Translating Swahili linguistic terminology into Italian

This article investigates the process of translating Swahili linguistic terminology into Italian as a way to reflect upon the metalinguistic representation of two different language structures. On the one hand, some terms of ancient Greek etymology, such as the English loanwords fonolojia ‘phonology’, fonimu ‘phoneme’,and mofimu ‘morpheme’, can be easily translated into Italian as ‘fonologia’, ‘fonema’, and ‘morfema’; on the other hand, some conceptual correspondences appear more problematic, especially in the field of morphology. There are terms that specifi-cally refer to Bantu linguistic concepts, such as viambishi nyambulishi vya vitenzi ‘verbal ex-tensions’, (it) ‘estensioni verbali’. Moreover, several synonyms that indicate the concept of “structure” (i.e. muundo ‘structure’, uambajengo ‘(syntactic) structure,’ tungo ‘construction’) have different uses according to the linguistic context; thus, I have suggested a translation based on the etymology (Tramutoli, 2018). The study is based on a corpus of approximately 150 lin-guistic terms mostly collected during Swahili linguistic lectures at the Department of Swahili Studies (TATAKI) at the University of Dar es Salaa

‘Love’ encoding in Swahili: a semantic description through a corpus-based analysis

Several studies have described emotional expressions used by speakers from different linguistic and cultural areas all around the world. It has been demonstrated that there are universal cognitive bases for the metaphorical expressions that speakers use to describe their emotional status. There are indeed significant differences concerning the use of emotional expressions, not only across languages but also language-internally. Quite a number of studies focus on the language of emotions in several European languages and languages of West Africa, whereas not enough research has been done on this regard on Eastern African language

Swahili Complex Predicates with Body Part Terms

Complex predicates (CP) have attracted the attention of a number of linguists, and their syntactic properties have been widely investigated cross-linguistically. This paper describes Swahili “complex predicates”, that is, verbal constructions (V+N) which resemble a typical verb-object relation, but function like a single lexical verb. In particular, we will deal with a specific type of CP, involving body part terms as part of the predicate, such as -fa moyo, lit. die heart, ‘despair’; -kata ini, lit. cut liver, ‘cause suffering’; or -toka damu, lit. go out blood, ‘bleed’. We show how body part nouns differ from other nominal elements typically employed in complex predicates, both in their syntactic properties (e.g. object marking and possessor raising) and in their semantic characteristics (e.g. degree of semantic compositionality). Indeed, body part terms are often employed to conceptualize more abstract entities and ideas which belong to different semantic domains. Unlike other nominal elements, they seem to occupy the slot of regular objects, while they are not syntactic arguments of the verb, but rather define the scope, range, character or extent of the process

The terms for “emotion” in Swahili: a lexical analysis based on interviews with native speakers

In this paper, I describe the linguistic encoding of the conceptual category “emotion” in Swahili, focusing on analysis of the lexicon. After giving a brief overview of recent studies on lexical semantics, I will discuss and problematise the conceptual category of “emotion”. I will first describe the Swahili verbs which describe the semantic domain of perception, e.g. –sikia (hear); -ona (see); -hisi (touch), and show that, in some contexts, their meaning is often metonymically extended to “feel”. I will then present analysis of definitions and contexts of use of the Swahili terms for “emotion” which were relevant during data collection. Data were collected both through Swahili monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and through interviews with and questionnaires administered to native Swahili speakers in Dar es Salaam. The study shows that Swahili uses different terms in order to describe the different facets of the complex category of “emotion”. Swahili uses a general term hisia, a loanword from Arabic, to indicate both physical and abstract feelings. However, there are other Swahili terms which indicate different semantic facets of the concept “emotion”: mzuka (spirit), which is culturally linked to spirit possession and healing practices; mhemko (excitement), which can have different meanings according to the context of use, e.g. anxiety, strong desire, anger or love; and msisimko (thrill), which suggests specific reference to a bodily reaction, e.g. to fear, cold or excitement

“What’s in a name?” Swahili toponymy of past towns on the East African coast

For the last century, archaeologists have surveyed and studied archaeological sites on the Swahili coast of East Africa, that represent the remains of past Swahili settlements and, in few cases, living historical towns. This paper is the first discussion of a collection of the names under which these past towns have been known, some of which may date back to the precolonial period. The present enquiry is concerned with the analysis of linguistic features, folk etymology and the conceptual content of these toponyms. It considers the recognised important themes in archaeology and history of the Swahili society, such as the political functioning of these towns as city states and the attested social and economic relevance of trade, the built environment and the ocean. Utilising this knowledge, it reflects on how the names contributed to place-making and defining the identity of these towns both as individual entities and as part of the Swahili cultural sphere. The interdisciplinary approach and perspectives (linguistic and archaeological) help to elucidate the connection between the socio-historical relevance of these sites with their cultural conceptualisations

