It is one of the national languages of Guinea and spoken mainly in the coastal region of the country.
History
The language was also used by people in the coastal regions of Guinea and Sierra Leone as a trade language.
The first literature in Susu was a translation of the first seven chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, translated by John Godfrey Wilhelm of the Church Mission Society. This was published in London as "Lingjili Matthew" in 1816. J.G. Wilhelm translated a considerable portion of the New Testament, but only this small part appears to have been printed.
Susu is an SOV language, Poss-N, N-D, generally suffixing, non-pro-drop, wh-in-situ, with no agreement affixes on the verb, no noun classes, no gender, and with a clitic plural marker which attaches to the last element of the NP (N or D, typically), but does not co-occur with numerals. It has no definite or indefinite articles. Sentential negation is expressed with a particle, mu, whose distribution is unclear (with adjectival predicates it seems to sometimes infix, but with transitive verbs it comes before the object).
Examples:
khame
man
didi
boy
to
see
ne
PAST
khame didi to ne
man boy see PAST
"The/a man saw the/a boy."
Pronouns
a.
n
1sg
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
n taami don ma
1sg bread eat PRES(generic)
"I eat bread."
b.
i
2sg
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
i taami don ma
2sg bread eat PRES(generic)
"You (sg) eat bread."
c.
a
3sg
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
a taami don ma
3sg bread eat PRES(generic)
"He/she/it eats bread."
d.
won
1inc.pl
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
won taami don ma
1inc.pl bread eat PRES(generic)
"We (including you) eat bread."
e.
mukhu
1exc.pl
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
mukhu taami don ma
1exc.pl bread eat PRES(generic)
"We (excluding you) eat bread."
f.
wo
2pl
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
wo taami don ma
2pl bread eat PRES(generic)
"You (pl or polite [sg or pl]) eat bread." ("wo" is used as French "vous")
g.
e
3pl
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES(generic)
e taami don ma
3pl bread eat PRES(generic)
"They eat bread."
cf.
a.
n
1sg
bankhi
house
to
see
né
PAST
n bankhi to né
1sg house see PAST
"I saw a/the house."
b.
n
1sg
taami
bread
don
eat
fe
PROG
n taami don fe
1sg bread eat PROG
"I am eating the bread."
Object pronouns have the same form as subject pronouns:
a.
khame
man
n
1sg
to
see
né
PAST
khame n to né
man 1sg see PAST
"A/the man saw me."
b.
khame
man
i
2sg
to
see
né
PAST
khame i to né
man 2sg see PAST
"A/the man saw you (sg)."
c.
khame
man
a
3sg
to
see
né
PAST
khame a to né
man 3sg see PAST
"A/the man saw him/her/it."
d.
khame
man
won
1inc.pl
to
see
né
PAST
khame won to né
man 1inc.pl see PAST
"A/the man saw us (including you)."
e.
khame
man
mukhu
1exc.pl
to
see
né
PAST
khame mukhu to né
man 1exc.pl see PAST
"A/the man saw us (excluding you)."
f.
khame
man
wo
2pl
to
see
né
PAST
khame wo to né
man 2pl see PAST
"A/the man saw you (pl)."
g.
khame
man
e
3pl
to
see
né
PAST
khame e to né
man 3pl see PAST
"A/the man saw them."
Possessive affixes precede the noun:
baba "father":
m baba "my father"
i baba "your (sg) father"
a baba "his/her/its father"
wom baba "our father"
wo baba "your (pl) father"
e baba "their father"
Adverbs
Adverbs can precede the subject or follow the verb:
a.
khoro
yesterday
n
1sg
fa
arrive
né
PAST
khoro n fa né
yesterday 1sg arrive PAST
"Yesterday I arrived."
b.
n
1sg
fa
arrive
né
PAST
khoro
yesterday
n fa né khoro
1sg arrive PAST yesterday
"I arrived yesterday."
Grammatical number
NPs come in a variety of forms:
khamé "boy (sg)", khame e "boys (pl)
taami "bread (sg)", taami e "breads (pl)"
a.
khame
boy
e
pl
taami
bread
don
eat
ma
PRES
khame e taami don ma
boy pl bread eat PRES
"The/0 boys eat bread."
b.
khamé
boy
taami
bread
e
pl
don
eat
ma
PRES
khamé taami e don ma
boy bread pl eat PRES
"The/a boy eats breads."
Numerals
1.
woto
car
keren
one
woto keren
car one
"one car"
2.
woto
car
firin
two
woto firin
car two
"two cars"
3.
woto
car
sakhan
three
woto sakhan
car three
"three cars"
4.
woto
car
nani
four
woto nani
car four
"four cars"
5.
woto
car
suli
five
woto suli
car five
"five cars"
6.
woto
car
senni
six
woto senni
car six
"six cars"
7.
woto
car
solofere
seven
woto solofere
car seven
"seven cars"
8.
woto
car
solomasakhan
eight
woto solomasakhan
car eight
"eight cars"
9.
woto
car
solomanani
nine
woto solomanani
car nine
"nine cars"
10.
woto
car
fu
ten
woto fu
car ten
"ten cars"
11.
woto
car
fu
ten
nun
and
keren
one
woto fu nun keren
car ten and one
"eleven cars"
12.
woto
car
fu
ten
nun
and
firin
two
woto fu nun firin
car ten and two
"twelve cars"
Others
a.
n
1sg
woto
car
nde
indef.D
e
pl
to
see
né
PAST
n woto nde e to né
1sg car indef.D pl see PAST
"I saw several cars"/"J'ai vu des autos."
b.
woto
car
nde
indef.D
woto nde
car indef.D
"some car"
c.
di
boy
nde
indef.D
di nde
boy indef.D
"some boy"
d.
bangkhi
house
nde
indef.D
bangkhi nde
house indef.D
"some house"
e.
khame
man
nde
indef.D
khame nde
man indef.D
"someone"
f.
se
thing?
nde
indef.D
se nde
thing? indef.D
"something"
g.
nde
who/indef.D
nde
who/indef.D
"who/some"
h.
i
you
nde
who
to?
see
i nde to?
you who see
"Who did you see?"
i.
i
2sg
munse
what
don
eat
ma?
PRES
i munse don ma?
2sg what eat PRES
"What will you eat?"
Orthography
Susu has been written with a variety of writing systems, including the Ajami variant of the Arabic script (perhaps introduced during the time of the Imamate of Futa Jallon), various Latin script orthographies (formalized with the adoption of the Guinean languages alphabet under the government of Ahmed Sékou Touré and adapted in 1989 to adhere closer to the African reference alphabet), and the N'ko and Adlam scripts.[4] Additionally, an alphabetic script known as Koré Sèbèli or Wakara, developed by sociologist Mohamed Bentoura Bangoura based on traditional symbols used by secret societies, has been adopted by a small community of users since its introduction in 2009.[4][5]
