Багирми тілі: Чад және Нигериядағы нило-сахар тілінің сипаттамасы

Nilo Saharan language of Chad and Nigeria

Bagirmi (also Baguirmi; autonym: tàrà ɓármà) is the language of the Bagirmi people of Chad belonging to the Central Sudanic family, which has been tenatively classified as part of the Nilo Saharan superfamily. It was spoken by 44,761 people in 1993, mainly in the Chari Baguirmi Region, as well as in Mokofi sub prefecture of Guéra Region. It was the language of the Sultanate of Bagirmi (1522 1871) and then the Wadai Empire before the Scramble for Africa. During the 1990s, Bagirmi was given written form and texts providing basic literacy instruction were composed through the efforts of Don and Orpha Raun, Christian missionaries of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America, late in their Chadian careers. In 2003, Anthony Kimball developed a font to support the Bagirmi alphabet and a Keyman input method for Latin keyboards, and the body of published Baguirmi literature continues to expand. The majority of this literature was distributed in Chad by David Raun, a missionary and the son of Don and Orpha Raun, at a token cost as a service to the Bagirmi speaking peoples of Chad.

Most words in adjectival constructions act as nominal or verbal roots and cannot be differentiated from them (except the fact that they are more subject to reduplication). These words are “adjectives” only due to their applications. Also, a lot of these words can take both nominal and verbal affixes.

There are two types of verb aspects in Bagirmi language: the Definite Aspect and the Indefinite Aspect. The Definite Aspect is applicable to complete, momentary verb actions. The Indefinite Aspect, conversely, represents verb actions which are incomplete, progressive. The Definite Aspect is also used to indicate the Imperative mood. The Indefinite Aspect is defined by the prefix k in verbs from Class I and Class II.

In Bagirmi there are only several words whose function is adverbial and could be described as adverbs. Majority of adverbial constructions are made up of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectivals, with or without implementing of prepositions and postpositions, could contain a phrase or even a sentence. Not rarely an adverbial phrase is built up by integrating a preposition or postposition with a noun or pronoun. The usual place of adverbials is at the end of a sentence. This position is especially suitable for interrogatives and adverbials of place and manner.

The consonant table presented below contains sounds which are supposed to be native to Bagirmi. The sounds f, v, z, ʃ and h are heard in loan words. +Consonant tableBilabialDentalRetroflexSibilantPalatalVelarLabio velarLaryngealExplosivep, bt, dt, dc, jk, gImplosive'b'd'j('y), 'nyNasalmnnyŋFricative(ʄ)s, zLiquids etc. r, lyw
The sounds given in brackets are variants (not specific phonemes).