. Oninge o-a loma, '* wa ai 
8d pers. Oninge a-a loma, " a 'loma. 

Plural. 

let pers. OningS ho-a loma, or, hwa 'loma. 
2d pers. OningS o-a lomani, ** wa'lomani. 
3d perH. Oninge ba-a loma, " ba 'loma. 

See suggestion on page 71. 

Ifnmediate Past. 
Oningd na ma lomandi. If (recently) sent. 

Singular. 

Ifit pers. OningS ua mbi ma lomandi. 
2d pens. OningS na o ma lomandi. 
3il pers. Oningd na a ma lomandi 

Plural. 

1st pers« Oning^ na ho ma lomandL 
2i) p^fs. Oning^ na o ma lomandini. 
Si) p«r& Oning$ na In ma lomandi. 

Ouing^ ua lomindi. If haxe aent 

Ut |%M9k Outn$^ n» luH lo^tiiodi. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 75 

Historical, 
Oninge ua lomakindi. If (long ago) sent. 

Singular. 
Ist pers. OningS na mbi lomakindi. 
2d pers. Oninge na o lomakindi. 
3d pers. Oningg na a lomakindi. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oninge na ho lomakindi. 
2d pers. Oningg na o lomakindini. 
3d pers. OningS na ba lomakindi. 

Pluperfect, 
Oninge na ma di' a loma. [Aloma] If had sent. 

Singular. 
1st pers. Oningg na mbi ma di* mb* a loma. 
2d pers. OningS na o ma di' o-a loma. 
3d pers. Oninge na a ma di* a-a loma. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Oningg na ho ma di' ho-a loma. 
2d pers. OningS na o ma diyandini o-a lomani. 
3d pers. Oninge na ba ma di* b*-a loma. 

See suggestion on page 71 for Aloma. 

First Future, 
Oninge na ka lomandi. If shall or will send. 

Singular. 

1st pers. OningS na mbi ka lomandi. 
2d pers. OningS na o ka lomandi. 
3d pers. Oningg na a ka lomandi. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Onin^§ na ho ka lomandi. 
2d pers. OningS na o ka lomandini. 
3d pers. Oninge na ba ka lomandi. 



76 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Special form. 
Oningg lominge. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oningg mbi lomingg. 
2(1 pers. Oning^ o lomingS. 
3d pers. Oninge a lomingS. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Oningg bo lominge. 
2d pers. Oninge o lominggni. 
3d pers. Oningg ba lomingS. 

This is the form most commonly used in conver- 
sation. 

Second Future, 

Oningg na ka di* a loma [Aloma]. 
If shall or will have sent. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Oninge na mbi ka di' mb^a loma, or, mb' aloma. 

2d pers. Oningg na o ka di* o-a loma, *• wa 'loma. 

3d pers. Oninge na a ka diyand* a-a loma, '* a 'loma. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oningg na bo ka di' bo-a loma, or, bwa 'loma. 

2d pers. Oninge na o ka diyandini o-a lomani, ' ' wa 'lomani. 
3d pers. OningS na ba ka di' b'-a loma, " b' aloma. 

See suggestion on page 71 for Aloma. 

POTENTIAL MOOD. 

Present tense. 
First form. 
T' o loma. May or must send. 
This form of the present potential takes for its 



BENGA GRAMMAR. ^^ 

auxiliary ta, a contraction of the defective verb 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pen. Mbi t< o loma. Ho t* o loma. 

2d pers. O t* o loma. O t* o lomani. 

3d pers. A t' o loma. Ba t* o loma. 

Second form. 
Te lomaka. Can send. 

This form takes its auxiliary from the substan- 
tive verb te, " to be." 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Mbi te mbi lomaka. 

2d pers. O te o lomaka. O t' o lomaka. 

3d pers. A te a lomaka. A t' a lomaka. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Ho te ho lomaka. 
2d pers. O teni o lomakani. 
3d pers. Ba te ba lomaka. 

Perfect and HistoricaL 

Te ! lomakindi. Should have sent. 

The auxiliary sign of this tense is the interjection 
of regret, te I Would that I had done so-and-so. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Te mbi lomakindi. 
2d pers. T' o lomakindi. 
3d pers. T' a lomakindi. 

Plural. 

let pers. Te ho lomakindi. 
2d pers. T* o lomakindini. 
8d pers. Te ba lomakindi. 



78 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

INFINITIVE MOOD. 

Present tense, 
O loma. To send. 
E. g., mbi vahakand' o loma 'ye. I wish to send 
you. 

Future, 

Ka loma. To send. 

E. g., mbi pandi ka loma ma. I come to send him. 

Participle. 
Lomaka. Sending. 

YERBAL NOUNS. 

Noun absti^aot, Iloma, a sending. 

Noun of agency, Ulomi, a sender. 

Noun of mode, Ilomidi, manner of sending. 

Noun of locality, Uomanido, place of sending. 

No^w diminutive, YiloJoma, a little sending. 

Noun of intensity, Ilomalomwe, a special sending. 

ACTIVE TOICE. NEGATIVE ASPECT. 

