Some Terms From Liberian Speech--1979

apostrophies and the standard spellings to convey the
Liberian pronunciation, and this has seemed sufficient
since Liberians do not so much alter the sounds of English
words as, instead, merely omit some of them. For example,
the sentence "I want you must eat my rice" would be spoken
by a Liberian thus: "I wan' you mu' ea' my ri'." On the
occasions that Liberians do change the sounds of English
words, I have substituted the appropriate letters. The
chief instance of this changing of sounds is words containing
tho The th sound in words like this, these, and those is
pronounced by Liberians and spelled herein ~ -- dis, dese,
dose. The th sound in words like throw, think, and three is
pronounced and spelled ~ -- trow, tink, tree. However, my
spellings will not ordinarily be found in the listings of
entries in the left-hand column of the dictionary; there the
words are spelled in standard form. Thus, the word finished
is listed under finish, and in my comment the reader will
find my phonetic spelling "finni'." While on .the subject of
spelling, I should note that I have omitted d'Azevedo's
appendix, a GUIDE TO TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION,
because it is long and he did not use it in the text of the
dictionary.

The reader will quickly notice that d'l~evedo's style
is different from mine. I could have written my entries to
conform to his ideas, or rewritten his to conform to mine,
but I have decided to respect both of us. Obvious typographical
errors I have corrected but, excepting a few minor
points,d'Azevedo's entries are as he wrote them. The first
point concerns the means of indicating that the word itself,
and not its meaning, is being discussed~ In the sentence
"The boy went to town," ~ is the second word. In this
example I have underlined ~ to show that the word, and not
the person, is my subject. Ordinarily d'Azevedo chose to use
quotation marks for this purpose. He .,~lsoused quotation
marks to indicate an entry in the dictionary (for example, he
would write: "See, also, 'country salt'."), and again I
preferred underlining for this purpose. I underlined instead
of enclosed in quotation marks because if I had been able to
italicize, I would have italicized, as I believe d'Azevedo
would have, too. This begs the question. I just think


ix

I have long wished this lexicon were published in
hardcovers, rather than in mimeograph. In the summer of
1979, I therefore asked my patient, long-suffering secretary,
Bonnie Refft, to retype the whole of this dictionary in a
format that would lend itself to photocopying and binding.
Miss Refft complied with admirable speed and care, and I
thank her. I have taken this opportunity to add a few terms
to the text which I had inked in on my copy.

Ithaca, New York
July, 1979
-
xi


________________________________________________________________

Dedication

Many persons have been kind to the MSEG during the
months I have been back in Liberia and working on this
dictionary. They have been more than kind, since without
them not only could I not have written, but also I could
not have stayed in the country. Foremost among them is
John, and after him, Dale.

Others have been hospitable, friendly, helpful to us
for as long as they have known the MSEG (or as much as then
existed). They have made a rough course navigable, and I
will always remember them for it. They are Lenore and Sam
and the sawbones HVC. As though I were their son, I can
never repay these persons except by being as generous to
someone else, and I promise that I will try.

. To these fine persons, and as always and ever to
Sand E, I dedicate my work on this dictionary. The revisions
are for KC.


_____________________________________________________________

Note

Entries preceded by an asterisk are present in
d'Azevedo's dictionary, but they were not personally observed
by him. Entries preceded by a plus sign are by Gold. Entries
without any mark preceding them are d'Azevedo's own.

xiii

A-2 abuse/ African science~ or signs


abuse= curse; verbally insult; ridicule.
"That teacher abuse me when 1 make
mistake" (That teacher made fun of me
or spoke harshly to me over something
1 could not help). (See, also, cauz
and swear.)

African= a term used for all persons~
customs, and things indigenous to
Africa. Formerly, in Liberia, the
term did not usually apply to the
descendants of the colonists or to
their culture. However, since the
initiation of the government's
unification policy" the term is
used more generally. (See, also,
country, tribal, and native.)
+1 heard African used only in
school or by educated persons. Most
Liberians would say black man before
they would say African. When
African was used, it always meant
any black person born in Africa or
anything of African origins; it was
never used to distinguish between
Liberians some of whose ancestors
were born in America and Liberians
all of whose ancestors were born in
Africa.

