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Language Basics

About the Language

<16>

Beja (Bidhaawyeet, Tu-Bdhaawi) is a member of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages which includes, among others, the Cushitic and the Semitic languages.

<17>

Beja holds a special position within the Afro-Asiatic languages, since it is the only Cushitic language classified as North Cushitic. Other Cushitic languages - including languages like Afar, Blin, Oromo and Somali - are spoken far to the south of the Beja area. Semitic languages - including Arabic, Tigre and Tigrigna - are neighboring languages north and south of the Beja area.

<18>

Cushitic languages as well as the Semitic languages of East Africa typically have the order Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), and are head final. Beja also prefers to have important items last, such as the verbs, the postpositions, or the affixes.

<19>

But not always: As far as the clause is concerned, the verb is the last element, as in Ali tak imaasiw 'Ali man heard'. As far as the noun phrase is concerned, the noun comes last, as in dis tak 'small man'. And as far as adverbial phrases and affixes are concerned, the adverbial element and the suffix comes last, as in Aliiyi gwad, 'Ali with', takii-da 'man-for'. But as far as the verb is concerned, Semitic languages typically attach the subject pronoun before the verb, while in Cushitic languages typically it comes last. One major challenge for the language learner is that Beja has both kinds of verbs, e.g.: Ee-ta 'came-she', and ti-bi 'she-went' (where -ta and ti- stand for 'she.Past/Perfect'). In this book, the verb will therefore receive special attention.

<20>

Beja speakers number about 1 million - but ethnic Beja people may be as many as 2 or 3 million. They live in Southern Egypt, Eastern Sudan and Northern Eritrea. Most of them live in the Sudan, with Port Sudan, Suakin and Kasala as major centers. The Atman dialect - one of the major Beja varieties which is mainly spoken in the Sudan - serves as the basis for this book.

<21>

There are several grammars of the Beja language. By size and by year of publication - starting with the shortest and the most recent grammar - they are the following: Morin 1995 (French), Hudson 1976 (English), Roper 1928 (English), Reinisch 1893 (German), and Almkvist 1881 (German). In addition, there are various linguistic articles about the language, most of them by Zaborski and Voigt, for which Zaborski 1999 gives a bibliography.

Phonology

Sounds

<22>

The following section needs to be studied first, if a correct pronunciation of the Beja examples is desired.

<23>

The transcription which is used throughout this book is systematically phonological, and very close to the orthography of Beja which was established in Eritrea. The main difference between the Beja orthography and the transcription used in this book is the use of bold vowel letters. They indicate the pitch-accent.

<24>

There also is an Arabic transliteration of the Beja data. Among the various Arabic transliterations which were in use, this particular one has been promoted in the internet for several years. It distinguishes uu and ii from oo and ee, but its disadvantage is that it uses diacritics to do so. Recently, however, its main website (sakanab) stopped supporting it.

<25>

Since there still are Beja individuals who occasionally use Arabic letters for their language (cf. the “bejaculture” website), the Arabic transliteration - although defunct - has not been deleted from this book.

<26>

The following table is an alphabetical list of the orthographic symbols and their pronunciation (i.e. the IPA values). Some of the sound files are arranged in a different order, such as the files for dh, gh, and kh.

Latin Grapheme:

Pronunciation (IPA):

Arabic Grapheme:

Examples:

Gloss:

' (hamzah)

ʔ

ء أ إ ئ

m'at

women

مئَت

a / aa

a / aː

أَ \ آ ا

Ama / aamaa!

Ride / devour!

أمه / آما!

b

b

ب

baas

burial

باس

d

d

د

daat

container

دات

deh = d+h

dh

ده

dehay

people

دهَي

dh

ɖ

ڈ

tubdhaawi

the beja

تُبڈاوے

ee

ێ

een

these

ێن

f

f

ف

faas

axe

فاس

g

ɡ

ق

gaal

one

قال

gh

ɣ

غ

ghurfa

room (Ar)

غُرفه

gw

ɡʷ

قْو

gwad

with

قْوَد

h

h

ه

haaf

belly

هاف

i / ii

I / iː

إ ے / إٍي

ibari / iibiri

has / had

إبَرے / إيبِرے

j

j

ج

Jaar!

Shoo!

جار!

k

k

ك

kaam

camel

كام

kh

x

خ

khalaas

finally (Ar)

خَلاس

keh = k+h

kh

كه

baruuke-han

you-then

بَرٌوكهَن

kw

كْو

kwaat

sister

كْوات

l

l

ل

laaw

burning

لاو

m

m

م

maan

shaving

مان

n

n

ن

naat

something

نات

oo

ۆ

oon

this

ۆن

r

r

ر

raat

question

رات

s

s

س

saab

skinning

ساب

she = s+h

sh

سه

sehaal

sharpness

سهال

sh

ʃ

ش

shaat

meat

شات

t

t

ت

taan

these (F)

تان

teh = t+h

th

ته

Tehaa!

Touch!

تها!

th

ʈ

ٹ

Thathaa!

Sit down!

ٹَٹا

u / uu

u / uː

أُ / أُو

Uraa! / uuraaw

Bury! / the other

أُرا! / أُوراو

w

w

و

waak

cutting

واك

y

j

ي

yaas

dog

ياس

Suprasegmentals
Pitch Accent

<27>

Every Beja word will have at least one syllable which is louder and which has a higher pitch than the other(s). The louder syllable is said to carry the pitch-accent (or accent for short). In this book the accent is transcribed with bold letters.

<28>

Example: pitch-accent on the first syllable / on the second syllable.

Transcription:

Pronunciation (IPA) :

Example:

Gloss:

Example:

a / a

ˈani / aˈnaː

ani / Anaa

I / Hello you!

أنے / أنا!

a / a

ˈhadhaab / haˈdhab

hadhaab / hadhaab

lions / lion

هَڈاب / هَڈاب

Length of Vowels and Length of Consonants (Gemination)

<29>

Examples: Short and long vowels and consonants.

Transcription:

Pronunciation (IPA) :

Example:

Gloss:

Example:

a / aa

a / aː

Ama / aamaa!

Ride / devour!

أمه / آما!

s / ss

s / sː

Asa / assaa!

Arise / do!

أسه / أسّا!

Examples: Vowel Length

<30>

Here follow examples of long and short vowels in words which are not related to each other.

saab / sab, sabt

cloud / Saturday

ساب / سَب سَبت

saas / sas

sort / incite (causative of hasi)

ساس / سَس

saar / sar

stomach content / artery

سار / سَر

kaan / Kana!

whine / Know!

كان / كَنَ!

haab / haba

red soil / stoop

هاب / هَبَ

yaam / yam

belly / water

يام / يَم

fiir / Fira

face / Sew!

فٍير / فِرَ

Integrating Foreign Sounds and Words

<31>

It will be noticed that some words - including common greetings - are borrowed from Arabic. However, sounds which do not fit the Beja sound system will generally be rejected, yet, depending on the speaker, certain Arabic sounds will be preserved or integrated as table 2 shows.

<32>

As far as loan words are concerned, they will be re-shaped to be acceptable to the Beja language. The shape of loan words is predictable from the typical Beja patterns which will be presented in table 3 further below.

Sound:

Example:

Gloss:

ث

becomes t

talaata

Tuesday

تَلاته

ح

becomes h

Marhaba!

Hello!

مَرهَبه

خ

is kh or becomes k or h

Ookhartuum / hamiist

Al Khartoum / Thursday

ۆخَرتٌوم / هَمٍيست

ج

is j or becomes g

taajir / gineeh(i)

trader / Guinee

تاجِر / قِنێهے

ذ

becomes d

Addanaa (adaan)

Call to prayer!

أدَّنا أدان

ز

is z or becomes d

mooz / tarabeeda

banana / table

مۆز / تَرَبێده

ص

becomes s

asiir

juice

أسٍير

ض

becomes d

Gadabaa

Be angry!

قَدَبا

ط

becomes t

Tawwaraa

Develop!

تَوَّرا

ظ

becomes z or d

dehuur, zhuur

noon

دهٌور, زهٌور

ع

becomes ' or zero

w'asiir / asiir

the juice / juice

وأَسٍير / أسٍير

غ

is gh or becomes g

sharigh, sharig (oomha)

east

شَرِغ, شَرِق ۆمهه

ق

becomes k or g

funduk, fundug

hotel

فُندُك , فُندُق

ك

is k or becomes kw

alaykwum

on you (Pl) (Ar)

ألَيكْوُم

Syllable and Word Patterns

<33>

As far as the places of consonants (C) and vowels (V) in syllables are concerned, Beja words allow for exactly 18 syllable patterns in the word initial syllable, and 12 patterns in all other syllables.

<34>

The most frequent pattern is CV, i.e. a syllable which consists of a consonant followed by a short vowel. But syllables can also be closed with one or two consonants, where the second consonant can only be t. So far this gives 3 patterns, namely: CV as in na 'thing', CVC as in tak 'man', and CVCt as in lamt 'soup'.

<35>

Less frequent are syllables with long vowels [1], which will be written as VV. This gives 3 additional syllables patterns: CVV as in tuu 'the', CVVC as in been 'that', and CVVCt as in diint 'thorn'.

<36>

Only word initial syllables can start with a vowel (or more exactly, with a suppressed hamzah), which gives the following additional patterns: V as in a.ni 'I (1.Sg)', VC as in ar 'boys', VCt as in awt 'honey', VV as in aa.bu 'who (M)', VVC as in aab 'who', and VVCt as in aabt 'who (F)'.

<37>

As a specialty of the Beja phonology there also are syllables in which the initial consonant is followed either by h or by hamzah, abbreviated as H  [2]: CHV as in t'a 'now', CHVV as in m'aa 'come!', CHVCt as in mhay 'three' and as in lhayt 'tomorrow', and CHVVCt as in n'aayt 'goat'. This last set of syllable patterns actually causes one of the systematic differences between northern and southern Beja dialects: What is pronounced as C'V in the North may be pronounced as CV' or as two syllables CV.'V in the South, e.g. s'a, sa', sa.'a 'sit! (M)'.

Examples for Word Initial Syllables (Note that dots indicate syllable boundaries):

he went

V (never alone)

i.bi

إبے

one who holds

VC

ab.kaab

أَب كاب

five and

VCt

ayt.wa

أيت وه

Who is he?

VV

Aa.bu?

ابُ?

Who are you (M)?

VVC

Aab.wa?

آب وه?

Who (F) and?

VVCt

Aabt.wa?

ابت وه?

you (M Obj)

CV (never alone)

ba.rook

به رۆك

she started

CVC

yak.ta

يَك ته

even Saturday

CVCt

sabt.han

سَبت هَن

your (M) father

CVV

baa.book

با بۆك

she deceived

CVVC

soob.ta

سۆب ته

a tree (F) (genus 'Terminalia') and

CVVCt

daaft.wa

دافت وه

Punish (M) him!

CHV

Lha.sa!

لهه سه!

even the sea

CHVC

bhar.han

بهَر هَن

tomorrow and

CHVCt

lhayt.wa

لهَيت وه

Come (Pl)!

CHVV

M'aa.na!

مآ نه!

even medicine

CHVVC

mheel.han

مهێل هَن

licking and

CHVVCt

lhuust.wa

لهٌوست وه

<38>

Examples for Word Medial Syllables:

Seize (M)!

CV

a.bi.ka!

أبِكه!

Chase, send away (M)!

CVC

a.lan.doo.yaa!

ألَندۆيا!

marriageable girl and

CVCt

aa.girt.wa

آقِرتوه

Go (Pl)!

CVV

gii.gaa.na!

قٍيقانه!

you (M) and

CVVC

ba.rook.wa

بَرۆك وه

queen and

CVVCt

a.miirt.wa

أمٍيرتوه

you (M) let lick

CHV

tis.lha.sa

تِسلهَسه

you (Pl) let lick

CHVC

ti.lhas.na

تِلهَسنه

eight (F) and

CHVCt

a.su.mhayt.wa

أسُمهَيتوه

you (M) ride

CHVV

tin.d'ii.ma

تِندإيمه

Thursday and

CHVVC

ar.b'aat.wa

أربآتوه

the heat and

CHVVCt

im.b'uuyt.wa

إمبُويتوه

<39>

Examples for Word Final Syllables:

Seize (M)!

CV

a.bi.ka!

أبِكه!

young man (marriage age)

CVC

aa.gir

آقِر

young woman (marriage age)

CVCt

aa.girt

آقِرت

Go (M)!

CVV

gii.gaa!

قٍيقا!

desert

CVVC

ma.laal

مَلال

queen

CVVCt

da.gwaayt

دَقْوايت

now

CHV

oon.d'a

ۆندأه

the sea (Obj)

CHVC

oo.bhar

ۆبهَر

eight (F)

CHVCt

a.su.mhayt

أسُمهَيت

Bring (M)!

