#kikongo language

[kemetic-dreams]

Historians from Southern Illinois University in the Africana Studies Department documented about 20 title words from the Kikongo language are in the Gullah language. These title words indicate continued African traditions in Hoodoo and conjure. The title words are spiritual in meaning. In Central Africa, spiritual priests and spiritual healers are called Nganga. 

In the South Carolina Lowcountry among Gullah people a male conjurer is called Nganga. Some Kikongo words have a "N" or "M" in the beginning of the word. However, when Bantu-Kongo people were enslaved in South Carolina the letters N and M were dropped from some of the title names. For example, in Central Africa the word to refer to spiritual mothers is Mama Mbondo. In the South Carolina Lowcountry in African American communities the word for a spiritual mother is Mama Bondo. In addition during slavery, it was documented there was a Kikongo speaking slave community in Charleston, South Carolina

#nganga #mama mbondo #slave community #charlestonch #charleston south carolina #afrakan #kemetic dreams #africans #african #brownskin #brown skin #afrakans #african culture #afrakan spirituality #central africa #kikongo language #gullah #gullah geechee #gullah gullah island

[languagexs]

Exploring the Rich Linguistic Heritage of Kikongo and Kituba Languages in the Kongo Kingdom

Uncovering the Secrets of the Kikongo Language and People Located in the heart of Central Africa, the Kikongo language has a rich cultural heritage that has been passed down through the centuries. This ancient language spoken by the Bakongo people provides fascinating insight into the region’s history, traditions and way of life. In this article, we delve into the fascinating world of the…

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#African Languages #Bakongo people #Bantu languages #Cultural Heritage #inclusivity #Interpretation Services #Kikongo language #Kongo Kingdom #Language Preservation #LanguageXS

[myaoiboy]

do you believe Love Deterrence was kind of a love confession from Kaz to BB?

Sort of. Kind of. I do think it was about BB, and we know the lyrics are written by Kaz.

I don't know if we ever find out all the languages that BB speaks, obviously English, Russian, Spanish, that leaves iirc 3 more languages he speaks, and I don't know if Japanese is ever confirmed as one.

It seems likely given that he speaks to Kojima in PW, and that BB speaking other languages is translated for the player, but Venom also speaks to him and gets a verbal response in TPP, and we know that was in English due to [mumbled summary of TPP plot]. That's probably the closest we get to confirmation.

Anyways my point with that is, I tend to think that BB doesn't speak Japanese, at least not around Kaz, and Kaz intentionally wrote Love Deterrence in a language he didn't think BB knew so that he could get his feelings out without the utter mortification of actually sharing them.

#mgs #bbkaz #if anybody actually knows or has hunches about BB's language list im all ears i want to know #or any of them really #we know liquid “speaks arabic like a native” which is fascinating. like. which dialect? #khaliji would probably make the most sense since he was also in the gulf war #but almost equal chance of anything else as well given it is Year Of Our Lord 2005 when this takes place and uh #bestie we (westerners as a whole) did not really uhhh...what is the word...care...about the diversity of the arab world at that time #but idk its funny to me that *that* is what they choose to point out when he literally speaks kikongo for a large portion of his childhood

[itisjusta]

#kikongo #lari #laari #ladi #laadi #congo #république du congo #republic of congo #centralafrica #language #langue #apprendre #learn #bantu #african languages #africa #afrique

[kimludcom]

Yannick Afroman - Bakongo ft. Sam Mangwana, Socorro, Kyaku Kyadaff, Gilmário Vemba

Yannick Afroman - Bakongo ft. Sam Mangwana, Socorro, Kyaku Kyadaff, Gilmário Vemba

#youtube #Yannick Afroman #Bakongo #Sam Mangwana #socorro #Kyaku Kyadaff #Gilmário Vemba #Kongo Dia Ntotila #Bantu #Kikongo #Mukongo #People #DRC Congo #Cabinda #Angola #Languages #português #culture #food #countries #tribe #music

[peonycats]

Can you explain your process on how you chose human names, or how you found them I can't find shit on African-language names that aren't European.

So, my tip is that you probably wanna get more specific- if you look up stuff like "Republic of Congo Names," you're gonna get a list of the most popular names used in the Republic of Congo, which skews towards European style names. However, if you look up "KiKongo names" or "Luba names", you're much less likely to get European names. I also cross reference any names I pick out as an additional precaution- so if I like a certain name from a list of "X ethnicity" names, I peruse around for people from that ethnicity and see if that name actually exists among them!

