Beja language


Beja is an Afroasiatic language of the Cushitic branch spoken on the western coast of the Red Sea by the Beja people. Its speakers number around one to two million individuals, and inhabit parts of Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea.

Name

The name Beja, derived from bijā, is most common in English-language literature. Native speakers use the term Bidhaawyeet or Tubdhaawi.

Classification

Beja is held by most linguists to be part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, constituting the only member of the Northern Cushitic subgroup. As such, Beja contains a number of linguistic innovations that are unique to it, as is also the situation with the other subgroups of Cushitic. The characteristics of Beja that differ from those of other Cushitic languages are likewise generally acknowledged as normal branch variation.

Alternative Classification

The identification of Beja as an independent branch of Cushitic dates to the work of Enrico Cerulli between 1925 and 1951. Due to Beja's linguistic innovations, Robert Hetzron argued that it constituted an independent branch of Afroasiatic. Hetzron's proposal was generally rejected by other linguists, and Cerulli's identification of Beja as the sole member of a North Cushitic branch remains standard today across otherwise divergent proposals for the internal relations of the Cushitic language family.

History

Some linguists and paleographers believe that they have uncovered evidence of an earlier stage of Beja, referred to in different publications as "Old Bedauye" or "Old Beja." Helmut Satzinger has identified the names found on several third century CE ostraca from the Eastern Desert as likely Blemmye, and thus representing a form of Old Beja. He additionally identifies several epigraphic texts from the fifth and sixth centuries as representing a later form of the same language. Nubiologist Gerald Browne, Egyptologist Helmut Satzinger, and Cushiticist Klaus Wedekind believe that an ostracon discovered in a monastery in Saqqarah also represents the Old Beja language. Browne and Wedekind have identified the text as a translation of Psalm 30.

Phonology

Nasals other than /m/ and /n/ are positional variants of /n/. The consonants /χ/ and /ɣ/ only appear in Arabic loanwords in some speakers' speech; in others', they are replaced by /k/ or /h/ and /g/. Some speakers replace /z/ in Arabic loanwords with /d/.
Beja has the five vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. /e/ and /o/ only appear long, while /a/, /i/, and /u/ have long and short variants.
FrontCentralBack
Close
Mid
Open

Beja has pitch accent.

Orthography

Both Roman and Arabic script have been used to write Beja. The Roman orthography below is that used by the Eritrean government and has been used in a literacy program by Red Sea University in Port Sudan. The Arabic orthography below was that used by the now defunct Website Sakanab. Multiple Arabic writing systems have been used to represent Beja, but none have gained wide support.
IPAʔbdɖfgɣhɟklmnrsʃtʈwxj
Roman'bddhfgghgwhjkkwlmnrsshtthwkhy
Arabicءبدڈفقغقْوهجككْولونرسشتٹوخي

In the Roman orthography, the vowels are written with the letters corresponding to the IPA symbols. Long vowels are written with doubled signs. As /e/ and /o/ cannot be short vowels, they only appear as 'ee' and 'oo', respectively.
The single 'e' sign, however, does have a use: To distinguish between /ɖ/ and /dh/, 'dh' is used for the former and 'deh' for the latter. Similarly, 'keh' is /kh/, 'teh' is /th/, 'seh' is /sh/. Single 'o' is not used.
In the Arabic orthography, short vowels are written with the same diacritics used in Arabic: fatḥah for /a/, kasrah for /i/, ḍammah for /u/. Alif is used as the seat for these diacritics at the beginning of a word. Long /aː/ is written with alif preceded by fatḥah, or alif maddah when word-initial. Long /eː/ is written with a modified Kurdish yā' ێ. Long /iː/ is written with yā' ي preceded by kasrah. Long /oː/ is written with a modified Kurdish wāw ۆ. Long /uː/ is written with wāw و preceded by ḍammah.
Pitch accent is not marked in either orthography. In Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa, stressed syllables are indicated in boldface.
In addition to these two systems and several academic systems of transcribing Beja texts, it is possible that Beja was at least occasionally written in the Greek alphabet-based Coptic script during the Middle Ages.

