A^OCABULARIES 



1001 



Notes on the Kavikondo and Masaba Dialects. 



Certain remarkable clianges in consonants are to be noted :— The Bantu k becomes x> 

 q often lu'oomes k, t changes to x or r, and k before / softens into x, .^, or c. Z or ^s' 

 often become palatalised into c before i in the tenth prefix. 



Attention has already been drawn to the remarkable nature of the fir.st, third, and 

 sixth jirefixes in the Masaba dialects. 



Those of the Lukonde group may be stated as follows (with apjiroximate cor- 

 rectness) : — 



1st prefix, rmu-. 



Otli prefix, I-, In- 



IkUYU or KlKUYU. 



This language, spoken on the uplands east of the Rift Valley, does not seem to be 

 related in any marked way to the adjoining Kamba group of Bantu dialects, which 

 differ from it in ]iossessing the Pa- form of the locative jirefix. It shows, on the other 

 hand, some resemblance to Igizii (west of the Rift Valley), and perhaps to the Bantu 

 tongues of Kilimanjaro. 



The dislike to the consonant P is intensified in this language, and even extends to 

 the cognate F. Thus the root Piti, Fisi (Hyiena) becomes Hiti. Even B sometimes 

 changes to H. The second (Ba-) prefix is reduced to A-, and in a few instances is replaced 

 by Ma-. 