CHVV

haa.m'aa!

هامآ!

Thursday

CHVVC

ar.b'aat

أربآت

Who (F) gets up?

CHVVCt

teet.b'iirt?

تێتبإيرت?

Dialect Variations

<40>

The Atman variety of Beja - which serves as the basis for this book - is one of the major Beja dialects. It is spoken by large numbers of people in parts of Port Sudan and in Suakin. Other Beja dialects differ from it in systematic ways, and the differences are limited to certain sounds, certain conditions, and certain groups of words. To the Beja speakers themselves these differences do not present any communication problems - but they may cause some surprises to outsiders. The ways in which the other dialects may differ from the dialect of this book are the following:

  1. Instead of pronouns with a word final h, pronouns with a word final s may be used (in the North or West); e.g. barooh > baroos 'him', bareeh > barees 'them'.

  2. Instead of initial b, the consonant m may be used (in various areas or by individuals); e.g. badhamt > madhamt 'mat', Bariyam > Mariyam 'Mary'.

  3. Instead of short a or u, unstressed, very short i may be used (in various areas); e.g. naatu > naat(i) 'thing-is'.

  4. Instead of short i or u, the short vowel a may be used (in the North or South); e.g. ani > ana 'I', hinin > hanin 'we', or iru > ura 'yesterday', kiiki > kiika 'It is not'.

  5. Instead of short u, the short vowel i may be used in certain verbs (in Bishaari or Beni Amir areas); e.g. usha > isha 'leave!' or kaabaru > kaabari 'I don't have'.

  6. Instead of articles with short i or u, the form with long oo, ee may be used (in the North); e.g. tutakat > tootakat 'the-woman (Obj)'.

  7. Instead of demonstratives which assimilate to the article, like oot-tu- 'this-the', the basic forms of the demonstratives may be used (in Bishaari or Beni Amir areas); e.g. oot-tu'oor > toon tu'oor 'this the-girl (Obj)'.

  8. Instead of shortening or deleting vowels before h and hamzah, the full vowels may be used (in particular in the North), e.g. ka'areeyan > kaa'areeyan 'I don't like (it)', or kahariw > kaahariw 'I don't want'.

  9. Instead of h or hamzah which follows a consonant and precedes a vowel, the h or hamzah may follow the vowel (Bishaari, Beni Amir); e.g. kal'a > kala' 'bell'.

  10. Instead of indicating the plural by shifting the stress towards the beginning of the word, the same stress/accent pattern may be used for singular and plural nouns (in Bishaari), e.g. hadhaab / hadhaab > hadhaab / hadhaab 'lion (Sg) / lions (Pl)'.

  11. Instead of Arabic loan words, Tigre loan words may be used (in particular in the South); e.g. gaamuus (Arabic) > agaba (Tigre) 'buffalo'.

  12. Instead of Arabic loan words, original Beja words may be used (in Bishaari, or rural areas); e.g. faas > m'ooma 'axe'.

<41>

These differences may cause some surprises at first. But since in a particular dialect the same difference will appear again and again, it will be helpful to keep these correspondences in mind. Table 4 below summarizes the main types of correspondences.

Correspondence:

Example:

Gloss:

This book:

Elsewhere:

This book:

Elsewhere:

1

h

> s

barooh

> baroos

him, them

2

b

> m

badhamt

> madhamt

mat

3

tu bu

> ti bi

naatu; hineetu

> naati; haneeti

thing-is, our-is

4

i

> a

hinin

> hanin

we

5

u

> i

kaabaru; usha!

> kaabari; isha!

I don't have; leave!

6

tu

> too

tutakat

> tootakat

the-woman (Obj)

7

tt

> n t

oottu'oor

> toon tuu'oor

this the-girl (Obj)

8

ah

> aah

kahariw

> kaahariw

I don't want

9

C'a

> Ca'

kal'a

> kala'

bell

10

Plural stress shift

> no Plural stress shift

hadhaab

> hadhaab

lions (Pl)

11

Arabic loan

> Tigre

gaamuus

> agaba

buffalo

12

Arabic loan

> Beja

faas

> m'ooma, ma'ooma

axe

Morphophonology

<42>

This section on the Beja morphophonology describes the interactions of the phonology (sounds) with the morphology (words).

<43>

Certain Beja phonemes only change if they occur in a particular class of morphemes, such as articles, or demonstratives. E.g., the n often assimilates to t before t. But this change does not happen with every n in the language. It only affects the n in demonstratives, where uun-tuu-naa changes to uut-tuu-naa 'this-the-thing'.

<44>

The sounds in these morphemes will only change if they are attached to each other very closely. The following examples represent all types of changes that have been observed where affixes and roots come together. On the left hand side of the arrow (>), the basic, unchanged form of the affixes and the roots are given. On the right hand side, the result of the change is shown.

Accent Rules

<45>

Briefly, the main rules concerning pitch-accent (accent for short) are as follows:

  1. Every morpheme or word root has its inherent accent. The accent is part of the root - in the same way as the meaning, the gender, or the consonants and vowels are parts of it.

  2. If a word consists of several morphemes, (only) the last accent will be articulated.

  3. Plurals will shift the accent toward the beginning of the word by one syllable (This rule does not apply in the Bishaari dialect).

<46>

The word gwhara 'thief', which has the inherent accent on the first a, may illustrate how these rules apply:

1

thief (Sg)

gwhara

قْوهَره

2

thief (SgMObj)

gwharaab

قْوهَراب

3

thieves (PlMObj)

gwharaab

قْوهَراب

Adding and Deleting Sounds

<47>

In this section about the addition and deletion of sounds, it is possible to argue in two ways: Either (1) the starting point is a dictionary where certain forms have no vowels, such as t- s- dwl 'you-cause.to-approach', or (2) the starting point is a dictionary with vowels, such as ti- si- dawil. In the first case, there must be rules which add certain vowels in the appropriate places, and in the second case, there must be rules which delete certain vowels in the appropriate places. The result should be the same. The rules here below allow for both perspectives.

Inserting word initial i

<48>

If two consonants (other than h or hamzah) are in word initial position, they will be split up by the short vowel i.

t-diya > tidiya

you (M) said

t-s-dawila > tisdawila

cause to approach

Inserting word medial i

<49>

If three consonants (other than h or hamzah) follow each other anywhere, they will be split up by the short vowel i.

k-t-diya > kitdiya

you (M) don't say

t-s-dawila > tisdawila

cause to be close

Deleting word medial i

<50>

If i has no stress and no CC neighbors, it may be deleted.

a-dilib > adlib

I traded

hariw-aab > harwaab

being wanted / having wanted

Deleting word medial a

<51>

If the sound a in the verb suffixes -a 'you (M Subj)' or -na 'you (Pl Subj)' is followed by other verb suffixes, the a may be deleted (This rule does not apply in all dialects).

tikatiya-eek > tikatiyeek

if you (M) are

tikatiina-eek > tikatiineek

if you (Pl) are

Shortening of Sounds

<52>

The rules about shortening do not apply in all dialects.

Shortening initial VV

<53>

The long vowels aa, ee, ii, oo, uu in unstressed definite articles will be shortened to i or u, in particular aa, ee, ii > i; and oo, uu > u.

aa-bissa > ibissa

the cats (M)

tuu-takat > tutakat

the woman

tee-tarabeedaa-ya > titarabeedaaya

the tables

Shortening final VV

<54>

The long vowels ee or oo in word final position will be shortened as follows: ee > i, oo > u

deet-oo > deetu

my mother

i-bhal-ee > ibhali

my words

Shortening VV before h or hamzah

<55>

The long vowels aa, ii, or uu, when followed by h or by hamzah will be shortened as follows: aa > a, ii > i, uu > u

ii-hiriw > ihiriw

I had wanted

baa-'abiik-a > ba'abiika

Don't seize!

Assimilating and Dissimilating Sounds

<56>

With certain affixes, there is either assimilation or dissimilation, i.e. the sounds either merge into each other, or they become more different from one another.

Assimilating nasals before plosives

<57>

If m or n are followed by a dental or labial consonant, they will assimilate to the consonant:

ada-n-liib > adalliib

I trade

a-n-b'iir > amb'iir

I wake up

Assimilating t and k before h or hamzah

<58>

If t or k are followed by h or hamzah, they will be softened to d or g.

ee-t-'iim > eed'iim

I ride

oon-t-'aab > oond'aab

this the-time, now

Assimilating s to sh before dh or th

<59>

If s is attached to a root with dh or th or sh, it becomes sh.

i-si-shalik > ishiishalik

he caused to be small

i-si-dhhan > ishidhhan

he caused to live

Assimilating t and k near dentals

<60>

If the verb prefix t- '(2 Subj)' is followed by d or r or s of the verb, it will assimilate to the next sound. But before -k, the k- itself will become t.

kit-di > kiddi

she doesn't say

kit-kan > kittan

she doesn't know

Assimilating i to u near w

<61>

If i or u precede gw, kw or w, the spelling will be i. The spelling will represent the underlying phoneme, which is i. The pronunciation however is close to u, since the difference between i and u neutralized.

<62>

But it could as well be u, since the difference between them is neutralized: Both sound like u: kwi [kwu], gwi [gwu].

kwibira > [kwubira]

Go down!

kwihi > [kwuhi]

the egg

Assimilating a to oo near w

<63>

If a short a precedes gw or kw, the spelling will be a, but the sound appears to be [oo], and the [w] may disappear: kwa > [kwoo], [koo].

kwatiib > [kwootiib, kootiib]

good

Dissimilating i before h or hamzah

<64>

If a person prefix i is followed by h or hamzah, it may be changed to y- or yi-

i-'ibik indi > y'ibik, yi'ibik indi

he will hold (Future)

i-hariw > yihariw, yhariw

he wanted

Dissimilating i or u before h or hamzah

<65>

If articles with i or u are followed by h or hamzah, they may be changed to y(i) or w(u).

i-'ar > y'ar, y'ar

the children

uu-haash > whaash, wuhaash

the land

More Examples: Vowel Length and Neutralization

<66>

As was shown above, under certain conditions the contrast short vowel / long vowel will be neutralized (see shortening above). In previous descriptions of Beja, it has always been noted that final vowels tend to be short, but that the same vowels may be long when they are in word medial position. The following lines start from an example noted by Roper (1928).

<67>

From the last lines of the table it is obvious that this kind of neutralization sometimes results in the disappearance of differences like subject vs. object. A similar neutralization affects the differences between subject and object articles, as will be shown later.

riba

رِبه

hill (underlying form)

ribaa-b

رِبا- ب

hill-Obj (citation form)

oo-rba

ۆ- ربه

Art-hill (definite form)

ree

رێ

source (underlying form)

ree-t

رێ- ت

source-F (citation form)

too-ri

تۆ- رے

Art-source (definite form)

oo

ۆ

PossSg1 (underlying form)

baab-oo-wwa...

باب- ۆ- وّه...

father-PossSg1-and (word medial)...

baab-u

باب- ُ

father-PossSg1 (word final)

baab-oo-wwa...

باب- ۆ- وّه...

father-PossSg1Obj-and...

baab-uu-wwa...

باب- أُو- وّه...

father-PossSg1Subj-and...

Baab-u rhiya.

باب- ُ رهِيه

father-PossSg1Subj saw (sth.)

Baab-u rhiya.

باب- ُ رهِيه

(someone) father-PossSg1Obj saw

Morphology

<68>

This section is about the Beja morphology, i.e. the internal shape of words, and it deals with classes and patterns of roots and affixes.

Morpheme Types: Roots and Affixes

Roots

<69>

Every word has a root, and the root will be considered the main part of a word. In this book, 11 classes of roots are recognized: 2 large classes and 9 small classes.

<70>

There are 2 large open classes, namely nouns and verbs, and they have hundreds and thousands of members. Examples are tak 'man' (Noun), yakaa 'Start!' (Verb).

<71>

There are 9 small closed classes, including pronouns, postpositions and others, and they have only a few dozen members each. Examples are ani '1SgSubj' (Pronoun), amsi 'Adv+today' (Adverb).

Affixes

<72>

In addition to the roots, Beja has two kinds of affixes:

  1. Prefixes which are attached in front of roots, where there are two slots for the different kinds of prefixes.

  2. Suffixes which are attached at the end of roots, where there are five or six slots for the different kinds of suffixes.

<73>

Note that infixes or vowel melodies could have been posited for verb pairs such as aktib 'I wrote' which is related to akantiib 'I write'. In this instance the infix would have been something like -an- indicating 'Present Tense'.

<74>

But it is preferable to view these differences as different forms of the verb root. Actually, this is common practice for languages of the Afro-Asiatic family of which Beja is a member.

Prefixes

<75>

There are about 90 prefixes altogether. They are written with a hyphen at the right hand side. Examples are uu- 'the', as in the word uu-(tak) 'the-(man)', or i- 'he', as in the word i- (ktib) 'he- (wrote)'.