IXPSKATIVS MOOni 

Sirtg. O lomake* Send thou not 
/Y. O lomateni. Send ye not. 

IXPICATIVm 3I001>. 

Present tense. 
A k>mi3iJta. Send not. 

Singular. FluraL 

lepers* )Ib "i Ii^miik^ H-'aloina&ai. 

^ pecs. Oui iQOiiiki. Oa tii^makajii 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



;9 



In this and all subsequent tenses the reader 
will apply for himself the rule of coalescence, ma- 
king oa, on, and hoa respectively wa, wu, and 
hwa. 

Immediate Past, 
U loma. Did not (recently) send. 



Singular. 

Istpers. Mb' u loma. 
2d pers. On loma. 
3d pers. Au loma. 



Plural. 

H' u loma. 
Ou lomani. 
B'uloma. 



Perfect. 

U lomaka. Have not sent. 

First form. 



Singular. 

Ist pers. Mb* u lomaka. 
2d pers. On lomaka. 
3d pers. Au lomaka. 



Plural. 

H'u lomaka. 
Ou lomakani. 
B' u lomaka. 



Second form. Ha lome. 



Singular. 
Ist pers. Mbi ha lome. 
2d pers. O ba lome. 
3d pers. A ba lome. 



Plural. 
Ho ba lome. 
O ba lomeni. 
Ba ba lome. 



HistoricaL 



Did not send (long ago). 

Singular. PluraL 

1st pers. Mb* u lomaka. H' u lomaka. 

2d pers. Ou lomaka. Ou lomakani. 

3d pers. Au lomaka. B' u lomaka. 



80 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Pluperfect, 
U diya a loma [Aloma?]. Had not sent. 

Singular 

Istpers. Mb*u diya mbaloma. 
2d pers. Ou diya wa loma. 
3d pers. Au diya a loma. 

Plural. 

Istpers. H'u diya hwa loma. 
2d pers. On diyani wa lomani. 
3d pers. B'u diya ba loma. 

First Future, 
A lome [Alome?]. Shall or will not send. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mb'^ lome. Hoa loma. 

2d pers. O^ lome. O^ lomeni. 

3d pers. A^ lome. B k lome. 

Second Future. 

A diye a loma [Aloma ?]. 
Shall or will not have sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mb*^ diye mb'a loma. 
2d pers. Oa diye oa loma. 
3d pers. Aa diye aa loma. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Hoa diye ho^ loma. 
2d pers. O^ diyeni o^ lomani. 
3d pers. B*a diye b-A loma. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 8 1 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

Present tense. 

Special form. 
Oninge lome. If send not. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Ouinge mbi lome. Oninge ho lome. 

2d pers. Oninge o lome. Oiiingg o lomeni. 

3d pers. Oninge a lome. Oninge ba lome. 

All the tenses of the active negative subjunctive 
are formed by prefixing oninge na (" if so ") to the 
corresponding tenses of active negative indicative. 

Present. 
Oninge na a lomaka [Alomaka?]. If not send. 

Singular. 
1st pers. Oninge na mb* a lomaka. 
2d pers. Oninge na o^ lomaka. 
3d pers. Oninge na aa lomaka. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oninge na boa lomaka. 
2d pess. Oninge na ok lomakani. 
3d pers. Oninge na b*^ lomaka. 

Immediate Past. 
U loma. Did not (recently) send. 

Singular. 
1st pers, Oninge na mb* u loma. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou loma. 
3d pers. Oninge na au loma. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oninge na b* u loma. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou lomani. 
3d pers. Oninge na b* u loma. 



82 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Perfect, 
Oning^ na ha lome. If have not sent. 

Singular. 
1st pers. OniBg§ na mbi ha lome. 
2d pers. Oninge na o ha lome. 
3d pers. Oni^ge na a ha lome. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Ouinge na ho ba lome. 
2d pers. Oning§ na o ha lomeni. 
3d pers, Oniiige na ba ha lome. 

a 

• HistoricaL 
Oninge na u lomaka. If sent not (long ago). 

singular. 
1st pers. Oniuge namb' u lomaka. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou lomaka. 
3d pers. Oninge na au lomaka. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Oninge na h' u lomaka. 
2d pers.' Oninge na ou lomakani. 
3d pers. Oninge b' a lomal^. 

Pluperfect. 

* 

OningS na u diya a loma [Aloma?l 
If had not sent (long ago). 

Singular. 
1st pers. Oninge na mb* u diya mb' a loma 
2d pers. Onin^§ na oa diya wa loma. 
3d pers. Oninge na au diya a loma. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oninge na h' u diya hwa loma. 
2d pers Oninge na ou diya wa lomani. 
3d perS. Oninge na b* u diya ba loma. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 83 

First Future. 
Oninge na a lome. . If sliall or will not send. 

Singular. . 

iKtpers. Oiiinge na mb' a lomo. 
2d pen. Oainge na oa' lome. 
3(i pers. Oninge na'aa loQie. 

Plural. 