#Tho i will say the human name for my lebanon I just chose 'Latif' because it suits him and I wanted to keep the L naming theme of the Levant #ask #shamangus #hetalia #tips

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

I have something beautiful to share with you all: give this a listen. What do you think it is?

There's many different versions of this song, just type "Misibamba" on spotify or youtube, and enjoy. It's specifically an AfroArgentinean song, with most of the versions of this song recorded in Buenos Aires. According to african scholars, the song was originally in kikongo, possibly from the Benguela Nation, and it's traditionally sung to call on God (Nzambi Npungu). Some of the words have gone through slight (and not so slight) pronunciation or spelling changes but it's still recognizable for scholars in Angola!

What scholars say about it being originally used to call on God fits our own oral tradition and custom too, it's a religious song. Our elders sing it in times of need, when you need that extra ancestral and divine protection or guidance, and Elders say it was originally sung by our Ancestors in the slave ships as they were crossing the atlantic !!!

And it's not even the only song that remains! there's many other songs in african languages and derived dialects, remembered and sung by afroargentine Elders across the country. After so many years of denial and historical whitewashing, I'm so, so deeply grateful for all the afroargentine and african scholars, and afroargentine collectives and associations, working to preserve our music and dialects, and finally bring them back to the light, to remember and honor our Ancestors.

#Afroargentina #Afroargentinean #Afrolatinos #Afrolatines #Afroargentine #Afroargentines #history #afroargentine history #kikongo #angola #benguela #Nzambi Mpungu #ATRs #ADRs #African Traditional Religions #african diaspora #black argentina #black argentines

[madamlaydebug]

!! ️SCHOOL WILL NEVER TEACH YOU THIS👇🏿

|| THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF THE NAME ISRAEL ||

The teachings of Bundu Dia Kongo.

Ne MUANDA NSEMI teaches the Makesa mu Nzila Kongo: the mystery of the name, because the name is the carrier of evil and beneficial influences to the one who bears it.

The name is also linked to a person's state of being.

Como example: with Zulu Makeba, with MBEMBA ZULU, with NKEMBO WA MONESUA, with NSANSUKULU A KANDA, YAYA VITA KIMPA, MFUMU KIMBANGU, with MUANDA NSEMI, NAVITA NGOLO, MFUKA FUAKAKA MUZEMBA etc.

Ne MUANDA NSEMI also teaches Makesa mu Nzila Kongo that speaking French, English is not synonymous with being intellectual.

Africans have become, complexly, foreign languages fanatics. Africans believe that giving a French, English or Hebrew name would have more meaning than in their mother tongue.

Example:

-that one called PEDRO thinks it's better to be called a stone than to be called TADI in his mother tongue which is KIKONGO.

- whoever is called ELOHIM believes this designation is divine in origin, but refuses to be called ELIMA in their language, while ELOHIM= ELIMA in Kikongo.

.

Ne MUANDA NSEMI teaches the Makesa mu Nzila Kongo that the word KELIMA means a Messenger God, a Genius, an Angel. When the letter 'K' falls, KELIMA becomes ELIMA, in the plural BIKELIMA: the flashing, the SEZIMA, the SELIMA.

.

Elima word expansion, adding letters. Oh give the words Elohima Elohim in Hebrews

Eli, El, stands for ELIMA, Kelima.

Give names like: EL Fatah, EL Chadai, ELION.

The abbreviation " EL " is also in the name of God, Archangels, Prophets in the Hebrew language as: Deus Yave Israel. Archangel Michael, Michël, Raphael, and other names such as: Ishmael, Samuël, Daniël, Emmanuel, Ezequiël...

.

Kelima, Elima is synonymous with God of Simbi, Nomo, a messenger God, a Genius of Nature, an Angel, a Radiant of Light.

No more no less On the cross Jesus shouted Elima (=Eli), Elima (=Éli), why have you forsaken me?

.

A Kelima, an Elima is a Great Mulimu, a Great Spirit of Nature: Each Elima has its own name:

And HOGU BATALA, OUR KAMBISI, KOLOKOSO, OUR KINZOLA, OLONGO, OUR MANDOMBE KALI, LUEZI (LUEJI, LUEJ, RUEJ) , RA, ISISI, MANATA LUDI etc.. These are some famous Elima from Egyptian BUKONGO.

.

Isis stands for Isisi: a goddess (an Elima) of Ancient Egypt.

