Judd, A. S.

English

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NOTES ON THE MUNSHI TRIBE ANDLANGUAGETHE Munshi is one of the largest tribes in the NorthernProvince of Northern Nigeria. Numerically it is some200,000 strong. A reference to the map will show where8th degree North crosses 9th degree West. Here in MuriProvince is the country of the Munshis. Munshis are tobe found on the north bank of the Benue River; but thegreater number are on the south bank, their villages extend-ing some distance in a southerly direction. They are anagricultural people of a primitive type, their live stock con-sisting of cattle of a small breed—sheep, goats, pigs, andfowls—none of which are plentiful. Living in small villages,they wear little clothing, but prefer to smear their bodieswith camwood and oil.The great ambition of the Munshi is to have many wives,and, in order to secure them, he has three ways open to him :he may purchase, he may exchange, or he may steal; inother words, elope with a young woman. As he desireswives it is up to him to secure them; it is quite the usualthing to see several young braves out looking for wives,each seeking to outshine the other in the general get-up ofhis person. The head is shaved, leaving fantastic designsof tufts of hair. Camwood is used in quantity; a black pig-ment made of the seeds of a gardenia is used in paintingfreehand designs on face and body. Fingers and toes areornamented with brass and other rings, beads and otherarticles can be used in the lobes of the ears, beads aroundthe neck, brass and other rings on the legs and arms, a blueand white cloth around the waist, a knife worn on the wrist,spears in hand, any curious article that will add to the generaleffect; and the young man, who in his youth had his frontNOTES ON THE MUNSHI TRIBE AND LANGUAGE 53teeth filed, and his face and body cicatrised, is a mostattractive individuality to the Munshi young woman.Many wives are desirable, as the more wives, the moregardens, and consequently the more food. Among the menare skilled workers in metal and some clever weavers. Theyare all great hunters, using bows and poisoned arrows intheir hunting. The women help in farming and in building;they make the pottery, cook the food, and are the hewers ofwood and drawers of water.During the time of the greatness of Wukari, the centreof the Jukun Empire, the Munshis were probably well southof the Benue; but as that empire declined and the Fulaniexpansion occurred the Jukuns were driven across the Benue.Zaria began to exercise suzerain rights over the Aragos, whohad previously been tributary to Wukari, on the north bankof the river. Then came trouble with Keffi, and the Harabaclan of the Munshis crossed the Benue and occupied thecountry from which the Jukuns had been driven. Whetherthese Munshis were invited or not it is difficult to say. TheMunshis are a virile people, and are pushing their villagesfarther into the old Jukun kingdom each year.Although known by the surrounding tribes and officiallyas Munshis, they themselves use the word Tivi as the nameof their tribe, and Dzua Tiv (Munshi mouth) as the name oftheir language. Although divided up into clans, their lan-guage shows very little dialectical difference in the variousclans. As a people they consider themselves superior tothe surrounding tribes: consequently a Munshi woman maynot marry out of the tribe. It would lower her. A man, onthe other hand, may take wives from other tribes, and by sodoing he raises the woman. Probably the quest for wives,and bringing in from other clans, has tended to keep thelanguage somewhat free of dialectThe language would appear to have been formed originallyby the union and amalgamation of languages of quite distinctgroups. For while it resembles Bantu in many ways, thereare forms which are quite unlike Bantu. Probably a con-quering race has brought its grammatical system, but hasadopted some of the vocabulary of the conquered people.5 4 JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETYSome of the ways in which Munshi resembles Bantu oreas follows:—(a) Grammatically the language is built up on the prin-ciple of the concord, nouns being divided into several classesirrespective of gender. These classes, classified in thisarticle from A to E, are distinguished by various prefixesor suffixes.(b) Pronouns are influenced by the class of noun to whichthey stand in relationship in a sentence.For instance, the noun in the possessive takes a pronounvarying according to the class of noun used.In Class "A " My bow would be Ada warn.In Class " B " My heart „ „ Ishuma yam.The pronoun "warn * being made up of u-am of me; "yarn *is made up of i-am of me, the genitive sign changing withclass of noun.(c) A pronominal copula is used which varies accordingto class of noun. For example:—Class "A." Where is the bow? would be Ada ngu hana?