Istpers Oninge i^ hoa lome. 
2d pers: Oningg na oa lomeai. 
3d pers. Oninge na b' a lome. 

» 

. Second Future, 

Oninge na a diye a loma [Aloma?] 
If shall Or will not have sent. 

Singular. * 

Ist pers. Oninge na mb' a cliye mb* a loma. 
2d pers. Oninge na oa diye oa loma. 
3d pers. Oninge na aa diye aa loma. 

Plural." 
Ist pers. Oninge na ho^ diye hoa loma. 
2d pers. Oninge na oa diyeni oa lomani? 
3d pers. Oningg na b* A diye b* k loma. 







POTENTTAT, 


MOOD. 






• 

Present tense. 




A lomi. May not send. 




Singular. 


Plural 


1st 


pers. 


Mb* a lomi. 


Ho^ lomi. 


2d 


pers. 


0^ lomi. 


Oa lomini. 


3d 


pers. 


kk lomi. 


B* k lomi. 



This present tense can be expressed also by a 



84 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

circumlocutory use of the phrase mbi 'be na ngudi, 
I have not ability. Thus : Cannot send. 

Singular. 
Ist pers. Mbi 'bS na ugudi mbi lomaka. 
2d pers. O 'bS na ngadi o lomaka. 
3d pers. A 'bS na ngudi a lomaka. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Ho 'be na ngudi ho lomaka. 
2d pers. O 'bSni na ngudi o lomakeni. 
3d pers. Ba 'bS na ngudi ba lomaka. 

Perfect. 
Te ! u lomaka. Would had not sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pers. Te ! mb' u lomaka. Te ! h' u lomaka. 

2d pers. Te ! ou lomaka. Te ! ou lomakani. 

3d pers. Te ! au lomaka. Te ! b' u lomaka. 

PASSIVE VOICE. AFFIEMATIVE ASPECT. 

IMPERATIVE MOOD. 

Sing, Lomakwe. Be thou sent. 
PL Lomakweni. Be ye sent. 

INDICATIVE MOOD. 

Present tense. 

Am sent. 

First Form. Lomakwendi. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi lomakwSndi. Ho lomakwendi. 

2d pers. lomakwendi. O lomakwSndini. 

3d pers. A lomakwendi. Ba lomakwendi. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 85 

Second Form. Ndi lomW6ngo. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi ndi lomwgngo. Ho ndi lomwengo. 

2d pers. O ndi iomwgngo. O ndini lomwSngo. 

3d pers. A ndi lomwgngo. Ba ndi lomwengo. 

Third form. A lomwendi. [Alomw6ndiV] 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers Mb'a lomwgndi. Hoa lomwendi. 

2d pers. Oa lomwendi. Oa lomwSndini. 

3d pers. Aa lomwgndi. B'a lumwSndi. 

Immediate Past. 
Ma lomwendi. Was sent (recently). 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi ma lomwendi. Ho ma lomwSndi. 

2d pers. O ma lomwgndi. O ma lomwgndini. 

3d pers. A ma lomwendi. Ba ma lomwgndi. 

Perfect, 
Lomudwendi. Have been sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi lomudwSndi. Ho lomudwendi. 

2d pers. lomudwSndi. O lomudwgndini. 

3d pers. A lomudwSndi. Ba lomudwgndi. 

Historical, 
Lomakudwendi. Have been sent (long ago). 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pers. Mbi lomakudwSndi. IIo lomakndwgndi. 

2d pers. O lomakudwendi. O lomakudwgndini. 

3d pers. A lomakudwendi. Ba lomakudwendi. 



86 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Pluperfect. 

Had been sent. 
First form. Diyaki lomw6. [Alomwfi ?] 

I 

Singular. 

Istpers. Mbi diyaki mba lomwS. 
2d pers. diyaki wa lomwg. 
3d pers. A diyakind* a lomwS. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Ho diyaki hwa lomwS 

2d ners \ ^ ^iy^^i^^i^i ^* lomwS. ) 
( O diyaki wa lomweni. ) 

3d pers. Ba diyaki ba lomwe. 

Second form. Diyaki lomw^nga 

Singular. 

let pers. Mbi diyaki lomwengo. 
2d pers. O diyaki lomwengo. 
3d pers. A diyakindi lomwgngo. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho diyaki lomwSngo. 
2d pers. diyakiudini lomwengo. 
3d pers. Ba diyaki lomwengo. 

First Future, 
Ka lomwgndi. Will be sent 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi ka lomwendi. Ho ka lomwSndi. 

2d pers. O ka lomwendi. O ka lomwendini. 

3d pers. A ka lomwgndi. Ba ka lomwendi. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 87 

Second Future, 
Ka diyi lorn we [Alomwe?]. Will have been sent. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Mbi ka diyi inba lorn we. 
2d pers. ka diyi wa lomwS. 
3d pers. A ka diyand' a lomwS. 

Plural, 
lat perfi. Ho ka diyi hw^ lomwd. 

2d Ders J ^ ^* diyandini wa lorn we. ij 
1 ka diyandi wa lomwSni. ) 
3d pers. Ba ka diyi ba lomwS. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

Formed by prefixing oningg na to the tenses of 
the indicative passive affirmative. 

