"Bon language" redirects here. For the language spoken in Cameroon, see Bankon language.
Aweer (Aweera), also known as Boni (Bon, Bonta), is a Cushitic language of Eastern Kenya. The Aweer people, known by the arguably derogatory exonym "Boni," are historically a hunter-gatherer people, traditionally subsisting on hunting, gathering, and collecting honey.[2][3] Their ancestral lands range along the Kenyan coast from the Lamu and Ijara Districts into Southern Somalia'sBadaade District.[4][5]
Area where the Eastern Omo-Tana languages (minus Bayso and Rendille) are spoken
According to Ethnologue, there are around 8,000 speakers of Aweer. Aweer has similarities with the Garre language,[6][7][8] however, its speakers are ethnically distinct from Garre speakers.[9]
There is suggestions that the Aweer speech community are remnants of the early hunter-gatherer inhabitants of Eastern Africa; although this is not without debate among specialists and unlike the neighboring speakers of the Dahalo language, there is no concrete linguistic evidence of a shift from a prior language; it is best said that the possibility of said shift is more so based on assumptions regarding their status as foragers as opposed to linguistic evidence of the same sort found in neighboring languages. As noted in Heine (1982:141), the debate regarding the situation of if the Aweer have or have not shifted from a prior language is as follows:[10]
The forest was inhabited by people speaking a non-Sam (= non-East Omo-Tana) language, who, as a result of contacts with Sam pastoralists along the forest fringes, adopted a Sam language. This would imply that the Boni relationship with the Sam people is merely linguistic; their cultural origin would have to be sought with those hunter-gatherers who lived in the forest prior to the arrival of the Eastern Sam.
Part of the Eastern Sam, i.e. the immediate ancestors of the Boni, entered the coastal forest and adopted a hunter-gatherer existence. Such a development is likely to have been caused by war, stock raiding or ecological distress, forcing the Same people to give up their livestock economy.
Tosco (1994)[8] notes that Heine agrees with the second historical scenario, and as Tosco (1994:155) goes on to state:
I suppose that the "backwardness" of the cultural and economic way of life of the hunter-gatherers is probably at the very core of these theories: notwithstanding the dangers implicit in any strong association between culture and language, these people are assumed to be "linguistic survivors", because they are—presumably—"cultural survivors". These theories do not take into account that language shift is probably a much more recurrent phenomenon than any romantic association between people and culture leads us to assume.
Further on in the same paper, Tosco does note that there are oral traditions among the Aweer ethnic community that they had at one point had cattle and, as a result of losing them (and presumably their social status), had become foragers. A similar view can be found in Stiles (1988:41-42),[11] and the general consensus is that while the actual origin of the Aweer and their language is not known definitively, it is likely that they at one point were not foragers. A competing hypothesis, and perhaps equally plausible one in the same vein as Heine's first scenario, is put forth by Tosco (1994:159) that links the emergence of Aweer to the expansion of Garre-speakers from the northeast:
According to Garre traditions, the movement began "from an area located at or near the present-day settlement of Luuq, down the right side of the Jubba river. The expansion took the form of sections of the Garre communities spreading from Afmadow southwards until they reached the Jubba-Tana region, where they "coexisted with Dahaloan hunter-gatherers"; their "impact led the Dahaloan food collectors to give up their Dahaloan tongue for Garre. To this day the Aweer ... speak dialects of Garre. All that remains of their Dahaloan speech is a single community near the coast ..., even the lexicon has been influenced by Garre" (Ali 1985:161ff)[12]. Thus, for Ali the Boni are Dahalo that have been Somalised, just as many centuries before these hunter-gatherers had given up their original (?) Khoisan[13]language and adopted a Cushitic language, i.e. Dahalo.
He then notes that in a forthcoming work to be published, Tosco (1992),[14] that there is loans of East Omo-Tana (or in his words, "Somali") origin within Dahalo that could have only been loaned by either Aweer or Garre, such as the verb šir- (IPA: [ʃir-]) 'to be there, to exist' which demonstrates the sound change *k > [ʃ] /_i and the verb unneed- (IPA: [ʔunneːd]) 'to swallow', which demonstrates another sound shift found in both Garre and Aweer, *ʕ > [ʔ] along with the semantic shift of 'to eat' > 'to swallow'; which itself is found in Aweer. Conversely, these could also be loans from Aweer into Dahalo. A similar viewpoint can be found in Nurse (2019).[15]
Phonologyedit
The phonemic inventory reconstructed for Proto-Aweer (the last common stage of all Aweer dialects) is as follows:
^Aweer at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Biber, Douglas; Heine, Bernd (1984). "The Waata Dialect of Oromo: Grammatical Sketch and Vocabulary". Language. 60 (4): 992. doi:10.2307/413828. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 413828.
^Stiles, Daniel (2001). "Hunter-Gatherer Studies: The Importance of Context" (PDF). African Study Monographs. Supplementary Issue. 26: 41–65. doi:10.14989/68408 – via Kyoto University Research Information Repository.
