Paremias without sentence particles

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Paper read at the 7th International Semito-Hamitic Congress, Berlin, 2004.

In his review of my first book Andrzejewski attracted the attention of linguists to

“archaic grammatical forms which, paradoxically enough, form part of everyday language and are commonly used in conversations and in the mass media. A good example of this are those verbal and verbal-adjectival forms which exclude the occurrence of focus indicators (baa, ayaa, waxaa and waa) in declarative sentences such as for example Ayax teg eelna reeb — Locusts go away but leave damage behind and Tuug wax ka tuhun badan — A thief is more suspicious than anyone else. In Kapchits’ collection 7 per cent of all the items contain such grammatical forms, while normally focus indicators are obligatory in all declarative sentences.”¹

Drought in Somali Folklore

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

A column (“Kolumni”) by Dr. Georgi Kapchits, first published in “Afrikan Sarvi / Horn of Africa Journal”, No. 1/2012, issued by Suomen Somalia-verkosto ry (Finnish Somalia Network).

‘From where rain was expected dust has come’, said one of the Somali ancestors, first looking at the pale sky and then at the herd of camels which he had just brought from the half empty Well of the Last Hope. ‘A she-camel which has not drunk water for thirty days will endure three days more’, answered his brother, trying to soothe him. ‘But what shall I do with them’, asked he, pointing at his sheep and goats which were hiding themselves under the tree from the hot rays of the Sun at its zenith. ‘A drought is coming’, uttered the first one.

Andrzejewski on Kapchits.Online

Paremias without sentence particles

Drought in Somali Folklore