Jean-Claude MBOLI Linguist

Senior System Design & Verification Engineer Freescale Semiconductor, Toulouse

Author of : Origine des langues africaines : Essai d’application de la méthode comparative aux langues africaines anciennes et modernes, Éditions L’Harmattan, Paris, 2011, 630 p.

November 28th 2015

Argument #1:

New word creation process

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Argument #1: How new words are created Argument #1

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Borrowing: chief « leader »

From French chef

Semantically motivated word: head « leader »

Non-semantically Motivated: Nearly non-

existent

Tim

e re

vers

al

onomatopoeia

Basic semantically motivated:

head

Basic semantically motivated:

chef « head »

Direct inheritance: PIE *kaput « head »

Borrowing from NE: *kapu-ti « head »

NE *kapu- « tip » NE *-ti « body (part) »

toto « internet » ?

NOT OBSERVED IN ACTUAL

LANGUAGES

Argument #2:

Guessing games with robots

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Argument #2: Robots inventing own language (Luc Steels experiments)

Video at: https://vimeo.com/61088290

Argument #2

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Skills required from the two interacting robots: Be able to create and associate a symbol (sound) to an entity (object, motion, etc,) Be able to register this association as a word after acceptance by both robots Be able to combine basic associations (words) to describe complex entities

Problem: The more the agents are, the more time the association takes to be fully accepted by all

Solution: Simple & Non-arbitrary symbols (e.g. traffic signs) => Monosyllabic Onomatopoea

Argument #3:

Negro-Egyptian very first stage

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Argument #1: African mother-tongue Argument #1

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Archaic Negro-Egyptian •CV,CV

Branch 1 (determined-determinant)

•CV-CV

Branch 2 (determinant-determined)

CV-•CV

Branch 3 No change

•CV,CV

Kweke Group (determined-determinant) •(•CV-CV)-CV > •CV-CV

Kekwe Group (determinant-determined) CV-•(CV-•CV) > CV-•CV

Kikuki Group CV,CV,CV

Post-classic Negro-Egyptian: bére-S

Appearance of S-suffix

Hypothetical Dialect (triconsonantal root;

internally modified root; ablaut; infix; etc.)

CVCVC(V) Bere Dialect

(accented suffix) (•CV-CV)-•CV > CVCV

Beer Dialect (non-accented suffix) (•CV-CV)-CV > CVVC

Zande Hausa Middle-Egyptian

Coptic Sango Somali

?

Argument #3: African mother-tongue Argument #1

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Words of the very first stage of the African Mother-Tongue (Negro-Egyptian) is composed of two switchable CV syllables (syllables such ta, ki, po, fa, etc.): CV,CV = CV-CV or CV-CV (stressed syllable in red) • Each CV syllable is called primo-lexeme • Ten such primo-lexemes have been isolated in NE • All are onomatopoea

Emergence of Spoken Language Emergence of spoken language

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THREE INDEPENDENT ANALYSES POINT TO THE SAME CONCLUSION:

LANGUAGE STARTED AS ONOMATOPOEA ITS PLACE OF ORIGIN IS AFRICA

The ten primo-lexemes Emergence of spoken language

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Form Meaning Origin U Here, self Tongue backward: => ‘to me’

I Right there Tongue forward => ‘in front of me’

A Over there, large Mouth largely open => ‘large’, ‘far’

K(A) Dry wood Sound of a dry wood being broken (English ‘crack’)

NHW(A) Mom Baby warble (only sound by a baby) => ‘call to Mom’

CHI (?) To eat Sound of chewing => ‘mouth activity’ (food, speech)

HU To breathe Sound of breathing or blowing => air manipulation

HŨ To sniff Sound of sniffing or smelling => nose activity

XU Voice Sound imitating animal growl => voice

KWI To shiver Sound from a surprise touch

Derived meanings Emergence of spoken language

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Form Meaning U Me one (two) first male foot

I You two (one) second female head

A Other(s) many all the rest female

KA Body, limb, person, fire, strong, to hurt

NHWA=N Person, animal (animated being)

CHI (?) To speak

HU Wind, spirit (strangeness)

HŨ Nose, odor

XU (?) Voice

KWI (?) Be happy, cold, fear

Early grammatical rules Emergence of spoken language

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1. In association, the more significant word CV (determined) is accented (high tone), whereas the less significant CV (determinant) is not, regardless the order: CV-CV = CV-CV;

2. Two instances of an entity is designated by repeating twice the word (archaic dual in M-E, reduplication for dual organs in Sango: titi ‘hand’, fufu ‘lung’, ngba-ngba ‘cheek’, didi ‘horn’, etc,);

3. Three or more instances of an entity is designated by repeating thrice the word (archaic plural in M-E; M-E kkw ‘darkness’ ~ Sango kukuku idem), M-E sssw.w ‘days’ (singular sw ‘day’)

Emergence of spoken language

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1. K+ø=KA ‘Stick’:

