tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post7769801999518456066..comments2024-02-01T14:20:58.570-05:00Comments on Beyond Niamey: Missing "macrolanguages" of AfricaDonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-40228439273099177352016-09-13T06:32:13.946-04:002016-09-13T06:32:13.946-04:00Don - thanks, so, basically (and knowing that no t...Don - thanks, so, basically (and knowing that no two situations are identical etc.)<br /><br />Bantu languages = say Romance languages:<br /><br />'Nguni' languages = 'Iberian languages'<br />'Sotho' langauges = 'Italian'<br />other language grouping would 'equal' say 'French' 'Romanian'<br /><br />So, speaking one Bantu language/dialect Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-3656240380016421892016-09-07T22:37:03.567-04:002016-09-07T22:37:03.567-04:00Sion, A quick answer. Bantu has several meanings, ...Sion, A quick answer. Bantu has several meanings, but in the usual linguistic classification (sometimes called Narrow Bantu). It is maybe more analogous to Romance or Germanic or Slavic - though that could be misleading. It is in the Niger-Congo family; Indo-European is also a language family. The hierarchies below each are not necessarily comparable steps, as far as I understand.<br /><br />But Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-44991080501714877752016-09-05T11:07:06.579-04:002016-09-05T11:07:06.579-04:00Don
Thanks, one last question on this (broad) sub...Don<br /><br />Thanks, one last question on this (broad) subject. I'm slightly baffled by what people mean by 'Bantu' languages. What does it actually refer to? From my European perspective is it:<br /><br />1) the 'Indo-European' to many African languages. That is very disparate languages from Nguni being a 'Germanic' language to Kongo being a 'Celtic' Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-38558764084610935342016-09-04T10:15:27.145-04:002016-09-04T10:15:27.145-04:00Thanks Hywel, Siôn, for your comments. My understa...Thanks Hywel, Siôn, for your comments. My understanding of the range of speech varieties included in some of Prof. Prah's 12-23 languages would be wider than that among varieties of colloquial Arabic, but that's not based on any research. The main benefit of his system that I see - as one who has been focused mainly on localization and use of languages in development communication & Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-91925015989751450542016-09-02T10:24:29.782-04:002016-09-02T10:24:29.782-04:00Diolch Hywel! Funny that this post about African l...Diolch Hywel! Funny that this post about African language has been colonised by Welsh people. <br /><br />I'm guessing Prof Prah's contention is that these dialect/language continium includes no more difference than between Classical Arabic used across the Arabic world and then the various venacular forms of Arabic. It's possible to have both and so strengthen the African languages Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-54383852109407095532016-09-01T22:41:14.342-04:002016-09-01T22:41:14.342-04:00Don: Fascinating, as always.
Here's another c...Don: Fascinating, as always.<br /><br />Here's another comment from a white Welshman, though this one lives in Indonesia.<br /><br />In her plenary presentation during the 11th Language & Development Conference in New Delhi in November last year, Birgit Brock-Utne made this statement:<br /><br />"... according to Kwesi Kwaa Prah, ... 90 per cent of the total population of sub-SaharanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-27234730221982061912016-09-01T10:01:00.043-04:002016-09-01T10:01:00.043-04:00Thank you for this comment and I appreciate your b...Thank you for this comment and I appreciate your bringing up Prof. Prah's work. I actually cited it in <i><a href="http://niamey.blogspot.com/p/alda.html" rel="nofollow">African Languages in a Digital Age</a></i> (in chapter 4, which also mentions macrolanguages). His position is very much a lumper/joiner one, which I'd put at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Ethnologue'sDonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16275678707103038011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335861.post-86734830106415399882016-09-01T08:47:50.160-04:002016-09-01T08:47:50.160-04:00This is very interesting and is along the work don...This is very interesting and is along the work done by Prof. Kwesi Kwaa Prah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwesi_Kwaa_Prah who's working on harmonising dialects into mutially understandable languages https://www.ashoka.org/en/fellow/kwesi-prah#intro <br /><br />He works at CASAS, South Africa, which have published much in this fieldhttp://www.casas.co.za/ where standardised orthographies are Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com