Zwei Elefanten

Untersuchung zu den Beziehungen zwischen Sprache und Kultur anhand ausgewählter Wortfelder des Kikuyu

Author: Hagen Neumüller. Series edited by: Bernd Heine, Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig †.

Series: EALD East African Languages and Dialects Volume 7

For the first time, this book introduces methods of analysis which have been developed and tested in this study and with which one can compare the whole vocabulary of different languages instead of only semantic parts. The first part consists of a detailed theoretical discussion of the relationship between language, culture, thought, and perception which is followed by a comparison of the German, English, and Kikuyu lexicon. Kikuyu is a Bantu language which is spoken by 5 million people in the highlands of Central Kenya. Most structural variations were found in the field of ‘religion’.

Component analyses and evaluations of ethnographic data provide us with the following explanation: While English (and German) classify systems of religious belief in comparison with Christianity as prototype, Kikuyu uses several such systems which do not fit into European categories. The results from the comparison between established methods and Neumüller’s new method confirm the validity of the latter.

Under these links you will find descriptions of further East African Bantu languages:

Accompanying material:

• Atlas of Kamba Dialects (Kenya Bantu E.55) (ISBN 978-3-89645-708-0)
• Bantu Languages (ISBN 978-3-89645-705-9)
• Kinyamwezi (ISBN 978-3-927620-40-7)
• Mgombato – Digo-Swahili-English Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-89645-700-4)
• SUGIA Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika (ISBN 978-3-89645-090-6)
• The Bantu Languages of the Kenya Coast (ISBN 978-3-89645-716-5)
• The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu Cultural Vocabulary (ISBN 978-3-89645-095-1)
• The Kagulu Language of Tanzania (G.12) (ISBN 978-3-89645-704-2)
• Transitivität und Verbvalenz im Swahili (ISBN 978-3-89645-712-7)

Cross-reference:

• A Modern Runyoro-Rutooro Grammar (J.10) (ISBN 978-3-89645-023-4)
• Ekoti – The Maka or Swahili Language of Angoche (ISBN 978-3-89645-025-8)
• Historical Language Contact in Africa (ISBN 978-3-89645-091-3)
• Inheritance, Contact, and Change in Two East African Languages (ISBN 978-3-89645-270-2)
• Relative Clauses in Luganda (E.15/J.10) (ISBN 978-3-89645-020-3)
• The Ha Language of Tanzania (ISBN 978-3-89645-027-2)

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