Suffixes

<76>

There are about 130 suffixes altogether. They are written with a hyphen at the left hand side. Examples are -ooh ' -his' as in the word (tak)-ooh '(man) -his', or -ta ' -she', as in the word (rhi)-ta '(saw) -she'.

Word Classes

<77>

In this presentation of Beja, 11 word classes will be recognized. The terms noun, verb etc. will be used in their traditional sense, and they will be defined more closely in the tables and examples below.

<78>

The 11 word classes are the following:

  1. Adjectives like adaroob 'red': This class includes participles like 'living' and ordinal numbers or fractions like 'third, a third'. Adjectives behave largely like Nouns.

  2. Adverbs like amsi 'today': This class includes interrogative adverbs like 'when', and nouns of specialized adverbial functions like 'this-time, now'. Adverbs largely behave like Nouns.

  3. Conjunctions like hana 'or': This class includes a few Arabic loan words.

  4. Demonstratives like been 'that': This class includes far and near and interrogative demonstratives like 'which?'.

  5. Interjections like anaa 'hello': This class also includes a few Arabic loan words which are commonly used by Beja people.

  6. Names like Adaroob 'Adaru': This class includes names for persons, times and places. Names are either feminine (F) or masculine (M)

  7. Nouns like tak 'man': Nouns are either feminine (F) or masculine (M), some are only used in the plural (Pl), some are derived from verbs.

  8. Numbers like ay 'five': This class includes only cardinal numbers. The ordinal numbers and fractions like 'third' are adjectives.

  9. Pronouns like batooh 'she': This class includes interrogative pronouns like 'who?'. Pronouns are either feminine (F) or masculine (M), singular (Sg) or plural (Pl)

  10. Postpositions like har'i 'after': This class includes specialized nouns of limited distribution like 'front-of'. Postpositions largely behave like Nouns.

  11. Verbs like yakaa 'start, stand up!': This class includes 'strong' and 'weak' verbs, and 'auxiliary verbs'.

Word Classes and their Affixes

<79>

The Beja word classes differ from each other by the inflections which they take or which they pass on to other elements in the clause. The inflection takes the form of different kinds of affixes, such as yakan 'I started', yaktaa 'you (M) started', yaktaayi 'you (F) started', etc.

<80>

Verbs take affixes for tense-aspect and mood, as well as person, gender and number. Each verb governs one, two or three noun phrases such as subject, first object or second object, to which it assigns the respective cases - (either 'subject' case or 'object' case).

<81>

Nouns, pronouns, and names are inflected for the cases which they take from the verb. They are also inflected for number (Singular or plural), and they inherently have a certain gender (Masculine or feminine) which they pass on to other words in the phrase. They take demonstrative prefixes and article prefixes, as well as possessive suffixes.

<82>

Adjectives, demonstratives, and numbers are inflected for gender, number, and case, which they take from the head noun of the phrase.

<83>

Adverbs and postpositions only take case and possessive suffixes.

<84>

Conjunctions and interjections are not inflected at all. They do not take any prefixes or suffixes.

<85>

The table (below) summarizes the different word classes and their inflections.

Word Class:

Remarks:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Verbs (with 1 or 2 or 3 Noun Phrases) e.g. yak- 'start' يَك

Verbal Participles behave like Adjectives, Verbal Nouns of Action behave like Nouns

Person / Tense / Aspect

Gender

Number

*

Nouns (M or F) e.g. tak 'man' تَك

take Demonstrative and Article prefixes, and Possessive suffixes

-

**

Number

Case

Pronouns (M or F) e.g. batooh 'she' بَتۆه

take Demonstrative and Article prefixes, and Possessive suffixes

-

**

Number

Case

Names (M or F) e.g. Adaroob أدَرۆب

take Demonstrative and Article Prefixes, and Possessive suffixes ***

-

**

Number ***

Case

Adjectives e.g. adaru 'red' أدَرُ

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Demonstratives e.g. been 'that' بێن

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Numbers e.g. mhay 'three' مهَي

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Adverbs e.g. amsi 'today' أمسے

take Possessive suffixes

-

-

-

Case

Postpositions e.g. har'i 'after' هَرإِ

take Possessive suffixes

-

-

-

Case

Conjunctions e.g. hana 'or' هَنه

-

-

-

-

-

Interjections e.g. wooh 'hello' وۆه

-

-

-

-

-

Notes on Affixes

<86>

(*) Verbs do not take case affixes, but they assign subject or object case to other words in the sentence.

<87>

(**) Nouns, pronouns and names do not take gender affixes, but they assign their own gender to other words in the sentence.

<88>

(***) Only names of nations or peoples can be inflected for number, as in Aa-Fuun 'Art-Fung.people (Pl)', and only nicknames take demonstratives and articles, as in Uun-uu-Reer 'Near-Art-Ooreer' (Name).

Nominal Affixes: Gender, Number, Case

Gender

<89>

Beja has 2 genders: masculine and feminine.

<90>

Gender not only refers to the natural gender which assigns masculine gender to tak 'man', and feminine gender to takat 'woman' - but every noun is either (M) or (F).

<91>

The feminine gender is used especially to refer to abstract notions like tu-daayiinaay 'the goodness', or to items of comparatively smaller size, like tu-aka 'the (small) palm nut fruit (F)' as opposed to w-aka 'the (large) palm nut tree (M)'

<92>

The masculine gender is frequent in nouns which indicate actions or their result, like u-kituum 'the arriving/arrival'.

Number

<93>

Beja has 2 numbers: singular and plural.

<94>

The plural number is used not only to distinguish the plural pronouns such as 'you (Pl)' from 'you (Sg)', but also to distinguish liquids and collectives from countable nouns.

<95>

Thus, all liquids and terms for species are plurals such as yam 'water(s), (Pl)' or batehi 'melon(s) (Pl)'.

Case

<96>

Beja has 3 cases: nominative, genitive, and accusative.

  1. The nominative or subject case answers questions like 'Who did it?'

  2. The genitive or possessive case answers questions like 'Whose?'

  3. The accusative or object case answers not only the question 'Whom?', but also questions like 'Who is it?', 'To where?', 'To whom?', or 'For whom?'

<97>

The different forms of cases will be exemplified in the subsequent sections on articles, demonstratives and nouns.

Verbal Affixes: Person, Tense / Aspect / Mood

Person / Number

<98>

The Beja verbal system distinguishes a minimum of 8 combinations of person, number and gender. Therefore, most paradigms will consist of 8 different persons which require 8 different affixes.

<99>

These 8 persons will be encountered in many tables. Briefly, they can be listed as follows: (1) 'I', (2) 'you (SgM)' and (3) 'you (SgF)', (4) 'he', and (5) 'she', (6) 'we', (7) 'you (Pl)', and (8) 'they'. Thus, gender is distinguished only for the second and third person’s singular (2-5) in the verbal inflexion. But in participles and adjectives, gender is distinguished for all of the 12 possible combinations, including the first persons singular and plural ('I' and 'we') and the second and third person plural ('You (Pl)' and 'They').

Tense / Aspect / Mood (Tam)

<100>

The Beja tenses include paradigms for past, present, and future. But the past and present tenses can also be regarded as perfect and imperfect aspects. The Beja moods include a mixture of paradigms like imperatives, optatives and others. The abbreviation Tam will be used to refer to these mergers of tenses, aspects, and moods.

<101>

Different Tam paradigms may use the same person affixes but different verb stems. The same Beja verb may have up to 7 different stems, each of them representing different Tams. For instance, stem (1) is used for the perfect and imperative, stem (2) for negative forms, stem (3) for imperfect plural etc. The full paradigms will be given in the Section Verbs and Clauses.

<102>

For every strong verb of high frequency, these 7 different Tam stems are listed in the appendix. [3] Weak verbs use the same stem throughout all 7 Tams.

<103>

At this point, only the main distinction should be kept in mind: The distinction between past / perfect paradigms like a-di 'I said, I have said' and present / imperfect paradigms like a-ndi 'I say, I am saying'.

Roots and their Places for Affixes

<104>

The affixes of nouns and verbs are different, and each affix has its proper place. Theoretically, verbs or nouns would allow for as many as 7 or 8 affixes following each other - but normally there will just be 1 or 2.

Table 7: The Pattern of Noun Affixes

Pref2-

Pref1-

Stem

-Suff1

-Suff2

-Suff3

-Suff4

-Suff5

-Suff6

Far- / Near-

Art-

Noun

-Pl

-Cas

-Poss

-Adv

-Con

-Id

<105>

In the pattern for the inflection of nouns there are 2 places for the prefixes and 6 for the suffixes.

Examples for Noun Affixes

oot-tu-suuraat-iib

Near-Art-picture-Adv

in this picture

u-bashar-ii-yoo-da

Art-body-Cas-Poss-Adv

for my body

Table 8: The Pattern of Verb Affixes

Pref2-

Pref1-

Stem

-Suff1

-Suff2

-Suff3

-Suff4

-Suff5

Wh-

Pta-

Verb

-Pta

-Obj

-Wh

-Adv

-Con

<106>

In the pattern for the inflection of Verbs there are 2 places for prefixes and 5 for suffixes. Occasionally, Suff1 und Suff2 may change their places.

<107>

The suffixes for person, number, tense, aspect and mood often merge into one single affix.

Examples for Verb Affixes

You (F) left us (Pta-leave-Pta-Obj).

Ti-ush-i-hoon.

or when they started (start-Pta-Adv-Con)

yak-iyaan-hoob-han

Affixes which Change the Word Class of a Root

<108>

The language has a number of derivational mechanisms, as the next table shows. Verbs can be derived into Nouns, adjectives into nouns, etc. The mechanisms include both affixation and change of patterns.

<109>

Affixation, for instance, derives tam 'eat' into > tam-ti 'eating'.

<110>

Change of CV patterns, for instance, derives winin (CiCiC) 'be angry' into > wnuun 'anger' (CCuuC).

<111>

The table gives an overview of frequent derivation patterns. The original word class is given in the first column, the derived word class in the second. These derivational affixes, however, cannot be used by non-Beja speakers to create new words at will. Therefore, the table (below) only explains derivations - it is not a pattern for producing them.

Table 9: Derivation Patterns

Derivation Affix or CV pattern:

Root:

Gloss:

Original Word Class:

Derivation:

Derived Gloss:

Derived Word Class:

Verb A > Verb B:

-s

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-s-

let eat, feed

Derived Verb

s-

abik-

hold

Verb, Strong

s-'abik-

let hold

Derived Verb

Verb > Noun:

-ti

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-ti

the eating

Noun

-aab

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-aab

eaten (M)

Participle

CCuuC

winin-

be angry

Verb, Strong

wnuun

anger

Noun

Noun, Number > Adjective:

-iiya

aawiit

morning

Noun

aawiit-iiyaayt

early

Adjective

-iiya

maloo-

two

Number

mal-iiya

second

Adjective

Basic Communication

<112>

The purposes of communication vary between asking for attention (vocatives), expressing feelings (interjections), making requests (commands), or - most of the time - exchanging information (questions and statements).

<113>

To exchange information, people refer to things in the world, and they talk about them. To refer to things, people use noun phrases (NPs) with nouns, names, or pronouns - and to say something about them (to predicate), they use verbs and clauses. Beja nouns and NPs are relatively simple. Beja verbs and clauses are more complex. The first sections are mainly about NPs. Verbs will be introduced later.

Addressing People

<114>

To begin with, here are some Beja vocatives and interjections. There is no need to analyze all words at this point. The analysis of these forms will be introduced step by step.

Interjections

<115>

To get the attention of someone, any of the following interjections can be used. The name may be added after the interjection.

<116>

The interjections of this first group do not take any affixes. They are always the same, whether addressed to males or females, to one person or many.

Wooh Ali!

Hello, Ali!

وۆه ألے!

Wooh Haliima!

Hello Halima!

وۆه هَلٍيمه!

Anaa Ali!

Please Ali!

أنا ألے!

Anaa Haliima!

Please Halima!

أنا هَلٍيمه!

Yaa Ali!

Hello Ali!

يا ألے!

Yaa Haliima!

Hello Halima!

يا هَلٍيمه!

Wooh Adaru!

Hello Adaru!

وۆه أدَرُ!

Wooh Aasha!

Hello Aasha!

وۆه آشه!

Vocatives

<117>

To call or address someone by his / her name, the vocative is used. The vocative endings are -ay or -yi, and they may be attached to the names in two different forms. The ending is -ay if the word ends in a consonant like tak, takat; 'man, woman' and it is -yi if the word ends in a vowel, like Adaru-, Adaroo- 'Adaru (Name) [4]'. Note that the Beja vocative itself is not a case ending, but the vocative endings -ay / -yi can only be attached to words in the nominative case.)

