Fangwa

Welcome to the page on the Fangwa Language. (OchiFangwa)

OchiFangwa is an a posteriori constructed Bantu language based on a large number of Bantu languages. The main sources are Swahili, Afrihili, Shona, Chichewa, Lingala, Tswana, Luganda, Kikuyu, Xhosa and Zulu. This language draws a lot of its vocabulary from these sources, and the grammmar also has a strong Bantu influence. The basic order in a sentence is SVO and the language is head initial. The stress is usually on the penultimate syllable. Fangwa is part of a larger constructed Bantu-languages family: The other members are: Entesi, Oseroa, Fangwezi (that the Fangwa consider to be a dialect of their language), Entegwa, Qolape, Nashari and Zandi. There is also an unrelated language Anara being spoken (to the south east of the area where Fangwa is spoken) that has a lot of influence from Fangwa. Vocabulary:

Vocabulary
ukogenda = to go; ukobona = to see; egimkono= the arm; egimpuno= the nose; -nguvu = strong; egidzewe = the lake egidyulo = the sky/ heaven; ukochedza = to play; egipepo = the wind; ukovova = to speak; ukoisha = to live/ inhabit; kworebo-ney = near(by) umogeni = stranger/foreigner; omatsaluji= the snow; egimotsayebo = the broom

ukorusha = to work; egimtemo = the law; omamto = the river; omabahori = the sea

ukopá = to give; -kulu = big/ great; egidziko = the kitchen; egijika = the spoon

ukocheka = to laugh; egiwavo = the net; egibarafo = the ice; ukosikia = to hear

umodzukala = grandchild; esiusagi = the hare; uko-imba= to sing; egisikio= ear

esinyondzi = bird; -naiba= beautiful; esikitsune = the fox; ukodota = to dream omandzi = the water; ubonto = humanity; esingeke = tilapia; ukobaka = to build

ukopeka = to cook; ukopenya = to love; ukosopa = to like; egiatu = the shoe;

ukotunda = to teach; umofazi = the woman; emuvoka = the pear, egimbedzi = the month

ukosana = to drink ; ukosama = to find; eginyama = the meat; esinyama = the animal

esingombe = the cow; esinkoko = the chicken; ukodzira = to wait; esidaubu = the bear

ukososoli = to understand; esinahashu = the snake; esisaru= the ape; -dzuri = good umowana = the child; umokama = the king; ukoladi = to ask; ukokimbia = to run;

egiti = the chair; egiluti = the stick; the branch; ukoluma = to bite; ukosema = to speak

ukodyá = to eat; ukolala = to sleep; ukofale = to look; egieneche = the land;

esimbudzi = the goat; esinguruve = the pig ; egimeli = the boat; ukoadza= to begin

esimpaka = the cat; umokwetu = the friend; ukobadzira = to break; egilamba= the clothing

omangawa = the rain; ukojika = to close; ukowekwa = to speak; ukodzua = to know

ochiFangwa = the Fangwa Language ; ukotaya = to help; ukokabe = to advise; egidzai = the egg

egikeni = the glas; ukobinda = to write; ukolomu = to enter; ukogula = to buy;

ukofotokodza = to explain; egibisi = the office; ukobade = to divide; ukozunda = to hate

umotsikana = the girl; omadziwa = the milk ; esindzovu = the elephant; egiumba= the room ukofahamu = to understand; esitwiga = the giraffe; egikombe = the cup; egidzina = the name

umoru = the chief; egiature = the flower ; ukokute = to obey; ukofanya = to do;

egikaramu = the pen; egiadenle = the street; egitanda = the bed; ukojá = to come

umokulima = the farmer; ukolipa = to pay; ukopyoma = to read; egintu = the thing

esiawindzi = the sheep; esiura = the frog; egintoka = the car, umorume = the man ukobyada= to bear children (to be pregnant); emuintore = the eggplant;

ubomotlovo = the pride; egicho = the eye; umofazi umorebyada = the pregnant woman;

egiloba = the word; ukobera = to carry; egimbazi = moon; egidzuwa = the sun;

egiupa = the bottle; ukomada = to finish, ukofá = to die; ukodzibu = to answer; ukosenga = to get drunk