Grammar

Nouns, Articles, and Adjectives

Beja nouns and adjectives have two genders: masculine and feminine, two numbers: singular and plural, two cases: nominative and oblique, and may be definite, indefinite, or in construct state. Gender, case, and definiteness are not marked on the noun itself, but on clitics and affixes. Singular-plural pairs in Beja are unpredictable.

Plural Forms

Plurals may be formed by:
A small number of nouns do not distinguish between singular and plural forms. Some nouns are always plural. A few nouns have suppletive plurals.

Case and Definiteness

A noun may be prefixed by a clitic definite article, or have an indefinite suffix. Definite articles indicate gender, number, and case. The indefinite suffix marks gender only, and does not appear in the nominative case. For feminine common nouns, the indefinite suffix is -t; for masculine nouns and feminine proper nouns, -b. The indefinite suffixes only appear after vowels. The definite article is proclitic. It has the following forms with masculine monosyllabic nouns that do not begin with or :
NominativeOblique
Singularuu-oo-
Pluralaa-ee-

The feminine definite articles begin with but are otherwise identical. With nouns longer than one syllable and with nouns that begin with or , reduced forms of the definite article are used which do not distinguish between cases, but maintain gender distinctions. In some dialects the reduced forms maintain number distinctions; in others they do not.

Possession

Possessive relationships are shown through a genitive suffix -ii or -ee which attaches to the possessing noun. If the possessing noun is feminine, the genitive marker will begin with ; if the possessed is feminine, the suffix will end with . When the suffix does not end with the feminine marker , it reduces to -i, whether singular or plural. Because this suffix adds a syllable to the noun, full forms of articles cannot be used; thus, the article on the noun itself does not indicate case. However, agreeing adjectives will be marked for oblique case. No article or indefinite suffix may be applied to the possessed noun. The possessed noun follows the possessor. Examples:
Postpositions follow nouns in the genitive. Examples:
Adjectives follow the nominal heads of noun phrases. They agree in gender, number, case, and definiteness, and carry case and definiteness markers of the same form as nouns.

Copula

Clauses may be composed of two noun phrases or a noun phrase and a predicative adjective followed by a copular clitic. The copula agrees in person, gender, and number with the copula complement, but the first- and third-person forms are identical. The copular subject will be in the nominative case, the copular complement in the oblique. Oblique -b become -w before -wa. Copular complements that end in a vowel will employ an epenthetic y between the final vowel and any vowel-initial copular clitic.
MasculineFeminine
1s-u-tu
2s-wa-tuwi
3s-u-tu
1p-a-ta
2p-aana-taana
3p-a-ta

Examples:
Beja verbs have two different types, first noted by Almkvist: "strong verbs", which conjugate with both prefixes and suffixes and have several principal parts; and "weak verbs", which conjugate with suffixes only and which have a fixed root. Verbs conjugate for a number of tense, aspect, modality, and polarity variations, which have been given different names by different linguists:
RoperWedekind, Wedekind, and MusaVanhove
ConditionalPast ContinuousAorist
Past IndicativePastPerfective
Present IndicativePresentImperfective
Future IndicativeFutureFuture
IntentionalDesiderative
ImperativeImperativeImperative
OptativeJussiveOptative
JussivePotential

Each of the above forms has a corresponding negative. The past continuous and past share a past negative. Negative forms are not derived from corresponding positive forms, but are independent conjugations.
Every verb has a corresponding deverbal noun, which Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa refer to as a "noun of action", Vanhove calls an "action noun", and Roper a "nomen actionis". Numerous serial verb constructions exist which connote different aspectual and potential meanings.

