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The Language-Families of Africa
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Historical SummaryThe method of examining the varieties of behavior patterns by taking examples here and there has the insuperable disadvantage of presenting no picture of the total configuration of any single culture. The African Bantu tribes and the American tribes of the Plains have been copiously represented in the preceding chapters for the sake of some concentration and because of the superior character of the reports. At this point a more organized sketch of the way of life of the Bantu Chagga will be added, supplementing the frequent preceding references to this tribe. It will be noted that life continuity in the individual and the sib is the leading concept and that while the tribe is patrilineal and patrilocal the importance of blood in the mother’s line is only less than among the Ashanti as reported by Rattray in the chapter on government. It will be understood that this "exemplification" of Bantu life as seen among the Chagga is from a single standpoint, that of life continuity, and consequently does not reflect the whole culture complex, but only the dominant concept. Furthermore the term "Bantu" is a linguistic term, like "Indo-European," applied to many groups speaking many related languages. It is estimated that there are about 182 Bantu languages plus 119 dialects.1 All the citations in the following discussion are from Gutmann’s volume,2 The Chagga see, or formerly saw, in every birth the return of an ancestor, and their explanation of the birth of children is assimilated to the conception that life is not merely the result of impregnation but represents also the reappearance or participation of ancestral spirits. For this reason the word for physiological birth is tabu:
CHAPTER XVII
Exemplification of Bantu Culture
When a Chagga wishes to be excused from his service on the land of the chief because of a childbirth at home, he says, "A mother is sick at my house." The messenger understands that a birth is involved but must ask, "Is it your wife or a cow?" The tabu of the word for birth is easy to understand as will appear later. It is the fear of naming an event, whether connected with a woman or a cow, which is more closely connected with sib unity than any other. In former times if a married man in conversation with a youth were asked where children came from and replied that they were born, he made a public scandal and was taken before the court of the chief. As one who had betrayed marriage secrets he was fined three oxen, one for the child, one for the old men, and one for his age class (2–3).
1Werner, A.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 25.
2Das Recht der Dschagga (C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. By permission).
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Chicago: "The Language-Families of Africa," The Language-Families of Africa in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed May 9, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=AXG2DMWEC41Y2G3.
MLA: . "The Language-Families of Africa." The Language-Families of Africa, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 9 May. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=AXG2DMWEC41Y2G3.
Harvard: , 'The Language-Families of Africa' in The Language-Families of Africa. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 9 May 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=AXG2DMWEC41Y2G3.
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