Thread by @SOAS_SpecColl

This #SOASLangs week, we'll delve in our #African languages holdings @SOASLibrary and @SOAS_SpecColl, or rather just brush on their surface: with several 100s of languages and dialects represented, it is our most #multilingual collection!

#AfricanLanguages #Multilingualism

Let's start with #Swahili also known as #Kiswahili.

This @SOAS "Language for Lockdown" video is a great introduction to the 1,200 years history of Swahili: .

#SOASLangs #SOASfromHome

@SOAS @CAS_SOAS @SOAS_SpecColl hold a great collection of Swahili manuscripts, see digital.soas.ac.uk/swahili.

Among them figure a few copies of al-Inkishafi "The Soul's Awakening", a 19th cent. poem by Sayyid Abdallah bin Ali bin Nassir.

#Swahili #SOASLangs #SOASfromHome #Inkishafi

Like all early Swahili literature, the Inkishafi poem (utenzi) was written in Arabic script (Ajami).
Check out one of our copies, Ms 373 : digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000079/000…

#SwahiliPoetry #Utenzi #SOASLangs #Ajami

Reading Swahili poetry is an art form, and @SOAS_SpecColl hold rare recordings of this poem performed by the famous Swahili scholar Sheikh Yahya Ali Omar.
Have a listen and let your soul awaken with the beauty of this reading: bit.ly/38it6Dx

#Swahili #Utenzi #Inkishafi

Our own @AngelicaSOAS has run yearly workshops in @SOAS_SpecColl and introduced students to our Swahili manuscripts (among other African mss).
Here's blog she wrote about one of those sesions: bit.ly/2ZlTN65

Apart from those 275+ Swahili manuscripts and some rare prints (see bit.ly/2VunVvg), @SOAS_SpecColl holds very rich linguistics archival material on #Swahili.

Some have been partly digitised, such as /

#SOASLangs #Swahili #Archives #Linguistics #SOASfromHome

/the archival collections containing #Swahili material of :

- Alice Werner bit.ly/2BRorfy
- William Hitchens bit.ly/3dH289B
- W.H. Whiteley bit.ly/3eMYfRS
- W.E Taylor bit.ly/3ifn8rK
- Jan Knappert bit.ly/31pb2pX

#SOASLangs #Archives

Many others are not yet digitised, like those of Archibald N. Tucker (PP MS 43) bit.ly/3igvbUW

While waiting for our reopening to the public, you can browse those collections in our catalogue: bit.ly/2Bp2nci

Some boxes would love the attention of #Bantu and other Eastern African languages specialists, like those kept in 3 boxes under the reference MS 380565: bit.ly/2Zk3XnY !
Consider it as our challenge! #MondayMotivation

#SOASLangs #Swahili

And finally, check out @SOAS Swahili students interviewed on BBC Focus on Africa to celebrate World Mother Tongue Day last year

You'll catch a glimpse of @SOASLibrary too 😉, because that's where #SOASLangs happen!

#SOASLangs #Swahili #MotherTongue

And to round off this brief overview of our Swahili collections @SOAS_SpecColl, here is a puzzle of a beautiful geometric design in our #Swahili #manuscript Ms45022 Utenzi wa Hirqal (Story of Heraclius) bit.ly/2YKpM12, a poem from Lamu: jigex.com/pH6E
#SOASLangs

Let's turn our gaze to West African languages and peruse @SOASLibrary & @SOAS_SpecColl's holdings in #Hausa language.
Hausa is the most extensively researched of all sub-Saharan languages & has a long tradition of song and poetry within a cosmopolitan Islamic culture.

@SOAS_SpecColl holds a few Hausa manuscripts, most of them in Ajami (Arabic Script).
Many of them are poems, such as this anonymous 19th century #Hausa poem Ms380271 (bit.ly/38dbqJD) that recounts the final battle between the Filanis and the men of Kabe.