Imperative

The third person masculine singular positive imperative is the citation form of the verb. Weak verbs have a long final suffix -aa while strong verbs have a short final suffix -a. For both weak and strong verbs, the negative imperative is formed by an identical set of prefixes baa- and bii-. Strong verbs use a negative imperative root which has a lengthened vowel.
PositiveNegative
2sg.mgiig-aabaa-giig-aa
2sg.fgiig-iibii-giig-ii
2plgiig-aanabaa-giig-aana

PositiveNegative
2sg.mfidig-abaa-fidiig-a
2sg.ffidig-ibii-fidiig-i
2plfidig-nabaa-fidiig-na

Deverbal and Dependent Forms

Deverbal Noun
Every Beja verb has a corresponding deverbal noun. For weak verbs, the deverbal noun is formed by a suffix -ti attached to the imperative root. For strong verbs, deverbal nouns are not entirely predictable.
Examples:
There are patterns in strong verb deverbal nouns related to the structure of the citation form of the verb. However, these are not consistent.
Deverbal Adjective
A further derived form is a suffix -aa attached to the citation root, and then followed by -b for masculine nouns and -t for feminine. Examples:
Citation FormMasculineFeminineMeaning
diwaadiw-aabdiw-aatasleep
afooyaaafooy-aabafooy-aatforgiven
adhidhaadhidh-aabadhidh-aathobbled
nikwiyinikwiy-aatpregnant

This form may be used as an adjective, but it is also employed in the construction of multiple conjugated negative forms. Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa analyse this form as a participle. Martine Vanhove analyses it as a manner converb -a.

Tense-Conjugated Forms

Past Continuous/Aorist
The past continuous stem for strong verbs is not derivable from any other verb stem. The negative of the past continuous is identical to that of the past: There is only one past tense negative form. For both weak and strong verbs, the past negative is formed through a deverbal participial or converbal form followed by the present negative of the irregular verb aka "to be".
Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa describe the past continuous as being used for "habitual, repeated actions of the past." It is the verb conjugation used for counterfactual conditionals, which leads to Roper's identifying this tense as the "conditional". It is also frequently used in narratives.
PositiveNegative
1sggiig-igiig-aab kaaki
2sg.mgiig-tiyagiig-aab kittaa
2sg.fgiig-tiyigiig-aat kittaayi
3sg.mgiig-igiig-aab kiiki
3sg.fgiig-tigiig-aat kitti
1plgiig-nigiig-aab kinki
2plgiig-tiinagiig-aab kitteena
3plgiig-iingiig-aab kiikeen

PositiveNegative
1sgiifdigfidg-aab kaaki
2sg.mt-iifdig-afidg-aab kittaa
2sg.ft-iifdig-ifidg-aat kittaayi
3sg.miifdigfidg-aab kiiki
3sg.ft-iifdigfidg-aab kitti
1pln-iifdigfidg-aab kinki
2plt-iifdig-nafidg-aab kitteena
3pliifdig-nafidg-aab kiikeen
Past/Perfective
The past or perfective stem for strong verbs is identical to the citation form stem, with predictable phonetic modifications. The negative is identical to that of the past continuous/aorist.
PositiveNegative
1sggiig-angiig-aab kaaki
2sg.mgiig-taagiig-aab kittaa
2sg.fgiig-taayigiig-aat kittaayi
3sg.mgiig-iyagiig-aab kiiki
3sg.fgiig-tagiig-aat kitti
1plgiig-nagiig-aab kinki
2plgiig-taanagiig-aab kitteena
3plgiig-iyaangiig-aab kiikeen

PositiveNegative
1sga-fdigfidg-aab kaaki
2sg.mti-fdig-afidg-aab kittaa
2sg.fti-fdig-ifidg-aat kittaayi
3sg.mi-fdigfidg-aab kiiki
3sg.fti-fdigfidg-aab kitti
1plni-fdigfidg-aab kinki
2plti-fdig-nafidg-aab kitteena
3pli-fdig-nafidg-aab kiikeen
Present/Imperfective
The present or imperfective has two stems for positive strong verbs, while the negative strong stem is identical to that used for the imperative. Weak negative verbs add the prefix ka- to positive past/perfective forms.
PositiveNegative
1sggiig-anika-giig-an
2sg.mgiig-tiniyaka-giig-taa
2sg.fgiig-tiniika-giig-taayi
3sg.mgiig-iniika-giig-iya
3sg.fgiig-tinika-giig-ta
1plgiig-nayka-giig-na
2plgiig-teenaka-giig-taana
3plgiig-eenka-giig-iyaan