.

Ra is a male Elima (+), isisi a female (-).

IS, RA, EL giving Israel. It is the fusion of positive (Ra) and negative (isisi), the union of man and woman gives an androgynous Elima (EL), both male and female. An equal Elima is called Mahungu, Malunga, Ilunga, Complete Being, made in the image of the Great God KONGO KALUNGA.

.

The holy book of Kongo (MAKONGO) religion teaches that Kana was the land of High Priest MELCHISEDEK.

Mukana verb means Nkua Vema, an enthusiastic, a passionate, a jealous, a fanatic.

Kikana is fanaticism: Bakana ba Nzambi are fanatic of God, KANA, KANANA country.

Originally Kana and Madian were inhabited by blacks

Midian was inhabited by the High Priest, Gestro (Yetelo), this High Priest of Bukongo teaches Moses to contact the Angel of the people of Israel who is the God of Israel.

Kana was inhabited by High Priest Melchisedek, this High Priest of Bukongo teaching Hibrahim, Abraham to enter into communion with God of Israel.

.

In kikongo language the sun is called Ntangu lowa the Great Nabi Kongo say the heart of the sun is called KISEDEKI.

-so MAMBU MELE KISEDEKI i mean problems went to the heart of the sun. The word MELE is a Kikongo verb form from the verb KUENDA which means to go.

.

In Bukongo, a Great Nabi Kongo that serves as a transmission channel between the Assemblies of God (Temple) and the Heart of the Sun, bears the grand opening title of Ne MELE KISEDEKI.

.

The bible says Melchisedik king of Salem brought bread and wine. He was a sacrifice of a very high God. He bless Abraham by the most high God

Ibrahim (Abraham) gave Dime to Mechisedek (Genesis 14: 18-20)

So here is Abraham, the first prophet of God of Israel) who is blessed by a High Priest black a Great Nabi Kongo, Ne MELE KISEKEDI.

Abraham father of the faith of the white Hebrews pay Dime to the Priest of the Most High God Ne MELE KISEDEKI King and Priest of KANA we will distort in Kanan Canaan because of their variants Kanana.

- Thus Abraham (Ibrahim) imitating copying the language of the people of Kana (THE BAKONGO) and distorting the graft in the Hebrew language, these words distort the source in Kikongo

- in Kikongo language

Excerpt from the book The Mysteries of KIKONGO

Written by NE MUANDA NSEMI Nlongi' to KONGO.

Kinshasa on 22-11-1995

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

This cut scene is never in English once I get a Kikongo and Afrikaans interpreter-which is really cool but I wonder how Venom is doing this. Is one of the interpreters feeding him the language through his radio? That’d be kinda cool actually. “Here Boss just repeat after me!” Or someone told him ahead of time enough to communicate.

#venom snake #liquid snake #nate vids #mgs #mgsv

[dailyhistoryposts]

World Literature Series: L'anté-peuple

TITLE: L'anté-peuple (French) or The Antipeople (English)

AUTHOR: Sony Lab'ou Tansi (born Marcel Ntsoni)

DATE PUBLISHED: 1983

COUNTRY, REGION, OR PEOPLE: Congo

LANGUAGE: French

TYPE: Novel

BACKGROUND: Tansi was the oldest of seven children born in 1947 to a family living in a village in what was then the Belgian Congo. Tansi spoke three languages (Kikongo, French, and English), and he spent his life writing, teaching, and performing plays.

Tansi’s works speak of the difficulties of life in postcolonial Africa. Traditional wisdom lends strength to characters, but their surroundings are bleak, forcing people into rough situations and rougher choices with no good options.

L'anté-peuple won the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire in 1983.

SYNOPSIS: Dadou is the respected principal of a school for girls in Zaire. He is attracted to some of his students, and in his determination to resist them (especially Yavelde and her cousin Yealdara), he turns to drinking. 

However, Yavelde kills herself and, in a note, falsely accuses Dadou of making her pregnant. The village reacts with violence and Dadou is sentenced to prison, where he stays for four years until Yealdara can help him escape. Dadou escapes across the Congo River, but he can’t stay in the nearby fishing village forever, and Yealdara is having trouble finding him to reunite.

THEMES: Power, politics, the law, corruption, love, sex, existentialism

[A color photograph of Tansi, a Black man with short hair and a blue shirt]

Main post for the World Literature series.