Another #Hausa #manuscript is Ms98017 from ca. 1914. In it (bit.ly/2NoLiSg), Mallam Abu recounts the histories of Samori, Babatu & others.
This narrative has considerable importance for the study of the 19th c. history of Western Africa, particularly #Ghana.

#SOASLangs

Earlier this year (see bit.ly/2Ag4GxR), we cited that striking figure of the #Sokoto Empire: Nana Asma'u, a princess and multilingual writer. We hold a few of her manuscripts in Hausa in our Jane Boyd Archives (PPMS36), such as this Tabban Hakika bit.ly/38gSmKA

Material on Hausa also abounds in our archives.
The Frederick William Parsons collection (PPMS 50) includes research/teaching materials relating to his work on the Hausa language. They reflect his knowledge of Hausa grammar and include writings on a variety of topics.
#SOASLangs

Other examples of #Hausa material held by @SOAS_SpecColl can be found in the Papers of Professor David Whitehorn Arnott (ref: PP MS 73) and the Papers of George Percival Bargery (ref: MS 380516).

#SOASLangs

Fancy lighter reading? Read all about our large #Hausa Popular Fiction Collection (E Coll 7), put together and given by Prof. Graham Furniss, in our blog at bit.ly/3ige2ef.
It is indexed online at: The Hausa Popular Literature Database bit.ly/3dO78t4
#SOASLangs

Still with us?
Which African language do you reckon are we going to scrutinise in our #SOASLangs collections next? Beware the trick question!

Is there an African language you'd really like us to look up in @SOAS_SpecColl? No promises, but we'll try our best to make you happy😀!

#Yorùbá is in #SOASLangs'spotlight today!
It is one of the African languages taught @SOAS and is the first language of 20+ million people.

Telugu, Uradhi and Batak may come up later, when we look up at our material in Australasian, South Asian and South East Asian languages 😉!

Have a listen to this #Yorùbá proverb: bit.ly/3eSa8WI

Ilé ọba tójó ẹwà ló bùsi

Do you recognize it?

Find its meaning on the ATLAS webpage (a UCL project further developed by SOAS): ucl.ac.uk/atlas/yoruba/p…

#SOASLangs

@ucl @SOAS In the 17th cent., #Yoruba was written in Ajami (Arabic script). Modern Yoruba orthography originated in the early work of Church Mission Society #missionaries.
Some of those works can be found @SOAS_SpecColl in our amazing Church Mission Societies archives.

#SOASLangs #Archives

Most of them are still to be digitised.
But here is a full-text PDF of a 1852 "Grammar and Vocabulary of the #Yoruba Language" compiled by Rev. Samuel Crowther, native missionary of the Church Missionary Society (ref: EB85.252 /20857) [see bit.ly/3dQ5Rle]

#SOASLangs

Rev. Samuel Crowther introduces his grammar of #Yoruba language by a most fascinating traditional account of the origins of the Kingdom of Yoruba.
#SOASLangs

The same Samuel Ajayi Crowther produced a vocabulary for the #Igbo language in 1882 (EA88.51).
#Igbo is another major language of Nigeria.

This work in 2 parts is digitised, check it out: bit.ly/2BXUQkC
It is a great window on the Igbo culture of the time!

#SOASLangs

More material on #Igbo language can be found in the papers of Margaret Mackeson Green (1895-1979), including her original field notes and work on the Igbo language and her notes for her course @SOAS as Reader of West African Languages & Cultures in the 1940's.
#SOASLangs #Igbo

After this brief overview of West African langs, here's a song 'Toli' (Advice) composed by Sara McGuinness & Jose Hendrix Ndelo, and sung in #Lingala, the lingua franca of the DR Congo.
It tells young people to listen to the advice of their wiser parents! bit.ly/3ggUNj0

Let's continue our #SOASLangs wandering amongst the languages of #Africa @SOAS_SpecColl.
Going back to East Africa, to #Eritrea and northern #Ethiopia, and further back in time with the ancient script and language that is ግዕዝ / Ge'ez or Classical #Ethiopic.

