2. orthography

In taking down the taki-taki text, we have employed a phonetic orthography rather than the traditional Dutch method of writing this speech. In the light of the body of literature dealing with taki-taki, and of the texts given in the language, it may be well to indicate our reasons for doing this. In considering the manner in which taki-taki is usually written, it is soon seen that the letters of the European alphabet come to have that standardised significance characteristic of the letters of any written language, and hence, for the purposes of scientific analysis, such rendition makes for loss of accuracy. To cite but one example, there is no symbol in European orthography which represents the nasalisation that is so outstanding a characteristic of Suriname speech. But nasalisation is also an outstanding characteristic of African speech, and if correspondences with African languages are to be traced, this cannot be neglected. In order, therefore, to secure a reproduction of taki-taki which might be most adaptable for a study of African relationships, we employed a phonetic system of notation, and we found that, having done this, we were also in a position to analyze the variations in the speech of a given individual, as, man or mą for ‘man’, of uma or umą for ‘woman’, of wą, wan, or wąn, for the numeral ‘one’. To make our system clear to those accustomed to taki-taki written with Dutch spelling, we give here an excerpt from Van Cappelle's collection of tales, with an interlinear rendering of our own notation of the words, and a word-for-word translation.1

Anansi	ben	moesoe	zorgoe	vo	hem	heri	famirie,
Anąnsi	bɛn	musu	sɔrgu	fō	hɛm	heri	famiri,
Anąnsi	had	must	look-after	for	his	whole	family,

 

ma	a	no	ben	de	kisi	foeroe	vo	da	san	a	ben
ma	a	no	bɛn	dɛ	kɩsi	furu	fō	da	są	a	bɛn
but	he	no	had	is	catch	much	for	that	thing	he	had

 

de	tjari	kom	na	hoso;	foeroe	tron	a	go	na	bedie
dɛ	tyari	kɔ̨'	na	hoso;	furu	trǫ'	a	go	na	bɛdi
is	carry	come	to	house;	many	time	he	go	to	bed

 

nanga	hangri-beri	en	disi	no	ben	fiti	hem	ai.
nąŋga	ɔ̨ŋgri-bɛre	ɛn	dɩsi	no	bɛn	fɩti	hɛm	ai̯.
with	hungry-belly	and	this	no	had	fit	his	eye.

 

A	no	kan	go	so	moro	langa,	a	denki	na	hem	srefi,
A	no	ką'	go	so	mɔro	ląŋga,	a	dɛnki	na	hɛm	sɛrefi,
He	no	can	go	so	more	long,	he	think	to	him	self,

vo	wroko	vo	pikienso	monie	en	vo	habi	wan
fō	wroko	fō	pikinso	mɔni	ɛn	fō	habi	wąn
for	work	for	little-so	money	and	for	have	one

 

hangri-bere,	dati	no	kan	go	so	moro	langa...!	A
ɔ̨ŋgri-bɛre,	dati	no	ką'	go	so	mɔro	ląŋga...!	A
hungry-belly,	that	no	can	go	so	more	long...!	He

 

praktiseri	na	hem	srefi	en	a	go	foefoeroe	wan	pisi
praksɛri	na	hɛm	sɛrefi	ɛn	a	go	fufuru	wą	pɩsi
study	to	him	self	and	he	go	steal	one	piece

 

bere	vo	wan	kaw.	Mi	no	sa	taki	sortoe	passi
bɛrɛ	fō	wąn	kau̯.	Mi	no	sɑ	taki	sɔrtu	pasi
belly	for	one	cow.	Me	no	shall	talk	(what) sort	path

 

a	wakka	go	na	ini	kaw	bere.	Dem	moe	tapoe
a	waka	go	na	ɩni	kau̯	bɛrɛ.	Dɛm	mu	tapu
he	walk	go	the	inside	cow	belly.	They	must	stop

 

nanga	da	gridi	manieri,	mi	no	de	go	na	hoso
nąŋga	da	gridi	maneri,	mi	no	dɛ	go	na	hoso
with	the	greedy	manner,	me	no	is	go	to	house

 

jete,	fosi	mi	sa	njam	pikienso	en	a	san	de
yɛte,	fɔsi	mi	sɑ	nyąm	pikin-so	ɛn	'a	sąn'	dɛ
yet,	first	me	shall	eat	little-so	and	the	thing	is

 

libi	mi	sa	tjari	gi	dem.
libi	mi	sɑ	tyari	gi	dɛm.
leave	me	shall	carry	give	them.