(-)Ndélé
‘Cloth’
Discussion Questions
- What questions do the range of meanings associated with the lexicon of cloth raise about the history of the cloth trade in west central Africa (and beyond)?
- Based on the range of meanings associated with the root word, what made foreign trade cloth different from local cotton, bark, and raffia cloths produced on the continent? Are there any patterns in how the term marked differences in cloth over time or space? What might account for such patterns?
- When applied to name categories of people, the attestations tell us something about who was involved in the cloth trade. What patterns can you find over time and, especially, space (particularly moving inland from the coast)? How might we explain these patterns?
- How might the period during which a dictionary or wordlist was collected affect the translation of African words and ideas into European languages? Can you find evidence of such biases?
How to cite this material: de Luna, Kathryn M. “(-)Ndele.” Atlantic Language Archive. Georgetown University. [Insert Access Date Here]. http://atlanticlangarchive.georgetown.edu/ndele/.