Possesive pronouns
The possessive pronoun is formed by attaching the particle ye at the front of the pronoun, e.g. yend(z)e = my. The possessive pronoun comes after the noun. So yeu = your (sing); yea = his/her(human); yegi = its (inanimate); yesi = its (animate: animal); yemu = its (animate: plant, fruit, vegetable) ; yetu =  our; yebu = your (plur); yeba = their(human); yebi = their ( inanimate); yebizi = their (animail); yemi = their (plant, fruit, vegetable)

Grammar
Fangwa is basically a SVO (Subject Verb Object) Language. The verbs have threee tense markers ( past, present, future) and two aspect markers ( perfect and progressive aspect)

Examples:

Noun classes
OchiFangwa has a noun class system like a lot of Bantu languages, the classifier is a prefix that attaches to the noun. This classifying particle is also attached to the verb, adjectives, numerals that are governed by the noun. The particle has a long and a short form; the long form denotes definiteness: umo-wana = the child; the short form signals undefiniteness; mo-wana: a child.

The main noun classes are: umo/oba = (sing/plur) humans; egi-ebi = things; esi-bizi = animals; oma- : (singular) :only certain fluids e.g. omandzi (from oma-mandzi)= water; oma-ngawa = rain and oma-dziwa = milk; emu/emi = fruits/vegetables/plants; uko- = denotes verbs; ubo- : denotes abstact concepts.

The short form of the noun class particle
mo/ba (humans, sg/pl); gi/bi (things, inanimate sg/pl), si/(b/d)zi (animals sg/pl); ma (fluids); mu/mi (plants/fruit/vegetables sg/pl); bo (abstract nouns)

There are some classes that are almost obsolete now: epi/eti = diminutive (humans): etinto-epinto = the small man - the small men and the augmentative (humans) : ago/adzo = agonto - adzonto = the giant - the giants. The short forms are pi/ti (diminutives sg/pl) and go/dzo (augmentative nouns sg/pl). The plural form of the augmentatives is increasingly being used as the plural form of the abstract noun particle (u)bo. So adzokama also means the kingdoms as well as the big kingdoms. The indefinite form is  dzo kama = kingdoms. The singular is ubokama = the kingdom.

These last two classes are being slowly incorporated into the umo/oba class: umotinto-obatinto = small man- small men. And umogonto- obagonto = giant- giants. The younger people only use the newer forms, elderly people can use both and in poetry the old forms are used. It looks like the old form will only be preserved in poetry and old texts.

Adjectives:

All adjectives follow their nouns: umowana umo dzuri = the  good  child;  mo wana  mo dzuri = a good child. The adjectives get the same prefixes as the corresponding nouns that they modify.

Questions:
To ask a quetion you can put the particle ni in front of a sentence, for example ndenasema ochi-Fangwa = I speak the Fangwa language. ''Ni ndenasema Ochi-Fangwa? ''Do I speak the Fangwa language?

To emphasize what the question is you can place ni after de part of the sentence that you want to ask about, e.g.:

'ndzéni''nasema Ochi-Fangwa? 'Do I '' speak the Fangwa language?

ndzenánisema Ochi-Fangwa? Do I speak  at this moment  the Fangwa language? (Not in the past or in the future)

'''ndzenasémani Ochi-Fangwa? 'Do I speak ''the Fangwa language? (not hear or write?)

'''ndzenasema Ochi-Fángwani? '''Do I speak the Fangwa language? (not English or Swahili or Zulu?)

Negation
The negation of an action can be expressed in two ways: E.g.
 * 1) First you can add the prefix  ka - to the verb.
 * 2) The second way is to put te after the verb. (strong negation)
 * 3) If you use both you get a very strong negation.

Numerals
Here are the numerals of Fangwa from 1 to 10, Fangwa uses a base 10.. These numerals take on the prefixes of the nouns they quantify.

