Ila language

Ila ("Chiila") is a language of Zambia. Maho (2009) lists Lundwe ("Shukulumbwe") and Sala as distinct languages most closely related to Ila. Ila is one of the languages of the Earth included on the Voyager Golden Record.
Labio-glottal and palato-glottal fricatives.
Doke (1928) described several unusual doubly articulated consonants in Ila proper, Kafue Twa and Lundwe.
In Ila proper, are "modified glottal fricatives in which the air passes through the throat with considerable friction, and is modified by being thrown against the toothless ridge and inside of the upper lip, causing concomitant frication there. ... The tongue is meanwhile kept in velar vowel position as for [u] and these fricatives therefore inherently possess a "u-"glide, which is noticeable when they are used with any other vowel than "u"." The 'concomitant lip frication' is evidently something like that of [f] and [v]. Doke transcribed these sounds simply .
Lundwe and Kafwe Twa have a palato-glottal fricative . "This sound is produced with a tongue position similar to Ila but with considerable voiced frication in the throat at the same time."
Tonality and stress.
Tone is demonstrated by contrasting aze with high pitch on the first syllable ( = "with him") with aze with high pitch on the second syllable (= "he also").
Some comparisons.
Bemba: IMFIFI - darkness; Kisanga: "mfinshi" - darkness; and Bulu (Ewondo): "dibi" - darkness.
Ideophones or imitation words.
Words in English such as "Splash!", "Gurgle", "Ker-putt" express ideas without the use of sentences. Smith and Dale point out that this kind of expression is very common in the Ila language:
"You may say" Ndamuchina anshi "("I throw him down"), but it is much easier and more trenchant to say simply" Ti!, " and it means the same".
Some examples:
Class prefixes.
As in many other languages, Ila uses a system of "noun classes". Either the system as presented by Smith and Dale is simpler than that for Nyanja, ChiChewa, Tonga, or Bemba, or the authors have skated over the complexities by the use of the category "significant letter":
The "locatives" form a special category:
Thus:
The Ila verb system.
The "root" is the part of the verb giving the primary meaning. To this can be added prefixes and suffixes: many elements can be united in this way, sometimes producing long and complex polysyllabic verb words. For example, from the root anga, "to tie",
we can derive such a form as Tamuna kubaangulwila anzhyi? meaning, "Why have you still not untied them?"
Prefixes can show:
Suffixes can show:
Here are some of the forms of the verb kubona, "to see". (Note that there are also "negative" forms, e.g. ta-tu-boni, "we do not see", that there is also a "subjunctive" mood, a "conditional" mood, a "jussive" mood and the "imperative". Many "subjunctive" forms end in -e.
The "root" of the verb is in two forms:
The above English renderings are approximate.
Certain "suffixes" add new dimensions of meaning to the "root". Although these follow some logic, we again have to feel a way towards an adequate translation into English or any other language:
These can be used in composites: e.g. langilizhya - to cause to look on behalf of.
Oral literature.
A text given by Smith and Dale, Sulwe Mbwakatizha Muzovu ("How Mr. Hare managed to scare Mr. Elephant") presents what might be called a "classical fabliau", with animals talking like people, just as in the Fables of Aesop or the Brer Rabbit stories in the African Diaspora. Is it fanciful to see the model for the mischievous, resourceful Brer Rabbit in the Sulwe of this story? It seems that slaves destined for the southern United States were captured and purchased in this area of Zambia. There is at least a statistical possibility that the Brer Rabbit cycle, with its use of ideophones or sound imitations, had an origin in the Ila language.
Bibliography.
Smith, Edwin William & Dale, Andrew Murray, "The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia". Macmillan and Company, London, 1920.