A GLOSSARY OF NATIVE AFRICAN 

 WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS 



Most of the words occurring in this glossary are 

 Swahili, the language in general use in East Africa. 

 Swahili is a member of the Bantu family of languages 

 and has been influenced to some extent by accretions 

 from Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, and Portuguese. It 

 has a written language and literature of considerable 

 antiquity. 



The vowel sounds are remarkable for their purity, 

 are never slurred or combined into diphthongs, nor are 

 they affected to any marked degree by the presence of 

 certain consonants. 



a should be pronounced somewhat as in English "far": 



marked a. 

 e as the pure sound in ''eh!" (very short): marked S. 

 i as "ee" in ''feet": marked e. 

 as "o" in "go": marked o (o represents also another 



sound somewhat as "oe" in "toe," pronounced 



shortly and without the second half of the English 



sound) . 

 u as "oo" in "moon": marked oo. 



The other marks used in this glossary are listed in the 

 following key: 



rdre, c^t, hgr, mine, begin, cord, ddg, btirn, ctit, ou 

 as in "mound." 



44S 