Interjections and Vocatives

Anaa sanu!

Please my brother! (To anyone of the same age)

أنا سَنُ!

Anaa kwaatu!

Please my sister! (To anyone of the same age)

أنا كْواتُ!

Anaa duuruuyi!

Please my uncle! (To any older person)

أنا دٌورٌويے!

Anaa diraatuuyi!

Please my aunt! (To any older woman)

أنا دِراتٌويے!

Sanuunay!

My brother! (To any of same age)

سَنٌونَي!

Kwaatuunay!

My sister! (Rare, to any of same age)

كْواتٌونَي!

Duuruunay!

My uncle! (To any older person)

دٌورٌونَي!

Diraatuunay!

My aunt! (To any older person)

دِراتٌونَي!

Yaa takay!

Hello Sir!

يا تَكَي!

Yaa takatay!

Hello Madam!

يا تَكَتَي!

Yaa w'ooruuyi!

Hello my boy!

يا وؤۆرٌويے!

Yaa t'ootuuyi!

Hello my girl!

يا تؤۆتٌويے!

Yaa Adarooyi!

Hello Adaru!

يا أدَرۆيے!

Interjections and Names

<118>

The following interjection has different endings for different kinds of people, and it can be used even when their names are not known. Actually, yihaa / yhaa is a verb form, and its literal meaning is 'give!'

<119>

It should be noted again that Beja distinguishes two genders, Masculine (M) and Feminine (F), as well as Singular (Sg) and Plural (Pl)

<120>

The verb endings typically are -a for Masculine, -i for Feminine, and -na for Plural.

Yihaa!

Hello you (M) (Lit give (M))!

يِها!

Yihaayi!

Hello you (F)!

يِهَيے!/ يِهێ!

Yihaana!

Hello you (Pl)!

يِهانه !

Ali yihaa!

Ali hello you (M)!

ألے يِها!

Haliima yihayi! / yihee!

Alima hello you (F)!

هَلٍيمه يِهَيے!/ يِهێ!

Aliiwwa Haliimaawwa, yihaana!

Ali and Halima, hello you (Pl)!

ألٍيوّه هَلٍيماوّه , يِهانه!

Responses

Baabiya!...

I wish it were so!...

بابِيه!

Hindeeh...

Please!... (Introducing a request in the Atman dialect)

هِندێه...

Gay...

Well, and then… (Introducing a new topic in the Gash dialect)

قَي...

...bak kiiki?

…isn't it so?

...بَك كٍيكے?

...winneet!...

…very much!...

...وِنّێت!...

...khalaas!...

…totally! (Ar)…

...خَلاس!...

...malyaab?...

…and then?...

...مَلياب?...

...yaaneeh...

…well, in other words (Ar)…

...يانێه...

...areeh...

…well, also (hesitation)…

...أرێه...

...ahaa...

…aha, I see…

...أها...

...baruukehan / batuukehan?

…and what about you (M) / (F)?

...بَرٌوكهَن / بَتٌوكهَن?

<121>

Note that statements and yes/no questions only differ in their intonation. There is no difference in the word order. The suffix -han? 'yes/no' can be used to underline a question:

Example

Gloss

Intonational Pattern

Bak kiki.

It is not so.

The last stressed syllable is lower, i.e. falling intonation.

Bak kiki?

Isn't it so?

The last stressed syllable is higher, i.e. rising intonation.

Naan tidiya? / Naan tidii? / Naan tidiina?

What did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) say?

نان تِدِيه?/ نان تِدِي?/ نان تِدٍينه?

Afhamaab kaaki. / Afhamaat kaaki.

I (M) / (F) didn't understand.

أفهَماب كاكے./ أفهَمات كاكے.

Afhamaab kinki. / Afhamaat kinki.

We (M) / (F) didn't understand.

أفهَماب كِنكے./ أفهَمات كِنكے.

Shaawi diya! / Shaawi diyi! / Shaawi diina!

Say (M) / (F) / (Pl) it again!

شاوے دِيه!/ شاوے دِيے!/ شاوے دٍينه!

Ibhali gwidaaba.

The language (the words) are many.

إبهَلے قْوِدابه.

Bhaliib abari.

I have something to say (Lit a word).

بهَلٍيب أبَرے.

Gaal bhali (gaat kalima) abari.

I have a word (one word Ar).

قال بهَلے (قات كَلِمه ) أبَرے .

Malu bhaliiya / gwida bhaliiya.

They are two words / they are many words.

مَلُ بهَلٍييه / قْوِده بهَلٍييه

Ani ibhaliiyi faayisan.

That was all I have to say (Lit I have completed my words)

أنے إبهَلٍييے فايِسَن.

Weena hooy kitehay.

That's all (Lit another thing (F) there isn't for it).

وێنه هۆي كِتهَي.

Awooh!

Yes!

أوۆه!

Aaywaa!

Yes!

آيوا!

Waa!

Wow!

وا!

Daayiitu.

OK, fine! (Lit It is good)

دايٍيتُ.

Daayiib saktaa / daayiib saktaayi / daayiib saktaana.

Well done! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

دايٍيب سَكتا / دايٍيب سَكتايے / دايٍيب سَكتانه.

Haalooku / haalooku / haalooknaayu?

How are you, what is the matter? (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هالۆكُ / هالۆكُ / هالۆكنايُ?

Baruuk tihiyisa / batuuk tihiyisi / baraakna tihiyisna.

You were better (M) / (F) / (Pl) (returning a compliment).

تِهِيِسه / تِهِيِسے / تِهِيِسنه.

Ahamidehook / ahamidehook / ahamidhookna.

Thank you (M) / (F) / (Pl).

أهَمِدهۆك / أهَمِدهۆك / أهَمِڈۆكنه.

Hamuud baanaawa!

Reply (Welcome, Lit 'May you (M) not lack thanks!')

هَمٌود باناوه!

Umdhhanook / Umdhhanook / Umdhhanookna.

Thank you for listening (M) / (F) / (Pl)! (concludes a narrative, Lit 'Being alive')

أُمڈهَنۆك / أُمڈهَنۆك / أُمڈهَنۆكنه.

Midhhan baanaawa!

Reply (Lit 'Don't fail being alive!')

مِڈهَن باناوه!

Conversation Responses: Negative

Laa laa!

No no!

لا لا!

Aywalla!

Oh dear! (surprise)

أيوَلّه!

Wooy!

Oh! (requesting help)

وۆي!

Waay!

Oh no! (rejection)

واي!

Wooy kwidhaa / wooy kwidhii / wooy kwidhaana!

Oh no, get lost (disgust) (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

وۆي كْوِڈه / وۆي كْوِڈے / وۆي كْوِڈنه!

Habaahoon!

Oh no! (disgust)

هَبَهۆن!

Iss, Eess!

Shoo! Go away! (to goats)

إسّ / ێسّ!

Jar, jaar!

Shoo! Go away! (to dogs)

جار!

Greetings: Invariable

<122>

The following greetings are the same for any time or person.

Marhabaa!

Hello!

مَرهَبا!

Yaa marhabaa!

You there, hello!

يا مَرهَبا!

Eetaaneena!

Welcome! (to someone arriving)

ێتانێنه!

Tisniyeena!

Greetings at home! (when arriving)

تِسنِيێنه!

Assalaam alaykwum!

Greetings! (Ar)

أسَّلام ألَيكْوُم!

Alaykwum assalaam!

Same to you! (Ar)

ألَيكْوُم أسَّلام!

Requests

<123>

Here are a few requests or commands which are used frequently. All of them use verbs. Some of them have the endings -aa / -ii / -aana, others have the endings -a / -i / -na. Note that later on these different endings will be used to distinguish weak verbs from strong verbs.

Ma'aa / ma'ii, ma'ayi / ma'aana!

Come! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآ / مَإي / مَآنه!

Haam'aa / haam'ii / haam'aana!

Bring (it)! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هامآ / هامإي / هامآنه!

Ma'aaheeb / ma'iiheeb / ma'aanaheeb!

Come to me! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآهێب / مَإيهێب / مَآنَهێب!

Ma'aahoon / ma'iihoon / ma'aanahoon!

Come to us! Join us! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآهۆن / مَإيهۆن / مَآنَهۆن!

Thathaa / thathii / thathaana!

Sit! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

ٹَٹا / ٹَٹِي / ٹَٹانه!

Ba'ashshigaa / bi'ashshigii / ba'ashshigaana!

Don't hurry! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

بَأَششِقا / بِأَششِقِي / بَأَششِقانه!

Sa'a! / sa'i! / sa'ana!

Sit down! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

سَأه!/ سَإِ!/ سَأَنه!

Hagita / hagiti / hagitna!

Wait! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هَقِته / هَقِتے / هَقِتنه!

Hooy baashinhaya / hooy biishinhayi / hooy baashinhana!

Don't worry about it! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هۆي باشِنهَيه / هۆي بٍيشِنهَيے / هۆي باشِنهَنه!

Offering and Taking

Miriya! / miriyi! / miriina!

Accept it! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مِرِيه / مِرِيے / مِرٍينه!

Baanaawa! / biinaawi! / baanaawna!

Reply (Thanks May you not lack! (M) / (F) / (Pl))

باناوه!/ بٍيناوے!/ باناونه!

Daayi na ahaa! / ahayi! / aheena!

Take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something good! (e.g. food)

دايے نه أها!/ أهَيے!/ أهێنه!

Nafir na ahaa! / ahayi! / aheena!

Take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something tasty! (e.g. food)

نَفِر نه أها!/ أهَيے!/ أهێنه !

Hamiina bahaaya! / bihaayi! / bahaayna!

Reply (Lit don't take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something bitter!)

هَمٍينه بَهايه!/ بِهايے!/ بَهاينه!

Vocatives and Requests

<124>

The vocative may introduce requests such as in the examples below. Note that the object ('water') precedes the verb.

Anaa sanu, yam gw'asaaheeb!

Oh my brother, give me water to drink!

أنا سَنُ , يَم قْوأَساهێب!

Anaa kwaatu, yam gw'asiiheeb!

O my sister, give me water to drink!

أنا كْواتُ , يَم قْوأَسٍيهێب!

Anaa kwati, yam gw'asaanaheeb!

O my sisters, give me water to drink!

أنا كْوَتے , يَم قْوأَسانَهێب!

Greetings

<125>

Note again that yes / no questions have the same grammatical structures as the corresponding answers or statements. The only difference is the rising intonation for questions (here marked by the acute accent), as against the falling intonation for statement,(here marked by a grave accent).

Daayíitu?

Is it OK? (yes/no question)

دايٍيتُ?

Daayìitu.

It is OK. (positive answer)

دايٍيتُ.

<126>

Many Beja Greetings have the forms of questions and answers.

Kwatiib naataa / naataayi / naataana?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) sleep well?

كْوَتٍيب ناتا / ناتايے / ناتانه?

Kwatiib naayan / naayan / naana.

I (M) / I (F) / we slept well.

كْوَتٍيب نايَن / نايَن / نانه.

Kwatiib mhataa / mhataayi / mhataana?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the morning fine?

كْوَتٍيب مهَتا / مهَتايے / مهَتانه?

Kwatiib mhan / mhan / mhana.

I (M) / I (F) / We spent the morning fine.

كْوَتٍيب مهَن / مهَن / مهَنه.

Kwatiib t'aayima / t'aayimi / t'aayimna?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the day fine?

كْوَتٍيب تآيِمه / تآيِمے / تآيِمنه?

Kwatiib a'aayim / a'aayim / ni'aayim.

I (M) / I (F) / we spent the day fine.

كْوَتٍيب أآيِم / أآيِم / نِآيِم.

Kwatiib tihawida / tihawidi / tihawidna?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the evening well?

كْوَتٍيب تِهَوِده / تِهَوِدے / تِهَوِدنه?

Kwatiib ahawid / ahawid / nihawid.

I (M) / I (F) / we spent the evening well.

كْوَتٍيب أهَوِد / أهَوِد / نِهَوِد.

Kwatiib naayaa / naayii / naayaana!

Sleep well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب نايا / نايِي / نايانه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib mhaa / mhii / mhaana!

Spend the morning well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب مها / مهِي / مهانه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib aayima / aayimi / aayimna!

Spend the day well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب آيِمه / آيِمے / آيِمنه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib hawida / hawidi / hawidna!

Spend the evening well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب هَوِده / هَوِدے / هَوِدنه!

Asigaab.

Reply.

أسِقاب.

Language Basics

About the Language

<16>

Beja (Bidhaawyeet, Tu-Bdhaawi) is a member of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages which includes, among others, the Cushitic and the Semitic languages.

<17>

Beja holds a special position within the Afro-Asiatic languages, since it is the only Cushitic language classified as North Cushitic. Other Cushitic languages - including languages like Afar, Blin, Oromo and Somali - are spoken far to the south of the Beja area. Semitic languages - including Arabic, Tigre and Tigrigna - are neighboring languages north and south of the Beja area.

