Dictionnaire

The Kom language (Itañikom) is spoken by over 150,000 speakers living in Boyo Division, located in the North West Province of Cameroon. While slight pronunciation differences exist between some of the geographic areas of Kom, the essential unity and intercomprehensibility of the language is attested to by speakers from all areas.

This provisional Kom – English lexicon has been compiled primarily for speakers of the Kom language, though it will also be of interest to non-speakers who desire to study or learn the language. It is intended to serve several purposes in the further development of the Kom language. Hopefully, the lexicon will stimulate interest in the use of Kom in its written form and will help all students of the language, both adults and children, as they learn to read and write Kom. Further, the lexicon will serve as a repository of cultural terms and information which may otherwise be lost as the language evolves and develops over time. Finally, the lexicon may be used as a reference source in standardizing the spelling of Kom words and terminology throughout the Kom region.

The Kom alphabet is in conformity with the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages, which was adopted in 1979 by the National Committee for the unification and harmonization of the alphabets of Cameroon languages.

The lexicon contains over 4,000 entries and is an introduction to Kom words and phrases. “Inventaire Thématique de 2000 Termes,” published by SIL in 1987, served as a thematic basis for the initial collection of words. Among the entries are some loan words from other languages such as English and Hausa.

Each lexical entry will include a part of speech and a brief definition in English. Multiple definitions are numbered. Additional information may also be given including such things as: variant spellings, plural forms of nouns, noun class genders, synonyms, antonyms, cross-references to related words, and more detailed encyclopedic information on trees. Verbs are cited without the introductory infinitive particle sí. For example, sí beè ‘to say,’ is entered merely as beè v. say.

The Kom Alphabet, a list of Abbreviations, and a Table of Kom Noun Classes precede the body of the lexicon. Following the body of the lexicon is an English – Kom Index with over 5,000 entries. For instance, the previous example of beè v. say, is reversed to yield, say v. beè. In both cases, the part of speech refers to the Kom word. Finally, a number of reference tables are included after the English – Kom Index. These concern possessives, demonstratives, and various pronouns, e.g., subject, object and relative ones.

The variant spellings are based upon alternative pronunciations. Among the variants, words containing the “sh” sound have also been included, though phonologically, this sound is predictable as an allophone of “s”, occurring before palatalization, labialization, or high vowels. It is included because many Kom speakers have requested it.

Thanks are sincerely expressed to the members of the Kom Language Development Committee (KLDC), and to those who participated on the Lexicon Subcommittee, in particular, Mr. LOH Pius who also assisted in the revision of the lexicon. I am also grateful to the Ijim Mountain Forest Project for their Ethnobotanical Tree Survey that was carried out in 1992 by Chia Lawrence Nsom and Jeff Dick. The detailed information from that survey has been included. Finally, I want to thank my colleagues at SIL for their help in advising, formatting and printing the lexicon.

The KLDC is very grateful for the financial assistance that was provided by the URCO Foundation for the printing of this lexicon.

This lexicon has been developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Scientific and Technical Research.

The work of compiling a lexicon is never finished. All who use it are invited to share their suggested additions and corrections with the KLDC’s Literacy Committee.

The Kom Alphabet

A or Å	a or š	abas	lizard
Æ	æ	kæò	four
B	b	boè	bag
Ch	ch	chu’	pound
D	d	daèla	traditional gown
E	e	aènse	file
F	f	fíkaê’	tree
G	g or Š	geèlïì	carry on head
Gh	gh or Šh	ghelí	people
I	i	ibi	kola nut
Í	í	fí	hoe
J	j	jva	river
’		duè’ïì	sit
K	k	kel	basket for corn fufu
L	l	lo	lick
M	m	mílví	ants
N	n	nïìni	grandmother
Ny	ny	nyam	animal
Ñ	ñ	ñaèñlÏì	crawl
O	o	ndo	house
Œ	œ	íkœ	arm
S	s	asañ	corn
T	t	tem	clear with a cutlass
U	u	wul	person
UE	ue	akue	belt
V	v	ívís	fire
W	w	wayn	child
Y	y	ayes	broom
Z	z	azue	nose
Low Tone¹ è
Falling Tone ê

¹ The Kom language has several tones or pitches. However, in the current established system of writing, the tone on any given syllable
of a word is only marked if it is Low (`) or Falling to low (ˆ). This lexicon does not include phonetic transcriptions of entries.