In medieval times, Geʽez was part of a vast #multilingual network of religious and scholarly exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, together with #Syriac, #Coptic, #Greek and #Arabic.
Today, Geʽez is used mainly as a liturgical language.
#SOASLangs #Ethiopic

Ms41383 is a 17th cent composite #manuscript in Gǝ’ǝz, including a variety of religious texts, passages from Scripture and the #Ethiopian calendar known as Book of Abu Shaker originally written in Arabic by a 13th-cent #Coptic deacon. See it at bit.ly/3eUMUzq

#SOASLangs

This #Ethiopic manuscript (MS 44494 bit.ly/2NPRtPA) includes the Mazmura Dāwit (Psalms of David) & the Wǝddāse Māryām (Praises of Mary), which are learned and memorised in traditional Ethiopian Church schools.

We love how flaws in the vellum are just worked around!

Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, when #Amharic #አማርኛ gradually replaced Ge'ez as the official language of the state at the imperial Ethiopian court.
@SOASLibrary holds 1,000+ titles on/in Amharic and @SOAS_SpecColl a little trove of rare books and archives.

#SOASLangs

From the start of the 20th century #Amharic fictional and non-fictional production developped rapidly, bolstered by new state schools, newspapers, and publishing houses.

#SOASLangs

@SOASLibrary & @SOAS_SpecColl provide teaching and research material in #Amharic, supporting anyone learning and studying the language, literature and culture of the region.
Check out what our students have to say about studying Amharic @SOAS:

#SOASLangs

A shout-out to the #Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies ለዓለም ሥነ-ፅሁፍ አዲስ አቀራራብ በርካታ የሆኑትንና በአብዛኛው ጊዜ የተከፋፈሉትን የሥነ-ፅሁፍ ዓለማትን ‘ከብዙ-ቋንቋ ማህበረሰቦች’ አንፃር ይቃኛል (@MULOSIGE) @SOAS
mulosige.soas.ac.uk/horn-of-africa/

On the history of Geez and #Amharic, you might want to consult the Masḥẹ̄ta tẹbab by ʾÄklilä Berhan Wäldä Qirqos, published in Addis Ababa in 1956.
See it all at bit.ly/2AwFaEU.

It includes a cool #map and a comparative table of alphabets.

#SOASLangs #RareBooks

Another princess' tale in this thread: Princess #Menen, consort of later Emperor Haile #Selassie, visited the holy sites in Jerusalem and in Egypt.
Learn about her journey in the 1923 #Amharic report written by Heruy Walda Sellase ኅሩይ ወልደሥላሴ : bit.ly/2BAFK4T

#Amharic material features in many of our @SOAS_SpecColl archives.
The papers of @SOAS 1st director and polyglot extraordinaire, Sir Denison Ross, include for example a grammar of Amharic (ref: PPMS 8, Ross, Box 31). bit.ly/3ita3eA
#SOASLangs #Archives #AfricanLanguages

More linguisitic material on #Amharic can be found in the Notebooks on grammar and vocabulary by Roy Clive Abraham (ref. MS 193280), who was a lecturer in Amharic @SOAS in 1948-1951. He also worked on #Tiv, #Hausa, #Idoma, #Somali, #Yoruba and #Igbo.

bit.ly/2YWN8k1

...and now, let's go South! Here's a taster (so to say🐊)...

We are brilliant at #languages, but what do you think of our drawing skills?

#SOASLangs #Zulu

#Zulu is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, and the language with the largest number of mother-tongue speakers, estimated to be more than 10 million.

It is a #Bantu language and closely related to #Ndebele, #Swati, and #Xhosa.

#SOASLangs #AfricanLanguages

@SOASLibrary and @SOAS_SpecColl hold hundreds of items on/in #Zulu language.
The @SOAS textbook "Say it in Zulu = Shóno ngesíZulu", from which we drew the illustration above, was written by D. K. Rycroft and A. B. Ngcobo in 1979.
Read and listen to it at:bit.ly/3f47ZHD

That textbook includes numbers of music scores and folk songs you can listen on the digitised version of the tapes (remember those?).
The drawing is much improved by then 😄!