#history #tbr #africa #congo #books #L'anté-peuple #The Antipeople #Sony Lab'ou Tansi #the 80s #1980s #Congo #Belgian Congo #democratic republic of the congo #french #tw violence #tw suicide #tw sex

[kemetic-dreams]

San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio, often referred to by the locals simply as Palenke, is a Palenque village and corregimiento in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern Colombia. Palenque was the first free African town in the Americas, and in 2005 was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

Spaniards introduced enslaved Africans in South America through the Magdalena River Valley. Its mouth is close to the important port of Cartagena de Indias where ships full of Africans arrived. Some Africans escaped and set up Palenque de San Basilio, a town close to Cartagena. This community began in 1619, when Domingo Biohó led a group of about 30 runaways into the forests, and defeated attempts to subdue them. Biohó declared himself King Benkos, and his palenque of San Basilio attracted large numbers of runaways to join his community. His Maroons defeated the first expedition sent against them, killing their leader Juan Gómez. The Spanish arrived at terms with Biohó, but later they captured him, accused him of plotting against the Spanish, and had him hanged.

They tried to free all enslaved Africans arriving at Cartagena and were quite successful. Therefore, the Spanish Crown issued a Royal Decree (1691), guaranteeing freedom to the Palenque de San Basilio Africans if they stopped welcoming new escapees. But runaways continued to escape to freedom in San Basilio. In 1696, the colonial authorities subdued another rebellion there, and between 1713-7. Eventually, the Spanish agreed to peace terms with the palenque of San Basilio, and in 1772, this community of maroons was included within the Mahates district, as long they no longer accepted any further runaways

The village of Palenque de San Basilio has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants and is located in the foothills of the Montes de María, southeast of the regional capital, Cartagena. The word "palenque" means "walled city" and the Palenque de San Basilio is only one of many walled communities that were founded by escaped slaves as a refuge in the seventeenth century. Of the many palenques of escaped enslaved Africans that existed previously San Basilio is the only one that survives.Many of the oral and musical traditions have roots in Palenque's African past. Africans were dispatched to Spanish America under the asiento system.

The village of San Basilio is inhabited mainly by Afro-Colombians which are direct descendants of enslaved Africans brought by the Europeans during the Colonization of the Americas and have preserved their ancestral traditions and have developed also their own language; Palenquero. In 2005 the Palenque de San Basilio village was proclaimed Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

In the village of Palenque de San Basilio most of its inhabitants are African and still preserve customs and language from their African ancestors. In recent years people of indigenous ancestry have settled at the borders of Palenque, being displaced earlier by the Colombian civil war. The village was established by Benkos Bioho sometime in the 16th century.

One of the first anthropological studies of the inhabitants of Palenque de San Basilio was published by anthropologist Nina de Friedemann and photographer Richard Cross in 1979 entitled Ma Ngombe: guerreros y ganaderos en Palenque.

A Spanish-based creole language known as Palenquero originates in this community. The New York Times reported on October 18, 2007 that the language spoken in Palenque is thought to be the only Spanish-based creole language spoken in Latin America. Being a creole language, its grammar differs substantially from Spanish making the language unintelligible to Spanish speakers. Palenquero was influenced by the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola, and also by Portuguese, the language of the slave traders who brought enslaved Africans to South America in the 17th century. Exact information on the different roots of Palenquero is still lacking, and there are different theories of its origin. In 2007, fewer than half of the community's 3,000 residents still speak Palenquero.

A linguist born in Palenquero is compiling a lexicon for the language and others are assembling a dictionary of Palenquero. The defenders of Palenquero continue working to keep the language alive

#san basilio #palenquero #african #kemetic dreams #afrakan #brownskin #afrakans #africans #brown skin #south america #spanish #colombian #kikongo #congo #angola #latin america

[brooklynislandgirl]

RULES.  repost, don’t reblog

TAGGED.  @lokitheliesmith  {{mahalo! my dearest}}

TAGGING. Be Fae, steal memes

BASICS.