1. Object > Tool, Thing 2. Hard > Force > Hurt, Dangerous, stone

2. K+U=KU ‘Tree’ (lower part)

1. Foot > Place > To be 2. Ground > Earth

3. K+I=KI ‘Tree’ (upper part) > ‘Branch’

1. Limb > Arm > To take; Horn, Tail 2. Medecine

4. KI,KU=KIKU or KUKI ‘Tree’

1. Trunk > Body > person 2. Skin

5. KI,KU=KIKU or KUKI ‘High place’

1. Head > Sky 2. Mountain > Huge

KI,KU

KU

KI

First true words

Emergence of spoken language

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1. KI,HU=KIHU or HUKI ‘Firewood’ > ‘Fire’

1. Coal > Black > Night > Yesterday 2. Light:

1. White > To see, Morning > Tomorrow 2. Sun > Day > Today 3. Moon > Month

3. Heat > Dry season > Year

2. KU,KI=KUKI or KIKU ‘To go’, ‘to flee’, ‘to run’ 1. River:

1. Water > Rain > Rainy season, Year 2. Salt lake, Sea > Salt

2. Path > Rightness, truth > name

3. KI,KU=KIKU or KUKI ‘To come’ 1. Appearance > Dream, Spook > Spirit > God 2. To come out > Grain, Fruit, Egg, Grass > Bush

First true words (cont’ed)

Water Salt Zande hime hame

M-E Hm HmA,t

• M-E pr.i ‘to come out’ • M-E pr.t ‘grain, fruit’ • Zande para ‘egg’ • M-E n.pr.i ‘god’

Emergence of spoken language

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1. N,(KI,KU)=N,KI-KU or N,KU-KI ‘Chief’ (he-who is on top)

1. Leader: Bantu kulu ‘chief’ 2. Father > Man > Person: Bantu ntu ‘man’ 3. Adult (space): Egyptian nxt ‘adult’, ‘giant’ 4. Aged (time)

2. N,(KI,KU)=N,KI-KU or N,KU-KI ‘Person’ (the tree-like one)

3. N,(KI,KU)=N,KI-KU or N,KU-KI ‘The huge one’ (mountain-like)

1. Pregnant woman > Mother, woman 2. Rich

4. N,(KI,KU)=N,KI-KU or N,KU-KI ‘The hard one’

1. Strong: Egyptian nxt ‘strong’ 2. Dangerous > Animal:

1. Bull: Egyptian nxt ‘bull’ 2. Snake > Rope > Intestine > Belly > Child > Little

Note: KU > K, Q, G, KP, P, B, F, W, U, O; KI > K, J, D, TCH, SH, T, S, R, L, Y, I, E

First true words (cont’ed)

Emergence of spoken language

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Numerals: X = object noun, u ‘this’, i ‘there’, a ‘over there’

1. One instance of entity X: 1. X,u ‘this X’ 2. X,i ‘that X’

2. Two instances of entity X: 1. X,i ‘(and) that X’ 2. X,u ‘(and) this X’ 3. X,u + X,i ‘this X (and) that X’ = X,u+i ‘X, this one and that one’ 4. X,i + X,u ‘that X (and) this X’ = X,i+u ‘X, that one and this one’ 5. X,u + X,u ‘this X (and) this X’ = X,u+u ‘X, this one and this one’ 6. X,i + X,i ‘that X (and) that X’ = X,i+i ‘X, that one and that one’

3. Many or all instances of entity X: 1. X,a ‘all the rest of instances X’

Possessive pronouns: X = object noun, u ‘me’, i ‘you’, a ‘any other’

1. X,u ‘my X’ (Egyptian pr.i ‘my house’, Sango da tî mbï ‘my house’) (pr/da ‘house’ : ø/tî ‘of’ : i/mbï ‘I’)

Subject/object pronouns: X = action noun, u ‘me’, i ‘you’, a ‘any other’ 1. X,i ‘I do X’ (Egyptian pr.i ‘I go out’, Sango lörö tî mbï ‘I run’ < ‘my run’) Origin of Egyptian suffix conjugation with syntactic confirmation from Sango

First grammatical rules

Emergence of Thoughth Emergence of spoken language

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Emergence of the notion of ‘number’:

Emergence of the notion of ‘time’:

X Y

X

Y X

Y

object

‘here’ ‘there’ ‘over there’

‘one X’ ‘two Xs’ ‘any Xs’

‘one’ ‘two’ ‘any’

object

time

space

Big (great) = Aged • Egyptian wr ‘great’, ‘aged’ • Egyptian Tn.i ‘lift up’ > Tn,i ‘old man’ • Bantu khulu ‘great’, ‘aged’ • Zande son-a ‘to grow’ > PIE *sen ‘old’ > senior, senate • Latin altus ‘grown tall’, ‘noble’ > English old

Emergence of Thought Emergence of spoken language

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My chief is big:

Tree Big, tall Adult, elder, rich

Woo, stick Hard Strong, powerful

Top High chief

King, emperor, souvereign

Emergence of spoken language

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THANK YOU