Listen to Mbombela (Stone Game song) here: bit.ly/2YYPPl5

#SOASLangs #Zulu #Language #Music

#Zulu and other closely related languages are represented in our #archives, in the papers of:
- William Arthur Crabtree (Ms380335) bit.ly/3iwM7qz
- Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston (Ms193299) bit.ly/2ZEsSmj
- Prof. Malcolm Guthrie (PPMS27) bit.ly/2BF7yVO

We also hold the typescript of various speeches given by Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi between June 1970 and October 1976. (ref:Ms380143 and Ms361019) bit.ly/3f2XNz5
Alas, they are not yet digitised.

You can listen to the anthem of the Buthelezi clan "Ihubo elikhulu lakwaButhelezi" sung by clan's men led by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi at bit.ly/3e3prKY
The music score appears in the article "A Royal Account of Music in Zulu Life" by D. Rycroft in the BSOAS, 38, 2 (1975).

This very broad sweep of #AfricanLanguages at @SOAS_SpecColl leaves many many languages untouched, but with its strong presence in @SOASLibrary Main Collections, we cannot not mention the #Somali language!

#SOASLangs

Our earliest #Somali book dates back to 1892 & most of the collection is still protected by copyright, so not much we can picture here.
But our online catalogue bit.ly/2O1KB1Hit shows what an awesome collection it is for anyone interested in learning or studying #Somali!

We'll wrap up that week of #AfricanLanguages @SOAS_SpecColl and @SOASLibrary by going back to West Africa, as well as back in time, and explore the digital surrogates we hold of manuscripts in Old Kanembu, an archaic variety of #Kanuri-#Kanembu.

#SOASLangs

Ancient manuscripts written in local languages are very rare in sub-Saharan #Africa. However, in the late 1950s, 16th/17th centuries copies of the Qur’an were discovered in northern Nigeria, written in Arabic, with commentaries in #OldKanembu.
SOAS digitised some...

#SOASLangs

They all tell us tales of intense linguistic-cultural migration, exchange, assimilation and integration in the Lake Chad basin and provide us with a rare insight in archaic #AfricanLanguages.
Here are 3 examples of such #Borno Qur'anic copies with Old Kanembu commentaries: ../

1) The "Yerima Mustafa Qur’an" or "Geidam Quran" bit.ly/3gxOMyw comprises a considerable number of archaic Kanembu glosses and as such the manuscript has been the primary source of linguistic analysis of #Old_Kanembu.

#SOASLangs

Glosses in #Old_Kanembu are usually positioned interlineally, parallel to the main text. They are typically written above the corresponding Qur’anic text, but not necessarily aligned with it.

This manuscript belongs to Yerima Mustafa Mukhtar, the current Waziri of Borno.

2) The Malam Muhammadu Qur'an bit.ly/31RdvtA has been in possession of the family of Alhaji Abdullahi Umar, the Wazir of Gwandu – a traditional Hausa-speaking emirate, north-east Nigeria. It is incomplete and in poor condition, perhaps on account of its many travels...

Each page contains many #Old_Kanembu glosses. The #Arabic commentaries on the Qur’anic text are extensive and taken from various tafsir books.
#SOASLangs #Multilingualism

3) the Konduga Qur'an (bit.ly/2ZG1nIZ) was presumably written in the Borno Sultanate in the 18th century. It is now own by an Islamic scholar family in #Konduga, North-East Nigeria.
Check out the gorgeous suras headings and medallions!

#SOASLangs #Old_Kanembu

The manuscript has many quotations from various #Arabic commentaries in different hands in brown and black ink. #Old_Kanembu annotations are mostly written interlinearly in an ink brighter than the main Qur’an text.

#Multilingual #Manuscripts #AfricanLanguages #SOASLangs

And on these gorgeous pictures, we end this #SOASLangs #AfricanLanguages thread!
We hope you liked it, and stay tuned for the next round of #SOASLangs!

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