FULL NAME. Elizabeth Irene Riley (birth certificate: Elikapeka Ailine Alohaekaunei kahanuola'Ilikea'wahine Riley )

NICKNAME. Beth

BIRTHDAY. 28 June

ETHNIC GROUP.  Pacific Islander {Rokea Kinfolk}

NATIONALITY.  American {{Sovereign Kingdom of Hawai’i}}

LANGUAGE.   Beth is fluent in: Hawai’ian Pidgin {her language of choice},  English, Latin.  She’s conversational in: Japanese, Russian, Italian, French, Mandarin and Cantonese.  She can speak some: (modern) Greek, occasional Spanish, Romanian, some Gaelic. She made a point of learning Kikongo, Masalit, and Beria (the first a language of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the later two spoken in Darfur, where she spent time serving with Médecins Sans Frontières {Doctors without Borders}

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Demi-sexual, quoiromantic {{your guess is as good as hers}}

RELATIONSHIP STATUS. n/a

CLASS. 1% Wealthy/Upper class, {{Ali’i class}}

HOME TOWN / AREA. Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawai’i 

CURRENT HOME.  Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York

PROFESSION. ER Nurse, technically has an MD but dropped out during her residency.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR.  Rich dark brown, shoulder length-to mid back. Thick, soft, professionally styled.

EYES. Green/brown hazel {heterochromia}, naturally thick lashes.

NOSE. Small, straight. crinkles at the corners of her eyes when she genuinely smiles

FACE. Delicate features, high cheek bones, wide eyes, clearly bi-racial

LIPS. Soft, full lower lip, perfectly shaped upper cupid’s bow.

COMPLEXION.  Tawny brown/olive tone, a “warm” autumn, with red and yellow tints to skin and hair. Beth, being half Irish and half Polynesian falls under “ambiguously ethnic” and depending on style choices and sun exposure can range from almost a light complexion to deeply tan.

BLEMISHES. She has a fine little series of freckles around her mouth and across the bridge of her nose. Someone would have to look close to even notice them. There are the occasional freckles on her shoulders and down her back, as well.

SCARS. Shark Bite from just above her ankle, to just below of her knee of her left leg. The scar is deep, the muscle within appears atrophied, and a good portion was torn away. The surgery to repair it left her left leg fractions shorter than her right, and when she’s on her feet for too long, she often displays a limp. When she has to make public appearances, or goes to the beach, she will hide it with a minor illusion.

TATTOOS. She has a turtle tattoo whose shell is filled in with the Hawai’ian archipelago and a hibiscus on her left back hip. She has a Tree of Life tattoo just below her neck and between her shoulder blades. She has a three-stud sub-dermal piercing along the inside of her right hip.

BUILD.  Beth barely stands five feet tall, and tends to weigh between 90 and 96 pounds. If someone is being generous, she has been called petite, and slender. Beth sees herself as stunted and scrawny. She is perpetually underweight, despite her natural athleticism, and her curves are fairly modest, though she does have a rather lovely backside by western standards.

ALLERGIES. Bees, penicillin, latex, velvet. 

USUAL HAIR STYLE. Beth hasn’t worn her hair naturally in years, but often wears it up in braids, buns, or pony-tails for work reasons.

USUAL CLOTHING. She spends a majority of her time in scrubs. She often wears business suits, or couture gowns for charitable efforts, but is most comfortable wearing as little as possible: bikinis/sleeveless blouses, long flowing skirts.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR. The Dark. Heights. {{Being abandon/rejection/being alone}}

ASPIRATION.  n/a

POSITIVE TRAITS. Beth is kind, caring, soft, compassionate, loving, understanding, charitable. She is highly intelligent, a talented witch, a staunch champion of others. She will go above and beyond for others, and will befriend literally anyone or anything.

NEGATIVE TRAITS. Shy, envious, deep-seated rage, self-sabotaging, self-critical to the point of hatred, exceptionally emotional. Easily feels slighted. Can be clingy, stubborn, or petulant.

VICE HABIT. Chronic insomniac, tends to drink wine to cover up feelings.

FAITH. Raised as a devout roman catholic. Has come to realise most gods are really just unfeeling bastards.

GHOSTS? She knows a few.

AFTERLIFE? Yes

REINCARNATION? Yes

ALIENS? She knows a few of these, too.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT. Beth abhors human politics.

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE. She could live happily with absolutely nothing but the earth beneath her feet and all her worldly possessions in a sea-bag. But that’s easy to say as one of the richest people on the planet.

SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION. She wishes people would quit ruining the world.

EDUCATION LEVEL. Master of Nursing Science. Medical Doctorate {Neurosurgery}. Highly talented Life/Blood witch, near professional surfer, 

FAMILY.