Present tense. 
OningS lomwe. [Alomwe ?] If am sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pers. OniogS mba lomwS. OningS hwa lomwe. 

2d pers. Onlnge wa lomwe. Oningg wa lomwgni. 

3d pers. OningS a lomwe. Oninge ba lomw§. 

« 

Immediate Past. 
Oninge na ma lomwendi. If was sent. 

Singular. 
1st pers. OningS na mbi ma lomwendi. 
2d pers. Oningg na o ma lomwSndi. 
3d pers. Oningg na a ma lomwSndi. 

Plural. 
1st pers. OningS na ho ma lomwendi. 
2d pers. OningS na o ma lomwSndini. 
3d pers. Onfngg na ba ma lomwendi. 



88 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Perfect. 
Oningg na lomakudw^ndi. If have been sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oningg na mbi lomakndwendi. 
2d pers. Oninge na o lomakndwendi. 
3d pers. Oninge na a lomakudwendi. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Oninge na ho lomakadwSndi. 
2d peis. Oninge na o lomakndwendini. 
3d pers. OningS na ba lomakndwendi. 

Historical, 
Same as the perfect. 

Pluperfect, 

If had been sent. 
First form. Oninge na diyaki lorn we. [Alomw6 ?] 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Oning§ na mbi diyaki mba lomwg. 
2d pers. Oninge na o diyaki wa lomwS. 
3d pers. Oninge na a diyaki a lomwe. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oning^ na ho diyaki hwa lomwe. 
2 1 ners / Oiling© na o diyakindini wa lomwe. j 
\ Oninge na o diyaki wa lomweni. \ 
3d pers. Oninge na ba diyaki ba lomwg. 

Second form. Oninge na diyaki lomwengo. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oninge na mbi diyaki lomwSngo. 
2d pers. Oninge na o diyaki lomwengo. 
3d pers. Oninge na a diyakindi lomwengo. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 89 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ouingg na ho diyaki lomwSngo. 
2d pers. OningS na o diyakindini lomwengo. 
3d pers. Oninge na ba diyaki lomwengo. 

First Future, 
Oninge na ka lomwendi. If shall be sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oninge na mbi ka lomwendi. 
2d pers. OningS na o ka lomwendi. 
3d pers. Oninge na a ka lomwendi. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Oninge na ho ka lomwendi. 
2d pers. OningS na o ka lomwSndiui. 
8d pers. Oninge na ba ka lomwendi. 

Second Future, 

Oninge na ka diyi lorn we. [Alomwe ?] 
If will.have been sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oninge na mbi ka diyi mba lomwe. 
2d pers. OningS na o ka diyi wa lomwe. 
3d pers. OningS na a ka diyand' a lomwe. - 

Plural. 

Ist pers. Oninge nn ho ka diyi hwa lomwe. 

o •. j OningS na o ka diyandini wa lomwe. 1 

* 1 Oningg na o ka diyandi wa lomweni. ) 

3d pers. Oninge na ba ka diyi ba lomwe. 



90 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

POTENTIAL MOOD. 

Present tense. 
First form. Ta o Ibmwe. May be sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mbi t* o lomwe. Ho t* o lomw§. 

2d pers. t* o lomwS. t' o lomweni. 

3d pers. A t* o lomwg. Ba t* o lomwe. 

Second form. Te lomakw6. Can be sent. 

Singular. 

let pers. Mbi te mbi lomakwS. 
2d pers. O t' o lomakwe. 
3d pers. A t* a lomakwS. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho te ho lomakwS. 

2d pers. \ ^ *®"^ ^ lomakwg. ) 
( O t' o lomakwgni. | 
3d pers. Ba te ba lomakwe. 

INFINITIYE MOOD. 

O lomw6. ) m 1 I 

Ka lomwe. f ^^ ^^ «^^*- 

Participle, 
Iiomwengo. Sent. 

VERBAL NOUNS. 

Abstract, Ilomw6, a message. 
Agency, TJlomwe, a messenger. 

Diminutive, Vilolomwg, a little message. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



91 



PASSIVE VOICE. NEGATIVE ASPECT. 



IMPERATIVE MOOD. 

Sing, O lomakwe. Be thou not sent. 
PL O lomakwgni. Be ye not sent. 

INDICATIVE MOOD. 

Present tense. 
Am not sent. 

First form. \ lomakwe. 



Singular. 

Ist pers. Mb' a lomakwe. 
2d pers. Oa lomakwe. 
3d pers. h.k lomakwg 



Plural. 

Hoa lomakwe. 
Oa lomakwSni. 
B' a lomakwe. 



Second form. A lomw6. 



Singular. 

Ist pers. Mb' a lomwe, 
2d pers. Oa lomwe. 
3d pers. Aa lomwg. 



Plural. 

Hoa lomwe. 
O^ loraweni. 
B* k lomwe. 



Third form. Ib6 lomwengo. 



Singular. 

