Aushi language
Aushi, known by native speakers as Ikyaushi, is a Bantu language primarily spoken in the Lwapula Province of Zambia and the (Haut-)Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although many scholars argue that it is a dialect of the closely related Bemba, native speakers insist that it is a distinct language. Nonetheless, speakers of both linguistic varieties enjoy extensive mutual intelligibility, particularly in the Lwapula Province.[4]
| Aushi | |
|---|---|
| Ikyaushi | |
| Native to | Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Region | Luapula Province, (Haut-)Katanga Province |
Native speakers | 100,000 in Zambia (2010 census)[1] widespread as L2 in DR Congo[2] |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | auh |
| Glottolog | aush1241 |
M.402[3] | |
Phonology
Aushi distinguishes consonants according to five manners and four places of articulation.[4] Although nasal consonants are individually phonemic, prenasalized consonants also arise in conjunction with the voiced and voiceless counterparts of the plosives, affricates, and fricatives.[4]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate | plain | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
| prenasal | voiceless | ᵐp | ⁿt | ⁿt͡ʃ | ᵑk | |
| voiced | ᵐb | ⁿd | ⁿd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | plain | voiceless | f | s | ||
| voiced | β | |||||
| prenasal | ᶬf | ⁿs | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
Aushi has five canonical vowels that are distinguished segmentally according to vowel height and backness and suprasegmentally according to length (short/long) and tone (low/high).[4] The front and central vowels are unrounded, while the back vowels are rounded. In environments where vowels arise before a nasal consonant, the vowels may adopt nasality, but this is not a distinctive feature, i.e. it is phonetic, not phonemic.[4]
Grammar
| Class | Proto-Bantu | Augment | Prefix | Example | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | *mo- | u- | mu- | umuntu | "person" |
| 1b | *∅- | ∅- | ∅- | mayo | "mother" |
| 2 | *βɔ-, *βa- | a- | ba- | abantu | "people" |
| 3 | *mo- | u- | mu- | umuti | "tree" |
| 4 | *me- | i- | mi- | imiti | "trees" |
| 5a | *le- | i- | shi- | ishina | "name" |
| 5b | *le- | i- | ∅- | isabi | "fish" |
| 6 | *ma- | a- | ma- | amana | "names" |
| 7 | *ke- | i- | ki- | ikitabu | "book" |
| 8 | *βi-, *li- | i- | fi- | ifitabu | "books" |
| 9 | *ne- | i- | N- | imfinsi | "darkness/night" |
| 10 | *li-ne | i- | N- | insiku | "days" |
| 11 | *lʊ- | u- | lu- | ulutambi | "proverb" |
| 12 | *ka- | a- | ka- | akalulu | "rabbit" |
| 13 | *to- | u- | tu- | utunwa | "mouths" |
| 14 | *βo- | u- | bu- | ubwaato | "canoe" |
| 15a | *ko- | u- | ku- | ukuya | "to go" |
| 15b | *ko- | u- | ku- | ukuboko | "arm" |
| 16 | *pa- | ∅- | pa- | pa ng'anda | "in (the/a) house" |
| 17 | *ko- | ∅- | ku- | ku mushi | "to (the/a) market" |
| 18 | *mo- | ∅- | mu- | mu sukulu | "in/inside (the/a) school" |
References
- ^ Aushi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Aushi". Ethnologue.
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Spier, Troy E. (2020). A Descriptive Grammar of Ikyaushi. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA: Ph.D. dissertation.
- ^ Spier, Troy (2016). "A Survey of the IcAushi Language and Nominal Class System". Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States.
- ^ Spier, Troy E. (2022). "Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)". Studies in African Languages and Cultures.
Further reading
- Bickmore, Lee. 2018. "Contrast Reemergence in the Aushi Subjunctive." Africana Linguistica, 24: 123-138.
- Doke, Clement Martyn. 1933. "A Short Aushi Vocabulary." Bantu Studies 7(1): 284-295.
- Ilunga, Nkimba Kafituka. 1994. Les Formes Verbales de l’Ikyaushi, M42b. Unpublished MA thesis. Institute Supérieur Pédagogique de Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Kankomba and Twilingiyimana. 1986. "M421 Aushi." Tervuren, Belgium: Annales, Sciences Humaines, Royal Museum for Central Africa.
- Spier, Troy E. 2016. "A Survey of the IcAushi Language and Nominal Class System." Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States (LACUS).
- ———. 2020. A Descriptive Grammar of Ikyaushi. Ph.D. dissertation, Tulane University, USA.
- ———. 2021. "Four Trickster Tales in Ikyaushi." World Literature Today, Autumn: 68-71.
- ———. 2022. "Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)." Studies in African Languages and Cultures.