Abbreviations

adj	adjective	past impf	past tense, imperfect
adv	adverb	past rec today	past tense, recent, today
adv emph	adverb, emphatic	past today	past tense, today
adv intns	adverb, intensive	past ystrday	past tense, yesterday
adv simult	adverb, simultaneous	pl.	plural
Ant	antonym	poss adj	possessive adjective
asp compl	aspect, completive	poss adj logo	possessive adjective, logophoric
asp cont	aspect, continuous (imperfect)	prep	preposition
asp incompl	aspect, incompletive	pres	present tense
asp prog	aspect, progressive	pro	pronoun
assoc	associative marker	pro dem	pronoun, demonstrative
cm	centimetre	pro excl	pronoun, exclusive
cond	conditional particle	pro indef	pronoun, indefinite
conj	conjunction	pro logo obj	pronoun, logophoric, objective
conj coord	conjunction, coordinating	pro logo subj	pronoun, logophoric, objective
conj dev	conjunction, developmental	pro obj	pronoun, objective
dem adj	demonstrative adjective	pro poss	pronoun, possessive
dem intr	demonstrative introducer	pro recip	pronoun, reciprocal
excl.	exclusive	pro reflx	pronoun, reflexive
e.g.	for example	pro rel	pronoun, relative
exclm	exclamation	pro subj	pronoun, subjective
fut	future tense	quest marker	question marker
fut beyond today	future tense, beyond today	sg.	singular
fut dist	future tense, distant	s.o.	someone
fut today	future tense, today	s.t.	something
i.e.	in other words	Syn	synonym
impf	imperfect	v	verb
incl.	inclusive	v aux	verb, auxiliary
inf intr	infinitive introducer	v (imp.)	verb, imperative
interj	interjection	v (imp. intns)	verb, imperative, intensive
interrog	interrogative	voc	vocative
interrog pro	interrogative pronoun	3pl	3^rd person plural
lit.	literally	3sg	3^rd person singular
m	meter	(n 7/8)	noun class: showing the singular form to be class 7, and the plural class 8
n	noun	(n 7/8)	noun class: showing the singular form to be class 7, and the plural class 8
ncl concord	noun class concord marker	3pl	3^rd person plural
ncl pf	noun class prefix	3sg	3^rd person singular
ncl sf	noun class suffix	(n 7/8)	noun class: showing the singular form to be class 7, and the plural class 8
neg	negative	voc	vocative
num	numeral	3pl	3^rd person plural
num pro	numerical pronoun	3sg	3^rd person singular
past dist	past tense, distant	(n 7/8)	noun class: showing the singular form to be class 7, and the plural class 8

Table of Kom Noun Classes¹

Noun Class	Prefix (Suffix in Class 10)	Example	Meaning
1	Ø-	bæò, wayn	father, child
2	ghí-, Ø-	ghÏìbæò, woyn	fathers, children
3	í-	ílweñ	bamboo (sg.)
4	i-	ileñ	bamboo (pl.)
5	i-	isañ, ibi	corn (sg.), kola nut
6	a-	asañ	corn (pl.)
7	a-	aètaèm	elephant
8	í-	Ïìtwaèm	elephants
9	N-, Ø-	ndoñ, kaêf	horn, armpit
10	-sí	ndoñsí, kaêfsÏì	horns, armpits
13	tí-	tíbi	kola nuts
19	fí-	fÏìnjaèm	axe
6a	mí-	mÏìnjam	axes

¹ When a singular form of a word from one class is paired with its plural form from another class, these pairings are called double class genders. There are several possible pairings in Kom: 1/2, 3/4, 3/6, 3/6a, 3/13, 5/6, 5/6a, 5/13, 7/6a, 7/8, 9/10, 19/6a. For example, compare isañ ‘corn’ and ibi ‘kola nut,’ class 5 for the singular forms. Yet their plural forms are class 6 and class 13 respectively.

Provisional

Kom – English Lexicon

Boyo Division

North West Province

Republic of Cameroon

compiled by

Randy JONES

SIL

2001

1. INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The Kom Alphabet

Table of Kom Noun Classes¹

Noun Class

Prefix (Suffix in Class 10)

Example

Meaning

Provisional

Kom – English Lexicon

Boyo Division

North West Province

Republic of Cameroon

compiled by

Randy JONES

SIL

2001

1. INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The Kom Alphabet

Table of Kom Noun Classes1

Noun Class

Prefix (Suffix in Class 10)

Example

Meaning

Table of Kom Noun Classes¹