FATHER. R. Admiral Brian C. Riley

MOTHER.  Iwalani Kahanaui Stern {formerly Riley}

SIBLINGS.  Andrew Riley- brother {deceased}, Jayden Morgan- hanai sister, William Manderly brother {unknown}

EXTENDED  FAMILY.  Drinks the Bitter Water - maternal grandfather,  Anakone Kahananui - maternal uncle,  Makaimakoa {Mike} Kahanui- maternal cousin, Tony DiNozzo- paternal cousin,  Aislinn Riley- paternal aunt, Phil Coulson - hanai uncle, Loki Friggjarson, Hela Lokadottir- hanai daughter niece. 

NAME MEANING.  Elizabeth: God is my Oath, Irene: Peace, Alohaekaunei: Love alights here

HISTORICAL CONNECTION. n/a

FAVOURITES.

BOOKS. The Princess Bride but she reads everything

MOVIES. The Princess Bride and Tombstone

MUSIC. Everything but “Death metal”

DEITY. ...next question?

HOLIDAY.  Mabon, the second harvest

MONTH.  September

SEASON.  Autumn/Winter

PLACE.   Kalokoiki, on the North Shore, the Banzai pipeline.

WEATHER. rainy nights, dawn right before or after a storm when the waves are perfect.

SOUND.  The sea, her brother’s singing

SCENT.  lei flower {plumeria}, sandalwood, sea air

TASTE. li ming hui // honey // coffee // blood

FEEL. water // skin

ANIMAL. Cat, turtles, sharks

NUMBER. 3

COLOR. Purple

EXTRA.

TALENTS. Dancing, surfing, knitting, drawing

BAD AT. People. Hearing things in general. Cannot cook to save her life.

TURN ONS. Kindness. Intelligence. Someone who can challenge and engage her. Caresses along the small of her back, biting

TURN OFFS.  Daddy-kinks, roses.

HOBBIES. Reading, surfing, hiking

TROPES. Manic Pixie Dream Witch // A Mistake is Born // Earth Mother // Granola Girl // 

AESTHETICS.  The sea, lava, blood, shy smiles, sharks.

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC. Kristin Kreuk

ALT  FC. This woman

OLDER  FC.   None

YOUNGER  FC. Aubrey Anderson-Emmons

VOICE  CLAIM.  - Kristin Kreuk

#She's Talking to Angels {Bethisms} #{very verse specific}

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Official Languages

Can I create a small country that uses multiple official and common every day languages? Like 5 official languages and it's very common to hear 10 more languages in use every day on the streets. Signage would always be in the 5 official languages and it's not uncommon to find the other languages available in places as well. It's going to be a very ethnically diverse place and multiracial. I am imagining that only 5% of the population would be monolingual. 95% would be bilingual, 70% trilingual, 40% quadrilingual or more. How could schooling work? All local schools are required to pick one of the official languages as the main medium and as mandatory study, one of the other official languages as well as a third non-official language, with the majority of schools having on offer 3-4 other languages. Also, how would this affect sign language? Could the deaf community as a whole create a main sign language since it would be a small community. If I have an 8 million population, and only 0.1% would sign as a main language that'll be 8000 people. Why would they want to be divided further, since sign is a language in itself. Part 2: Oh, uh the question I asked about languages, when I say small country I mean it's like size of Hawaii's Big Island, although 30% would be sparcely inhabited. I guess those places could be a bit relaxed in language needs?

Tex: It would need to be a very cosmopolitan place, and likely both a place that’s economically-dependent in its wider world but also geographically located in an area that can sustain lots of sea, land, and possibly also air travel.

If you’re talking about a place the size of anything in the context of Hawai’i, then that decreases the likelihood of a sizeable native population. In all practicality, one or two languages will win out as the lingua franca due to sheer consideration of making a brain juggle multiple languages at a time.

If you’re having the local schools focus on one or maybe two languages for education, then those will likely be the languages that become de rigeur for participating in that society; the other languages by dint of lower popularity might become regional, or relegated to specific societal functions (religious, academic, etc). The language(s) that money moves in is going to be your predominant indicator of linguistic trends.

It’s not uncommon for many countries to have bilinguality or even trilinguality, it’s just that such a culture will accrue meanings for each language to a particular function. You might be able to sort things out like that, i.e. bakeries speak language A because of X history, recreation centers speak language B because of Y reason, hospitals speak language C because of Z reason.