<18>

Cushitic languages as well as the Semitic languages of East Africa typically have the order Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), and are head final. Beja also prefers to have important items last, such as the verbs, the postpositions, or the affixes.

<19>

But not always: As far as the clause is concerned, the verb is the last element, as in Ali tak imaasiw 'Ali man heard'. As far as the noun phrase is concerned, the noun comes last, as in dis tak 'small man'. And as far as adverbial phrases and affixes are concerned, the adverbial element and the suffix comes last, as in Aliiyi gwad, 'Ali with', takii-da 'man-for'. But as far as the verb is concerned, Semitic languages typically attach the subject pronoun before the verb, while in Cushitic languages typically it comes last. One major challenge for the language learner is that Beja has both kinds of verbs, e.g.: Ee-ta 'came-she', and ti-bi 'she-went' (where -ta and ti- stand for 'she.Past/Perfect'). In this book, the verb will therefore receive special attention.

<20>

Beja speakers number about 1 million - but ethnic Beja people may be as many as 2 or 3 million. They live in Southern Egypt, Eastern Sudan and Northern Eritrea. Most of them live in the Sudan, with Port Sudan, Suakin and Kasala as major centers. The Atman dialect - one of the major Beja varieties which is mainly spoken in the Sudan - serves as the basis for this book.

<21>

There are several grammars of the Beja language. By size and by year of publication - starting with the shortest and the most recent grammar - they are the following: Morin 1995 (French), Hudson 1976 (English), Roper 1928 (English), Reinisch 1893 (German), and Almkvist 1881 (German). In addition, there are various linguistic articles about the language, most of them by Zaborski and Voigt, for which Zaborski 1999 gives a bibliography.

Phonology

Sounds

<22>

The following section needs to be studied first, if a correct pronunciation of the Beja examples is desired.

<23>

The transcription which is used throughout this book is systematically phonological, and very close to the orthography of Beja which was established in Eritrea. The main difference between the Beja orthography and the transcription used in this book is the use of bold vowel letters. They indicate the pitch-accent.

<24>

There also is an Arabic transliteration of the Beja data. Among the various Arabic transliterations which were in use, this particular one has been promoted in the internet for several years. It distinguishes uu and ii from oo and ee, but its disadvantage is that it uses diacritics to do so. Recently, however, its main website (sakanab) stopped supporting it.

<25>

Since there still are Beja individuals who occasionally use Arabic letters for their language (cf. the “bejaculture” website), the Arabic transliteration - although defunct - has not been deleted from this book.

<26>

The following table is an alphabetical list of the orthographic symbols and their pronunciation (i.e. the IPA values). Some of the sound files are arranged in a different order, such as the files for dh, gh, and kh.

Latin Grapheme:

Pronunciation (IPA):

Arabic Grapheme:

Examples:

Gloss:

' (hamzah)

ʔ

ء أ إ ئ

m'at

women

مئَت

a / aa

a / aː

أَ \ آ ا

Ama / aamaa!

Ride / devour!

أمه / آما!

b

b

ب

baas

burial

باس

d

d

د

daat

container

دات

deh = d+h

dh

ده

dehay

people

دهَي

dh

ɖ

ڈ

tubdhaawi

the beja

تُبڈاوے

ee

ێ

een

these

ێن

f

f

ف

faas

axe

فاس

g

ɡ

ق

gaal

one

قال

gh

ɣ

غ

ghurfa

room (Ar)

غُرفه

gw

ɡʷ

قْو

gwad

with

قْوَد

h

h

ه

haaf

belly

هاف

i / ii

I / iː

إ ے / إٍي

ibari / iibiri

has / had

إبَرے / إيبِرے

j

j

ج

Jaar!

Shoo!

جار!

k

k

ك

kaam

camel

كام

kh

x

خ

khalaas

finally (Ar)

خَلاس

keh = k+h

kh

كه

baruuke-han

you-then

بَرٌوكهَن

kw

كْو

kwaat

sister

كْوات

l

l

ل

laaw

burning

لاو

m

m

م

maan

shaving

مان

n

n

ن

naat

something

نات

oo

ۆ

oon

this

ۆن

r

r

ر

raat

question

رات

s

s

س

saab

skinning

ساب

she = s+h

sh

سه

sehaal

sharpness

سهال

sh

ʃ

ش

shaat

meat

شات

t

t

ت

taan

these (F)

تان

teh = t+h

th

ته

Tehaa!

Touch!

تها!

th

ʈ

ٹ

Thathaa!

Sit down!

ٹَٹا

u / uu

u / uː

أُ / أُو

Uraa! / uuraaw

Bury! / the other

أُرا! / أُوراو

w

w

و

waak

cutting

واك

y

j

ي

yaas

dog

ياس

Suprasegmentals
Pitch Accent

<27>

Every Beja word will have at least one syllable which is louder and which has a higher pitch than the other(s). The louder syllable is said to carry the pitch-accent (or accent for short). In this book the accent is transcribed with bold letters.

<28>

Example: pitch-accent on the first syllable / on the second syllable.

Transcription:

Pronunciation (IPA) :

Example:

Gloss:

Example:

a / a

ˈani / aˈnaː

ani / Anaa

I / Hello you!

أنے / أنا!

a / a

ˈhadhaab / haˈdhab

hadhaab / hadhaab

lions / lion

هَڈاب / هَڈاب

Length of Vowels and Length of Consonants (Gemination)

<29>

Examples: Short and long vowels and consonants.

Transcription:

Pronunciation (IPA) :

Example:

Gloss:

Example:

a / aa

a / aː

Ama / aamaa!

Ride / devour!

أمه / آما!

s / ss

s / sː

Asa / assaa!

Arise / do!

أسه / أسّا!

Examples: Vowel Length

<30>

Here follow examples of long and short vowels in words which are not related to each other.

saab / sab, sabt

cloud / Saturday

ساب / سَب سَبت

saas / sas

sort / incite (causative of hasi)

ساس / سَس

saar / sar

stomach content / artery

سار / سَر

kaan / Kana!

whine / Know!

كان / كَنَ!

haab / haba

red soil / stoop

هاب / هَبَ

yaam / yam

belly / water

يام / يَم

fiir / Fira

face / Sew!

فٍير / فِرَ

Integrating Foreign Sounds and Words

<31>

It will be noticed that some words - including common greetings - are borrowed from Arabic. However, sounds which do not fit the Beja sound system will generally be rejected, yet, depending on the speaker, certain Arabic sounds will be preserved or integrated as table 2 shows.

<32>

As far as loan words are concerned, they will be re-shaped to be acceptable to the Beja language. The shape of loan words is predictable from the typical Beja patterns which will be presented in table 3 further below.

Sound:

Example:

Gloss:

ث

becomes t

talaata

Tuesday

تَلاته

ح

becomes h

Marhaba!

Hello!

مَرهَبه

خ

is kh or becomes k or h

Ookhartuum / hamiist

Al Khartoum / Thursday

ۆخَرتٌوم / هَمٍيست

ج

is j or becomes g

taajir / gineeh(i)

trader / Guinee

تاجِر / قِنێهے

ذ

becomes d

Addanaa (adaan)

Call to prayer!

أدَّنا أدان

ز

is z or becomes d

mooz / tarabeeda

banana / table

مۆز / تَرَبێده

ص

becomes s

asiir

juice

أسٍير

ض

becomes d

Gadabaa

Be angry!

قَدَبا

ط

becomes t

Tawwaraa

Develop!

تَوَّرا

ظ

becomes z or d

dehuur, zhuur

noon

دهٌور, زهٌور

ع

becomes ' or zero

w'asiir / asiir

the juice / juice

وأَسٍير / أسٍير

غ

is gh or becomes g

sharigh, sharig (oomha)

east

شَرِغ, شَرِق ۆمهه

ق

becomes k or g

funduk, fundug

hotel

فُندُك , فُندُق

ك

is k or becomes kw

alaykwum

on you (Pl) (Ar)

ألَيكْوُم

Syllable and Word Patterns

<33>

As far as the places of consonants (C) and vowels (V) in syllables are concerned, Beja words allow for exactly 18 syllable patterns in the word initial syllable, and 12 patterns in all other syllables.

<34>

The most frequent pattern is CV, i.e. a syllable which consists of a consonant followed by a short vowel. But syllables can also be closed with one or two consonants, where the second consonant can only be t. So far this gives 3 patterns, namely: CV as in na 'thing', CVC as in tak 'man', and CVCt as in lamt 'soup'.

<35>

Less frequent are syllables with long vowels [1], which will be written as VV. This gives 3 additional syllables patterns: CVV as in tuu 'the', CVVC as in been 'that', and CVVCt as in diint 'thorn'.

<36>

Only word initial syllables can start with a vowel (or more exactly, with a suppressed hamzah), which gives the following additional patterns: V as in a.ni 'I (1.Sg)', VC as in ar 'boys', VCt as in awt 'honey', VV as in aa.bu 'who (M)', VVC as in aab 'who', and VVCt as in aabt 'who (F)'.

<37>

As a specialty of the Beja phonology there also are syllables in which the initial consonant is followed either by h or by hamzah, abbreviated as H  [2]: CHV as in t'a 'now', CHVV as in m'aa 'come!', CHVCt as in mhay 'three' and as in lhayt 'tomorrow', and CHVVCt as in n'aayt 'goat'. This last set of syllable patterns actually causes one of the systematic differences between northern and southern Beja dialects: What is pronounced as C'V in the North may be pronounced as CV' or as two syllables CV.'V in the South, e.g. s'a, sa', sa.'a 'sit! (M)'.

Examples for Word Initial Syllables (Note that dots indicate syllable boundaries):

he went

V (never alone)

i.bi

إبے

one who holds

VC

ab.kaab

أَب كاب

five and

VCt

ayt.wa

أيت وه

Who is he?

VV

Aa.bu?

ابُ?

Who are you (M)?

VVC

Aab.wa?

آب وه?

Who (F) and?

VVCt

Aabt.wa?

ابت وه?

you (M Obj)

CV (never alone)

ba.rook

به رۆك

she started

CVC

yak.ta

يَك ته

even Saturday

CVCt

sabt.han

سَبت هَن

your (M) father

CVV

baa.book

با بۆك

she deceived

CVVC

soob.ta

سۆب ته

a tree (F) (genus 'Terminalia') and

CVVCt

daaft.wa

دافت وه

Punish (M) him!

CHV

Lha.sa!

لهه سه!

even the sea

CHVC

bhar.han

بهَر هَن

tomorrow and

CHVCt

lhayt.wa

لهَيت وه

Come (Pl)!

CHVV

M'aa.na!

مآ نه!

even medicine

CHVVC

mheel.han

مهێل هَن

licking and

CHVVCt

lhuust.wa

لهٌوست وه

<38>

Examples for Word Medial Syllables:

Seize (M)!

CV

a.bi.ka!

أبِكه!

Chase, send away (M)!

CVC

a.lan.doo.yaa!

ألَندۆيا!

marriageable girl and

CVCt

aa.girt.wa

آقِرتوه

Go (Pl)!

CVV

gii.gaa.na!

قٍيقانه!

you (M) and

CVVC

ba.rook.wa

بَرۆك وه

queen and

CVVCt

a.miirt.wa

أمٍيرتوه

you (M) let lick

CHV

tis.lha.sa

تِسلهَسه

you (Pl) let lick

CHVC

ti.lhas.na

تِلهَسنه

eight (F) and

CHVCt

a.su.mhayt.wa

أسُمهَيتوه

you (M) ride

CHVV

tin.d'ii.ma

تِندإيمه

Thursday and

CHVVC

ar.b'aat.wa

أربآتوه

the heat and

CHVVCt

im.b'uuyt.wa

إمبُويتوه

<39>

Examples for Word Final Syllables:

Seize (M)!

CV

a.bi.ka!

أبِكه!

young man (marriage age)

CVC

aa.gir

آقِر

young woman (marriage age)

CVCt

aa.girt

آقِرت

Go (M)!

CVV

gii.gaa!

قٍيقا!

desert

CVVC

ma.laal

مَلال

queen

CVVCt

da.gwaayt

دَقْوايت

now

CHV

oon.d'a

ۆندأه

the sea (Obj)

CHVC

oo.bhar

ۆبهَر

eight (F)

CHVCt

a.su.mhayt

أسُمهَيت

Bring (M)!

CHVV

haa.m'aa!

هامآ!

Thursday

CHVVC

ar.b'aat

أربآت

Who (F) gets up?

CHVVCt

teet.b'iirt?

تێتبإيرت?

