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Ku (language)
Encyclopedia
Ku is a fictional language
Fictional language
Fictional languages are by far the largest group of artistic languages. Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world and are often designed with the intent of giving more depth and an appearance of plausibility to the fictional worlds with which they are associated, and...
appearing in the 2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
/thriller film The Interpreter
The Interpreter
The Interpreter is a 2005 political thriller film starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Catherine Keener. It was the final film to be directed by Sydney Pollack.-Plot:...
. In the film, Ku is a language spoken in the fictional
Fictional country
A fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof....
Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n country of Matobo
Matobo
Matobo can refer to:*Matobo National Park in Zimbabwe*Matobo District, an administrative division of Zimbabwe*Matobo, a village in Botswana...
. The constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
was created for the film by Said el-Gheithy, the director of the Centre for African Language Learning in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Commissioned by The Interpreter's director, Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
, and Working Title Films
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
, el-Gheithy adapted aspects of Shona
Shona language
Shona is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples who speak one of the Shona language dialects: Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika, Ndau and Korekore...
and Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
, languages spoken in Eastern and Southern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, to devise the basis of this fictional language.
The language has its own internal dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
and el-Gheithy created a whole culture and history in his mind.
In this context, the actual language spoken by the Tobosa people of the fictional Democratic Republic of Matobo, although known as 'Ku' to foreigners, is indigenously known as Chitob uk u which literally means 'the language of the Tobosa people'. Ch'itoboku, then, would be the only surviving ancient Bantu language, and the Tobosa oral traditions indicate that 'Ku' is the root of modern Bantu languages spoken in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
. There is no gender distinction, hence the word for 'he' or 'she' is the same, 'a'. Verbosity is positively valued in Ch'itoboku, and ordinary speech should approximate the elegance of poetry.
As with most African cultures
Culture of Africa
The culture of Africa encompasses and includes all cultures within the continent of Africa. There is a political or racial split between North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, which is in turn divided into a great number of ethnic cultures...
, Tobosa customs are based on age and gender. Drawing on the historical tradition, elders greet younger generations first, and women speak before men. Greetings are essentially verbal, but are followed by a touching of foreheads. The most common expression in greeting is 'sonna', meaning 'hello', but a more energised greeting is kwambu, and the response is kwamb uk uu, 'and how are you?'
There is not a single word for 'thanks,' but the word tenane is used to show appreciation and is expressed through the clapping
Clapping
A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often in a constant drone to express appreciation or approval , but also in rhythm to match sounds in music and dance...
of hands. Men clap with their palms and fingers together, while women clap with their hands across each other. During meetings and conversation, sneezing is an indication of disbelief. On leaving, one would say digai , which actually means 'you haven't gone for ever, we will see you again'. The person staying responds by saying digaidigai.
The language and cultures of the Tobosa have been influenced by links with the outside world through colonialism and more recently as a result of processes of globalisation. For example modern technology has become part of the modern 'Ku' vocabulary, and is now written and pronounced as Kompyutanga. Matoba is currently enjoying more prosperity, not from the usual gas and mineral resources, but rather from its special herbal tea, zingwe, drinking of which is believed to guarantee eternal youth.
Quotation
"We're kepéla. – It means standing on opposite sides of the river." (Nicole KidmanNicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
as Silvia Broome in The Interpreter
The Interpreter
The Interpreter is a 2005 political thriller film starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Catherine Keener. It was the final film to be directed by Sydney Pollack.-Plot:...
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