Terminologia del corpo ed estensioni metaforiche: swahili e zulu a confronto

The aim of this study is to analyse Swahili and Zulu body terminology and conceptualization through the description of linguistic structures, polysemous words and metaphorical extensions. Cross-linguistic studies have shown that the body represents a template for the conceptualization of emotions, topological relations, object descriptions. This study will analyse examples of body terms and metaphorical extensions in two Bantu languages (i.e. Swahili and Zulu) in the framework of the conceptual metaphor theory by Lakoff & Johnson (1980). It has been shown that body lexicon represents the main source of conceptualization in the description of topological relations in most African languages. However, apart from some anthropological studies on the body in the context of traditional medicine, there are very few specific studies on body terminology and conceptualization in Bantu languages. This analysis describes common linguistic patterns of body metaphorical expressions in Swahili and Zulu: body terms followed by a modifier, usually a connective (-a) and the metaphorical target term; copulative constructions, idiomatic expressions with polysemous verbs followed by body terms. It has been shown that, although Swahili and Zulu speakers use similar morphological strategies, some body parts (e.g. joints or articulations, arms, fingers and toes) have different categorizations and partonomies. In both languages body parts which are semantically related, are morphologically marked through different noun class assignment. While Swahili body nomenclature includes a great number of compounds or derived terms constructed on the basis of semantic features (e.g. spatial contiguity, shape and structural similarity), Zulu tends to use basic terms or deverbative nouns to refer to specific body parts. Data were collected both through monolingual and bilingual dictionaries (Swahili-English; Zulu-English) and through interviews with mother tongue speakers

“What’s in a name?” Swahili toponymy of past towns on the East African coast

For the last century, archaeologists have surveyed and studied sites on the Swahili coast of East Africa, that represent the remains of past Swahili settlements and, in few cases, living historical towns. This paper is the first discussion of a collection of the names under which these past towns have been known, some of which may date back to the precolonial period. The present enquiry is concerned with the analysis of linguistic features, folk etymology and the conceptual content of these toponyms. It considers the recognised important themes in archaeology and history of the Swahili society, such as the political functioning of these towns as city states and the attested social and economic relevance of trade, the built environment and the role of the ocean. Utilising this knowledge, it reflects on how the names contributed to place-making and defining the identity of these towns both as individual entities and as part of the Swahili cultural sphere. The interdisciplinary approach and perspectives (linguistic and archaeological) help to elucidate the connection between the socio-historical relevance of these sites and their cultural conceptualisations

Swahili Complex Predicates with Body Part Terms

Complex predicates (CP) have attracted the attention of a number of linguists, and their syntactic properties have been widely investigated cross-linguistically. This paper describes Swahili “complex predicates”, that is, verbal constructions (V+N) which resemble a typical verb-object relation, but function like a single lexical verb. In particular, we will deal with a specific type of CP, involving body part terms as part of the predicate, such as -fa moyo, lit. die heart, ‘despair’; -kata ini, lit. cut liver, ‘cause suffering’; or -toka damu, lit. go out blood, ‘bleed’. We show how body part nouns differ from other nominal elements typically employed in complex predicates, both in their syntactic properties (e.g. object marking and possessor raising) and in their semantic characteristics (e.g. degree of semantic compositionality). Indeed, body part terms are often employed to conceptualize more abstract entities and ideas which belong to different semantic domains. Unlike other nominal elements, they seem to occupy the slot of regular objects, while they are not syntactic arguments of the verb, but rather define the scope, range, character or extent of the process

SWAHILI COMPLEX PREDICATES WITH BODY PART TERMS

Complex predicates (CP) have attracted the attention of a number of linguists, and their syntactic properties have been widely investigated cross-linguistically. This paper describes Swahili “complex predicates”, that is, verbal constructions (V+N) which resemble a typical verb-object relation, but function like a single lexical verb. In particular, we will deal with a specific type of CP, involving body part terms as part of the predicate, such as -fa moyo, lit. die heart, ‘despair’; -kata ini, lit. cut liver, ‘cause suffering’; or -toka damu, lit. go out blood, ‘bleed’. We show how body part nouns differ from other nominal elements typically employed in complex predicates, both in their syntactic properties (e.g. object marking and possessor raising) and in their semantic characteristics (e.g. degree of semantic compositionality). Indeed, body part terms are often employed to conceptualize more abstract entities and ideas which belong to different semantic domains. Unlike other nominal elements, they seem to occupy the slot of regular objects, while they are not syntactic arguments of the verb, but rather define the scope, range, character or extent of the process