1.2.8.
Lexicon
For the most part, the vocabularies of H and L and shared. As
you might expect, learned words and technical terms like «nuclear
fission» exist only in H. At the same time, there are words in L for homey
objects such as farm implements and some cooking utensils that have no
equivalents in H. But the most striking feature in diglossia, as far as lexicon
is concerned, is the existence of paired items, one in H and one in L, for very
referred-to concepts. Down in Swahili spoken in Bukavu, S and B.S. share a
great many words. But some concepts for which S uses some specific terms and
words not existing in B.S. make B.S. speakers resort to borrowings, neologisms,
and some S roots of which the meanings have been transformed in B.S.. For
example, B.S. can use terms like «bic», «tate»,
«duru» corresponding respectively to «kalamu» (pen),
«mama/baba mkuu» (grandparent), «mpumbavu» (stupid person).
«Bic» is a borrowing from French, «tate» is a neologism,
«duru» is an S term, meaning «circle, wheel», of which the
meaning has been transformed in B.S.
1.2.9.
Phonology
There is a substantial range of differences between H and L
phonologies, as the case of Swahili spoken in Bukavu will illustrate it. None
the less, Ferguson, thinking in terms of phonemic theory of phonology that was
prevalent in 1959, says it is a valid generality that the «sound systems
of H and L constitute a single phonological structure of which the L phonology
is the basic system and the divergent features of H phonology are either a
subsystem or parasystem» (Ferguson 1972:244, quoted by Fasold 1984:38).
Concerning Swahili spoken Bukavu, the B.S. sound system seems to have more
phonological features than S. B.S. uses sounds from vernacular languages and
from French, which do not exist in S. For example, the fricative bilabial
/â/ from vernaculars, the fricative uvular /R/ and nasal sounds from
French used in B.S. do not exist in S. Moreover, B.S. uses relatively more
phonological rules than S: the S sounds /w/, /v/ change into B.S. /b/ or the
fricative bilabial/â/, apocope (the loss of final sounds) on S words,
haplology (loss of the sound /h/ because of similarity with vowels), epenthesis
(introduction of an extra medial sound) and prothesis (introduction of an extra
initial sound) as the following cases illustrate the rules respectively:
|
BS
|
English equivalents
|
S
|
|
byungu
|
Pots
|
vyungu
|
|
batu
|
People
|
watu
|
|
sa
|
time
|
saa
|
|
abari
|
news
|
Habari
|
|
mutoto
|
child
|
mtoto
|
|
bulozi
|
witchcraft
|
ulozi
|
| 
