Kuk language

Kuk is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Kuk
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
(3,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3kfn
Glottologkukk1239
ELPKuk

Proposed Kumfutu language

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some people from the village of Kumfutu (traditionally an ethnic Kuk village) were discontent with Kuk leadership and founded the Kumfutu Student Association as a result. The peopole of Kumfutu wanted to become independent from the Kuk, and thus proposed a new "Kumfutu" language. However, by 2010, the people of Kumfutu were no longer in conflict with the Kuk leadership.[2]

GlossKumfutuKuk
fufukə́bál/kə́bán/kə́bánə́kə́bá
corn beerzə̀-kə́n-dzɔ̄ŋkáŋ
raffia winendzéí-sə̀ fə́bə́-sə́ (white urine)lə̀-m fə̀bə̂-m (white wine)
bookkə̀màʼlə̀kə́ŋwàlə̀
mothernôːnə̂ː
childwéíwāī
marketbə́kə́wɛ́íbə́kə́wə́n
let's goá nwôá ŋwô
you (in greetings)gha (plural)wu (singular)
sleep (in greetings)biləbei

The case of Kumfutu serves as an example of how language change in Africa often closely linked to the need for ethnic differentation.

References

  1. Kuk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Good, Jeff. 2021. Individual-level lexical variation in the Bantu homeland and its implications for the development of Benue-Congo. Diedrich Westermann-Workshop (West-central African linguistic history between Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo: commemorating Diedrich Westermann’s legacy and the 100th anniversary of the Berlin professorship for African languages), 4-6 November 2021, Humboldt University of Berlin.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.