I might have mentioned this earlier but,
ayaa/baa are Focus Words.
Yaa jabay koobkayga? - Who broke my cup?
Axmed baa jabay - Ahmed broke it( not Yusuf, Abdi or anyone else).
Aniga baa cunay keegaada - I ate your cake (not your brother, or anyone else)
That's why it's called a focus word. Because it puts its focus on the subject as the doer of the action. 'Ayaa' in my experience works exactly the same way as 'baa', and is thus interchangable. I think 'ayaa' is more formal and tends to be used in written Somali and in the news.
From the obituary about the singer Faadumo Hilowle,
Faadumo Qaasim Hilowle ayaa xalay ku geeriyootay London.
This puts the focus on the fact that Faadumo Hilowle passed away, and not anyone else.
Yaa dhintay? - Who died?
Faadumo Hilowle baa/ayaa dhimatey - Faadumo Hilowle died
Ilaahey ha u naxaristo - God rest her soul
When fused with subject pronouns, these become
ayaan/baan - I
ayaad/baad - You
ayuu/buu - He
ayey/bey - She
ayaanu/baannu - We
ayeynu/beynu - We
ayedin/beydin - You
ayey/bey - They
Salaam Mitsurugi!
ReplyDeleteIntresting and much needed blog for Somali learners! For that i would just like to make small comment (for their benefit) without offinding you about certain parts of the grammar:
For the second person plural of “the pre-verbal pronominals” for positive sentences are:
1-“ayda / aydu”, so it would be:
(“ayaa / baa” + “ayda / aydu”= “ayayda, ayaydu / bayda, baydu”)
It is the same as (“ayaa / baa” + “ayna / aynu” = “ayayna, ayaynu / bayna, baydu”).
However, for the negative sentences, it is added to the basic root “in” or “the third person total negative + in”, “aan / aanin”:
“ayd + in = aydin”; “ayd / ayda / aydu + aan + in = aydaanin, aydanin, aydan, aydun”. Also with last two: “aydan / aydun + aan + in = aydanaanin, aydunaanin”
So with ayaa / baa = aydanin, baydanin... son on....
This type is in rhythm with the first person plural positive “ayn / ayna / aynu”. Negative: aynaanin, aynanin... so on...
2-“aad”, this is for both the second person singualar and plural and is rhythm with the first person singular and plural “aan”.
Its negative version is “aad + in = aadin”, “aad + aan + in = aadaanin, aadanin, aadan”.
By the way, "baa / ayaa" are the same, they are both natural standard Somali (unfixed by man), it’s imperceptible but “baa” focuses the predicate as verbal root, whereas “ayaa” focuses it as total verbal person.
And also, the verb root “jab - jabay” is intransitive; “jabi - jabiyay” is the transitive one.
Ciid Mubaarak! Ha noolaado Soomaaliga!
Salaam again Mitsurugi!
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid i made a mistake that i would like to correct:
In the context of negation of preverbal pronouns (they are also dependent pronouns regardless of the sentence type) there are:
1-One pronoun of the third person total “aan” which is also used in the plural verb-person of the second and third present habitual.
2-Suffixed verb-person of the aspect complete “an” which is used for the aspect complete adjectives.
3-When the pronouns end in vowels as 3rd person masculine singular “uu” a consonant root maybe need (can be done without when not pronounced agglunatively) “n” or “s” before the suffexing “an” or “aan”. (uun / uus + uunaan, uunan, uusaan, uusan / uunaanan, uusaanan) or (ayda / aydu + n/s).
4-In the case of “ay”, the root can be increased with “n/s” to become “ayn / ays”.
So, wherever that i placed the short sound one would not be the shortening of the long sound but rather the suffexing the root pronoun with “an”.
Very convoluted isn’t it? But what an amazing language! In my estimation it is almost or about 2000 yrs old without change but now....???
As for 'aan', you can correct me if I wrong, but isn't it used primarily for relative clauses, eg. 'ninkaan tegin'(the man who didn't go). If I understand you correctly, these can then be fused onto the pronouns, so that it becomes,
ReplyDelete(I) aan(pronoun) + aan = aanan
(You) aad + aan = aadan
(He) uu + aan = uusan
(She) ay + aan = ayan
(We excl.)aanu + aan = aannan
(We incl.)aynu + aan = aynan
(You pl.) eydin+ aan = eydnan
(They) ay + aan = ayan
Cuntada aanu cunin buu i siin doonaa
He will give me the food that he didn't eat.
Midda ayan rabin baa la tuuray
The one they didn't want was thrown away.
I really like Somali, but it gets really hard sometimes!
I agree! Learning any language is hard but Somali “the focus” takes a more physical shape like Japanese and so it is very hard studying them from languages where “focus” is more esthetical!
ReplyDelete