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236 THE LEADER. [Ko. 465, February 19, 1...
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AFRICAN PHILOLOGY. The Library of His Ex...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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We Mayhoro Notice, With Tho Sinccrcst »B...
and colonial pre ss * whic'K was of the greatest convenience and service to authors , publishers , and all connected with that great department of literature . Mr . Mitchell was a native of Norwich * but acquired his admirable business talents and knowled ge in Manchester , and came to London about the year 1836 , and formed at once his useful and successful establishment in Bed Lion-court . He was a man universally respected , and pf a kind and liberal disposition , and has left a widow . and two sons to deplore his premature death . He was fifty-two years of age , and died from the effects of asthma , in a fit Of which he broke a blood-vessel .
236 The Leader. [Ko. 465, February 19, 1...
236 THE LEADER . [ Ko . 465 , February 19 , 1859 .
African Philology. The Library Of His Ex...
AFRICAN PHILOLOGY . The Library of His Excellency Sir George Grey , K . C . B . — Philology : Africct . ^ Vol . I ., Part 1 ( Within the Limits of British influence ) . —VoLl ., Part 2 . ( North of the Tropic of Capricorn ) , Australia and Polynesia .--Vol . II ., Part 1 , Australia . — "Vol . II ., Part 2 ., Papuan Languages , 8 fc . —Vol . II ., Part 3 . ( not yet printed ) . —Vol . II ., Part 4 . j New Zealand and the Islands . —Compiled by Sir George Grey , and W . II . I . Bleek . Cape Town ( Trubner Sf Co . London ~ ) , 1858 . It . was about the year 85 of the Christian era that Julius Agricola for the first time surveyed the
entire line of the British coast , and persuaded the rude inhabitants to adopt the dress and language of their conquerors , and it is from that period that we date , properly speaking , the introduction of Roman civilisation into this country . To accomplish this , it may easil y be imagined , he must previously have made himself acquainted with the liabits , language , and religion of those upon whom he was desirous of conferring so great a , boon ; for we find immediately after this survey , that temples and porticos , baths and other public edifices , sprang up on all sides . Somewhat analogous to the labours of the Roman governor in Britain have
been the labours of Sir George Grey in Africa . Before we can bring the semi-barbarous tribes of that great continent to appreciate the advantages of order and civilisation , to adopt our dress and manners , and the religion of the Gospel , we must make ourselves acquainted with their languages and their habits of life and thought , or the labour of the missionary will be in vain ; and instead of finding himself surrounded with proselytes , lie would probably meet with , the fate ¦ which Sidney Smith pictured as that likely to befall Bishop Selwyn , when lie was about to 'deport for New
Zealand , and grace the banquet of some warlike chief ; in the shape of the greatest delicacy at table . The Roman , to whom we owe so much , had to go to the languages , to learn , the manners and customs of the semir-barbarous Britons himself , to come in personal contact with those whose lasting benefit he had in view . Thanks to the printing-press , the British governor in Africa can cause the languages of the savage tribes , over which he would spread the blessings of civilisation , to come to lain ; can learn their national peculiarities in the quiet of his study , and" bring the various tribes themselves into communication with
himself by the simple operations of a typesetter , located in the-capital of the province which he rules in the Queen's name . It is by no means easy to form a classification of the languages of Pagan Africa . A large portion of them possess an affinity to the Kafir languages . Yet thw proves nothing . It is but pne characteristic ; and what would bo said of a naturalist who would class animals or plants only according to a single characteristic , regardless of all others ? Mr . Bleek divides tho languages and dialects of South
Africa—of which he enumerates no loss than 427—into two great divisions : the Suffix-Pronominal Languages , and the Prefix-Pronominal Languages . In the former he includes the Hottentot and Bush * man , consisting of 40 dialects , and in , the latter the Kafir , ¦ with 233 dialects the Sctshuana , with 140 dialects ; the Tegoza , with 2 dialects ; the Xngami dialect ; and tho Otyhercros , with 5 dialects . The Hottentot and Bushman ho terms 44 the Sex "do noting family , " and tho whole of the others , the 4 i Bantu family . "
" AU these languages of Africa which as yot permit of a classification evidently belong to tho higher formation of languages : that is , thoy are possessed of truo pronouns , borrowed originally from the derivative particles . of the nouns . As in Kafir , in the , sentence Abantu bqmi ubairmyama balumjilc ( Men mine black they are good ) . Heroin in Arnni , ina » amnyaroa , and in 6 « hingilo , Is , in Gaoh instance , a true pronoun , dorived from tho derivative partlclo of the noun a & antu ( men , or people ) . " Strictly speaking , a pronoun is a word which
African Philology
solely represents the noun , or nouns , in the place of which it fstands , without adding or possessing any meaning of its own . Therefore , what is commonly called a pronoun of the first or second person is not a real pronoun ; for there is always implied in it the idea of a person or persons either speaking or spoken to . In strictness , it ought to be called a personal noun , or personal particle , instead of a pronoun . " The languages of what we term this higher head of 1 rofto
formation are comprised under the - ittinal languages . Their main distinctive feature is a concord of the forms of the pronouns , and of every part of speech hi the formation of which pronouns are employed ( for example , adjectives and verbs , ) with the nouns to which they respectively refer , and the thereby caused distribution of the nouns into classes or genders . This concord is evidently produced throug h the original identity of each pronoun with the respective derivative particle of the nouns which can be represented by it .