PositiveNegative
1sga-fandiigkaa-fdig
2sg.mfandiig-akit-fidig-a
2sg.ffandiig-ikit-fidig-i
3sg.mfandiigkii-fdig
3sg.ffandiigkit-fidig
1plni-fadigkin-fdig
2plti-fadig-nakit-fidig-na
3pli-fadig-nakii-fdig-na
Future
The strong future stem is described differently by Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa and by Vanhove. Both agree that it is a fixed stem followed by a present/imperfective conjugated form of the verb diya "to say." Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa's strong stem is similar to the past continuous/aorist stem, and identical for all numbers, genders, and persons, except the first person plural, which has a prefixed n-. For Vanhove, there are distinct singular and plural stems which are identical to the past continuous/aorist first person singular and plural, respectively. Similarly, for weak verbs, Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa have a future stem ending in -i with a first person plural -ni, followed by a present tense/imperfective conjugation of diya. Vanhove sees the -i as a singular future, and the -ni as a general plural. For negative verbs, the negative present/imperfective of diya is used as the conjugated auxiliary.
PositiveNegative
1sggiig-i andigiig-i kaadi
2sg.mgiig-i tindiyagiig-i kiddiya
2sg.fgiig-i tindiigiig-i kiddiyi
3sg.mgiig-i indigiig-i kiidi
3sg.fgiig-i tindigiig-i kiddi
1plgiig-ni neeyadgiig-ni kindi
2plgiig-i teeyadna giig-i kiddiina
3plgiig-i eeyadna giig-i kiidiin

PositiveNegative
1sgiifdig andiiifdig kaadi
2sg.miifdig tindiyaiifdig kiddiya
2sg.fiifdig tindiiiifdig kiddiyi
3sg.miifdig indiiifdig kiidi
3sg.fiifdig tindiiifdig kiddi
1plniifdig neeyadniifdig kindi
2pliifdig teeyadna iifdig kiddiina
3pliifdig eeyadna iifdig kiidiin

E.M. Roper, describing the same dialect as Vanhove, identifies the stem employed as being identical to the past continuous/aorist, just as Vanhove does. However, he understands the form with n- as being used only with the first person plural, as Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa do.
Intentional/Desiderative
In addition to the future, Bidhaawyeet has a similar form expressing desire to undertake an act or intention to do so. The citation root takes a suffix -a for all persons, genders, and numbers, and is followed by a present tense/imperfective conjugated form of the verb diya "to say", as the future is.

Jussive, Optative, Potential

There is distinct disagreement between the major grammars of the past century on the modal conjugation or conjugations referred to as "jussive," "optative," and "potential."
Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa describe a "jussive" with the following paradigm. For strong verbs, the first person is based on the past/perfective stem, and the persons are based on the future stem; no negative jussive is given:
Positive
1sggiig-atay
2sg.mgiig-ata
2sg.fgiig-ati
3sg.mba-giig-iiyay
3sg.fba-giig-tiyay
1plgiig-niiyay
2plgiig-aana
3plba-giig-iinay

Positive
1sgfidg-atay
2sg.mfidg-ata
2sg.ffidg-ati
3sg.mba'-iifidig-ay
3sg.fbat-iifidig-ay
1plniifdig-ay
2pl
3plba-'iifdig-naay

They give various examples of the jussive with translations into English, in order to give a sense of the meaning:
Vanhove identifies a complex "potential" form composed of a nominalizing suffix -at followed by a present/imperfective reduced conjugation of the verb m'a 'come'.
Positive
1sggiig-at
2sg.mgiig-at-a
2sg.fgiig-at-i
3sg.mgiig-at eeyini
3sg.fgiig-at eetnii
1plgiig-at eenay
2plgiig-at-na
3plgiig-at een

