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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Some Linguistic Evidence in the Study of Kru Ethnolinguistic Affiliation
Author:Breitborde, Lawrence B.
Year:1976
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:7
Issue:2
Pages:109-119
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:Kru
Kru languages
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:Like the case for other Liberian peoples, the ways in which the Kru can be regarded as a people or a language are known to be quite complex, involving accounts of, on the one hand, the confederation of over forty distinct social groups of the hinterland into one 'tribe and, on the other, the inclusion of over forty dialects in the category of Kru language. Several issues in the published accounts of Kru ethnic and linguistic affiliation are considered here in the light of linguistic evidence available to historians, anthropologists and linguists working in this area. Four specific cases are examined: (1) the use of the indigenous term kla) as an ethnic label; (2) the phonological mechanisms involved in a common legend of the origins of the Kru polity; (3) the identification of subtribes among the Kru; and (4) linguistic and social structural aspects of the conceptualisation of differences among Kru dialects. Notes, ref.
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