„ „ Where are the bows? „ „ Mbada mba hanatClass "B." Where is the heart? „ „ Ishuma ngi hana?„ „ Where are the hearts? „ „ Asuma nga hana?(d) The Munshi method of counting is very similar toBantu, and in the numerals one to five is, with the exceptionof two (hat), strikingly like primitive Bantu :One in Munshi is mom In primitive Bantu mutTwo „ har „ „ bUiThree „ tar „ „ tatuFour „ nyi „ „ nntFive „ tan „ „ tanuN.B. "Har" is used for two among the hill pagans ofthe Nassarawa Province, the Nungus, and others.On the other hand, use is made in Munshi of one of thedistinguishing features of true Negro speech, viz., the com-binations "kp" and "gb."NOTES ON THE MUNSHI TRIBE AND LANGUAGE 55Again, in some cases the 3rd person plural (ve, they)is used as a suffix in forming plurals, in spite of the fact thata prefix is also used. The use of the 3rd person plural as asuffix, in forming plurals, is common to some of the Negrotribes.Again, in the vocabulary there is a similarity to thelanguages spoken by neighbouring tribes.The passive voice is not formed as in true Bantu, but asin Negro speech by the use of the pronoun 3rd person plural.Thus : " I tinde'm," They sent me; lit, for I am sent " Mbayilan mo "; lit., They are calling me, for I am being called.THE NOUN.Probably originally all Munshi nouns had a prefix, andaccording to the prefix the nouns grouped themselves natur-ally into classes. Modifications have taken place and it isnot unusual to find nouns without a prefix.Prefixes may have more than one form.In the plural, nouns take a different form from that usedin the singular.A noun may belong to one class in the singular and toanother in the plural.Class "A."(1) Singular prefix "or" Plural prefix "mba"(2) „ „ "a" „ „ "mba"(3) No singular prefix „ „' u," sometimes * uv *Note.—There are exceptions, such as " oro," a person. Theplural of this is "ioro."The form "or" is quite conceivably derived from "oro"a person. This form with its plural marks personal designa-tion, e.g., " or-tesen," a teacher; plural, " mba-tesen," teachers.Class " A " corresponds to the chief class in most Bantulanguages and is the largest class in Munshi.(4) Diminutives of other classes are raised to this class byuse of a diminutive plural.5 6 JOUKNAL OP THE AFRICAN SOCIETYExamples of nouns in this class :—Sinful*. Ptural.(i) Or-pirishe mba-pirashe blind personOr-ihundu mba-ihundu mad person(a) Ada Mbada a bow (the weapon)Any am mbanyam leopard(3) Gambe ugambe bedDagi udagi spear(4) Waniyongo onov mbayongo lambWanigo onov mbaigo porkerClass "B."(1) Singular prefix •*" Plural prefix "aiiWhen the plural is "i ," stress is laid on the prefix and thevowel is pronounced longer than in the singular prefix.Examples:—(i) IvanIho(?) IgoIvoavanahoigoivoarrowknifeP»gp-oatWhen the root of the noun commences with palatals "ch,"" j , " or "sh," these change to the dental sibilants "ts," "dz,"or " s " in the plural. This is apparently for euphony.Examples:—Ichul atsul foreheadIjume adsume backIshuma asvma heartThere are a number of nouns in Class " A " which in theplural are treated as Class " B . " In all such cases the pro-nominal change agrees with Class " B . "Class "C."Nouns in this class seem to have lost their prefix, althoughoften in both singular and plural they commence with " i ."NOTES ON THE MUNSHI TRIBE AND LANGUAGE 57There is, however, a general ending in the singular, a slightguttural sound written in these notes "gh."There is a plural ending of "v," often very indistinctlyenunciated.Examples:—Jjogh ijov ironIshigh ishiv faceClass *D."This class consists chiefly of nouns that might be regardedas collective- This class has only one number. The prefixis the nasal "m."Many nouns in this class end in "m "; this may have beencaused by running the pronominal copula on to the noun,thus: "mgeri ma hana?" Where is the water? has become" Mgerhn ma hana ?" It is travelling on the water, is " Ngudsende ska mger," the last syllable being dropped.Examples:—Mgerim waterMyim smokeClass "E."This is a very small class, consisting largely of abstractwords. No prefix is used, but the suffix "v" is the usualending. Nouns in this class are treated as if plural.Examples:—Chiev fearTsav witchcraftClass "F."This is also a small class of nouns. There is a suffix whichis generally used in the singular, viz., "gh." The pluralprefix is "a."Examples:—Uwegh ave handGbagh agba camwood5 8 JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETYThe possessive case of nouns is expressed by a possessiveparticle, the sign of the genitive, changing according to classof noun.Examples:—Class "A." Adambusu u Ganyi The Jukun's cat„ „ Mbadambusit mba Ganyi The Jukun's catsClass "B." Iwange i nomsor the man's spear„ „ Awange a nomsor the man's spearsClass "C." Inyaregh ki Tsonka the Hausa's goods(collectively)., „ Inyarev mbi Tsonka the Hausa's goodsClass "D." Msorom