Anthropos: Anthropos, 79.1984

Anthropos, 79.1984

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Titel:: Anthropos

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Titel:: Anthropos, 79.1984

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1984

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Titel:: Bd. 79, 1984, Heft 1-3

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: The Formative Period in Tigrinya Linguistics

Sonstige Person:: Fellman, Jack

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Berichte und Kommentare 257 A-nth tropos 79.1984 This goes a long way towards explaining the groups’ similarities, while at the same time allowing for their deepseated differences believing mutual comprehension. The Formative Period in Tigrinya Linguistics Jack Fellman Tigrinya is a Northern Semitic-Ethiopic language spo ken by some 3-3.5 million predominantly Monophysitic Christian agriculturalists in Eritrea and the northern Abyssi nian highland plateau. This area corresponds largely to that °f the ancient kingdom of Axum, and indeed Tigrinya is often considered, both by her speakers and by professional linguists, as the direct successor of Classical Ethiopie (Ge’ez), the linguistic symbol of historic Ethiopian civilization. The most complete and detailed descriptive grammar of Tigrinya is the 1941 Documents tigrigna (éthiopien septen trional) by the noted éthiopisant Wolf Leslau, a student of the late “father of Ethiopie studies,” Marcel Conen. This work marked the culmination of over a century of study of Tigrinya which may be termed “the formative period in Tigrinya linguistics.” It is this formative period that this paper wishes briefly to treat. We restrict ourselves, however, to book-length grammars and dictionaries. Sketches, out lines, and the like may be found in Leslau 1965: 165-191 and 1970: 477-482 passim. The earliest documentation of Tigrinya is that provided hy travelers and missionaries at the beginning of the last century. The material - mostly lists of words and phrases - collected by men like Henry Salt, Charles Веке, Christian Lefebvre, and the translations of parts of the Old and New Testaments were used by the noted Semitist Franz Praetorius ln his monumental 367-page Grammatik der Tigrina-Sprache ln Ahessinien of 1871. This work is the first grammar of Tigrinya, abd is to this day “a model of accuracy, exhausti- Ve ness, and sound method” (Ullendorff 1973: 19). It is heavily comparative and historical in nature, and is geared to l he experienced Semitist and éthiopisant rather than the indent. It is not, however, based on first-hand acquaintance Wl th the language. Further, since it is based heavily on biblical translations, the language-type described tends to be somewhat stilted and artificial. After Praetorius, several ^orks were produced based on first-hand knowledge of Tgrinya in situ, the best ones by missionaries, who knew the language well. We note in particular J. Schreiber’s Manuel de I a langue tigrai, published in two volumes in Vienna 1887—1893. A better grammar is Padre Mauro da Leonessa’s Grammatica analitica della lingua tigray, published in Rome 111 1928. This 294-page work gives quite a good description of the language, and is the first grammar (with the exception of Praetorius, but vide supra) to give extended coverage to s yntax. The Italian interlude in Ethiopia (ca. 1870-1940), of T^hich Leonessa was part, produced several works on bgrinya, but none are of scientific value. An exception is Ludovico de Vito’s Grammatica elementare della lingua tl grigna, published in Rome in 1895. De Vito was an officer ln the Italian army, and this 85-page work served his men In conclusion, the Ethiopian Semitic tongues form a chain of closely related but independent languages. This is a result in particular of the breakup and fissuring of original dialect continua in the historical period. (and still can serve the modern student of Tigrinya) quite well. Much better linguistically is Carlo Conti Rossini’s Lingua tigrina, published in Milan in 1940. This work, as it were, closes the formative period in Tigrinya grammatical studies. Mention should, perhaps, also be made of a grammar of Tigrinya in Tigrinya, which appeared at this time: Ya’qob Gabra lyasus’ Haddis mdgdmmdriya ziwdsp ? zdllo mdshaf sdwasssw, published in Asmara in 1934 (revised edition 1948). As to dictionaries of Tigrinya, several collections of words and small vocabularies of the early 19th century are available, as are several vocabularies produced during the Italian interlude. None have scientific value, except perhaps for the 1896 Vocabulario della lingua tigrigna by the above Ludovico de Vito. The best works, again, were produced by missionaries. We note the above J. Schreiber, who, with P. S. Coulbeaux, published in Vienna in 1915 a 504-page Diction- naire de la langue tigrai, a most abundant work, which, unfortunately, only covers the first part of the alphabet. A more complete and better dictionary is Francesco da Bassa- no’s Vocabolario tigray-italiano et italiano-tigray, published in Rome in 1918. This is still at present the best dictionary of Tigrinya available, but by now is clearly passe. (A new dictionary is reportedly in preparation by Rainer Maria Vogt.) In conclusion, one notes that the formative period in Tigrinya grammar and lexicography down to 1940 laid the foundations for the scientific study of the language. Since then, very little further was produced. (Perhaps we should mention here the 1957 Tigrinya-Amharic dictionary Mdgzd- bd qalat tsgrsnna amhar^nna, an 855-page work published by Abba Yohannas Gabra Egzi’abahar in Asmara, as an outstanding exception. More recently, the above Rainer Maria Voigt published Das tigrinische Verbalsystem in 1977, an exemplary work.) The decline of interest in Tigrinya linguistics is probably due to the main role played by Amharic, Tigrinya’s sister Ethiopian-Semitic language, in the development of Ethiopia after World War. II. This, natural ly, steered interest toward Amharic studies. With the surge of recent Eritrean nationalism, however, the status of Tigrinya in the province is growing at the expense of Amharic, and we may assume that, to that extent, interest in Tigrinya linguistics will be renewed. References Cited Leslau, Wolf 1965 An Annotated Bibliography of the Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. The Hague: Mouton and Co. 1970 “Ethiopic and South Arabian.” In: T. A. Sebeok (ed.), Current Trends in Linguistics 6: 467-527. The Hague: Mouton and Co. Ullendorff, Edward 1973 The Ethiopians. London: Oxford University Press. [Paper back, 3 rd ed.]

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