AFRICANISMS IN THE EARLIEST NUBI VOCABULARY Cover Image

AFRICANISMS IN THE EARLIEST NUBI VOCABULARY
AFRICANISMS IN THE EARLIEST NUBI VOCABULARY

Author(s): Andrei A. Avram
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Lexis, Semantics
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: Nubi; substrate; adstrate; loanwords; idiomatic calques;

Summary/Abstract: Nubi is an Arabic-lexifier creole, spoken in Kenya and Uganda. The paper looks at the African component of Nubi in Cook’s (1905) vocabulary. This consists of loanwords from and idiomatic calques after its substrate and adstrate languages. In a number of cases multiple etymologies have to be proposed for these loanwords, i.e., the exact donor language cannot be identified. It is shown that some idiomatic calques may reflect prior pidginization whereas others may be areal features. Reference is also made to Juba Arabic, a pidgin-creole spoken in South Sudan which is closely related to Nubi.

  • Issue Year: XX/2020
  • Issue No: 20
  • Page Range: 45-62
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English