Dialect Variations

<40>

The Atman variety of Beja - which serves as the basis for this book - is one of the major Beja dialects. It is spoken by large numbers of people in parts of Port Sudan and in Suakin. Other Beja dialects differ from it in systematic ways, and the differences are limited to certain sounds, certain conditions, and certain groups of words. To the Beja speakers themselves these differences do not present any communication problems - but they may cause some surprises to outsiders. The ways in which the other dialects may differ from the dialect of this book are the following:

  1. Instead of pronouns with a word final h, pronouns with a word final s may be used (in the North or West); e.g. barooh > baroos 'him', bareeh > barees 'them'.

  2. Instead of initial b, the consonant m may be used (in various areas or by individuals); e.g. badhamt > madhamt 'mat', Bariyam > Mariyam 'Mary'.

  3. Instead of short a or u, unstressed, very short i may be used (in various areas); e.g. naatu > naat(i) 'thing-is'.

  4. Instead of short i or u, the short vowel a may be used (in the North or South); e.g. ani > ana 'I', hinin > hanin 'we', or iru > ura 'yesterday', kiiki > kiika 'It is not'.

  5. Instead of short u, the short vowel i may be used in certain verbs (in Bishaari or Beni Amir areas); e.g. usha > isha 'leave!' or kaabaru > kaabari 'I don't have'.

  6. Instead of articles with short i or u, the form with long oo, ee may be used (in the North); e.g. tutakat > tootakat 'the-woman (Obj)'.

  7. Instead of demonstratives which assimilate to the article, like oot-tu- 'this-the', the basic forms of the demonstratives may be used (in Bishaari or Beni Amir areas); e.g. oot-tu'oor > toon tu'oor 'this the-girl (Obj)'.

  8. Instead of shortening or deleting vowels before h and hamzah, the full vowels may be used (in particular in the North), e.g. ka'areeyan > kaa'areeyan 'I don't like (it)', or kahariw > kaahariw 'I don't want'.

  9. Instead of h or hamzah which follows a consonant and precedes a vowel, the h or hamzah may follow the vowel (Bishaari, Beni Amir); e.g. kal'a > kala' 'bell'.

  10. Instead of indicating the plural by shifting the stress towards the beginning of the word, the same stress/accent pattern may be used for singular and plural nouns (in Bishaari), e.g. hadhaab / hadhaab > hadhaab / hadhaab 'lion (Sg) / lions (Pl)'.

  11. Instead of Arabic loan words, Tigre loan words may be used (in particular in the South); e.g. gaamuus (Arabic) > agaba (Tigre) 'buffalo'.

  12. Instead of Arabic loan words, original Beja words may be used (in Bishaari, or rural areas); e.g. faas > m'ooma 'axe'.

<41>

These differences may cause some surprises at first. But since in a particular dialect the same difference will appear again and again, it will be helpful to keep these correspondences in mind. Table 4 below summarizes the main types of correspondences.

Correspondence:

Example:

Gloss:

This book:

Elsewhere:

This book:

Elsewhere:

1

h

> s

barooh

> baroos

him, them

2

b

> m

badhamt

> madhamt

mat

3

tu bu

> ti bi

naatu; hineetu

> naati; haneeti

thing-is, our-is

4

i

> a

hinin

> hanin

we

5

u

> i

kaabaru; usha!

> kaabari; isha!

I don't have; leave!

6

tu

> too

tutakat

> tootakat

the-woman (Obj)

7

tt

> n t

oottu'oor

> toon tuu'oor

this the-girl (Obj)

8

ah

> aah

kahariw

> kaahariw

I don't want

9

C'a

> Ca'

kal'a

> kala'

bell

10

Plural stress shift

> no Plural stress shift

hadhaab

> hadhaab

lions (Pl)

11

Arabic loan

> Tigre

gaamuus

> agaba

buffalo

12

Arabic loan

> Beja

faas

> m'ooma, ma'ooma

axe

Morphophonology

<42>

This section on the Beja morphophonology describes the interactions of the phonology (sounds) with the morphology (words).

<43>

Certain Beja phonemes only change if they occur in a particular class of morphemes, such as articles, or demonstratives. E.g., the n often assimilates to t before t. But this change does not happen with every n in the language. It only affects the n in demonstratives, where uun-tuu-naa changes to uut-tuu-naa 'this-the-thing'.

<44>

The sounds in these morphemes will only change if they are attached to each other very closely. The following examples represent all types of changes that have been observed where affixes and roots come together. On the left hand side of the arrow (>), the basic, unchanged form of the affixes and the roots are given. On the right hand side, the result of the change is shown.

Accent Rules

<45>

Briefly, the main rules concerning pitch-accent (accent for short) are as follows:

  1. Every morpheme or word root has its inherent accent. The accent is part of the root - in the same way as the meaning, the gender, or the consonants and vowels are parts of it.

  2. If a word consists of several morphemes, (only) the last accent will be articulated.

  3. Plurals will shift the accent toward the beginning of the word by one syllable (This rule does not apply in the Bishaari dialect).

<46>

The word gwhara 'thief', which has the inherent accent on the first a, may illustrate how these rules apply:

1

thief (Sg)

gwhara

قْوهَره

2

thief (SgMObj)

gwharaab

قْوهَراب

3

thieves (PlMObj)

gwharaab

قْوهَراب

Adding and Deleting Sounds

<47>

In this section about the addition and deletion of sounds, it is possible to argue in two ways: Either (1) the starting point is a dictionary where certain forms have no vowels, such as t- s- dwl 'you-cause.to-approach', or (2) the starting point is a dictionary with vowels, such as ti- si- dawil. In the first case, there must be rules which add certain vowels in the appropriate places, and in the second case, there must be rules which delete certain vowels in the appropriate places. The result should be the same. The rules here below allow for both perspectives.

Inserting word initial i

<48>

If two consonants (other than h or hamzah) are in word initial position, they will be split up by the short vowel i.

t-diya > tidiya

you (M) said

t-s-dawila > tisdawila

cause to approach

Inserting word medial i

<49>

If three consonants (other than h or hamzah) follow each other anywhere, they will be split up by the short vowel i.

k-t-diya > kitdiya

you (M) don't say

t-s-dawila > tisdawila

cause to be close

Deleting word medial i

<50>

If i has no stress and no CC neighbors, it may be deleted.

a-dilib > adlib

I traded

hariw-aab > harwaab

being wanted / having wanted

Deleting word medial a

<51>

If the sound a in the verb suffixes -a 'you (M Subj)' or -na 'you (Pl Subj)' is followed by other verb suffixes, the a may be deleted (This rule does not apply in all dialects).

tikatiya-eek > tikatiyeek

if you (M) are

tikatiina-eek > tikatiineek

if you (Pl) are

Shortening of Sounds

<52>

The rules about shortening do not apply in all dialects.

Shortening initial VV

<53>

The long vowels aa, ee, ii, oo, uu in unstressed definite articles will be shortened to i or u, in particular aa, ee, ii > i; and oo, uu > u.

aa-bissa > ibissa

the cats (M)

tuu-takat > tutakat

the woman

tee-tarabeedaa-ya > titarabeedaaya

the tables

Shortening final VV

<54>

The long vowels ee or oo in word final position will be shortened as follows: ee > i, oo > u

deet-oo > deetu

my mother

i-bhal-ee > ibhali

my words

Shortening VV before h or hamzah

<55>

The long vowels aa, ii, or uu, when followed by h or by hamzah will be shortened as follows: aa > a, ii > i, uu > u

ii-hiriw > ihiriw

I had wanted

baa-'abiik-a > ba'abiika

Don't seize!

Assimilating and Dissimilating Sounds

<56>

With certain affixes, there is either assimilation or dissimilation, i.e. the sounds either merge into each other, or they become more different from one another.

Assimilating nasals before plosives

<57>

If m or n are followed by a dental or labial consonant, they will assimilate to the consonant:

ada-n-liib > adalliib

I trade

a-n-b'iir > amb'iir

I wake up

Assimilating t and k before h or hamzah

<58>

If t or k are followed by h or hamzah, they will be softened to d or g.

ee-t-'iim > eed'iim

I ride

oon-t-'aab > oond'aab

this the-time, now

Assimilating s to sh before dh or th

<59>

If s is attached to a root with dh or th or sh, it becomes sh.

i-si-shalik > ishiishalik

he caused to be small

i-si-dhhan > ishidhhan

he caused to live

Assimilating t and k near dentals

<60>

If the verb prefix t- '(2 Subj)' is followed by d or r or s of the verb, it will assimilate to the next sound. But before -k, the k- itself will become t.

kit-di > kiddi

she doesn't say

kit-kan > kittan

she doesn't know

Assimilating i to u near w

<61>

If i or u precede gw, kw or w, the spelling will be i. The spelling will represent the underlying phoneme, which is i. The pronunciation however is close to u, since the difference between i and u neutralized.

<62>

But it could as well be u, since the difference between them is neutralized: Both sound like u: kwi [kwu], gwi [gwu].

kwibira > [kwubira]

Go down!

kwihi > [kwuhi]

the egg

Assimilating a to oo near w

<63>

If a short a precedes gw or kw, the spelling will be a, but the sound appears to be [oo], and the [w] may disappear: kwa > [kwoo], [koo].

kwatiib > [kwootiib, kootiib]

good

Dissimilating i before h or hamzah

<64>

If a person prefix i is followed by h or hamzah, it may be changed to y- or yi-

i-'ibik indi > y'ibik, yi'ibik indi

he will hold (Future)

i-hariw > yihariw, yhariw

he wanted

Dissimilating i or u before h or hamzah

<65>

If articles with i or u are followed by h or hamzah, they may be changed to y(i) or w(u).

i-'ar > y'ar, y'ar

the children

uu-haash > whaash, wuhaash

the land

More Examples: Vowel Length and Neutralization

<66>

As was shown above, under certain conditions the contrast short vowel / long vowel will be neutralized (see shortening above). In previous descriptions of Beja, it has always been noted that final vowels tend to be short, but that the same vowels may be long when they are in word medial position. The following lines start from an example noted by Roper (1928).

<67>

From the last lines of the table it is obvious that this kind of neutralization sometimes results in the disappearance of differences like subject vs. object. A similar neutralization affects the differences between subject and object articles, as will be shown later.

riba

رِبه

hill (underlying form)

ribaa-b

رِبا- ب

hill-Obj (citation form)

oo-rba

ۆ- ربه

Art-hill (definite form)

ree

رێ

source (underlying form)

ree-t

رێ- ت

source-F (citation form)

too-ri

تۆ- رے

Art-source (definite form)

oo

ۆ

PossSg1 (underlying form)

baab-oo-wwa...

باب- ۆ- وّه...

father-PossSg1-and (word medial)...

baab-u

باب- ُ

father-PossSg1 (word final)

baab-oo-wwa...

باب- ۆ- وّه...

father-PossSg1Obj-and...

baab-uu-wwa...

باب- أُو- وّه...

father-PossSg1Subj-and...

Baab-u rhiya.

باب- ُ رهِيه

father-PossSg1Subj saw (sth.)

Baab-u rhiya.

باب- ُ رهِيه

(someone) father-PossSg1Obj saw

Morphology

<68>

This section is about the Beja morphology, i.e. the internal shape of words, and it deals with classes and patterns of roots and affixes.

Morpheme Types: Roots and Affixes

Roots

<69>

Every word has a root, and the root will be considered the main part of a word. In this book, 11 classes of roots are recognized: 2 large classes and 9 small classes.

<70>

There are 2 large open classes, namely nouns and verbs, and they have hundreds and thousands of members. Examples are tak 'man' (Noun), yakaa 'Start!' (Verb).

<71>

There are 9 small closed classes, including pronouns, postpositions and others, and they have only a few dozen members each. Examples are ani '1SgSubj' (Pronoun), amsi 'Adv+today' (Adverb).

Affixes

<72>

In addition to the roots, Beja has two kinds of affixes:

  1. Prefixes which are attached in front of roots, where there are two slots for the different kinds of prefixes.

  2. Suffixes which are attached at the end of roots, where there are five or six slots for the different kinds of suffixes.

<73>

Note that infixes or vowel melodies could have been posited for verb pairs such as aktib 'I wrote' which is related to akantiib 'I write'. In this instance the infix would have been something like -an- indicating 'Present Tense'.

<74>

But it is preferable to view these differences as different forms of the verb root. Actually, this is common practice for languages of the Afro-Asiatic family of which Beja is a member.

Prefixes

<75>

There are about 90 prefixes altogether. They are written with a hyphen at the right hand side. Examples are uu- 'the', as in the word uu-(tak) 'the-(man)', or i- 'he', as in the word i- (ktib) 'he- (wrote)'.

Suffixes

<76>

There are about 130 suffixes altogether. They are written with a hyphen at the left hand side. Examples are -ooh ' -his' as in the word (tak)-ooh '(man) -his', or -ta ' -she', as in the word (rhi)-ta '(saw) -she'.