Positive
1sgfidg-at
2sg.mfidg-at-a
2sg.ffidg-at-i
3sg.mfidg-at eeyini
3sg.ffidg-at eetnii
1plfidg-at eenay
2plfidg-at-na
3plfidg-at een

Vanhove describes the potential as expressing "epistemic modalities of inference or near-certainty." Examples below, with the potential verbs in bold:
Additionally, she recognizes an optative with positive and negative polarity. The positive optative is formed from a prefix baa- to the past continuous/aorist. The negative construction is more complex. In some dialects, the final -aay of most forms of the weak negative is a short -ay:
PositiveNegative
1sgbaa-giig-ibaa-giig-aay
2sg.mbaa-giig-tiyabit-giig-aay
2sg.fbaa-giig-tiyibit-giig-aay
3sg.mbaa-giig-ibii-giig-aay
3sg.fbaa-giig-tibit-giig-aay
1plbaa-giig-nibin-giig-aay
2plbaa-giig-tiinabit-giig-eena
3plbaa-giig-iinbii-giig-eena

PositiveNegative
1sgbaa-'iifdigbaa-fdig
2sg.mbaa-t-iifdig-abit-fdig-a
2sg.fbaa-t-iifdig-ibit-fdig-i
3sg.mbaa-'iifdigbii-fdig
3sg.fbaa-t-iifdigbit-fdig
1plbaa-n-iifdigbin-fdig
2plbaa-t-iifdig-nabit-fdig-na
3plbaa-'iifdig-nabii-fdig-na

Vanhove gives no explanation for the use of the optative positive. The optative negative is used in conditional clauses with meanings of incapacity and necessity:
Through lexicostatistical analysis, David Cohen observed that Beja shared a basic vocabulary of around 20% with the East Cushitic Afar and Somali languages and the Central Cushitic Agaw languages, which are among its most geographically near Afroasiatic languages. This was analogous to the percentage of common lexical terms that was calculated for certain other Cushitic languages, such as Afar and Oromo. Václav Blažek conducted a more comprehensive glottochronological examination of languages and data. He identified a markedly close ratio of 40% cognates between Beja and Proto-East Cushitic as well as a cognate percentage of approximately 20% between Beja and Central Cushitic, similar to that found by Cohen.
A fairly large portion of Beja vocabulary is borrowed from Arabic. In Eritrea and Sudan, some terms are instead Tigre loanwords. Andrzej Zaborski has noted close parallels between Beja and Egyptian vocabulary.
The only independent Beja dictionary yet printed is Leo Reinisch's 1895 Wörterbuch der Beḍauye-Sprache. An extensive vocabulary forms an appendix to E.M. Roper's 1928 Tu Beḍawiɛ: An Elementary Handbook for the use of Sudan Government Officials, and this has formed the basis for much recent comparative Cushitic work. Klaus and Charlotte Wedekind and Abuzeinab Musa's 2007 A Learner's Grammar of Beja comes with a CD which contains a roughly 7,000-word lexicon, composed mostly of one-word glosses. Klaus Wedekind, Abuzeinab Muhammed, Feki Mahamed, and Mohamed Talib were working on a Beja-Arabic-English dictionary, but publication appears to have been stalled by Wedekind's death. Martine Vanhove announced a forthcoming Beja-Arabic-English-French dictionary in 2006. It has not yet been published. The Beja scholar Muhammed Adarob Ohaj produced a Beja-Arabic dictionary as his masters thesis in 1972. It has not yet been published.