Ist pers. Mb' Ibe lomwengo. 
2d pers. O ibe lomwgngo. 
3d pers.. A ibe lomwengo. 



Plural. 



Ho ibe lomwengo. 
O ibeni lomwengo. 
Ba ibe lomwengo. 



Fourth form. Ha lomw6. 



Singular. 

1st pers. Mbi ha lomwe. 
2d pers. O ba lomwe. 
3d pers. A ha lomwe 



Plural. 

Ho ba lomwS. 
O ha lomweni. 
Ba ba lomwe. 



92 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Immediate Past, 
U lomwe. Was not sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Mb' u lomw5. • H' u lomwg. 

2d pers. Ou lomwe. Ou lomweni. 

3d pers. An lomwS. B' u lomwe. 

Perfect, 
U lomakwg. Have not been sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pet's. Mb' u lomakwe. H' u lomakw§. 
2d pers. Ou lomakwe. Ou lomakwSni. 

3d pers. Au lomakwe. B* u lomakwe. 

Historical, 
Same as the perfect. 

Pluperfect, 

Had not been sent. 
First form. Diyaka a lomw6. [Alomwe ?] 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mb' a diyaka mba lomwS. 
2d pers. Ou diyaka wa lomwe. 
3d pers. Au diyaka a lomwe. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. H' u diyaka hwa lomwg. 

2d pers. \ ^^ ^y^^*^^ ^* lomwS. ) 
' I Ou diyaka wa lomwgni. ) 

3d pers. . B' u diyalca ba lomwg. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 93 

Second form. U diyaka lomwengo. 

Singular. 

Ist pers. Mb* u diyaka lomwengo. 
2d pers. O a diyaka lomwSngo. 
3d pers. Au diyaka lomwengo. 

Plural. 

1st pers. H' n diyaka lomwengo. 
2d pers. Ou diyakani lomwengo. 
3d pers. B* u diyaka lomwgngo. 

First Future, 
A lomwe. Will not be sent. 

Singular Plural. 

1st pers. Mb* k lomwe. Ho^ lomwg. 

2d pers. O^ lomwe. O^ lomwSni. 

3d pers. A^ lomwe. B' a lomw6. 

Second Future. 

A diye a lomw6. [Alomwe?] 
Will not have been sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mb* a diye mba lomw§. 
2d pers. O^ diye wa lomwS 
3d pers. A^ diye a lomwe. 

Plural. 
Ist pers. Ho4 diye hwa lomwS. 

2d ners -I ^^ diyeni wa lomwe. ) 
' ( O^ diye wa lomw6ni. ) 
3d pers. B* k diye ba lomw$. 



94 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

Formed by prefixing oninge na to the tenses of 
the indicative passive negative. 

Present tense, 
Oninge lomwe. If not sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

1st pers. Oningg mbi lomwe. Oninge ho lomwe. 

2d pers. Oningg o lomwe. Oninge o lomweni. 

3d pers. Oninge a lomwe. Oninge ba lomwe. 

Immediate Past, 
Oninge na u lomwe. , If was not sent (recently). 

Singular. 
Ist pers. Oninge na mb' a lomw§. 
2d pers. OningS na on lomwe. 
3d pers. Oninge na au lomwe. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oninge na h' u lomwe. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou lomweni. 
3d pers. OningS na b' u lomwe. 

, Perfect, 
Oninge na u lomakwfi. If have not been sent. 

Singular. 
1st pers. Oninge na mb' u lomakwS. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou lomakwg. 
3d pers. Oningg na au lomakwe. 

Plural. 

Ist pers. Oninge na h' u lomakwg. 
2d pers. Oninge na ou lomakweni. 
3d pers. Oninge na b* u lomakwg. 

Historical, 
Same as the perfect, 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 95 

Pluperfect, 

Oninge na u diyaka a lorn we. [Alomwe?] 
If had not been sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. ODiugg na mb' u diyaka mba lomwS. 
2d pers. OningS na ou diyaka wa lomwe. 
3d pers. Oningg na au diyaka a lomwe. 

Plural. 
1st pers. Oningg na h' u diyaka hwa lomwg. 

2d wers. -i ^^^^^ ^* ^^ diyakani wa lomwg. \ 
\ Oningg na ou diyaka wa lomwSni. » 
3d pers. OningS na b' u diyaka ba lomwg. 

First Future, 
Oningg na a lomwe. If will not be sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oninge na mb' a lomwg. 

2d pers. Oningg na oa lomwS. ^ 

3d pers. Oningg na aa lomwe. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Oninge na ho^ lomwg. 
2d pers. Oninge na ok lomweni. 
3d pers. Oningg na b' a lomwg. 

Second Future. 

Oninge na a diye a lomwe. [Alomwe ?] 
If will not have been sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Oninge na mb' a diye mba lomw6. 
2d pers. Oninge na o^ diye wa lomwe. 
3d pers. Oninge na aa diye a lomw$. 



96 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Plural. 
Ist pere. Oninge na ho^ diye hwa lomwe. 