but superior race * capable of holding their own , and encroaching upon the area of Ovakeriro and other Hottentot tribes by which they are surrounded . The southern extremity of Africa is preeminently Hottentot , and , more or less , Kafir . ialso . The latter present themselves to / us under two types , brown and black ^ the brown on the tablelands , and the black along the water-courses . They are fierce and relentless , cruel and sanguinary . Dr . Livingstone visited the son . of a chieftain , named Moy ara . A number of stakes were planted in the ground , and fifty-four human skulls were suspended'from ' their points . These were Matabele
who unable to approach Sebitunne on the island of Loyela , had returned sick and famishing . Moyara ' s father , tookVadvantage of their reduced condition , an d after putting them to death mounted their heads in the fashion of his tribe . " When looking at the skulls , " adds the doctor , "I remarked to Moyara that many of them were mere boys . He assented readily and pointed them out as such . I asked why his father had killed boys . 'To show his fierceness , ' was the ' answer . ' Is it fierceness to kill boys ? ' ' Yes , they had no
business here . ' I was informed that few strangers ever returned from a visit to this quarter . " The language of the Kafirs , like that of all members of the Bantu family , consists mostly of polysyllables , the words ending chiefly with a vowel or a nasal sound . Diphthongs , properly speaking , rarely occur . The great characteristics , therefore , of the Hottentot and Bushmen languages , which consist mainly of monosyllables abounding in diphthongs , are reversed in all the Bantu family , which gives , as it were , a natural and easy division of the whole of the languages of Southern Africa . We have not space to follow Sir George Grey , and Mr . Bleek through the other volumes before us , and of which we have given the general , contents above ; but we would remark , " that in the second part of the second volume , which treats of Australia and Polynesia , Sir George Grey states his conviction that , however different in vocabulary the Papuan languages are from the other Polynesian dialects , the grammatical structure- of the Polynesian and Papuan languages is evidently founded on the same basis . He . adds : — It is not improbable- that the Papuan languages form the connecting link between the Polynesian liimily uf languages and the African division of Prufix-Pronominal languages . " These Papuan languages are spoken by the inhabitants of the Loyalty Islands and the New Hebrides . Of the former ,
Lifu , with a population of some 15 , 000 *< > uls , and Nengone , or More , "vvith some 7 , 000 , are I Ik- j -rii u-ipal , anil the inhabitants speak a different dialect , but not a different language . The other islands ty hich form this group ore Uea , Doka , and Podoni , tho last uninhabited , but covered with -cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees , which appear to bo the common property of th « other four islands . The inhabitant * of tho New Hebrides number about 40 , 000 , in tho eight islands altogether , and they lu-lonsr to the Papuan or Negrito race , have curly or woolly hair , and are of the middle size . They cultivate the soil , and live chiefly on fruits and vegetables , fish , fowls , pigs , and insects ; but they arc cannibals , and constantly engaged in war . Tho institution ot the Tapuis in force -in all the islands . There is an
order of priesthood , and they have idols , winch they regard as snored . They nro naturally nui ^ cul , and sing wall , and in parts ; « nd , as -musical in . strumonts , they make use of a long pipe or flute , and « drum . We have taken the above from one of ftu Uoorgo Grey ' a notes ; and similar notes , lull of'inlurmation , abound throughout tho catalogue . . Now ( hiit the Feejoean Archipelago has been oydi-d t <> < . » rout Britain , tho portion of Sir Giwge ( jroy ' .-t hibonrs , which relates to these Polynesian Ldtinds , donvos much additional interest from that circumstance ' These islands are admirably adapted for the growth of uolton , ombracu an extent <> l « o , oou wiuaro miles , oiul are inhabited by 200 , 000 hoiiI * . As cotton rt-quh-os but little skill fuv Itn cumvutioii , its introduction would bo no loan bcne / U'iiil tn t io
