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Hibuese: Difference between revisions
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== Name == | == Name == | ||
''Hibuese'' is derived from the name of the island | ''Hibuese'' is derived from the name of the Hibu island group, which is itself simply a compound formed from ''hi'' 'this' or 'that' plus ''bu'' 'land' or 'soil'. | ||
== History == | |||
Until about half way through the 19th century, any attempt at contact with the Hibuese people resulted in violence and death. Even in the face of invading European sailors armed with muskets, the Hibuese habit of living well back from the shore, approaching stealthily in the night and picking off intruders with poison darts ensured that any intruding force retreated after some time. Through the 19th and into the 20th century, a steady stream of Christian missionaries headed to the islands and never left, presumably being killed by the Hibuese. The Hibuese have consequently proved extraordinarily resistant to the Christianisation that has befallen the majority of other cultural groups in the vicinity, holding on to their traditional belief system. Nevertheless, it was Christian missionaries who eventually, in the 1920s, created the orthography in the Roman alphabet that would then find widespread use among the population. The native system of approximately 180 hieroglyphs remains, to this day, restricted to use by ceremonial initiates. In spite of their restricted use, the hieroglyphs are regarded as a sacred and unchangeable cultural inheritance from the first Hibuese and any language which does not conform to the hieroglyphs is rejected by the Hibese Language Council ('Ndyomwa Zyange Hibu') as non-Hibu and therefore not allowed in media or in school. Subsequently, instead of loanwords, the Hibuese language is replete with a plethora of neologisms formed out of the original units of language. | |||
== Phonology == | == Phonology == | ||
=== Consonants === | === Consonants === | ||