Money Whisperer wrote:@Wakanyugi, using your own example Kirinyaga/Keenyaa to apply the consonant drift theory, I find that is is the opposite of what you are stating. To me Kamba is a later dialect derived from Gikuyu. How now? let me explain. consonant drift means as you correctly state that pronunciation moves to easier forms; the easier forms are those with less consonants. consonants are harder to pronounce than vowels infact a child in first language acquisition begins with vowels then consonants follow so it follows that between Kirinyaga and Kenyaa that the Kamba did away with the consonants in Kirinyaga. For example a wazua derivative drifts from McReggae to Mareggae, get the drift?
On Gikuyu/Kamba relations, the Gikuyu myth explains the Kamba as athoni (in-laws) through Wamuyu the ninth daughter of Gikuyu
Good example -
Kirinyaga/Kenyaa - but I think you have answered your own question.
First to debunk a common error that the name of our country is derived from Gikuyu. It actually comes from the Kamba language, they were the people who named
Mt Kenyaa.Now to consonant drift simplified: as you have noted, 'over time, people tend towards the easiest format of speech possible by dropping 'hard' sounds for softer ones.
In other words, to borrow your metaphor, they tend to speak like children.
Kirinyaga becomes
Kenyaa,
'r' becomes
'l',
'd' becomes
't' etc. This drift happens over many generations, unless external factors intervene.
The fewer the 'hard' sounds that remain in a language or dialect, the more consonant drift it has undergone. Therefore that language is considered older. Some factors can interfere with this process (eg writing, external enforcement, influence of other languages etc) but we can ignore these factors here.
Kikamba has much fewer 'hard' sounds than Gikuyu and the derivation - as in
Kirinyaga/Kenyaa is very easy to show.
Gikuyu is therefore a dialect of Kikamba, not the other way round. The main reason people would find it hard to accept this fact is largely political, not scientific. Remember the saying "
Language is a dialect with an army."
If the Kamba people had inherited the political power that the Gikuyu did, this argument would be moot.
And this is just the linguistic evidence. The anthropological as in the example you have given is even more convincing.
"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." (Niels Bohr)