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Author Topic: Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili  (Read 1773 times)

Offline Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants

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Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili
« on: July 23, 2017, 06:22:22 PM »
If you listen, you know it's not Swahili, but you understand a great deal of it.

"I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

Harriet Tubman

Offline Kadame5

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Re: Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2017, 07:05:33 PM »
That video reminded me of this time I went to Lamu for a wedding in this small community and was confronted with a language I felt sure was one I didn' know at all. 2/3 days later, I started picking out words and by the week's end, I understood it easily. It was a very weird Swahili with different sounds than the 'regular' Swa in so many places. For the first 2 days I was insisting to my *host* that that was no swahili her people were speaking and she was just pulling my leg :D. I was as lost as I would be in a place like for example Thailand or Angola. So strange.

Offline Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants

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Re: Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2017, 07:37:14 PM »
Quote from: Kadame5 on July 23, 2017, 07:05:33 PM
That video reminded me of this time I went to Lamu for a wedding in this small community and was confronted with a language I felt sure was one I didn' know at all. 2/3 days later, I started picking out words and by the week's end, I understood it easily. It was a very weird Swahili with different sounds than the 'regular' Swa in so many places. For the first 2 days I was insisting to my guest that that was no swahili her people were speaking and she was just pulling my leg :D . I was as lost as I would be in a place like for example Thailand or Angola. So strange.


Fascinating.  It must have set you in mood where you are expecting Swahili and then you get the occasional curve-ball that leaves you befuddled.  There are few of those folks at the coast.  Most are Mijikenda - as is this Segeju group.  And they don't move around a lot.

Those weird sounding languages can be considered dialects of one language that includes Swahili itself - I think there is no hard and fast rule.
"I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

Harriet Tubman

Offline bimnji

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Re: Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2017, 08:59:18 PM »
Their counting is similar to Gikuyu, among other words they are using. Murungu was also used in old Gikuyu for God before Ngai was adopted from the Maasai Enkai .

Offline Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants

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Re: Segeju Language Must be Proto-Swahili
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2017, 09:06:11 PM »
Quote from: bimnji on July 23, 2017, 08:59:18 PM
Their counting is similar to Gikuyu, among other words they are using. Murungu was also used in old Gikuyu for God before Ngai was adopted from the Maasai Enkai .

Yep.  They are in the same branch of Bantu languages.  Northeast Bantu languages
"I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

Harriet Tubman
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