^ Prins, A.H.J. (1960). "Notes on the Boni, a Tribe of Hunters in Northern Kenya". Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research. 1 (3): 25–27.
^ Prins, A.H.J. (1963). "The Didemic Diarchic Boni". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 93 (2): 174–85.
^Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
^ abTosco, Mauro (1994). "The Historical Reconstruction of a Southern Somali Dialect: Proto-Karre-Boni". Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika. 15: 153–209.
^. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
^ Heine, Bernd (1982). Heine, Bernd; Möhlig, W.J.G. (eds.). Boni Dialects. Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya. Vol. 10. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
^ Stiles, Daniel (1988). "Historical interrelationships of the Boni with pastoral peoples of Somalia and Kenya". Kenya Past and Present. 20: 38–45.
^Ali, Mohammed Nuuh 1985. "History of the Horn of Africa, 1000 B.C. - 1500 AD: Aspects of Social and Economic Change between the Rift Valley and the Indian Ocean." P.h.D. Thesis, University of California, Los Angeles.
^Güldemann, T. (Ed.) (2018). The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp107 "Since no new versions or evidence for a Khoisan hypothesis have grown out of any more recent scholarship, there is little empirical ground for left for currently propagating such a family."
^Tosco, Mauro. 1992. The classification of Dahalo: another perspective. In Banti, Giorgio (ed.), Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium on Cushitic and Omotic languages, Turin, 16–18 November 1989. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale.
^ Nurse, Derek (2019). "When Northern Swahili met southern Somali". In Emily Clem; Peter Jenks; Hannah Sande (eds.). Theory and Description in African Linguistics. Berlin: Language Science Press. pp. 649–665. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3367193. ISBN978-3-96110-205-1.
Rilling, Art (2012). "Sociolinguistic Surveys in Selected Kenyan Languages: The Boni/Dahalo Report". SIL International. Report 2012-037.
Elias, Alexander (2019). "Visualizing the Boni dialects with Historical Glottometry". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9: 70–91. doi:10.1075/jhl.18009.eli. S2CID 198404036.
January 01, 1970
aweer, language, language, redirects, here, language, spoken, cameroon, bankon, language, aweer, aweera, also, known, boni, bonta, cushitic, language, eastern, kenya, aweer, people, known, arguably, derogatory, exonym, boni, historically, hunter, gatherer, peo. Bon language redirects here For the language spoken in Cameroon see Bankon language Aweer Aweera also known as Boni Bon Bonta is a Cushitic language of Eastern Kenya The Aweer people known by the arguably derogatory exonym Boni are historically a hunter gatherer people traditionally subsisting on hunting gathering and collecting honey 2 3 Their ancestral lands range along the Kenyan coast from the Lamu and Ijara Districts into Southern Somalia s Badaade District 4 5 AweerBoniNative toKenyaRegionCoast Province North Eastern ProvinceEthnicityAweerNative speakers7 600 2009 census 1 Language familyAfro Asiatic CushiticLowland EastRendille BoniAweerDialectsKilii Baddey Bireeri Jara Kijee SafareeWriting systemLatinLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code bob class extiw title iso639 3 bob bob a Glottologawee1242ELPAweerLinguasphere14 GAF aArea where the Eastern Omo Tana languages minus Bayso and Rendille are spoken According to Ethnologue there are around 8 000 speakers of Aweer Aweer has similarities with the Garre language 6 7 8 however its speakers are ethnically distinct from Garre speakers 9 Contents 1 Historical situation 2 Phonology 3 References 4 External links 5 Further readingHistorical situation editThere is suggestions that the Aweer speech community are remnants of the early hunter gatherer inhabitants of Eastern Africa although this is not without debate among specialists and unlike the neighboring speakers of the Dahalo language there is no concrete linguistic evidence of a shift from a prior language it is best said that the possibility of said shift is more so based on assumptions regarding their status as foragers as opposed to linguistic evidence of the same sort found in neighboring languages As noted in Heine 1982 141 the debate regarding the situation of if the Aweer have or have not shifted from a prior language is as follows 10 The forest was inhabited by people speaking a non Sam non East Omo Tana language who as a result of contacts with Sam pastoralists along the forest fringes adopted a Sam language This would imply that the Boni relationship with the Sam people is merely linguistic their cultural origin would have to be sought with those hunter gatherers who lived in the forest prior to the arrival of the Eastern Sam Part of the Eastern Sam i e the immediate ancestors of the Boni entered the coastal forest and adopted a hunter gatherer existence Such a development is likely to have been caused by war stock raiding or ecological distress forcing the Same people to give up their livestock economy Tosco 1994 8 notes that Heine agrees with the second historical scenario and as Tosco 1994 155 goes on to state I suppose that the backwardness of the cultural and economic way of life of the hunter gatherers is probably at the very core of these theories notwithstanding the dangers implicit in any strong association between culture and language these people are assumed to be linguistic survivors because