HOW SAVAGES SPEAK.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1925, Page 4

HOW SAVAGES SPEAK.

it is a popular notion that savages

talk gibberish which sound-,, as .Mr Wiird Price put it in describing a translation oi the Prince's address to West African chiefs, "like a machinegun barrage.’’ African languages icrlainly aboinu; in click sounds and violent gutturals. Hut most native tongues are more concise and practical fur use than Englisn. A native can say m one word "what would need a dozen in any European tongue. Tor instance, our clumsy phrase, “ 1 have the honour to inform you,” is perleetlv rendered by the singly Ktswahili word', liakuarifu.

Savage languages, also, are rich in verbs which do not exist in the grammar of English. A native servant, asked if a late guest had arrived, for example could answer, " llajapoliku!” —"He lias not yet conic and it is doubtful if lie will.” African nouns, like those of most Eastern languages, are often picturewords. A leopard is "chin.’ ’or sp ;ts. A partridge that no amount of cooking will make lender is called " kitandnlaimngti.” " tho-hird-that-hreaks-the cookingpot’s-heart."

The native is never at a loss for a word to describe colour or shape, for he uses the names of birds, animals, plants, and other common objects in place of regular adjectives. Green is " majaiii,” grass-colour; red, bloodcolour; circular is sun-shape; oval, egg-shape.

Nor do native languages lack euphony. A short while ago every Moii'liassan was singing. "Yes. wo have no liananas.” Their translation ran, word for word: “ Ndio, tusiza ndizi ;” it is at least musical. Over lour hundred languages, eaeli with its own coinplieatcd grammar, are -spoken on the West Coast, and nearly twice that number in East and Central A frica.

In \Yc-t Africa the European’s di!!i- ---< allies in learning unlive tongues have given rise to a pidgin-English called Km. alter the coastal tribes. " You lib eateli spoor tunibneeo-hut!” is a Kru way of saying, " Ketch my t-übac-Ou the East Coast, the ivory ami slave raids of Shiraz Arabs lenlnisto, ago gave rise to a kind of lingua franca known as Kiswabili. This is the nllirlnl tongue of our East African Colonies and is spoken by nearly every native. Originally liantn, or pure African, Swahili has been enriched by many Arabic, Hindustani,'Portuguese and English words, slightly modified to suit the black palate. Aeroplane was difficult and berime ndege bnmbom. " the bird that goes bang-hang” I