ma Tiv The Munshi's beerClass " E." Angev mbu tor the chief's sicknessClass " F." Vwe ku waniye the boy's hand„ „ Ave a waniye the boy's handsThe division of nouns into classes is not based on dis-tinction of sex. Gender in its meaning of sex has no influencewhatever on the "structure of the language. Pronouns maybe translated he, she, or it according to the noun repre-sented.When it is desired to mark gender in a noun the prefix"nom," a male, or "mbyan* a female, is used, as the casemay require.Nomkegh a cock mbyankegh a henNomninya a stallion mbyanninya a mareAnother way to express sex would be to say " Ngu nyinyau nom,* It is a stallion. " Ngu ninya u hmase," It is a mare(kwase is the' usual word for female or a woman).The diminutive noun is formed by prefixing "•man," achild, to the noun, thus : iwa, a dog, becomes waniwa, a pup;iya, a village, becomes waniya, a small village. The pluraldiminutive is formed by the prefix "onov." Pups would be"onov mbaiwa," lit., children of a dog. "An" is also usedin the same way in the plural. Thus, "aniwav mba u har"is two pups.N.B. " v " is added to the noun.Wan would appear to be formed thus: "u ana." Thegenitive "u" of Class " A " prefixed to ana (the final " a " isNOTES ON THE MUNSH1 TRIBE AND LANGUAGE 59sometimes heard). No genitive is used in the plural tofollow "an."Personal Pronouns.The personal pronouns occur in six different forms ofcases:—(0(a)(3)(4)(5)(6)(0(*)used as subject>>>>nafter ain theobj'ectcopulasubstantiveprepositionpossessivePronouns used asClassClassClassClassClassClassI St.and."A." 3rd." B . ""C."" D.""E."" F . "Pronouns used asClassM gbtdyeunA gbidye mngu herka mosha a naiho yamsubject:—Singular. Plural.m seu nea ve, i,i i, aki mbi(none) ma(none) mbuku aobject:—Singulmr. Plural.1st person m se2nd person u, we ne"A." un, na veI beat himhe beat meit is hereit is Ito himmy knifembaClasses " B " to " F " as in the pronoun used as subject;although it is not unusual to hear the 3rd person of Class " A "used in the other classes, when the pronoun is used as object(3) Pronouns used as copula:—The pronominal copula in Munshi does duty for a wordor particle such as " i s " or "a re" in English. It connectsa subject with its predicate. It may do duty for the subject.It thus becomes possible by the use of the copula to makea sentence without the use of a verb, as "ngu," for instance,is equivalent to "it is."6 0 JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETYThe pronominal copulas are used as follows:—Class "A." Kwase ngu hana? Where is the woman?„ „ Kasev mba hana ? Where are the women ?Class "B." Ishe ngi hana? Where is the eye?„ „ Ashe nga hana? Where are the eyes?Class "C." Iyogh ki hana? Where is the iron ?„ „ Iyov mbi hana? Where are the irons?Class "D." Msorom mba hana? Where is the beer?Class "E." Tsav mbu. hana? Where is the fetich?Class "F." Vwegh ku hana? Where is the hand?„ „ Ave nga hana? Where are the hands?There is another particle, "ka," which also does duty asa copula. It is used in emphatic and direct speech, as "kado," It is good.(4) Pronouns used as substantive :—When the pronoun stands alone it takes its fullest form.In meaning the pronoun used as substantive is always moreor less emphaticThe use of these pronouns is as follows:—KakaKamowmenaItititi s lis thouis heKa seka neka veItititis weis youis they(5) Pronouns used after a preposition :—The pronoun, when used after a preposition, as indirectobject, takes practically the same form as it does when usedafter a transitive verb. In the singular of Class " A " theforms generally used are:—1st person ...and person ...3rd person ...... mo... we... naThe following sentences illustrate this use :—" Ve mba or onkma a mo," They are speaking to me; " Se mba or on ktua awe," We are speaking to thee; " M nenga sha na ga," I donot look after him.In the case of the verb " hungul," to forget, which containsthe prepositional idea, the same forms in the 1st and andNOTES ON THE MUNSHI TRIBE AND LANGUAGE 61person are used. There are other verbs similar, which con-tain the prepositional idea.Example:—Hungul mo I forget (lit., Forgotten by me)Hungul we thou forgettestHungul un he forgets(6) Pronouns in the possessive: —Possessive pronouns vary according to the noun with whichthey agree. They were probably made up originally of aparticle denoting the genitive and the representative pronoun.This is seen in "warn," my—made up of "u," of, and "am,"me; also in "wase," our, made up of "u," of, and "ase," us.To say, The walking-stick is mine, the copula " ka " is used,thus : " Aga ka u warn," The walking-stick is mine; " Mbagaka mba av," The walking-stick is ours.A. S. JUDD.{To be continued.)

Notes on the Munshi Tribe and Language

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Notes on the Munshi Tribe and Language

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