they are presumably cultural survivors These theories do not take into account that language shift is probably a much more recurrent phenomenon than any romantic association between people and culture leads us to assume Further on in the same paper Tosco does note that there are oral traditions among the Aweer ethnic community that they had at one point had cattle and as a result of losing them and presumably their social status had become foragers A similar view can be found in Stiles 1988 41 42 11 and the general consensus is that while the actual origin of the Aweer and their language is not known definitively it is likely that they at one point were not foragers A competing hypothesis and perhaps equally plausible one in the same vein as Heine s first scenario is put forth by Tosco 1994 159 that links the emergence of Aweer to the expansion of Garre speakers from the northeast According to Garre traditions the movement began from an area located at or near the present day settlement of Luuq down the right side of the Jubba river The expansion took the form of sections of the Garre communities spreading from Afmadow southwards until they reached the Jubba Tana region where they coexisted with Dahaloan hunter gatherers their impact led the Dahaloan food collectors to give up their Dahaloan tongue for Garre To this day the Aweer speak dialects of Garre All that remains of their Dahaloan speech is a single community near the coast even the lexicon has been influenced by Garre Ali 1985 161ff 12 Thus for Ali the Boni are Dahalo that have been Somalised just as many centuries before these hunter gatherers had given up their original Khoisan 13 language and adopted a Cushitic language i e Dahalo He then notes that in a forthcoming work to be published Tosco 1992 14 that there is loans of East Omo Tana or in his words Somali origin within Dahalo that could have only been loaned by either Aweer or Garre such as the verb sir IPA ʃir to be there to exist which demonstrates the sound change k gt ʃ i and the verb unneed IPA ʔunneːd to swallow which demonstrates another sound shift found in both Garre and Aweer ʕ gt ʔ along with the semantic shift of to eat gt to swallow which itself is found in Aweer Conversely these could also be loans from Aweer into Dahalo A similar viewpoint can be found in Nurse 2019 15 Phonology editThe phonemic inventory reconstructed for Proto Aweer the last common stage of all Aweer dialects is as follows Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Palato alveolar Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal m n ɲ Plosive voiceless p t c k q ʔ voiced b d ɟ g ejective tʼ cʼ kʼ implosive ɗ ʄ ɠ Fricative f s ʃ h Approximant l j w Rhotic r r References edit Aweer at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Biber Douglas Heine Bernd 1984 The Waata Dialect of Oromo Grammatical Sketch and Vocabulary Language 60 4 992 doi 10 2307 413828 ISSN 0097 8507 JSTOR 413828 Stiles Daniel 2001 Hunter Gatherer Studies The Importance of Context PDF African Study Monographs Supplementary Issue 26 41 65 doi 10 14989 68408 via Kyoto University Research Information Repository Prins A H J 1960 Notes on the Boni a Tribe of Hunters in Northern Kenya Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research 1 3 25 27 Prins A H J 1963 The Didemic Diarchic Boni The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 93 2 174 85 Raymond G Gordon Jr ed 2005 Ethnologue Languages of the World 15th edition Dallas Summer Institute of Linguistics Ethnologue Garre language a b Tosco Mauro 1994 The Historical Reconstruction of a Southern Somali Dialect Proto Karre Boni Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 15 153 209 Ethnologue Aweer language Archived from the original on 2014 07 14 Retrieved 2014 09 17 Heine Bernd 1982 Heine Bernd Mohlig W J G eds Boni Dialects Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya Vol 10 Berlin Dietrich Reimer Stiles Daniel 1988 Historical interrelationships of the Boni with pastoral peoples of Somalia and Kenya Kenya Past and Present 20 38 45 Ali Mohammed Nuuh 1985 History of the Horn of Africa 1000 B C 1500 AD Aspects of Social and Economic Change between the Rift Valley and the Indian Ocean P h D Thesis University of California Los Angeles Guldemann T Ed 2018 The Languages and Linguistics of Africa Berlin Boston De Gruyter Mouton pp107 Since no new versions or evidence for a Khoisan hypothesis have grown out of any more recent scholarship there is little empirical ground for left for currently propagating such a family Tosco Mauro 1992 The classification of Dahalo another perspective In Banti Giorgio ed Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium on Cushitic and Omotic languages Turin 16 18 November 1989 Naples Istituto Universitario Orientale Nurse Derek 2019 When Northern Swahili met southern Somali In Emily Clem Peter Jenks Hannah Sande eds Theory and Description in African Linguistics Berlin Language Science Press pp 649 665 doi 10 5281 zenodo 3367193 ISBN 978 3 96110 205 1 External links editAWEER Archived 2022 05 22 at the Wayback MachineFurther reading editRilling Art 2012 Sociolinguistic Surveys in Selected Kenyan Languages The Boni Dahalo Report SIL International Report 2012 037 Elias Alexander 2019 Visualizing the Boni dialects with Historical Glottometry Journal of Historical Linguistics 9 70 91 doi 10 1075 jhl 18009 eli S2CID 198404036 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Aweer language amp oldid 1211311972, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