The cardinal numerals also have a short form, eg: -bili kumi = 20; -bili keme = 200; -ne kalo = 4000;

-kenda fuku = 9.000.000. These short forms are used in everyday speach, in official documents the longer form are used.

The numerals always follow the noun that is counted with the corresponding prefix: abantu (a)babili= the two persons; bizinja bizisambo = the seven dogs; bitabo binane= eight books, bitabo bitoba = 6 books.

For numbers higher than 10 only the first part will take the prefix:

miti mikumi na ne= 14 trees

Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numrals are formed by putting the particle 'ye' in front of the number and after the noun it refers to, for example: "umorume ye (u)momodzi" = the first man; "umotsikana ye (u)mobili" = the second girl; "esinkoko ye (e)sikenda" = the ninth chicken;

As for ordinal numbers higher then 10 the same rule applies as for cardinal numbers: only the first part gets the same prefix as the noun that refers to, for example: esimpaka ye (e)sikumi na sambo = the 17th cat

The inessive particle
Fangwa also has a inessive particle but it is a suffix '-ney' to the noun instead of a prefix like all the other noun class particles, e.g. 'eginyumbaney' = in the house (lit: def part inan.-house-in), ginyumba ney  = in a house; nyumba ney  = inside a house.

Days of the week
The names of the days of the week and the months of the year come from Afrihili. They are all written with capital letters.

Lamsadlo = Monday

Taradlo = Tuesday

Woshadlo = Wednesday

Yabadlo = Thursday

Sauhadlo = Friday

Juomadlo = Saturday

Gauriadlo = Sunday

egi-usambo = the week

egisiko = the day

egibusiko = the night/the evening

Months of the year
Gwadze = January

Raume = February

Nyobi = March

Foraiso = April

Hambali = May

Beali = June

Jovare= July

Shobu= August

Dwaro= September

Donsau= October

Vabwa= November

Mbanze = December

egi-mbedzi = the month

egi-aka = the year

Colours
The names of the coulours are:

mponge = grey

gedzane = green

mwodzano = yellow

nyokaudzo = red

nyosi = black

roendzi = orange

bwaleyo = blue

nyopfe = white

fyadha = silver

dzohavo = gold

kawha = brown

dzovaro = purple

moriye = blue- green

ruonge = colour

Dialects
OchiFangwa has 3 dialects: the Central dialect (the basis of the standard language), the Northern dialect and the Southern dialect. The Southern dialect is the most divergent from the other two. This is also due to the efforts of the Fangwa to turn the Fangwezi into their allies and incorporate the Fangwezi territories into the land of the Fangwa. For this reason the Southern Dialects known as Fangwe ye Kushine has lots of cognates with Fangwezi, e.g. tsondato = 6 (Fangwezi tsandato, Fangwa toba), (o)kodzoa = to know (Fangwezi kodzova, Fangwa ukodzua). All verbs tend to end in  -a  like in Fangwezi where Fangwa may have other vowels e.g. (o)koládea = to ask (Fangwa ukoladi, Fangwezi koladya). The Southern dialects also make a distinction between the first person plural inclusive (tu) vs exclusive (ti) like Fangwezi. The Southern dialects are also head final and they can also count as in Fangwezi so above ten you can put the smaller numeral first but they can also count like in Fangwa so for example one can say bile ng'a bilekome (22 literally 2+ 20) like in Fangwezi or bilekome ng'a bile (20+2) like in Fangwa. For all these reasons it is easier for the Southern Fangwa to understand Fangwezi because this also has been fostered for a long time and there were Fangwa speaking communities in the Northern Fangwezi territories but they were expelled once the Fangwa stopped helping the Fangwezi to expand their territories to reach the sea.

Sample text
umorume umonasana mandzi = the man drinks water [lit: the-man human class part-pres tense-drinks water (indefinite form)]

tunavova OchiFangwa = we speak the Fangwa language [lit: we-prs-speak part.(language)Fangwa]

anaisha kworebo-ney egidzewe = he lives near the lake [he-prs-live near-iness n-class obj -lake]