Some Notes and a Short Vocabulary of The Anywak Language

Some Notes and a Short Vocabulary of The Anywak
Language.

By Diedrich Westekmann.

X he Anywaks inhabit three separate districts within the Sobat river-
system :

a) About thirty miles along the Sobat river bank northwest of Nasser;
some are found as far up river as Nasser, living among Nuers.

b) In Abyssinia, on the Baro (or Ufeno), extending east of 34° 10'
to the mouth of the Baro river gorge at the foot of the Abyssinian hills.
In this district lies a small enclave, which is leased to the Sudan Govern-
ment, the chief place of the enclave being Gambela.

c) A district between the rivers Gelo and Akobo in Abyssinia.
The Anywaks differ from their neighbours the Nuers and Shilluks

by being agriculturists and not cattle-feeders. Their chief occupation is
tilling the ground, they have as domestic animals goats and sheep, and
only occasionally a few cattle. Another difference is that of character:
they are, unlike the Nuers and Shilluks, peaceful and industrious. They
are frequently engaged by Europeans for carrying loads, which would hardly
be possible with a Nuer or Shilluk. Numerous Anywaks serve as slaves
in the Nuer country.— Physically they are not so tall as the Nuers, and
show more muscular development than the latter.

The Anywak Language is one of the divisions of the Shilluk language '.
But its nearest relation is not the Shilluk proper, but the Acholi or Gang
dialect, which is spoken north of the Victoria Lake. In its grammar as
well as in its vocabulary it is almost completely identical with Gang. In
phonology it represents a less developed stage than Shilluk, its sounds
being in most cases more original than those in Shilluk. Whilst Shilluk
has frequently changed the original p, ch, £ and d into /, sh, s and 5,
Anywak has throughout preserved the original forms. The material
shows only in one single case a p changed into pf, and a ch into sh. —
On the other hand Anywak has achyel for "one", whilst Shilluk has the
older form akyel.

During my .journey on the White Nile from Khartoum to Doleib
Hill on the Sobat, in August 1910, and back again to Khartoum in October
and November 1910, each time there was an Anvwak bov on the steamer,

1 On Shilluk and its divisions vide the author's: The Shilluk People,
their Language and Folklore. Berlin and Philadelphia 1912.

CO

Westebmann: Notes a

i Vocabulary of The Anywak Language.

who gave me, by kind permission of their masters, an opportunity to
write down some words and sentences of their language. One of these
boys was from near Nasser, the second from one of the Anywak sections
living in Abyssinia. The dialectical differences between both were but
slight. When travelling back to Khartoum I was, by my study of the
Shilluk language, able to converse with the Anywak boy in Shilluk.

The Sounds.

The designations of the sounds and tones are the
preceding study on the Nuer Language.

In Anywak, as in Nuer, final mute consonants are
nounced with a closing of the larynx, so that sometimes the
is not pronounced at all, only the closing of the laryn:
These sounds are designated thus: k\ t\ p, ch\

frequently pro-
final consonant
being audible.

The material i
in any completeness,
the changes of sounds
following few examples

Changes of Sounds.
not nearly sufficient to show the changes of sounds
It may, however, be remarked that on the whole
correspond to those in the Shilluk proper. The
ve for illustrations.

nal to butcher, nudt
podo and pe£ to fall
nago to kill, past nek
kwalo and kweto to steal
gwai, gwa, and gwoto to be;
bear and her good
met and meet slow
kwarQ and kworo chief
A final o is frequently weakened
dano and dam man

Vowels.

,o cut, hoi to cut

lei an( i lyot hot

kom and kwam i

Consonants.
kwalo and kweto to steal
nql » nudo to cut
jwok » jwgn to cry
macK » mayo fire
nyedo » nyt'Jq to milk
mako » mai to catch
nelal » nelare child
cf. also Am 1 and kuW not.

Westebmann: Notes and a Vocabulary of The Anywak Language. 61

Nasalisation of a vowel is in most cases the remnant of a nasal
consonant.

kono » kg merisa

yoyo to scratch, Shilluk got'to

w?yq bird, » urino.

The Noun.

The singular-aiding o, which is frequent in Shillnk proper and Gang,
but is seldom used in Nuer and Dinka, is much employed in Anvuak.

The plural is in most cases formed by suffixing i (or >'). before
which sometimes a final consonant is dropped: —

a) at&r& — ateri arow dale — dai pot
ja(o — jeni tree nu — nu s w\ lion
ogot — ogodi' ring ope0 — opeli 1 knife
Qt& — odd house rgg — rei fish

tdn — torn spear
Other formations are: —

b) by dropping the singular suffix: —
gweno -= gwen fowl, pwbdfi — pwo't field
bobaf — - bop water-buffalo

c) by change of vowel:—

ojo" — uje.di road, jei — jiri boat
ywok — gu dog

d) by suffixing k: dye! — dyek goat

c) » » a nasal consonant : kwach — kwdne leopard

f) » changing the last mute voiced consonant into the corre-
sponding voiceless one, and replacing the last vowel by e: —
bedi — be(e fish-spear
jcobi — joofe buffalo
All these formations, excej>t the suffixed e in f), the Anywak has in
common with Shilluk.

The Pronoun.
The Personal Pronoun.
Absolute Subjective Objective and Possessive

ana I a dmna my cow

yini you % deani your »

ena he e deane his

wan we wa dean wa our cow

gin they gi » gin their »

[jen?\ they
Sometimes r is inserted : uu father, wura my father.

;n: Notes and a Vocabulary of The Anywak Language.
The Possessive Pronoun as a Noun.

The Adjective.

attributively, the adjective generally has the prefix t>
a hot, a sore place.

The Numeral.

achyelq 1

abichyil 6

are'&u 2

abireau 7

addgq 3

dbdra 8

anw$no 4

abinwhi 9

abiyu 5

apar 10

The Verh.

Most— probably all — verbs have in the present the ending o. In the
past this ending is either dropped or replaced by i. Sometimes the past
is expressed by che or by adin. In the present the auxiliary verb a "to
be" is sometimes used. In the imperative either the simple stem is used,
or i "you" is suffixed. Negation is expressed by kit or hire, and by pa, pa$.

Some examples,
a chotq he is going home
ku chotq he did not go home

danq manche arm a gwai man this donkey strikes
arm kiire gwai he does not strike the donkey
manche pat not this one

da%e manche pa wura this man is not my father
cha ren (cha <C che, a) I ran; che reft he ran
gin che chama ke byel they ate (with) dura
chuni ken stay here! maki hold fast!
kot a podo rain is falling; yina na who are you?
an Anwak I am an Anywak
dane man go pa Anwak that man is not an A.
kot mayo make (blow) a fire

chwgl Mare go call that boy; tie pach? he is in the village
chame ke byel he is eating dura

gi p/en marach' a nwai adin 1 smelt a bad thing before
dan nek nahe a man was killed by a crocodile
nan dane mai the crocodile has seized a man
manche odi is this your house?
pwodq manclie mara this farm is mine.

Uberreicht vom Verfasser.

Sonderabdruck

aus den

Mitteilungen

des

Seminars fiir Orientalische Sprachen
zu Berlin

Jahrgang XV

ft
Abteilung 111

Afrikanische Studien

Berlin 1912

Gedruckt in der Keichsdruckerei