natives than to ounsolvcH , by opening a "llll'kl'l lul our manufactured goods , and providing mi oqumilont in tlio raw material by way of pnyim-ni . » u congratulate tho Governor of tho Capo on thu wvduction of n most important aid to lliu nli » ly t the twin auiencuB pf p hilology and Hhnolotfy , a look forward to the cpinplutkm of tlio «« l * lW " itself as a groat and permanent * icp towards _ rnc civilisation of tlto barbarous rncon , wlumo iornumon ,
" The derivative particle of a noun , with which the form of its pronoun is originally identical , may either precede or follow the other part of the noun . The prpno . uns agree , therefore , either with the beginnings ( prefixes ) or with the endings ( suffixes ) of their respective nouns . Accordingly , the Pronominal languages are divided into two classes , and may be distinguished as Prefix-Pronominal and Suffix-Pronominal languages . " Witlun these two divisions Mr . Bleek includes all the languages of Southern Africa , as we have seen ; and we . think if we add that the Hottentot family may also be distinguished as monosyllabic tongues , and the Bantu or Kafir as polysyllabic , we have enumerated the distinguishing characteristics of each .
In 1857 Mr . Bleek published a " Vocabulary of the Hottentots and 'Bushmen , " prepared for the use of Sir George Grey—an elaborate quarto volume of some 260 pages . A very valuable-portion of the work is the introduction itself , by the compiler pf Sir George Grey ' s Catalogue , which consists of twelve pages ; and the vocabularies of the dialects of the tribes of the vi c inity of Colesberg and Burgiisdorp , incorporated in the general alphabet ^ ai-e also furnished from his own personal contact with natives . The other sources were the scattered vocabularies of the dialects of the Gape and JEasterh' Hottentots , of the lyorana and the
-Bushmen , accompanied by the corresponding words of the Nania dialect , in the . latter of which the library of Sir George Grey possesses seventeen printed books and seven manuscripts . This xL > ry interesting publication furnishes iis with 400 English words and upwards , with corresponding Hottentot terms , and is accompanied by a copious alphabetical index . Sir George Grey also caused a grammar and vocabulary of the Namii dialect to be printed , in which there is a Hottentot-English vocabulary of upwards of 2 , 042 words ; it likewise contains a collection of 124 plu-ases in the Namaqua Hottentot dialect , with English translation , besides the
grammar , & c , mentioned on the title page . The compiler is Henry Tindall , a Wosleyan missionary , and the work is indispensable to alj who would study . this most primitive language . As in all ot the most ancient languages , the words of tho Hottentot tongue arc chiefly monosyllables , ending , with two exceptions , always in a vowel , or a nasal sound . Diphthongs abound , and several rough gutturals , and compound clicks and gutturals are also met with . In tho Bushman clialeot the phonetic peculiarities of the Hottentot language ai'e carried to oxoess , and almost every word is pronounced with a nasal twang , . which leaves that of the Yankee flu *' behind . Wo believe , with Mr . Bleek , that a more intimate acquaintance with this language would lead to some very curious
and interesting results to both philological and ethnological science . The Saabs , or Bushmon , arc Hottentots of the most unfavoured parts of tho Capo . They aro miserable troglodytes , living in caves , destitute ot Hooks and herds , and subsisting upon what the chase produces . The Bushman is the most undersized specimen of humanity , a mere starveling' in bulk , with a weak and fragile frame . His small bright eye , projecting cheekbones , and uopporcolourcd skin , givo him an unearthly appearance , Svltich is much enhanced by tho hair of hi * head , which grows in tuils . showing interspaoon of scalp between the twisted knots , which imperfectly clothe his singularly-shaped skull— -with a long d ' iametor foro and aft , and considerable development in the ocoipital portion . Tho Namaquas aro a kindred
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 19, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19021859/page/12/
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