African science,
or signs'=
a common allusion among young
Western-er~~ated Liberians for traditional
African technology and
beliefs -- particularly those
connected with ritual and magical
practices which are alien to, or
dismissed by, Euro-american science.

~

A-5 agree / aunt

as "my agent t'ing."

+agree
used instead of consent,
concur, ~ along with, but rarely
in the sense of "having- like minds."
Often it means "Will you do it?" as
if you asked a boy to wash your
clothes for 50~ and you finished by

saying, "You can agree?"
A.L. (See Merico.)

+all two
both. "Waste all two bucket'."

"I wan' all two dress'."
+an
didn't -- but only as the first
word of a query. "An you go in town
yesterday?" "An I tell you something
about it before?" "An he fall
down two time'?"

aunt
in some sections of the country,
this term refers only to
father's sisters, father's female
cousins, and sometimes to one's own
female cousins on the father's side
who are much older than oneself.
This English usage is often associated
with native kinship terminology
which distinguishes father's
sister from mother's sister, and
father's brother from mother's
brother. (See uncle.)

+Liberians use terms of kinship
more broadly than do Americans.
In addressing someone, Liberians may
call any woman Ma, any man O1' Pa,
..
any stranger Brodder or Sister.
In designating someone, Liberians ,
are a little more definite. ~
01' lady -- which is not derogatory,
age being respected -- refers
to a mature woman who is close to
the speaker, but she need not be
his natural mother. Similarly,
brodder may refer to a cousin, or
to nothing closer than a friend,
but usually some tie binds the
speaker to the person to whom he
refers: he may be any blood relation,
is probably at least a
tribesfellow, but may be only a
neighbor or school mate. If a
Liberian wanted to be sure you
understood that he referred to his
natural mother, he would speak of
her as his born ma. If he wanted
you to know that he referred to
his full brother, he would append
the phrase one ma, one~, as in
"Dah my brodder, one ma, one pa."
+Liberian usage of kinship
terms reflects the pattern of
Liberian family life, which is
different from the pattern of
American fami~y life. The chief
differences are the tribe and the
extended family. An adult woman
of the tribe may exercise much of
the author~ty over a child that
his natural mother would, so that
calling her aunt or ~ is appropriate
enough. Likewise; a very
distant cousin or tribesfellow may

live in the same house and be
treated in much the same way as
a brother or close cousin, so that
calling him brother is sensible.

+That a person unrelated by
blood to the speaker may be referred
to and treated as a brother or cousin,
suggests to me that the tribe
was once the basic social unit of
Liberians. I speculate that as
communications and travel improved,
the tribe began to lose its tight
authority and was replaced as the
basic unit by the extended family.
Even the extended family resembles
a tribe more than it does an American
family. Relatives have nearly'
equal authority and responsibility,
and enjoy n~arly equal respect and
love, with natural parents; indeed,
parents' older siblings may carry
more weight on certain matters than
the parents themselves. These facts
are mirrored in Liberian speech. My
girl friend referred to her father's
younger brother as her Ea, though
fully aware that he was her uncle,
for he was the oldest male relative
of her father's side of the family
living in Monrovia. She generally
obeyed this uncle and occasionally
received gifts from him.

+But as the tribe is disintegrating,
so the extended family
shows signs of breaking down.
Nuclear families -- father, mother,
and only their ~wn children -- are
"'
perhaps increasingly found in
Monrovia, and city dwellers are
growing reluctant to send their
earnings home into the bush and
to accept children from the bush.

The effect on language may be a
stricter use of terms of kinship.
One day Liberians may even speak of
uncles once removed and fourth
cousins. In the meantime, terms of
kinship tend to reflect the actual,
working relationship between the
parties, rather than merely their
blood ties.