2d Dera. i O^JJ^g^ ^^ oa diyeni wa lomwS. ) 
I Oning§ na ok diye wa lomwfini. ) 
3d pers. Oninge b' a diye ba lomw6. 

POTENTIAL MOOD. 

Present tense. 

May not be sent. 
First form. A lomwe. 

Sing^ular. Plural. 

Ist pers. Mb* k lomwe. Hdi lomwe. 

2d pers. O^lomwg. O^ lomweni. 

3d pers. A^ lomwe. B* a lomwS. 

Second form. Ibe na ngudi e lomakwe. 

Cannot be sent. 

Singular. 

1st pers. Mb' ibe na ngudi e lomakwe. 
2d pers. ibg na ngudi e lomakwe. 
3d pers. A ibe na ngudi e lomakwe. 

Plural. 

1st pers. Ho ibe na ngudi e lomakwS. 

2d oers -I ^ ^^^^^ ^^ ngudi e lomakwe. | 
1 ibe na ngudi e lomakweni. ) 
3d pers. Ba ibe na ngudi e lomakwe. 

Perfect, 
Te ! u lomakudwe. Would ! not have been sent. 

Singular. Plural. 

Ist pers. Te ! mb' u lomakudwe. Te ! h' u lomakudw6. 

2d pers. Te ! ou lomakudwe. Te ! ou lomakudwenl. 

3d pers. T* au lomakudwe, Te ! b* u lomakudwe. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 97 

All the other species, frequentative, lomakate; 
relative, lomakiya ; reciprocal, lomanaka j aDd caus- 
ative, lomakide ; and their compounds, recipro-fre- 
quentative, lomanakate; recipro-relative, lomana- 
kiya ; recipro-causative, lomanakide, are capable of 
being conjugated through both aspects of both 
voices, and in all moods and tenses (as far as mean- 
ing will allow), with tense signs and terminations 
the same as in the above paradigm of the radical 
lomaka. 

And the several kinds of verbal nouns can be 
derived from each of the above-named species, lim- 
ited only by their capacity for meanings, e. g., 

Ilomiya, > „ , ,. 

Ilomidg, ) 
Ulomide, I Causative. 

nomana, ^ 

PAKTICIPLES. 

This part of Benga speech does not exactly co- 
incide with the English participle. There are only 
two, and they are used only in the present. 

Active, present. Lomaka, sending. 

T. . ,, Lomakwg, ) 

P*««^^« Lomwengo. r«^*- 

EXAMPLE. 

Anyambe a na kenga, a lomaka mbwiya o bayamu na babe 
tepe ta. 

God is kind, sending rain on good and bad both together. 

Benga GrRmtnar. y 



98 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

Also there is another participial form, in the 
use of the intensive adverb bo, only, e. g., bo-tan- 
daka, loving, simply, or entirely loving ; bo-v6heke, 
scorning utterly. 

ADVEKBS. 

The number of adverbs in the Benga language 
is not great ; but they can readily be increased by 
the use of adverbial phrases consisting of the prep- 
osition o and certain nouns of place, time, manner, 
etc. 

ADVERBS OF PLACE. 

Oba. Above. 

Okava. Here. 

Ovone. There. 

Okaoni. OS there. 

Okavani. There (farther oflf), 

Ove. Where. 

Ulanga. Westward. (Literally, O 'langa, " to 
the deep," i. e., of the sea.) 

O boho. Forward. (Literally, " to the face," 
i. e., face ward. 

O mbuhwa. Behind. (Literally, " to the rear.") 

O he. Below, " to the ground." 

Bo. Far. 

Baka, baka na. Beside, alongside. 

Tavidengo. Far away. 

Piele. Near. 

Kwanga. Until, clear unto. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 99 

We. There, to the very end, ultimately. 
Jadi. Unto. 

ADVERBS OF TIME. 

Pani. At once, this moment. 
O buhwa. To-day. 
Vaiko. Yesterday. 
O vake. To-morrow. 
Wawd. Quickly. 
Ngwambe. Hastily. 
Pwapw&. In a hurry. 

Kya. Now. (O kya tekane, "at this present 
[time].") 

Kwei. Presently, after a while. 

N* ivakwe. At another [time]. 

O vyo. Formerly. (" To the old [time].") 

ADVERBS OF QUANTITY. 

Bo. Only, simply. 

Mete. Very. 

Kabo. Only, 

Kwe. A little. 

Twetwe. SuflSicient. 

Pa. Solely, absolutely. 

Tep6. Also. 

Paniango. Exactly, just as. 

ADVERBS OP DOUBT. 

Oninge. If. 

Ip6. Perhaps, if.* 

O banga. Lest. (Literally, " to fear.") 

Pagate. If only. 



lOO BENGA GRAMMAR. 

ADVERBS OP MANNER. 

Dipa. Alone. 

O bwe, bwebwe. Openly^ " to the light." 

KyA. Cut oflf short. 

Na. Thus, namely, viz. 

Nandi. Therefore. 

Ta. Together. 

Ka. Tremblingly, hesitatingly. 

Kakana. In this manner, thus. 

Ka. As. 

Ka na. As if. 

Pani ka. Like manner, like unto. 

