Yao is a Bantu language in Africa with approximately 1 million speakers in Malawi, half a million in Tanzania, and around 450,000 in Mozambique. A block of Yao-speaking country that straddles the Mozambique - Tanzania border is separated from Lake Malawi by a mainly Nyanja-speaking area. There are also some speakers in Zambia. In Malawi, the main dialect is Mangoche, mostly spoken around Lake Malawi. In Mozambique, the main dialects are Makale and Massaninga. The language has also gone by several other names in English, including ChiYao or CiYao (the prefixed form), Achawa, Adsawa, Adsoa, Ajawa, Ayawa, Ayo, Ayao, Djao, Haiao, Hiao, Hyao, Jao, Veiao, and WaJao.^[1]

Comparison with the Mwera language ^[2] suggests that the two languages are very similar.

In common with very many vernacular languages in Africa, it has historically enjoyed little official recognition and literary work in the region where Yao is spoken has taken place in such languages as Arabic, English, German and Portuguese.

Phonetics and orthography[link]

As in English, unvoiced plosives are breathed and voiced plosives are not. There are conventionally only five 'pure' vowels, viz. a, e, i, o, u, though there is some variation in vowel length. Yao is minimally tonal language, as is common in Bantu languages.

In each of the main three countries where Yao is spoken, the orthography differs widely, and there is a low literacy rate. In Tanzania, the orthography is based on that of Swahili, whereas in Malawi it is based on that of Chewa. The Malawian form uses the following characters:

Macrons can be used to prevent ambiguity that would otherwise arise due to the lack of representation of vowel length.^[1][3][4]

Grammar[link]

Yao is an SVO language. Like all Bantu languages, Yao is agglutinative, with a highly regular paradigm of verbal inflection, and its nouns placed in a variety of classes indicated by prefixes, these partially corresponding to actual categories of objects or people. To each class is associated a characteristic, used in the formation of pronouns and concord links, prefixes used before verbs governed by, and adjectives describing, a noun of the given class.

Noun classes[link]

The corresponding concord links are identical to the nominal prefixes except in the cases of classes 1 and 2, which have concord links 'mb-' and 'a-' respectively. The convention of inclusing classes 15b, 16 and 17 deviates from the traditional Bantu system, their prefixes being more properly prepositional or case determiners.

Verbal forms[link]

The personal forms are given below, with informal forms given in brackets.

There are affirmative and negative forms of the verb, each with approximately the following divisions:

Indicative mood[link]

As in many Bantu languages, this is characterised by an ending 'a'. Present, immediate future, present perfect, past and past perfect tenses are distinguished, the last being irregular in formation.

Subjunctive mood[link]

The subjunctive mood is similar in form to the indicative, but as in many Bantu languages, the final 'a' is changed to 'e'. It can be used as a polite imperative, and is usually associated with subordinate clauses.

Imperative[link]

To form the 'ordinary' (often less polite) imperative, the simple stem may be used, or 'n' may be prefixed to the indicative, or the continuative suffixes '-ga' or '-je' may be added.

Pronouns[link]

The personal pronouns relate only to classes 1 and 2. Other pronouns are formed from the class links. These pronouns, as a common Bantu feature, are absolute, in that they stand alone from the rest of the sentence: for nominative accusative and prepositional forms, affixes must be used. The third person pronouns depend on noun class, as explained above.

These forms may be combined according to certain normal Bantu laws of vowel elision with prefixes such as 'na' (with, and).

There are also several demonstratives, most of which form triples ('this one', 'that one nearby', and 'that one far away')- that is, triple deixis is used.

Some words and phrases[link]

(These are in the orthography of the 1952 New Testament ^[5])

• achatati wetu - our ancestors;
• atati - father;
• chakulya - food;
• chilambo - land;
• chilo - by night;
• chisima - well of water';
• chitabu - book;
• ipagwa - generation;
• jwali jose - anyone;
• jwatumile- (he) sent;
• ku musa wa Daudi - to the town of David;
• kukocha - to burn;
• kungopoka lyuwa - in the east;
• ...kwapi ? - Where ... ?;
• kwipululu - into the uninhabited places;
• lelo - today;
• lilowe lyenu - your word;
• lina lyakwe ne Yohana - his name is John;
• lina - name;
• litala - way;
• maganga'ga - these stones;
• majoka - snakes;
• masengo - deeds, actions;
• matumbi - mountains;
• matiwi - valleys;
• mchipi - darkness;
• meso - face, eyes;
• mgunda wa lwasi - field of blood;
• miasi - blood;
• miesi jitatu - three months;
• mkono - right arm;
• nyumba - house;
• mnyumba - in the house;
• moto - fire;
• mtima - heart;
• mumtima - in heart;
• mwiganga - against a stone;
• ndondwa - star;
• ng'onde - cattle, beasts;
• ngutuma - I am sending;
• pasi - below;
• tutumbi - hill(s);
• wandu wose - all people;
• waweni - he saw.

See also[link]

• Yao people
• Bantu languages

References[link]

Qamar Gula (قمر ګله) is a singer from Afghanistan. Among the female singers from Afghanistan, she is very well known and has fans all across Afghanistan and the Pashtun . She is said to have been among the very first female singers who sang for Radio and Television Afghanistan.

Early life[link]

Qamar Gula was born in Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. She started her singing career when she was only seven years old.^[1] Pa ma mayana stargay de sray de, was the first song she sang on Radio Afghanistan which introduced her to the people of Afghanistan. Qamar guls son is Dilawar Zakhil.

Family life[link]

Qamar Gula is a widow of late Mohammad Din Zakhil. Qamar Gula along with her three daughters and three sons now resides in Ontario, Canada where she continues her music career.

Awards[link]

• Golden Medals: Zahir Shah, Daud Khan, Babrak Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah - King and Presidents of Afghanistan.^[1]
• Nightingale title: Hamid Karzai - President of Afghansitan ^[1]
• Best Singer: Ariana Television ^[1]
• Best Singer: Afghan community of California ^[1]

External links[link]

• Qamar Gula's interview with BBC Pashto

References[link]