Word Classes

<77>

In this presentation of Beja, 11 word classes will be recognized. The terms noun, verb etc. will be used in their traditional sense, and they will be defined more closely in the tables and examples below.

<78>

The 11 word classes are the following:

  1. Adjectives like adaroob 'red': This class includes participles like 'living' and ordinal numbers or fractions like 'third, a third'. Adjectives behave largely like Nouns.

  2. Adverbs like amsi 'today': This class includes interrogative adverbs like 'when', and nouns of specialized adverbial functions like 'this-time, now'. Adverbs largely behave like Nouns.

  3. Conjunctions like hana 'or': This class includes a few Arabic loan words.

  4. Demonstratives like been 'that': This class includes far and near and interrogative demonstratives like 'which?'.

  5. Interjections like anaa 'hello': This class also includes a few Arabic loan words which are commonly used by Beja people.

  6. Names like Adaroob 'Adaru': This class includes names for persons, times and places. Names are either feminine (F) or masculine (M)

  7. Nouns like tak 'man': Nouns are either feminine (F) or masculine (M), some are only used in the plural (Pl), some are derived from verbs.

  8. Numbers like ay 'five': This class includes only cardinal numbers. The ordinal numbers and fractions like 'third' are adjectives.

  9. Pronouns like batooh 'she': This class includes interrogative pronouns like 'who?'. Pronouns are either feminine (F) or masculine (M), singular (Sg) or plural (Pl)

  10. Postpositions like har'i 'after': This class includes specialized nouns of limited distribution like 'front-of'. Postpositions largely behave like Nouns.

  11. Verbs like yakaa 'start, stand up!': This class includes 'strong' and 'weak' verbs, and 'auxiliary verbs'.

Word Classes and their Affixes

<79>

The Beja word classes differ from each other by the inflections which they take or which they pass on to other elements in the clause. The inflection takes the form of different kinds of affixes, such as yakan 'I started', yaktaa 'you (M) started', yaktaayi 'you (F) started', etc.

<80>

Verbs take affixes for tense-aspect and mood, as well as person, gender and number. Each verb governs one, two or three noun phrases such as subject, first object or second object, to which it assigns the respective cases - (either 'subject' case or 'object' case).

<81>

Nouns, pronouns, and names are inflected for the cases which they take from the verb. They are also inflected for number (Singular or plural), and they inherently have a certain gender (Masculine or feminine) which they pass on to other words in the phrase. They take demonstrative prefixes and article prefixes, as well as possessive suffixes.

<82>

Adjectives, demonstratives, and numbers are inflected for gender, number, and case, which they take from the head noun of the phrase.

<83>

Adverbs and postpositions only take case and possessive suffixes.

<84>

Conjunctions and interjections are not inflected at all. They do not take any prefixes or suffixes.

<85>

The table (below) summarizes the different word classes and their inflections.

Word Class:

Remarks:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Takes Affixes for:

Verbs (with 1 or 2 or 3 Noun Phrases) e.g. yak- 'start' يَك

Verbal Participles behave like Adjectives, Verbal Nouns of Action behave like Nouns

Person / Tense / Aspect

Gender

Number

*

Nouns (M or F) e.g. tak 'man' تَك

take Demonstrative and Article prefixes, and Possessive suffixes

-

**

Number

Case

Pronouns (M or F) e.g. batooh 'she' بَتۆه

take Demonstrative and Article prefixes, and Possessive suffixes

-

**

Number

Case

Names (M or F) e.g. Adaroob أدَرۆب

take Demonstrative and Article Prefixes, and Possessive suffixes ***

-

**

Number ***

Case

Adjectives e.g. adaru 'red' أدَرُ

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Demonstratives e.g. been 'that' بێن

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Numbers e.g. mhay 'three' مهَي

-

-

Gender

Number

Case

Adverbs e.g. amsi 'today' أمسے

take Possessive suffixes

-

-

-

Case

Postpositions e.g. har'i 'after' هَرإِ

take Possessive suffixes

-

-

-

Case

Conjunctions e.g. hana 'or' هَنه

-

-

-

-

-

Interjections e.g. wooh 'hello' وۆه

-

-

-

-

-

Notes on Affixes

<86>

(*) Verbs do not take case affixes, but they assign subject or object case to other words in the sentence.

<87>

(**) Nouns, pronouns and names do not take gender affixes, but they assign their own gender to other words in the sentence.

<88>

(***) Only names of nations or peoples can be inflected for number, as in Aa-Fuun 'Art-Fung.people (Pl)', and only nicknames take demonstratives and articles, as in Uun-uu-Reer 'Near-Art-Ooreer' (Name).

Nominal Affixes: Gender, Number, Case

Gender

<89>

Beja has 2 genders: masculine and feminine.

<90>

Gender not only refers to the natural gender which assigns masculine gender to tak 'man', and feminine gender to takat 'woman' - but every noun is either (M) or (F).

<91>

The feminine gender is used especially to refer to abstract notions like tu-daayiinaay 'the goodness', or to items of comparatively smaller size, like tu-aka 'the (small) palm nut fruit (F)' as opposed to w-aka 'the (large) palm nut tree (M)'

<92>

The masculine gender is frequent in nouns which indicate actions or their result, like u-kituum 'the arriving/arrival'.

Number

<93>

Beja has 2 numbers: singular and plural.

<94>

The plural number is used not only to distinguish the plural pronouns such as 'you (Pl)' from 'you (Sg)', but also to distinguish liquids and collectives from countable nouns.

<95>

Thus, all liquids and terms for species are plurals such as yam 'water(s), (Pl)' or batehi 'melon(s) (Pl)'.

Case

<96>

Beja has 3 cases: nominative, genitive, and accusative.

  1. The nominative or subject case answers questions like 'Who did it?'

  2. The genitive or possessive case answers questions like 'Whose?'

  3. The accusative or object case answers not only the question 'Whom?', but also questions like 'Who is it?', 'To where?', 'To whom?', or 'For whom?'

<97>

The different forms of cases will be exemplified in the subsequent sections on articles, demonstratives and nouns.

Verbal Affixes: Person, Tense / Aspect / Mood

Person / Number

<98>

The Beja verbal system distinguishes a minimum of 8 combinations of person, number and gender. Therefore, most paradigms will consist of 8 different persons which require 8 different affixes.

<99>

These 8 persons will be encountered in many tables. Briefly, they can be listed as follows: (1) 'I', (2) 'you (SgM)' and (3) 'you (SgF)', (4) 'he', and (5) 'she', (6) 'we', (7) 'you (Pl)', and (8) 'they'. Thus, gender is distinguished only for the second and third person’s singular (2-5) in the verbal inflexion. But in participles and adjectives, gender is distinguished for all of the 12 possible combinations, including the first persons singular and plural ('I' and 'we') and the second and third person plural ('You (Pl)' and 'They').

Tense / Aspect / Mood (Tam)

<100>

The Beja tenses include paradigms for past, present, and future. But the past and present tenses can also be regarded as perfect and imperfect aspects. The Beja moods include a mixture of paradigms like imperatives, optatives and others. The abbreviation Tam will be used to refer to these mergers of tenses, aspects, and moods.

<101>

Different Tam paradigms may use the same person affixes but different verb stems. The same Beja verb may have up to 7 different stems, each of them representing different Tams. For instance, stem (1) is used for the perfect and imperative, stem (2) for negative forms, stem (3) for imperfect plural etc. The full paradigms will be given in the Section Verbs and Clauses.

<102>

For every strong verb of high frequency, these 7 different Tam stems are listed in the appendix. [3] Weak verbs use the same stem throughout all 7 Tams.

<103>

At this point, only the main distinction should be kept in mind: The distinction between past / perfect paradigms like a-di 'I said, I have said' and present / imperfect paradigms like a-ndi 'I say, I am saying'.

Roots and their Places for Affixes

<104>

The affixes of nouns and verbs are different, and each affix has its proper place. Theoretically, verbs or nouns would allow for as many as 7 or 8 affixes following each other - but normally there will just be 1 or 2.

Table 7: The Pattern of Noun Affixes

Pref2-

Pref1-

Stem

-Suff1

-Suff2

-Suff3

-Suff4

-Suff5

-Suff6

Far- / Near-

Art-

Noun

-Pl

-Cas

-Poss

-Adv

-Con

-Id

<105>

In the pattern for the inflection of nouns there are 2 places for the prefixes and 6 for the suffixes.

Examples for Noun Affixes

oot-tu-suuraat-iib

Near-Art-picture-Adv

in this picture

u-bashar-ii-yoo-da

Art-body-Cas-Poss-Adv

for my body

Table 8: The Pattern of Verb Affixes

Pref2-

Pref1-

Stem

-Suff1

-Suff2

-Suff3

-Suff4

-Suff5

Wh-

Pta-

Verb

-Pta

-Obj

-Wh

-Adv

-Con

<106>

In the pattern for the inflection of Verbs there are 2 places for prefixes and 5 for suffixes. Occasionally, Suff1 und Suff2 may change their places.

<107>

The suffixes for person, number, tense, aspect and mood often merge into one single affix.

Examples for Verb Affixes

You (F) left us (Pta-leave-Pta-Obj).

Ti-ush-i-hoon.

or when they started (start-Pta-Adv-Con)

yak-iyaan-hoob-han

Affixes which Change the Word Class of a Root

<108>

The language has a number of derivational mechanisms, as the next table shows. Verbs can be derived into Nouns, adjectives into nouns, etc. The mechanisms include both affixation and change of patterns.

<109>

Affixation, for instance, derives tam 'eat' into > tam-ti 'eating'.

<110>

Change of CV patterns, for instance, derives winin (CiCiC) 'be angry' into > wnuun 'anger' (CCuuC).

<111>

The table gives an overview of frequent derivation patterns. The original word class is given in the first column, the derived word class in the second. These derivational affixes, however, cannot be used by non-Beja speakers to create new words at will. Therefore, the table (below) only explains derivations - it is not a pattern for producing them.

Table 9: Derivation Patterns

Derivation Affix or CV pattern:

Root:

Gloss:

Original Word Class:

Derivation:

Derived Gloss:

Derived Word Class:

Verb A > Verb B:

-s

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-s-

let eat, feed

Derived Verb

s-

abik-

hold

Verb, Strong

s-'abik-

let hold

Derived Verb

Verb > Noun:

-ti

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-ti

the eating

Noun

-aab

tam-

eat

Verb, Weak

tam-aab

eaten (M)

Participle

CCuuC

winin-

be angry

Verb, Strong

wnuun

anger

Noun

Noun, Number > Adjective:

-iiya

aawiit

morning

Noun

aawiit-iiyaayt

early

Adjective

-iiya

maloo-

two

Number

mal-iiya

second

Adjective

Basic Communication

<112>

The purposes of communication vary between asking for attention (vocatives), expressing feelings (interjections), making requests (commands), or - most of the time - exchanging information (questions and statements).

<113>

To exchange information, people refer to things in the world, and they talk about them. To refer to things, people use noun phrases (NPs) with nouns, names, or pronouns - and to say something about them (to predicate), they use verbs and clauses. Beja nouns and NPs are relatively simple. Beja verbs and clauses are more complex. The first sections are mainly about NPs. Verbs will be introduced later.

Addressing People

<114>

To begin with, here are some Beja vocatives and interjections. There is no need to analyze all words at this point. The analysis of these forms will be introduced step by step.

Interjections

<115>

To get the attention of someone, any of the following interjections can be used. The name may be added after the interjection.

<116>

The interjections of this first group do not take any affixes. They are always the same, whether addressed to males or females, to one person or many.

Wooh Ali!

Hello, Ali!

وۆه ألے!

Wooh Haliima!

Hello Halima!

وۆه هَلٍيمه!

Anaa Ali!

Please Ali!

أنا ألے!

Anaa Haliima!

Please Halima!

أنا هَلٍيمه!

Yaa Ali!

Hello Ali!

يا ألے!

Yaa Haliima!

Hello Halima!

يا هَلٍيمه!

Wooh Adaru!

Hello Adaru!

وۆه أدَرُ!

Wooh Aasha!

Hello Aasha!

وۆه آشه!

Vocatives

<117>

To call or address someone by his / her name, the vocative is used. The vocative endings are -ay or -yi, and they may be attached to the names in two different forms. The ending is -ay if the word ends in a consonant like tak, takat; 'man, woman' and it is -yi if the word ends in a vowel, like Adaru-, Adaroo- 'Adaru (Name) [4]'. Note that the Beja vocative itself is not a case ending, but the vocative endings -ay / -yi can only be attached to words in the nominative case.)

Interjections and Vocatives

Anaa sanu!

Please my brother! (To anyone of the same age)

أنا سَنُ!

Anaa kwaatu!

Please my sister! (To anyone of the same age)

أنا كْواتُ!

Anaa duuruuyi!

Please my uncle! (To any older person)

أنا دٌورٌويے!

