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Body parts
It is interesting to compare languages through their use of daily words and expressions which are (too often !) held as universal. Our shooting teams were requested to gather names of colours, numbers from 1 to 10 (although we know all populations do not necessarily use the same counting systems) as well as daily phrases from all their interlocutors in their respective languages. These basic words often prove to be an efficient way of verifying similarities between languages belonging to the same linguistic group. In indo-european languages, for example, numbers from 1 to 10 are very similar which confirms connections between, among others, Kurd, French or Russian.
Body parts are referred to both by the use of words… and gesture! Thus they raise the often occurring sense of embarrassment when it comes to naming private parts… It appears some words are subject to giggles and chuckles in many languages in the world!
Body parts in Akele
Akele is the language of the Akele people from Gabon. It’s a Bantu language, whose speakers are scattered around various parts the country. The Akele are fishermen and farmers living along the Ogooué and Ngounie rivers, and in the lake region around Lambaréné.
Linguist: Jean-Marie Hombert
Camera and sound: Luc-Henri Fage
Translation: Hugues Awanhet
Editing : Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Punu
Punu is the language of the Bapunu, second largest ethnic group in Gabon in terms of population. It’s a Bantu language, spoken in the Tchibanga area. The increasingly important movement of Bapunu people towards larger urban areas is causing a gradual loss of their language and cultural knowledge.
Linguist : Jean-Marie Hombert
Image and sound: Luc-Henri Fage
Translation: Marie-Josée Awanhet
Editing: Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Mpongwe
Linguist : Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda
Image and sound : Muriel Lutz
Editing : Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Kaqchikel
Kaqchikel is one of the 30 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala and in Mexico. Most speakers of Kaqchikel live in the volcanic region of Chimaltenango, in central-western Guatemala, near Lake Atitlán. It is a poor area, essentially rural, where corn farming plays an extensive role.
Despite accounts of a promising demography, Kaqchikel lacks diffusion among the young generations and faces a serious decline. Beyond the language itself, thus a whole part of the Maya culture and knowledge is threatened with extinction.
See all our videos in Kaqchikel
Linguist: Nikte Sis Iboy
Image & sound: José Reynès
Editing: Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Baynunk
In the following video, Awa Coly grants us a full-on detailed description of the parts of the body!
Baynunk, as you may remember, is a North Atlantic language (Tenda-Nyun group) of the Niger-Congo family. It is spoken in southern Senegal, as well as in neighboring Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
Linguist: Sokhna Bao-Diop
Image & sound: Muriel Lutz, assisted by Cheikh Tidiane Sall
Editing: Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Syriac
Syriac is a classical and liturgical belonging to the Aramaic group of languages. These derive from Aramaic, a Semitic language that was officially recognized over 2,500 years ago! Aramaic became the administrative language of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century B.C., followed by the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Empires, thus becoming the common language of the Middle East. Aramaic already included several dialects prior to the Christian era. And one of these was the language Jesus Christ used to preach in.
Read our description sheet on Neo-Aramaic languages (French)
See all videos in Neo-Aramaic languages
Image & sound: Baptiste Etchegaray
Editing: Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Tamasheq
Tamasheq (or Tamajeq, or Tamaheq, stemming from the word Tamazight) is spoken by the Tuareg, a nomadic people that has been settled in the desert areas of North Africa for millennia, over a vast territory reaching from Mali to Libya, from Burkina Faso to Algeria, and including Niger. There are around one million speakers of Tamasheq.
Like Kabyle, Shawia, or Rifian, Tamasheq is in fact a variant of Berber (or Tamazight), a group of languages that covers the whole of North Africa (Marocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso), not to mention a large diaspora in Europe and America.
See all the videos in Tamasheq
Image & sound : Arnaud Contreras
Language advice : Salem Mezhoud and Abdoulahi Attayoub
Editing : Caroline Laurent
Body parts in Xârâcùù
Xârâcùù is one of the 28 Kanak languages of New Caledonia, a group belonging to the Austronesian language family. Xârâcùù is one of the languages spoken in the Xârâcùù area, alongside Xârâgurè, Haméa, and Tîrî. It is the most widely spoken of these four languages, with 5,729 speakers over 14 years old accounted for in the 2009 census. One third of them live essentially around Nouméa, while the other two thirds have remained in their traditional area, on the eastern coast of Grande Terre, and mainly in the Canala and Thio municipalities. Xârâcùù is also the fourth most widely spoken Kanak language in New Caledonia, following Drehu, Nengone, and Paicî – it is also one of the best maintained: spoken in every municipality of the Xârâcùù language area, it reaches over 90% of the population in Canala.
Linguist: Claire Moyse-Faurie (LACITO/CNRS)
Image & sound: José Reynes, assisted by Karl Jorédié
Translation: Annick Kasovimoin (Académie des Langues Kanak – ALK)
Editing: Caroline Laurent