ADVERBS OF AFFIRMATION. 

Aye. Ai. Yes (of response). 
E. Yes (of assent). 
Nonane. It is so. 
Nande. Certainly. 
Nande le. Why not ? 
Pakwgpakwe. Verily, truly. 
Mbambae. Truly. 
Vakana. Then, therefore, so. 

ADVERBS OF NEGATION. 

Nyawe. No. 
Hanga. Not. 

Besides single words, as in the above lists, many 
phrases are used adverbially, just as in English. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 



lOI 



EXAMPLES. 



Mbi ka yenete, I will see (implying doubt, or refusal). 
Egombe yghepi, All the time, for ever. 
Sasa, Please to do so ; if it please you. 

Such adverbial phrases are very numerous. 



PEEP08ITI0NS. 

There are very few. Preposition a, of, is capa- 
ble of being varied, in likeness to the alliterative 
form of the noun with which it agrees, and forming 
the adjunct or link to the noun which it governs, as 
described under nouns and pronouns. Thus : 

CLASSES OF NOUNS. 





1st 


2d 


8d 


4th 


5th 


6th 


7th 


8th 


Sinff. 


ea 


ja- 


mua 


boa 


mua 


ua 


via 


ea 


PL 


bea 


ma 1 


mea 


mea 


ba 


ba 


la 


ja 



The single preposition o supplies the place of a 
large number of those in use in the English lan- 
guage. To, from, on, upon, over, in, against, and 
others are represented by it. 

The other in most frequent use is na, with. 



EXAMPLES. 



Baka na (Baka, near ; na, to), be8ide. 
Pigle na (pi61e, near ; na, to), near to. 
Oviya (o, in ; viya, coming), from. 

The preposition o, when used before the name 
of a person, or before a personal pronoun, is always 
followed by jadi. 



102 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

FXAMPLE8. 

Mb' 'aland' o Mediko a jadi. 
I am going unto Mediko. 

Mba viyand' o ma-a jadi. 

I have come from bim [where him-he is]. 

As jadi expresses personal local existence, it is 
not used after common nouns, unless they indicate 
a person or persons, e. g., 

A vukiyend o bato ba jadi. 
He came unto mankind. 

See jadi in the list of defective and irregular 
verbs. 

CONJUNCTIONS. 

These are copulative and disjunctive. 

Those most frequently in use are : 

Oningg. If. 

Na. And. 

Kabo. Except. 

Kabojana, ikabojana, jambojana, kaboja. Be- 
cause. 

Tombekete, tombete, tombe. Either, or. 

Also the correlatives : Oning6 and vakdna, or 
bSnge; jaka and te. (See examples under defec- 
tive and irregular verbs.) 

INTERJECTIONS. 

Single words used as interjections are not nu- 
merous. Em6 is used when something extraordi- 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 103 

nary is seen or heard. Bamdni is an expression of 
surprise or grief ; te, of regret. Saba and sabali, 
used interrogatively, are equivalent to, True? Is it 
true ? But, used positively, they are of the nature 
of an oath. 

Phrases used as exclamations abound, some of 
which mean in English as follows : " Oh ! my mo- 
ther !" " Oh ! my father !" " Oh ! son of my mo- 
ther !" Often the name alone of the father or mother 
is used. 

Sasa, please ! is used more especially by chil- 
dren or inferiors, in asking a favor. 

We? is a courteous softening of an order, or 
polite call to attention to some address or state- 
ment. Thus, a teacher to his pupil, or friend to a 
cotnpanion, begins his statement, Mba na, we ? as 
if to say, " I speak to you ; listen." And friend to 
a friend, or master to a willing servant, Hak* ekae, 
we. " Do this, please." 

Occasionally an expression, often of a slangy 
nature, originates from some trifling cause, and is 
in every one's mouth for a little while, and then 
again falls into disuse. 

Mbolo is a salutation, with its plural mboloani. 
The inferior always first addresses the superior, the 
child the parent, the servant the master, the host 
the guest. The claims of hospitality are carried so 
far that a king, if a host, is thereby the "inferior" 
of a child or even of a slave, the child being, for 



I04 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

the time, his guest. (This was literally exact for- 
merly, until, in places where foreign influences pre- 
vail, there has been substituted an indiscriminate 
and meaningless hand-shaking.) The person thus 
saluted responds, " Ai, mbolo." The plural mbo- 
loani, though intended for the whole company of 
strangers or guests, is (where politeness is regarded) 
addiessed to their leader or eldest one, by name. 
Mbolo means " gray hairs," and the salutation is 
equivalent to " may you live to old age !" 

Among intimate friends, or as a courtly saluta- 
tion from a chief, is used the word sale and its 
plural saleni, e. g., sale, welcome ! Bangi, saleni. 
Hail, strangers ! And then when this effusive wel- 
come has quieted down, the dignified "mbolo" 
should invariably be added. , 

Among affectionate friends, both men and wo- 
men, but more especially among women, samba! 
precedes the usual mbolo. The host, seeing the 
visitor coming, advances rapidly with extended 
arms, ejaculating, "lyfi! iyS," and as the friends 
meet, they fall on to each the other's shoialder, 
clasping each their own hands on the other's back, 
with a prolonged samba-a-a ! 

