The Ekegusii Projects - work already done

EEP (Ekegusii Encyclopedic Projects) kick-started the process of preparing the Ekegusii dictionary with no external funding - using minimal resources pooled from individual savings, from well wishers and from collaborators. We hired 20 coordinators in the 10 administrative boundaries of the larger Gusii to consult language experts, enthusiasts and ekegusii "activists".

EEP members have compiled information on:
14,570 Nouns, adverbs, adjectives
3,900 Verbs (this section around 150,000 words)
500 proverbs
200 wise sayings
250 Settlements and emergence of over 165 clans

The Ekegusii language is heavily dependent on tone; one word may mean several different things depending on tone. Furthermore it has over 750 iterative verbs (verbs which are derivable into an average of 7) while each verb has 4 past tenses, 2 present tenses and 3 future tenses, giving around 125,000 combinations.

The official launch of EEP was at the Royal Court Hotel, Mombasa, on 24 Nov 2006.

Community leaders have made aware of the need to preserve the Ekegusii language through workshops in the rural areas of the larger Kisii.

Collection and compilation of data continues. The work is now in its fourth year.

THE EKEGUSII ENCYCLOPEDIC PROJECT dONLINE EKEGUSII ENCYCLOPEDIA

Home Page
Specific Objectives	Why are we doing this?
The Abagusii	Where we are now
The need for this initiative	Discussion page
Benefits of Language Preservation	Ekegusii Workshops
Why we are pushing this project	Diary: May 2007
Ground Covered	Diary: June 2007
Ground not yet covered	A few pictures
We need help	Developments, Oct 2007
Contact Details	Language Documentation
Carvings - retail outlet required	Additional Objectives, Aug 2008
More carvings	What is a language?
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copyright Kennedy Bosire / Diversity website

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