The Grammar and Sarufi Thread

Nyani Ngabu said:

What is sarufi in English?

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I agree with you that 'sarufi' would be the equivalent of 'grammar' in English. However, in his construction, our friend has made denotative use of the words to refer to the Kiswahili and English grammars. I believe in his construction he was also relying on the context (East Africa) to give meaning to his sentence.

Nyani Ngabu said:

What is sarufi in English?

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Oh boy! This is a severe case of circulus in demonstrando. I know you are spoiling for an argument, but this is silly.

Mekatilili said:

Again, review your conjunctions. It is evident you do not understand the application of "and" and "or."

Sarufi is not a loanword. The usage of a foreign word denotes its application in the context of the source language. Grammar is the body of syntax and rules applicable to the English language, whereas Sarufi is the body of syntax and rules applicable to Swahili.

Sarufi and grammar are not used interchangeably because they represent 2 distinct languages!

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Reginald12 said:

I agree with you that 'sarufi' would be the equivalent of 'grammar' in English.

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It is not even 'would be the equivalent', but rather is the direct translation per every reference authority I have.

Grab any Swahili-English or English-Swahili dictionary and you will find the same thing I'm saying. There are no nuances to it.

However, in his construction, our friend has made denotative use of the words to refer to the Kiswahili and English grammars. I believe in his construction he was also relying on the context (East Africa) to give meaning to his sentence.

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I don't know how anyone can denotatively use both 'grammar' and 'sarufi' (which are direct translations of each other) in the same sentence.

Can I say 'I drank a glass of water and maji'?

Mekatilili said:

Oh boy! This is a severe case of circulus in demonstrando. I know you are spoiling for an argument, but this is silly.

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What is sarufi in English?

What is grammar in Kiswahili?

Nyani Ngabu said:

Can I say 'I drank a glass of water and maji'?

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I guess so, considering the sentence is in English I would assume water means water but you could have something else in mind when you use 'maji'.

Got your drift. No need to flog the horse. (I get the feeling you will want 'dead' inserted here so I will omit it.)

Reginald12 said:

I guess so, considering the sentence is in English I would assume water means water but you could have something else in mind when you use 'maji'.

Got your drift. No need to flog the horse. (I get the feeling you will want 'dead' inserted here so I will omit it.)

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Ever heard of chai tea?

Mekatilili said:

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I think it is time to move on.

Mekatilili said:

I think it is time to move on.

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Translate the below sentence into Kiswahili, please.

Do you have questions about grammar and sarufi?

Nyani Ngabu umeona uliyo sababisha...