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Appendix:Sranan Tongo Swadesh list

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This is a Swadesh list of words in Sranan Tongo, compared with definitions in English.

Presentation

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For further information, including the full final version of the list, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list.

American linguist Morris Swadesh believed that languages changed at measurable rates and that these could be determined even for languages without written precursors. Using vocabulary lists, he sought to understand not only change over time but also the relationships of extant languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings he presumed would be available in as many cultures as possible. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting in 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew to 215 in 1952, which was so expansive that many languages lacked native vocabulary for some terms. Subsequently, it was reduced to 207, and reduced much further to 100 meanings in 1955. A reformulated list was published posthumously in 1971.

List

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No. English Sranan
sranan tongo
1 I mi
2 you (singular) yu, i
3 he, she, it a, en
4 we wi, unu, un
5 you (plural) unu, un
6 they den
7 this disi
8 that dati
9 here dya
10 there drape
11 who suma
12 what san, fa
13 where pe
14 when oten
15 how o, fa
16 not no
17 all ala
18 many furu
19 some son, wantu
20 few wanwan
21 other tra
22 one wan
23 two tu
24 three dri
25 four fo
26 five feifi
27 big bigi
28 long langa
29 wide bradi
30 thick deki
31 heavy hebi
32 small pikin
33 short syatu
34 narrow smara
35 thin fini, mangri
36 woman uma
37 man (adult male) man
38 man (human being) sma, libisma
39 child pikin, pikinnengre
40 wife frow
41 husband masra
42 mother mama
43 father papa
44 animal meti
45 fish fisi
46 bird fowru
47 dog dagu
48 louse loso
49 snake sneki
50 worm woron
51 tree bon
52 forest busi
53 stick tiki
54 fruit froktu
55 seed siri, koko
56 leaf wiwiri
57 root rutu
58 bark (of a tree) basi, buba
59 flower bromki
60 grass grasi
61 rope titei
62 skin buba, skin
63 meat meti
64 blood brudu
65 bone bonyo
66 fat (noun) fatu
67 egg eksi
68 horn tutu
69 tail tere
70 feather fowruwiwiri
71 hair wiwiri
72 head ede
73 ear yesi
74 eye ai
75 nose noso
76 mouth mofo
77 tooth tifi
78 tongue (organ) tongo
79 fingernail nangra
80 foot futu
81 leg futu
82 knee kindi
83 hand anu
84 wing frei
85 belly bere
86 guts kaka bere
87 neck neki
88 back baka
89 breast bobi
90 heart ati
91 liver lefre
92 to drink dringi
93 to eat nyan
94 to bite beti
95 to suck soigi
96 to spit spiti
97 to vomit fomeri
98 to blow wai, bro
99 to breathe bro
100 to laugh lafu
101 to see si
102 to hear yere
103 to know sabi
104 to think denki, prakseri
105 to smell smeri
106 to fear frede
107 to sleep sribi
108 to live libi
109 to die dede
110 to kill kiri
111 to fight feti, strei
112 to hunt onti
113 to hit iti
114 to cut koti
115 to split priti
116 to stab dyuku
117 to scratch krabu, krasi
118 to dig diki
119 to swim swen
120 to fly frei
121 to walk waka
122 to come kon
123 to lie (as in a bed) didon
124 to sit sidon
125 to stand tnapu, knapu, snapu
126 to turn (intransitive) drai
127 to fall fadon
128 to give gi
129 to hold ori
130 to squeeze kwinsi
131 to rub lobi, wrifi
132 to wash wasi, spuru
133 to wipe wrifi
134 to pull hari
135 to push pusu
136 to throw bonk, iti
137 to tie tai
138 to sew nai
139 to count teri
140 to say taki
141 to sing singi
142 to play prei
143 to float dribi
144 to flow lon
145 to freeze eisi
146 to swell sweri
147 sun son
148 moon mun
149 star stari
150 water watra
151 rain alen
152 river liba
153 lake duwatra
154 sea se
155 salt sowtu
156 stone ston
157 sand santi
158 dust stof
159 earth gron
160 cloud wolku
161 fog dampu
162 sky loktu
163 wind winti
164 snow snew
165 ice eisi
166 smoke smoko
167 fire faya
168 ash asisi
169 to burn bron
170 road pasi
171 mountain bergi
172 red redi
173 green grun
174 yellow geri
175 white weti
176 black blaka
177 night neti
178 day dei
179 year yari
180 warm waran
181 cold kowru
182 full furu
183 new nyun
184 old owru
185 good bun
186 bad ogri
187 rotten pori
188 dirty doti
189 straight leti
190 round lontu
191 sharp (as a knife) srapu
192 dull (as a knife) dede
193 smooth grati
194 wet nati
195 dry drei
196 correct yoisti
197 near na
198 far fara
199 right leti-anu
200 left kruktu-anu
201 at na
202 in ini
203 with nanga
204 and èn, nanga
205 if efu
206 because bika
207 name nen

See also

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Further reading

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Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
(edit this template)

Due to very limited information on the internet on this language, I am leaving my findings after many years of research:

Websters Sranan Online Dictionary http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Sranan-english/

Sranan Verb Usage Lookup Tool http://www.verbix.com/languages/sranantongo.shtml

Most useful guide: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Sranan_Tongo_language

Best Sranan Site - But a little too over complicated http://www.sil.org/americas/suriname/Sranan/Sranan.html

Sranan info in Dutch http://users.bart.nl/~kamphuys/sranantongo/

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