Daka

Language / Langue Bambara/Jula-English
1

A student that grew up with Koyaga variety of Jula at home recently wrote in with a good question, so I am sharing it here for future reference for others:

For the verb “dayɛlɛ” [‘open’] is there any jula form close to “daka” ?

Here’s my response:

The standard Jula/Bambara form is “dayɛlɛ” which is a compound verb that comes from da ‘entry; door; mouth’ and k’à yɛlɛ ‘to open sth’. The form “daka” makes sense though because in Maninka “k’à ka” means to ‘to open sth’. I am used to hearing it with causative prefix la- (e.g., “Da laka!” = ‘Open the door’; Lit. “Make open the door”).

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Thanks for your feedback, there is a verb « k’à daka » in koyagakan as :

  • « Bidon daka » (open the bottle)
    -« Bwona daka » which means « open the door » and sometimes we also use exactly the same as Maninka « Da laka ».

Different meanings of « bwona »
Bwona means « door » but also « family clan ». For example in Mankono in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) there are different « bwona » and among them « Dosso bwona ».

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