Utuabzu: This sort of multilingual society is more common than most monolingual people often assume, both across the world and across history. Monolingualism is actually fairly uncommon. Countries varying in size from India* to Luxembourg have multiple official languages and get along just fine. Size isn't really an obstacle here - Vanuatu has over 1000 languages - nor are density or development - Singapore has 4 official languages and quite a few more community ones, and Switzerland famously has 4 official languages and very strong and healthy regional dialects.

In these situations it's not uncommon for something called diglossia (or polyglossia) to occur. This is a situation in which people divide up domains - broad categories of contexts - between languages. So, for example, in Kinshasa a Bakongo person might speak Kikongo at home and with close friends of the same background, Lingala on the street, kiSwahili in the marketplace and French at school or when dealing with authorities. This is a division of domain (Kikongo for the domestic domain, Lingala for the informal public domain, kiSwahili for the commercial domain and French for the educational and governmental domains). This also commonly happens with dialects of a language, and if you speak one yourself you can probably notice yourself doing this, speaking the local dialect with friends and family in casual contexts and a more standard form of the language with teachers and officials in formal contexts.

Something that should be noted is that these situations can be stable for long or even indefinite periods, such as with Swiss German dialects and Standard German in Switzerland or English and Cantonese in Hong Kong, or they can be unstable, with either the P (prestige) form edging out the NP (non-prestige), such as with Métropolitain French with Occitan in southern France** or the NP edging out the P as people see it as elitist or pointless***.

Multilingual education is also a lot more common than monolingual people often assume, and has been around for a long time. The Austrian (and later Austro-Hungarian) Empire used first language primary education through its entire history, transitioning to German or Hungarian higher education, and for a very practical reason. It's a lot easier to teach kids the basics of literacy and numeracy in their first language rather than simultaneously teaching them a foreign one. Especially when the community has low literacy levels among adults, so their parents can't help. Italy didn't start teaching primary school in Italian until the 20th Century (though this was as much a function of a severe shortage of teachers who could speak it as anything else - estimates say as few as 2.5% of Italians could speak Italian in 1860).

Multilingual education is also not detrimental to overall educational quality. The system generally considered best in the world - that of Finland - is multilingual, requiring students to be able to speak both Finnish and Swedish. Even in places with less prestigious minority languages - such as Wales or New Zealand - multilingual schools are often preferred, because among other reasons they tend to have better outcomes than their monolingual peers. It's not uncommon in these places to see monolingual parents putting their kids into these schools - usually originally set up to help revitalise the language - for the quality of the education rather than for any cultural or emotional connection to the language.

So, the most likely model for an education system here is one that starts with first language (L1) instruction in the first few grades, gradually introducing one of the official languages, first as a subject in its own right and then as a medium of instruction for other subjects. By 'middle school' or equivalent you might see the L1 reduced to a subject, with the primary official language taking over as the general medium of instruction, and another official language beginning to be introduced in the same manner, potentially along with a foreign language, especially if it is a regional or global lingua franca. By high school it would generally be expected that the kids are competent in at least their main official language and can get by in their secondary one, and focus would shift more to preparing for university or other higher education. This might mean teaching more in the regional/global lingua franca if the higher education system primarily operates in that language - likely if the country is small and thus also generally reliant on foreign students to boost enrollments to a sustainable level.

In a country this size, there's probably a general 'street' language, the one that people use in casual encounters with strangers in the market or on a bus or something, where they don't know what other languages this person speaks. These are often either the language that came to fill the commercial domain - since everybody needs to be able to talk to merchants - or the one that dominates the government domain - since everybody needs to be able to communicate with authorities, or at least understand what they're being ordered to do. If the former, it's generally the language of the group that historically dominated trade - like kiSwahili across Eastern and Central Africa or Malay across insular South East Asia. If the latter, it's generally the language of the most powerful group, usually the one that united the country, like Amharic in Ethiopia or Farsi in Iran, or of a colonising power, or of a religious authority, like Spanish and Portuguese across Latin America, French across much of Africa or English in South Asia, or sometimes just the largest group, like Guarani in Paraguay (though this usually overlaps with the unifying group).

Often, when a country was unified very quickly by an outside power, like colonised places such as Papua New Guinea or Vanuatu, or had a very large number of immigrants (voluntary or otherwise) from many language backgrounds, such as Hawai'i**** or slave colonies like Haïti or Suriname, a creole forms and takes the role of street language -  Tok Pisin, Bislama, Hawai'ian Pidgin, Haitian Créole and Sranan Tongo respectively.

