Tamil, Sumerian and Manding

[Clyde A. Winters]

   In the past debate many comments have been made about Greenberg's
division of African languages. Although this view of African languages is
accepted by many linguists some African linguists, led By Theophile Obenga
disagree with this view of African languages. As a result I have presented
a view of African languages which recognizes the languages spoken by most
black Africans as one family given the grammatical and lexical  affinities
present among these languages.
 
    As I said earlier the Dravidian speaking people , the Elamites and
Sumerians originated in Middle Africa below is some of the partial
evidence to support this view.
 
     The is alternation of /b/, /f/ and /p/, and /d/ and /t/ in the
Manding (Malinke-Bambara), Sumerian and Tamil languages
 
 
English         Sumerian        Manding         Tamil
to heat, roast      bil, bir      bo
to free             bur           buru
to blow             bun           bu, bo-n
porridge            baba           bulo         parai
old man             baba-a       baba
town                bar          furu
free                bur          foro
sack, container     bar          fara
ruler              bara          fara
to shine           itu            du             tulanku
to recite          sid            siti
to take            dug            du              tekku
soul                ti             dyo            ulatu
to push,press       teg          dege,telu         tullu
copper            urudu           kuuta         uruttiran
hole, cavity     dul, tul        du, tyolo         tulai
 
 
                          k       g
 
work               kin              ki              ceykai
[recious,best      kal              ka               aruka
arrow              kak             kala            kakam
boat              kalam            kulu            kalam
mountain           kur             kuru            kunru
granary, thrashing
       floor       kur             k'ur-k'ur         kutir
                        l           l
 
road               sila            sila             caalai
man                  lu                                al
water                bal                              al
send, transport     bala,bal        b'la
 
                        m             m
 
woman               manus          mansa              mannan
male                 mu             moko              makkal
 
                         n             n
 
eye                 ini, en         nya                kan
image                  nu           n'ya
body               ni          ni 'principal           niram
                                  of life
 
                          r              r
ear                   bur            toro              kurai
to tear                bir            piri              fori
 
                           s             s
 
to buy                 se               se
to recite               sid              siti
seed                    she               se
 
Grammatical Similarities
 
    The negative suffix in Manding is na, which is preceeded by ka and
nt'i, e.g., kalu mba nt'. In the Sumerian languages the negation of the
verb is expressed by the prefixes nu and la, e.g., nu-zu "not to know".
The optative mood of the negative in Sumerian is formed by the -na
element, na-ma pad "may she not'. This agrees with the Manding use of the
-na element to form the negative.
 
 
Parts of the body
 
English      Sumerian            Tamil          Manding
heart, mind     ul                 ul               su
body            ni                niram              ni
flesh            uzu               uu              subu
tongue          eme               naa                na
bone             gir              kura              kura
nose            bun              muso,mugu            nu
foot              gir              karal             koro
 
 
These are just a few of the analogous lexical items from Sumerian, Tamil
and the Manding languages which illustrate the genetic relationship
between these languages.
 
 
C. A. Winters