Buli Series 2 - Common Words: A-D

If you like reading the dictionary, you'd love this aspect of our lesson, but I am sure that even those who don't would still find it useful. It is interesting to read the Buli words and look at the English equivalents. The words presented here are by no means exhaustive, they're only a small sample to whet your appetite. Some of the words are also quite stimulating to the imagination. As for the sound, it is so satisfying.  I am confident you would be entertained and sure that you can add to them and enlarge your Buli vocabulary way beyond what is presented here. Happy reading. 

A reader has alerted me that I didn't indicate the vowels when I presented the Buli alphabet. So here they are:

                                a     e     i    o    u 

Dr Franz Kröger, the renowned anthropologist and chronicler of all things Bulsa, who is apparently as excited about the Buli Language series as I am myself, sent me a very important document; a few rules of pronunciation and orthography for Buli Language Guide that he has compiled. I present here an excerpt from it that will help in the pronunciation. I and all Bulsa are indebted to this man for what he has done for us.

 He writes,

"The pronunciation of the vowels is similar to that of many European languages (for example as in Italian, Spanish and German) but not always like that in English. Long vowels are marked by reduplication in spelling (a: > aa).

a [a] Buli ga (to go)  aa [a:] maari (to help)

e [e, e] metik (thin)  ee or ie [e:, ie:, je:] meena, miena (all)

i [i, W] poli (to think)      ii [i:] biik (child)

o [o, B] pok (wife)      oo [o:, B:] boosuk (grave)

u [u, _] zuk (head)   uu [u:] buuk (goat)" 

With all that, I think you're more than prepared for the interesting exercise below. We start with the first letter of the alphabet. 

If you haven't read the introductory lesson, you may find it here

A

Typically used for personification (to give something human qualities). All Bulsa personal names begin with ‘A’. When the ‘A’ at the beginning is omitted, the word refers to the animal or thing named. E.g. Asuom – suom (hare), Apiuk – piuk (hyena), Ajingkpang – jingkpang (cobra), Abuuk – buuk (goat), Agoanaab – goanaab (buffalo), Agoabiak/Aweerik/Ayuerik – goabiak/weerik/yuerik (leopard), Ayauk – yauk (elephant), Anaab – naab (cow), Alalik – lalik (bull), Anab - nab (chief).

B

Ba – Balansa, ba (them, they), bang (bangle), bain (boundary), baanoa (diviner, soothsayer), banjek (tick), baluk (timid, cowardly person), baang (younger, junior in line of birth), baruk (trap, snare), bayopoi (seven, seventh), bayuebi (six, sixth), banu (five, fifth), banaansi (four, fourth), bata (three, third), baye (two, second), bayerik (rat[cane rat])

Be – be (where?), bein (year), bega (questions), begri (to overturn, topple, tip over), berinti (belch, burb), beruk (a fool), berim (to behave foolishly or in a confused manner).

 Bi – biak (dog), biik (child), bisa/bimbaansa (children), biliok (baby), biisi (speak, talk), biisim (milk), bimban (childish, childlike behaviour), bibaam (dung, manure, fertilizer), bilim (to roll on the floor or ground), bimbili (pot).

 Bo – bo (to judge) bo-tieroa (Judge, one who judges), boa (what?), bobri (to betray, tell a secret), bogluk (shrine, sacred object), bolim (fire, light), boning (a donkey), borik (sow, plant), boosuk (grave), boosuk (Puff Adder (deadly snake).

Bu – bu (to mix with water), buyopoi (seven times), buyuebi (six times), bunu (five times), bunaansi (four times), buta (three times), buye (twice, two times), bunyi (once), bunoruk (chameleon), buntain (stone), buntori (toad), buuk (goat), buura (neri/egusi), busik (basket), buting (confused/bewildered), butuem (greed/selfishness).

Have you read: Village Boy Impressions - Korona Vairos Tugurika?

Ch

Cha (surprised, shocked, fainted), chabi (sew up, mend, patch e.g clothes), chabola (nudity, nakedness), chagsik (sieve/strainer/filter), chagsimuning (red bishop), chaka-chaka (tattoo), chali (run, run away, flee), chali-bobroa (gossip/tale-bearer/backbiter), charuk (share, portion), chaaruk (diarrhoea), cham (shea tree), chaama (ripe shea fruits).

 Che (cut, hew), cheki (exact, precise, to the point), cheng (go, walk) chesi (spit), chesim (to sneeze), cheri (to wipe off), cheri-wulim (to strive hard, to try hard), cheti (to scrape off/ to wash away/strip off).

Chi (soak, bleach, put into water for some time), chiag(i) (snatch, grab, seize), chiak (waist), chiib {pl. chiisa}(chick-chicks), chichama (doubts, unsure, second thoughts), chichambiik (son-in-law, daughter-in-law), chichiruk (fairy/hobgoblin),  chiik (moon, month, soul, spirit) chim (to grow/ to become), chiim (fry), chin (calabash, bowl), chiim/chiini (count), chiuk (soap), chivie (shame),

Cho – choa (shake), chobi (to stuff, fill up, cram, over fill), chogsi (catch), chong (poison, toxin), chorr/chortototo (silence, quiet), choroa (husband), choa-biik (blacksmith), choani (to poison/to kill by poison), chong (poison), chogsi (to catch).

 Chu – chub (pierce, stab, prick, punch, jab), chuei/chueri (fixed price, fee, rate), chum (tomorrow, future), chuiri (to fail e.g eggs), chuisi (to click one’s tongue as a form of refusal or insult), chuisi² (to recant or retract or withdraw a curse), chunchuanta (misbehavior that costs or harms oneself), chuok (furnace, forge), chuok² (noise, din, bustle).

Read: Village Boy Impressions - Televised News in Ghana

D

Da - da (buy), daa (days), da-biri (bullet), dachiak (enemy, foe, opponent, rival), dakari (box, carton), dakoak (bachelor, widower), dalaari (stick, club, cudgel), daam (pito, alcoholic drink), dani (spread out to dry), daani (draw, mark), daani (to trouble, disturb, worry), dapo-dapo (occasionally, rarely, seldom), daunta (dirt, filt), da-yeng (one day), da-yong (another day, another time), daa-ngaye (two days), daa-ngata (three days).

De – de (consume, eat, win), de, or dela, or de-nna, or dewa (here, there, over here), dek (self, selves), deki (alone, only), deri (pig), deri² (stiff, rigid), dengsi (to balance something on one’s head without hand support) – Fi ji fi nyuvuri a dengsi (You’re endangering your life).

Di – diak (sale, cost), diak,duok (male), diem, or diemwa (yesterday), digki (to be quiet, silent), dik, or dika (to boil, cook), dipo, or dilapo (formerly,former times,once upon a time), diim, or diimwa (last year), dina (how much, how many), diri (forehead), diinta (play, game).

Do – do (to ride,mount), doa (friend,companion), dobi (bow), dobsa (honour,reverence,respect), doglie (maid servant), doglie, or dogbiak (cat), dok (room), dom (to bite, ache, pain), donla (this year).

Du – du (infested, eaten by wood-worms), dula (there, over there), duag (to lie down), dueni (to put down), dueri (to trim,cut,pare), dueroa (suitor, wooer), duisi (to wipe (off), erase), dum (hatred, malice, enmity) dunung (knee), dung (mammal,animal), duok (piece of wood).

You may read the next lesson here

Reference

1. Franz Kröger (1992). Buli-English Dictionary: With an Introductory Grammar and an Index English-Buli. Münster and Hamburg: Lit Verlag.