Anaa diraatuuyi!

Please my aunt! (To any older woman)

أنا دِراتٌويے!

Sanuunay!

My brother! (To any of same age)

سَنٌونَي!

Kwaatuunay!

My sister! (Rare, to any of same age)

كْواتٌونَي!

Duuruunay!

My uncle! (To any older person)

دٌورٌونَي!

Diraatuunay!

My aunt! (To any older person)

دِراتٌونَي!

Yaa takay!

Hello Sir!

يا تَكَي!

Yaa takatay!

Hello Madam!

يا تَكَتَي!

Yaa w'ooruuyi!

Hello my boy!

يا وؤۆرٌويے!

Yaa t'ootuuyi!

Hello my girl!

يا تؤۆتٌويے!

Yaa Adarooyi!

Hello Adaru!

يا أدَرۆيے!

Interjections and Names

<118>

The following interjection has different endings for different kinds of people, and it can be used even when their names are not known. Actually, yihaa / yhaa is a verb form, and its literal meaning is 'give!'

<119>

It should be noted again that Beja distinguishes two genders, Masculine (M) and Feminine (F), as well as Singular (Sg) and Plural (Pl)

<120>

The verb endings typically are -a for Masculine, -i for Feminine, and -na for Plural.

Yihaa!

Hello you (M) (Lit give (M))!

يِها!

Yihaayi!

Hello you (F)!

يِهَيے!/ يِهێ!

Yihaana!

Hello you (Pl)!

يِهانه !

Ali yihaa!

Ali hello you (M)!

ألے يِها!

Haliima yihayi! / yihee!

Alima hello you (F)!

هَلٍيمه يِهَيے!/ يِهێ!

Aliiwwa Haliimaawwa, yihaana!

Ali and Halima, hello you (Pl)!

ألٍيوّه هَلٍيماوّه , يِهانه!

Responses

Baabiya!...

I wish it were so!...

بابِيه!

Hindeeh...

Please!... (Introducing a request in the Atman dialect)

هِندێه...

Gay...

Well, and then… (Introducing a new topic in the Gash dialect)

قَي...

...bak kiiki?

…isn't it so?

...بَك كٍيكے?

...winneet!...

…very much!...

...وِنّێت!...

...khalaas!...

…totally! (Ar)…

...خَلاس!...

...malyaab?...

…and then?...

...مَلياب?...

...yaaneeh...

…well, in other words (Ar)…

...يانێه...

...areeh...

…well, also (hesitation)…

...أرێه...

...ahaa...

…aha, I see…

...أها...

...baruukehan / batuukehan?

…and what about you (M) / (F)?

...بَرٌوكهَن / بَتٌوكهَن?

<121>

Note that statements and yes/no questions only differ in their intonation. There is no difference in the word order. The suffix -han? 'yes/no' can be used to underline a question:

Example

Gloss

Intonational Pattern

Bak kiki.

It is not so.

The last stressed syllable is lower, i.e. falling intonation.

Bak kiki?

Isn't it so?

The last stressed syllable is higher, i.e. rising intonation.

Naan tidiya? / Naan tidii? / Naan tidiina?

What did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) say?

نان تِدِيه?/ نان تِدِي?/ نان تِدٍينه?

Afhamaab kaaki. / Afhamaat kaaki.

I (M) / (F) didn't understand.

أفهَماب كاكے./ أفهَمات كاكے.

Afhamaab kinki. / Afhamaat kinki.

We (M) / (F) didn't understand.

أفهَماب كِنكے./ أفهَمات كِنكے.

Shaawi diya! / Shaawi diyi! / Shaawi diina!

Say (M) / (F) / (Pl) it again!

شاوے دِيه!/ شاوے دِيے!/ شاوے دٍينه!

Ibhali gwidaaba.

The language (the words) are many.

إبهَلے قْوِدابه.

Bhaliib abari.

I have something to say (Lit a word).

بهَلٍيب أبَرے.

Gaal bhali (gaat kalima) abari.

I have a word (one word Ar).

قال بهَلے (قات كَلِمه ) أبَرے .

Malu bhaliiya / gwida bhaliiya.

They are two words / they are many words.

مَلُ بهَلٍييه / قْوِده بهَلٍييه

Ani ibhaliiyi faayisan.

That was all I have to say (Lit I have completed my words)

أنے إبهَلٍييے فايِسَن.

Weena hooy kitehay.

That's all (Lit another thing (F) there isn't for it).

وێنه هۆي كِتهَي.

Awooh!

Yes!

أوۆه!

Aaywaa!

Yes!

آيوا!

Waa!

Wow!

وا!

Daayiitu.

OK, fine! (Lit It is good)

دايٍيتُ.

Daayiib saktaa / daayiib saktaayi / daayiib saktaana.

Well done! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

دايٍيب سَكتا / دايٍيب سَكتايے / دايٍيب سَكتانه.

Haalooku / haalooku / haalooknaayu?

How are you, what is the matter? (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هالۆكُ / هالۆكُ / هالۆكنايُ?

Baruuk tihiyisa / batuuk tihiyisi / baraakna tihiyisna.

You were better (M) / (F) / (Pl) (returning a compliment).

تِهِيِسه / تِهِيِسے / تِهِيِسنه.

Ahamidehook / ahamidehook / ahamidhookna.

Thank you (M) / (F) / (Pl).

أهَمِدهۆك / أهَمِدهۆك / أهَمِڈۆكنه.

Hamuud baanaawa!

Reply (Welcome, Lit 'May you (M) not lack thanks!')

هَمٌود باناوه!

Umdhhanook / Umdhhanook / Umdhhanookna.

Thank you for listening (M) / (F) / (Pl)! (concludes a narrative, Lit 'Being alive')

أُمڈهَنۆك / أُمڈهَنۆك / أُمڈهَنۆكنه.

Midhhan baanaawa!

Reply (Lit 'Don't fail being alive!')

مِڈهَن باناوه!

Conversation Responses: Negative

Laa laa!

No no!

لا لا!

Aywalla!

Oh dear! (surprise)

أيوَلّه!

Wooy!

Oh! (requesting help)

وۆي!

Waay!

Oh no! (rejection)

واي!

Wooy kwidhaa / wooy kwidhii / wooy kwidhaana!

Oh no, get lost (disgust) (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

وۆي كْوِڈه / وۆي كْوِڈے / وۆي كْوِڈنه!

Habaahoon!

Oh no! (disgust)

هَبَهۆن!

Iss, Eess!

Shoo! Go away! (to goats)

إسّ / ێسّ!

Jar, jaar!

Shoo! Go away! (to dogs)

جار!

Greetings: Invariable

<122>

The following greetings are the same for any time or person.

Marhabaa!

Hello!

مَرهَبا!

Yaa marhabaa!

You there, hello!

يا مَرهَبا!

Eetaaneena!

Welcome! (to someone arriving)

ێتانێنه!

Tisniyeena!

Greetings at home! (when arriving)

تِسنِيێنه!

Assalaam alaykwum!

Greetings! (Ar)

أسَّلام ألَيكْوُم!

Alaykwum assalaam!

Same to you! (Ar)

ألَيكْوُم أسَّلام!

Requests

<123>

Here are a few requests or commands which are used frequently. All of them use verbs. Some of them have the endings -aa / -ii / -aana, others have the endings -a / -i / -na. Note that later on these different endings will be used to distinguish weak verbs from strong verbs.

Ma'aa / ma'ii, ma'ayi / ma'aana!

Come! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآ / مَإي / مَآنه!

Haam'aa / haam'ii / haam'aana!

Bring (it)! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هامآ / هامإي / هامآنه!

Ma'aaheeb / ma'iiheeb / ma'aanaheeb!

Come to me! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآهێب / مَإيهێب / مَآنَهێب!

Ma'aahoon / ma'iihoon / ma'aanahoon!

Come to us! Join us! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مَآهۆن / مَإيهۆن / مَآنَهۆن!

Thathaa / thathii / thathaana!

Sit! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

ٹَٹا / ٹَٹِي / ٹَٹانه!

Ba'ashshigaa / bi'ashshigii / ba'ashshigaana!

Don't hurry! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

بَأَششِقا / بِأَششِقِي / بَأَششِقانه!

Sa'a! / sa'i! / sa'ana!

Sit down! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

سَأه!/ سَإِ!/ سَأَنه!

Hagita / hagiti / hagitna!

Wait! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هَقِته / هَقِتے / هَقِتنه!

Hooy baashinhaya / hooy biishinhayi / hooy baashinhana!

Don't worry about it! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

هۆي باشِنهَيه / هۆي بٍيشِنهَيے / هۆي باشِنهَنه!

Offering and Taking

Miriya! / miriyi! / miriina!

Accept it! (M) / (F) / (Pl)

مِرِيه / مِرِيے / مِرٍينه!

Baanaawa! / biinaawi! / baanaawna!

Reply (Thanks May you not lack! (M) / (F) / (Pl))

باناوه!/ بٍيناوے!/ باناونه!

Daayi na ahaa! / ahayi! / aheena!

Take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something good! (e.g. food)

دايے نه أها!/ أهَيے!/ أهێنه!

Nafir na ahaa! / ahayi! / aheena!

Take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something tasty! (e.g. food)

نَفِر نه أها!/ أهَيے!/ أهێنه !

Hamiina bahaaya! / bihaayi! / bahaayna!

Reply (Lit don't take (M) / (F) / (Pl) something bitter!)

هَمٍينه بَهايه!/ بِهايے!/ بَهاينه!

Vocatives and Requests

<124>

The vocative may introduce requests such as in the examples below. Note that the object ('water') precedes the verb.

Anaa sanu, yam gw'asaaheeb!

Oh my brother, give me water to drink!

أنا سَنُ , يَم قْوأَساهێب!

Anaa kwaatu, yam gw'asiiheeb!

O my sister, give me water to drink!

أنا كْواتُ , يَم قْوأَسٍيهێب!

Anaa kwati, yam gw'asaanaheeb!

O my sisters, give me water to drink!

أنا كْوَتے , يَم قْوأَسانَهێب!

Greetings

<125>

Note again that yes / no questions have the same grammatical structures as the corresponding answers or statements. The only difference is the rising intonation for questions (here marked by the acute accent), as against the falling intonation for statement,(here marked by a grave accent).

Daayíitu?

Is it OK? (yes/no question)

دايٍيتُ?

Daayìitu.

It is OK. (positive answer)

دايٍيتُ.

<126>

Many Beja Greetings have the forms of questions and answers.

Kwatiib naataa / naataayi / naataana?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) sleep well?

كْوَتٍيب ناتا / ناتايے / ناتانه?

Kwatiib naayan / naayan / naana.

I (M) / I (F) / we slept well.

كْوَتٍيب نايَن / نايَن / نانه.

Kwatiib mhataa / mhataayi / mhataana?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the morning fine?

كْوَتٍيب مهَتا / مهَتايے / مهَتانه?

Kwatiib mhan / mhan / mhana.

I (M) / I (F) / We spent the morning fine.

كْوَتٍيب مهَن / مهَن / مهَنه.

Kwatiib t'aayima / t'aayimi / t'aayimna?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the day fine?

كْوَتٍيب تآيِمه / تآيِمے / تآيِمنه?

Kwatiib a'aayim / a'aayim / ni'aayim.

I (M) / I (F) / we spent the day fine.

كْوَتٍيب أآيِم / أآيِم / نِآيِم.

Kwatiib tihawida / tihawidi / tihawidna?

Did you (M) / (F) / (Pl) spend the evening well?

كْوَتٍيب تِهَوِده / تِهَوِدے / تِهَوِدنه?

Kwatiib ahawid / ahawid / nihawid.

I (M) / I (F) / we spent the evening well.

كْوَتٍيب أهَوِد / أهَوِد / نِهَوِد.

Kwatiib naayaa / naayii / naayaana!

Sleep well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب نايا / نايِي / نايانه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib mhaa / mhii / mhaana!

Spend the morning well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب مها / مهِي / مهانه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib aayima / aayimi / aayimna!

Spend the day well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب آيِمه / آيِمے / آيِمنه!

Asigaab!

Reply.

أسِقاب!

Kwatiib hawida / hawidi / hawidna!

Spend the evening well (M) / (F) / (Pl)!

كْوَتٍيب هَوِده / هَوِدے / هَوِدنه!

Asigaab.

Reply.

أسِقاب.



[1] Note that the VV always indicates one long vowel - not a sequence of two different vowels. Beja has no so-called diphthongs like ia or ua. Such vowel sequences would always be split up by y or w, as in tidiya, timiruwa 'you said, you found'.

[2] The abbreviation as 'H' was proposed by Hudson (Hudson 1976).

[3] The numbering is based on Hudson's analysis of 1976, but some modifications were necessary.

[4] Lit 'Red'. A nickname used for any Beja.

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