It's also not uncommon for there to be a prestige language, sometimes a long dead one, that gets used for ceremonial, religious, scholarly or legal purposes - or once was and left behind a bunch of borrowed words in the languages that displaced it - like Latin across much of Western Europe, Koine Greek across most of Europe, Sanskrit across the Indosphere (the region historically influenced by Indian civilisations), Classical Chinese across the Sinosphere (the area historically influenced by Chinese civilisation), Classical Arabic across the Islamic world, Ge'ez in Ethiopia. Think of how much legal and scientific jargon in English is borrowed from Latin and Greek. Similar things occur in other languages.

As for signed languages, they can be stable at quite small population sizes - New Zealand Sign Language isn't going anywhere - because d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH) people sort of need them to communicate comfortably, without requiring implants or lipreading or subtitles. When signed languages get displaced, it is generally by other signed languages, eg. Hawai'i Sign Language being displaced by American Sign Language. Any language can be stable at a low speaker number, so long as transmission between generations remains high. Basically so long as kids are still being taught the language by their parents, the language is generally going to stick around.

*India gets bonus points for the array of different scripts in use, further complicating matters.

**This usually occurs when a government uses the education and legal systems to deliberately suppress regional languages in favour of the national one.

***British English gives us a good example here, as Received Pronunciation (RP) - that weird, stilted form that you hear from old recordings of British politicians and royals - was edged out of the government domain by a form closer to the regional dialects, particularly those of South-East England.

****Immigration from Asia and Southern Europe into Hawai'i actually begins before the Hawai'ian kingdom was overthrown by the US, and Hawai'ian Pidgin (actually an English-based creole, but the name stuck) actually emerged in independent Hawai'i.

#google submitted #language

[lightdancer1]

The Stono Rebellion was the largest and bloodiest slave rebellion in US history:

It was a product of colonial South Carolina, and here it is worth noting that this colony was a majority Black colony ruled by the iron fist by a tiny smattering of white people. This pattern meant that a slave rebellion, where it was launched, could be very destabilizing indeed. And it must never be forgotten that the slaveowner lived in mortal fear of what his enslaved captives could and would unleash against him. And that each opportunity they had to do it, they took.

The rebellion was also a case of those who were taken captive who kept their African roots and used battle cries in the Kikongo language, with the leader Jemmy likely a veteran of wars the Kingdom of Kongo fought with the slave traders in Africa.

#lightdancer comments on history #black history month #us history #colonial american history #black resistance #slavery and resistance

[ball-eis-korakas]

Starting in the 1600s, however, a growing demand tempted many ship captains to make the longer voyage to the British colonies in North America. Roughly one of every four slaves imported to work the cotton and tobacco plantations of the American South began his or her journey across the Atlantic from equatorial Africa, including the Kongo kingdom. The KiKongo language, spoken around the Congo River's mouth, is one of the African tongues whose traces linguists have found in the Gullah dialect spoken by black Americans today on the Coastal Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

  —  King Leopold’s Ghost (Adam Hochschild)

#languages #linguistics #history #colonialism #racism #slavery #creoles #kingdom of kongo #usa #african americans #kongo language #gullah language

[lalibertfrench]

Why Is French So Popular? Know Its Popularity

In many African countries where numerous languages are spoken, French serves as a valuable bridge language. While French became the language of government during their time as French or Belgian colonies, the language has remained as an official language so that no local cultural or ethnic group's language takes precedence over others.

While French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba, and Kikongo ya leta are all recognised languages spoken throughout the country. Unlike these regional languages, French's international reach permits it to serve as a linguistic bridge to the rest of the globe. French language institute in Pondicherry offers you the class in right way.

The (Relative) Ease of Learning French

While there aren't as many native speakers of French as there are of Mandarin, Arabic, or Hindi/Urdu, many students find it easier to learn. This is especially true for pupils whose first language is a European language, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the world's population.

Indeed, the Foreign Service Institute compiled a list of languages ranked on their ease of learning. French is in the first category, which is the easiest, while other significant languages such as Mandarin and Arabic are in Category 5 – the most difficult!

While other languages are useful for business, the ease with which you may study French may tip the scales for many students when making that selection.

Many people choose to learn French not only for business or to communicate with people all over the world, but also for its tremendous cultural value.

Conclusion

As a result, French has a reputation for being somewhat 'refined,' and some English-speakers choose to use French terms and phrases to add refinement to their statements. While learning any language can make you appear intelligent, mastering French is especially so!

#French language institute in Pondicherry