Swadesh List

The following list is drawn from Wedekind, Wedekind, and Musa's 2007 grammar and Roper's 1928 handbook. Nouns are given in indefinite accusative forms ; unless marked otherwise, forms that end in "t" are feminine and all others are masculine. Verbs are given in the singular masculine imperative.
No.EnglishBeja
Bidhaawyeet
1 Ianeeb, ani
2you 'barook, batook, baruuk, batuuk
3wehinin
4thisoon-, toon-, uun-, tuun-
5thatbeen
6whoaab, aaw
7whatnaa
8not
9allkass-
10manygwidaab
11onegaal, gaat
12twomaloob
13bigwin
14longsaraaraab
15smalldibiloob
16womantakat
17man 'tak
18man 'm'aadamiib
19birdkilaay, kilay
20dogyaas, yas
21lousetaat, tat
22treehindiib
23seedteeraab
24leafraat, rat
25rootgadam, gadamaab
26bark 'adhift, adhifaat ; hindi shadhiidh
27skinadeeb;
28meatshaat
29bloodbooy
30bonemiitaatt, miitatt
31fat 'l'aab; dhhaab
32firen'eet
33eggkwhiib
34hornd'aab
35tailniiwaat
36feathertambaat/timbaat
37fishashoob
38hairhamoot
39headgirmaab
40earangwiil, angwil
41eyeliiliit; gw'aj
42fingernailn'af
43noseginuuf, ginif
44mouthyaf, yafaab
45toothkwiriib
46tongue 'miidaab, miidab
47footragad, ragadaab
48kneegindhif/gindif, gindhifaab/gindifaab
49handayeeb
50bellyf'iib
51neckalaat
52breastnigw
53heart 'gin'aab
54liverseet
55to drinkgw'a
56to eattamaa
57to bitefinika
58to seerhaa
59to hearmaasiwa
60to knowkana
61to sleepdiwaa; naayaa
62to dieyaya
63to killdira
64to swimnidabaa
65to flyfiraa
66to walkhiireeraa
67to comem'aa
68to lie 'b'iya
69to sitsa'a; thathaa
70to standgada
71to givehiya
72to saydiya
73sunyint
74moontirigt
75starhayiikw
76wateryam
77rainbireeb
78stoneaweeb
79sandisseet
80earthburt; haash
81cloudbaal, baalaat ; sahaab
82smokeeegaab
83ashesn'eetehaash
84to burnliwa, lawa
85roaddarab
86mountainribaab
87redadaroob
88greensootaay
89yellow
90whiteeeraab
91blackhadal
92nighthawaad, hawad
93warmnaba'
94coldm'akwaraab; l'aab
95fullataab
96newgayiib
97gooddaayiib
98roundkwadhaadh; kwalaal
99drybalamaab
100namesim

  1. Beja handles negation through distinct negative polarity conjugation. There is no lexical "not."
  2. In some dialects liiliit means "pupil."
  3. Ragad refers to the foot and leg.
  4. This is a rare suppletive imperative. Other forms of the verb have no /m/ and are constructed around a consonantal root /j/.
  5. Sootaay covers the blue-green range.

    Numbers

"Ten" has combining forms for the production of teens and products of ten. Numbers from 11–19 are formed by tamna- followed by the units. E.g., "fourteen" is tamna fadhig. Combining ones use the form -gwir; e.g., "eleven" is tamnagwir. "Twenty" is tagwuugw. "Twenty-one" is tagwgwagwir. "Thirty" is mhay tamun; "forty" is fadhig tamun; "fifty" is ay tamun; etc. "One hundred" is sheeb. For higher numbers, Beja-speakers use Arabic terms.
Ordinal numbers are formed by the addition of a suffix -a. "First" is awwal, borrowed from Arabic.
"Half" is tarab. Other fractions are borrowed from Arabic.

Literature

Beja has an extensive oral tradition, including multiple poetic genres. A well-known epic is the story of the hero Mhamuud Oofaash, portions of which have appeared in various publications by Klaus Wedekind. An edition appears in Mahmud Mohammed Ahmed's Oomraay, published in Asmara. In the 1960s and '70s, the Beja intellectual Muhammed Adarob Ohaj collected oral recordings of poetic and narrative material which are in the University of Khartoum Institute of African and Asian Studies Sound Archives. Didier Morin and Mohamed-Tahir Hamid Ahmed have used these, in addition to their own collections, for multiple academic publications in French on Beja poetics. Red Sea University and the NGO Uhaashoon worked with oral story-tellers to produce a collection of 41 short readers and a longer collection of three short stories in Beja between 2010 and 2013.