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LUGANDA ENTS OF GRAMMAR ERCISES AND VOCABULARY 22J3 /C^°*> 1 7 1977 cv £<* o^5 SIIY OF T ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR LUGANDA ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA GRAMMAR TOGETHER WITH EXERCISES AND VOCABULARY BY W. A. CRABTREE, M.A. (st. Catharine's college) correspondent for african languages (east and soutil\ university of cambridge PL Reprintedwitha new Preface, 1923 KAMPALA: THE UGANDA BOOKSHOP LONDON:'' S.P.C.K. PREFACE This book is reprinted by special request of the Uganda Translation Committee. Whatever in it may be of 'scientific' value is from the pen of that able scholar and teacher, G. L. Pilkington ; the rest is simply rambling notes of one who has tried to think as the people think. That such a book should find sufficient favour to be worth reprinting confirms my very strong conviction that African studies cannot be expressed in terms of Western scholarship. If we would understand Africa, we must train ourselves to think as the African thinks. Our knowledge of Latin or Greek, our school training in French or German, and even a certain consciousness that we can write orspeak effective English is not going to help us. Such a dictum is not, I know, very palatable to the educated mind. But it is in reality nothing but the amplification of the remarks given in the beginning of these Elements many years ago and no request has been made that they be omitted from the reprint n;ow called for. further, the request of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press to contribute to their Guides to Modern Languages has brought this point acutely to the front. A Manual ofLuganda was written as nearly as possible on modern lines. It was favourably noticed by the press ; and so far as I am aware contains all the matter in the Elements, except the notes on transliteration and philology. Moreover it was condensed into the handy form of some 250 pages of very clearly printed matter. Yet when it reached Uganda it was found to be almost unsaleable. In fact now and again a man was willing to give nearly four times its price for a copy ofthe old book, if such could be found second-hand. What was the reason? The grammatical matter was precisely the same; the vocabulary was fuller and contained all the words known to Mr. Pilkington and a few more; in addition there were short extracts ii native texts. None the less the European felt, without doubt, that none of this touched anything whatsoever with which he was familiar. lie wanted 'exercises' in far greater number. In brief hi wanted that educative process which trains the mind to think as the African thinks. And that training only comes with practice. It has little or nothing in common with what the western mind knows, containing as it does two 1tally new principles, viz. : a peculiar phonetic system and a primitive grammatical structure by prefix and suffix. The first of these -ears at first sight so simple that its true import has hitherto been ii PREFACE in almost entirely overlooked. There are no difficult sounds; yet the European's speech is not too easily understood and ' mission ' speech has become a byword. The keen student finds it necessary to pay very close attention to the way in which those apparently simple sounds are spoken. These sounds are carefully noted in the Elements and remain in the reprint exactly as originally written. Only now after thirty years is the writer beginning to reach the underlying principle which makes the apparently simple system so entirely different from anything western. No change in the quality ofthe vowel is called for. On the other hand the length ofthe vowel is so varied as to give quite a rhythmic flow of speech, and this is done by manipulation of the consonant. How this consonant is at times lengthened, at times pronounced with greater or less stress, cannot be described here.1 Whichever process is used, experience shews that the length of every vowel is profoundly affected ; and if the language has a tendency to intonation, the effect will often manifest itself in the 'pitch.' Hence, all things taken together, the European with his quite different western scheme of phonology does not always speak intelligibly. He fails to appreciate how much depends upon the force with which the consonant is uttered, and especially the lengthen- ing effect of nasal 'n '. In a word, the rough division of vowels into long and short followed in this book, in accordance with western ideas, is far from being exact. So too with the Prefix system. The exercises are designed to familiarise the mind with the Prefix system. Many of the sentences arc- nonsense according to African ideas, the mere literal rendering of an English grammatical phrase. It is, however, a necessary process ol mind training.2 This mastered, the language is found to be remarkabl) flexible, capable of expressing many shades of meaning quite unknown to modern language. The student has now found out how to think African thoughts. Finally by patient observation and much practice, he will discoverthe African rendering of English thought. On all counts, then, Africa claims its own place in any ed—ucational programme; and the request to reprint Elements of LUganda a—mere crude collection of notes with no attempt at modern methods con- crleuasdievrelywapnrtosvessomiet.thiTnhgerupe-tios-dnatoe,lilteetrarhyimmertiatkeinupthethewoMrakn;uaiflthoef Luganda published by the Cambridge Press. Of one thing, however. I feel more and more certain, and that is, that African subjects need to be studied in away specially their own. Experiencealonecan decide what precisely that line should be. Several things ofpressing moment depend upon this. In our Cam- bridge University an African language can now be taken as part of the Modern Language Tripos. One student has successfully passed in his African language. But he had acquired the thought and mind of Africa in the country itself. Other students who have offered for 1See my Primitive Speech, Part I.: A Study in African Phonetics. London: S.P.C.K. 2For the meaning of the Prefixesand Suffixessee my Primitive Speech, Part II. : Prefix System. London: Tritbner >X Co. IV PREFACE African languages would not have come up to the standard. Possibly an exception might be found for Swahili or Hausa ; but I very much doubt it. At the same time it is highly desirable that African studies should be encouraged and an immense amount of valuable time will ; be saved by preliminary study in England. Again, we cannot but express regret that so much is made of Swahili as being suitable for an official language. Such encouragement pro- ceeds from too superficial a view of what African language is. Swahili has comparatively few affinities with Bantu Africa and the coastmen who spoke Swahili in old days were not beloved of the people. Luganda, on the other hand, has remarkable affinities over a very wide area. The languages of Unyamwezi, Unyoro and Kavirondo are all very close ; and this affinity extends right down to Luba in its purer forms and Karanga. As I have said elsewhere Swahili is of little help towards learning a Bantu language beyond the general one of familiarising the mind with the Prefix system and then only imperfectly. So long as we have a much closer approximation in Luganda, why not make more use of Luganda ? Concerning the use of Luganda as a very old and very complete type of Bantu exceedingly useful for philology I must not enlarge here. I only wish to remark that Kikuyu, and probably Kamba, which is closely related, is a quite different type of Bantu. Luganda is not of very great help in learning Kikuyu. Nor is Luganda entirely satis- factory as a stepping stone to Zulu or Cwana. Within such limitations, however, Luganda will be found of incalculable use outside its own sphere. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that Luganda is in every way typical of Bantu speech as spoken over practically the whole bantu area exclusive of the parts mentioned and possibly a few regions in the West such as Luena, Lunda, Fang and Angola. In reprinting Elements ofLuganda, therefore, I trust we are helping forward the true study of Africa. In what way this language does help. the author has proved both by pioneer work and by innumerable notes, which, for many reasons, have still to remain in manuscript. Our hope is that others will master this valuable language not merely for personal reasons, but as a preliminary to the widerstudiesofAfrican history and African philology as a whole. W. A. Crartree. Cawhri : July, )<»_>;