Many other forms of salutation there are, used, 
as in civilized countries, only among equals, or 
with a streak of humor, equivalent to our, " Top-o*- 
the-moming !" " How are you, old fellow," etc. 

Te! Would so-and-so! has already been men- 
tioned as an adverb. 



BENGA GRAMMAR. lOJ 

INTERROGATION. 

Interrogation is expressed, not only as in all 
languages, by the inflection of voice, but also by 
the particles we and le and e. 

We has already been mentioned both as an 
adverb and as an interjection. It not only softens 
the asperity of a command, but closes all respectful 
requests, e. g., 

O ka hanaka 'mba, we. 
Will you help me ? 

Le has also a plural form, li. 

EXAMPLES. 

O haka IS nde. O haka li nde. 

What doest thou ? What do ye ? 

Who art thou ? Ave o le a nja. 
(Contracted) Av6 le nja. 
(Literally) Thou? who. 

Who are ye? Inyi li ba nja. 
(Literally) Ye? they who. 

E is often used at the close of an interrogative 
phrase or sentence, thereby duplicating the interro- 
gation. 

EXAMPLES. 

O ka pat* e le nja 'gombe-e [pronounced, gombye]. 

What time will you come ? 
(Literally) Thou wilt come, it? what time? 

O yahaka li nja janga-e [pronounced, jangwg]. 

What kind do you want? 
(Literally) Ye want? what kind? 



Io6 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

SPECIMEN OF TEANSLATION. 

(lesson from the BENGA PRIMER.) 
Matt. 14:24-31. 

Krais a tamwaka o manga. 
Christ He walking on the sea. 

Na kolu, bato ba diyaki na Jisu Krais; 
At evenings people they were with Jesus Christ : 

ka b& - ba dika m& o he, ka ba - ba 

then them-they left Him on the land, and them-they 

vala o manga na 'lende. 
went on the sea in a boat, 

E ka bweyak* ivititi. Ka manga ma linguwa. 

// then seizing darkness. And sea it raged, 

Upupe u vungaka na ngudi. Ka b& behepi ba 
Wind it blew with strength. And them all they 

yene Jisu a tamwaka o manga, a vaka piel6 na 
saw Jesus he walking on sea, he coming near to 

'lende. Ba bangaki jS.nga iite. Ka m& - a va 
boat. They feared fear much. And Him-he spoke 

na ba, na, O bangakeni ; a te 'mba. Ka Pit6 
to them, thus. Ye not fear ; he is me. Then Peter 

a va, na, Upangiyi, ipe a nd* &ve, langwakia 
he spoke, thus. Lord, if he is thee, tell to 

'mba na mbi vake o &ve - o jadi o miba. Ka 
me that I may come to thee-thou unto on water. And 



BENGA GRAMMAR. 10/ 

M& - a v&, na, Vaka. Ka Pit6 a huba 

Him-he said, thus. Come, Then Peter he descended 

o 'lende o Vala o Jisu a jadi. 
from boat in coming to Jesus he unto. 

O ma-a y6nekidi manga ma ka bevaka n* 
When him-he saw sea it was fouled with 

«upupe, ka ma-a banga jS^ngd iite. Ekae nd' e 
wind, then him-he feared fear much. This is it 

pangaki m& o hinga ; ka md-a v&, na, Upangiyi, 
made him to sink ; then him-he said, thus, Lord, 

yongakg 'mba. Ka Jisu a hambid* en& 'aju, 
save me. Then Jesus he reached forth hand his, 

ka Md - a bweyia ma, ka M& - a tata ma 

then Him-he took hold on him, then Him-he kept him 

bwam*. Ka Jisu a bete o 'lende ; b& b6hepi 
well. Then Jesus He went up into boat ; them all 

ba yeneki mbya 'n6n6 na yen6 Ma. 
they saw gladness great with seeing Him. 

Moto uehepi a kalakiye, A ! Upangiyi, yongake 
Person each he let pray, 0/ Lord, save 

'mba. Kabojana o 'b6 n* up4kw6 kabo 

mc. For you are not with another except 

Jisu a ka yonge, na Ma - a tata ilina jame. 
Jesus he will save, and Him-he keep soul mine. 



108 BENGA GRAMMAR. 

THE LORD'S PRAYER. 

Hangw* ahu a jad* oba, Dina jave i diyake hole. 
Ipangiya j&ve i vake. Upango 'muave u hamake o 
he, ka m* u jad* oba. Veke hwe o buhwa beja bea 
buhwa bohuhu. Na nav6 o ka iyakidg hwe mabe 
mahu pani ka hw6-ho iyafeide ba-ba hake hwe bo- 
be. O valakide hw6 o iy6judw6, ndi vengekid6 hw6 
oviya bobe. Kabojana ipangiya, na ngudi, n* iven- 
da be nd* ibeave o 'gombe eehgpi. Am6n. 




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