Baatonum Dictionary Entries explained

Alphabetical order of entries

A word composed of one or more words in the dictionary will be ordered sequentially based on the letters.

Example : yaa
yaà
yaa baasi
yaa swia
yaabu

The nasal vowels [/ã, ɛ̃, ĩ, ɔ̃, ũ/] do not hold a special place in the alphabet. Nevertheless, when two words that are distinct only by the tilde /  ̃/ which signifies nasality, the word without the tilde will be listed first.

Example : yiire
Yĩire
Yiirema, yiirena, yiireri, yiiresi
Yĩiri
Yiiru

- We have tried to give to each word the French translation the most precise as possible. We are mindful that the meanings of words in one language do not completely correspond with the nuances of a word in another language. A mother tongue speaker of Baatonum will have a better chance of understanding the meaning by seeing an example sentence.

The abbreviation /fig./ means figurative sense. If a word has multiple meanings, they have letters a], b] etc. with a corresponding example in Baatonum.

-The Baatonum headword given represents the sole retained orthographic form. If a word has several forms that can be used in parallel, they will be separated by slash marks, as in the following example:
Yabereku / yebereku.
In that case, the two forms are accepted.

In contrast, if a word is followed by a cross reference /cf./ [voir sous...(see)], it is suggested to look up another word to see the other accepted forms.
Handunia cf. yandunia
In the example above, the reader will refer to the word /yandunia/.

-If a word carries low tone, that is an integral part of the orthography; it will be marked in every occurrance.
Example : dò, verbe: dò /dweya, dooya/,
Sabi u dò être endormi

If the noun is repeated between brackets with low tone, that is optional and only marked except when necessary.

Example : bararu [bàràru], pl. baranu n.t. soulier
Sabi u win baranu pota. [the tones are not necessary]
Sɔɔ be, ba ben bàrànu duari. [Without tone marks, the reader could confuse this with tams-tams drums]

Les nouns

The nouns are classified according to the singular form except for those that exist only in the plural.
/gari, wasi, gobi, etc./

In the entry, the plural form is shown to the right of the abbreviation for the plural
/pl./

The grammatical reference given will be for the nouns /n [nom] or /nc/ [nom composé] followed by a letter marking the nominal class to which the noun belongs. Following this letter, there will be the attributes [subject, determiners, relatives, etc.] that will be used with the noun in question [for more detail, the chapters numbers corresponding to study in the Grammar].
Example: yaburu, pl. yabunu n.t. marché
donc : yabu te pl. yabu ni
yabura ta …, yabunu nu…
yabu teeru etc.
duma pl. dumi n.y. cheval
donc : duma ye pl. dumi yi
duma ya…, dumi yi …
duma tia etc.

Nouns are formed by substantivation of a verb.
[gere – gerubu, di – dibu, kɔmia – kɔmiaru, wɛnya – wɛnyaru] thus meaning « action de… » are not included in this lexicon. We can easily reconstruct the radical /r./ from the verb to which we can add /-bu/, [cl. b] sometimes /-ru/ [cl. t] and in rare cases /-nu/ [cl. n].
These nouns do not have plural forms.

Verbs [abbreviated /v./]

It is important to remember that verbs are classified according to their form we call « racine » root.
To avoid a long grammatical explanation, we will simply say that the future form, i.e., with /u koo…, ga koo…, ta koo…, etc./, or also with a second verb /…………………/.
For the verb « parler » to talk, we don't use /geruwa/ nor /gerumɔ, etc./, but the form /gere/.

Immediately after the verb root, the radical /r/ follows. This radical will be used with the suffixes /-mɔ, -re, -bu, …etc./.
Example : duure, r. duuru-
donc : u duurumɔ, u ǹ duurure, duurubu
u wi duurusia, etc.

/aa/ means « completed action ». It is this form that marks the aspect of completed action [example : /u durumɔ/ [progressive action], /u duura [completed action].
The ending occurring after the slash mark, is that of negative completed action.

Example : duuro, r. duuru-, na duura/-re
Thus, we will know what we say /u duura/,
but in the negative form, it will be /u ǹ duure/.

The verb forms given permit us to reconstruct all the tenses and aspects needed.

Verbal locutions

Verbal locutions are common in this language. These are composed of several words.

Example : taki di, wiru go, etc.
The meanings of these complex verbal forms can be found from the individual words. For the words above, look at the words /di/ and /go/.

Verbal derivations or derivative suffixes

In the Baatonum dictionary, there are many derivative verbs /vd/.
These verb forms are constructed by adding suffixes to the radical of the verb stem, and express significant nuances related to it. Since these suffixes always express the same nuance [with rare exceptions], it was not necessary to add the French translation.
The meaning of these suffixes is the following:

-ma [action brought back to the speaker, beginning action]
-na [mutual action, one to another]
-ra [passive, action suffered]
-ri [action taken against, without the knowledge of, to the detriment of]
-si (ou) -e/ [towards, in that direction, in, on, using, etc.]
-sia [active, do, make happen]

It is natural to include some of these suffixes / gerusina, garisiama / etc. in the dictionary. Since that would have been too involved, we have decided not to include all these combinations. We have also not included the benefactive form of verbs that indicate that the action was done by someone.

Example : deri – deria,
wa – wawa,
kasu – kasua
[u man tire te kerea] « Il m’a laissé le livre » He left me the book.
To create this nuance, just add /-a/ to verbs of more than one syllable and /-ya/ or /-wa/ to monosyllabic verbs.

Verbs of quality or state

Veq signifies « verb of state or quality » as the name indicates, verbs that do not describe an action, rather a state, a situation or a quality. This type of verb corresponds often to a qualifying adjective in French. /daa te, ta duku/. « This backwater is deep ».
The verbs of quality « veq » are generally related to an action verb.

- yɔ̃ra [stop, stand], - yɔ̃̀ [to be up]
- sina [sit] – sɔ̃̀ [be seated]
- kpɛ̃̀a [to grow] - kpã [to be big]
- kpuna [sleep] - kpĩ [t asleep] etc.
The verbs of quality /veq/ are invariable the same way as invariable verbs /v. inv./. This means that the verbs of quality do not change their form. They only occur with the tense and aspect particles.

Adjectives (adj.)

Adjectives are very abundant in Baatonum. A few of them are invariables, example « kpuro ». Others have two forms « dabiru – dabinu »,
but most of them are variables in function of classes. They are classified according to their stem. If the stem varies, it is necessary to look for the most current form.
For example, to find « blanc, search for à kpik- and not kpika, kpikiru, kpikisu, etc.
Also, to find « grand » look for « baka » and not « bakaru, bɔkɔ, boko, » etc.
The most current form will list all the forms corresponding to different classes.

Adverbs (adv.)

There is one important aspect regarding Baatonum adverbs. The onomatopoeic adverbs are very abundant in Baatonum.
Examples: mam mam, siki siki, kotem, kobam, fia, yɔrɔrɔ, etc. We have not had time to create a complete list.