hypothesis meaning in hausa

Linguistique et langues africaines

Accueil Numéros 9(1) Comptes rendus Paul Newman, A history of the Hau...

Paul Newman, A history of the Hausa language: Reconstruction and pathways to the present

Paul Newman, A history of the Hausa language: Reconstruction and pathways to the present , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022, xv + 234 p.

Texte intégral

1 As the title tells us, the present book offers a history of the Hausa language. The author wishes to “offer fresh and insightful observations, interpretations and hypotheses, ideally in a readable and accessible fashion” (p. ix), and has largely achieved what he set out to do. This is an important book for all who have an interest in the Hausa language and in related Chadic languages as well as for historical linguists.

2 Following the List of Tables, the Preface, Transcriptions and Symbols, and the List of Abbreviations, Chapter 1 offers an overview of The Hausa Language, followed by Phonology (Chapter 2), Morphology (Chapter 3), Syntax–Grammar (Chapter 4), Loanwords (Chapter 5), and Lexicon and Etymologies (Chapter 6); the Conclusion (Chapter 7) is followed by References and an Index.

3 The volume covers many themes and many details: in Chapters 2‑6 there are 29 sections and 78 sub-sections, some of which are further subdivided. Thus, the focus of this review is on specific details rather than on all possible themes.

4 In the Preface the author reminds us of just how long Hausa has been studied — the first studies were written by Schön (1843; 1862) — and that, although “more than 1,800 books and articles on Hausa linguistics” have been published, “[we] still lack systematic and in-depth investigations into the language’s past” (p. ix). Thus, the aim in writing this monograph is “to create a picture of what Hausa must have looked like at an earlier period, and the changes it subsequently underwent, by drawing on comparative evidence from related languages and teasing out what one can by means of internal reconstruction and dialect variation”. Given the fact that there are few written sources for Old Hausa, any investigation into its history must look at such evidence and will necessarily involve speculation and asking questions which may remain unanswered. Throughout the book Newman is clear about the strengths or weaknesses of his suppositions, clearly indicating when he is sure — or not — of his hypotheses.

5 The marking of Hausa consonants, vowel length and tones as well as the symbols designating reconstructions, ungrammatical forms, etc. are explained in Transcription and Symbols (p. xi‑xiii). This review uses the same abbreviations as in the book itself; they are given in brackets following the first use of the word they abbreviate. In addition, the review follows the same system of representing the so-called hooked letters (glottalized consonants) of Hausa: the implosives ɓ and  ɗ , and the ejectives ƙ and  ts ; the two Rs are written: r (flapped) and  ř (trilled). Again, both high (H) tone and low (L) tone are marked here (e.g., bóokòo and ájàmíi , see below) as are the examples in the book under review.

6 Chapter 1 gives an overview of the areas in which Hausa is spoken and an estimate of the number of speakers. The origins and uses of the two writing systems —  bóokòo and ájàmíi (the European and Arabic alphabets respectively) — are then briefly described. More pertinent to the history of the language is its membership of and place in the Chadic family, a theme which is central to the book. Here, Newman takes the position he has long defended, viz., that, “examined carefully, Hausa is really no more atypical than any other Chadic language chosen at random” (p. 3). Where Hausa differs from other Chadic languages is the “richness of its vocabulary” (due largely to loanwords) and the fact that, for such a large language, “dialect variation is relatively modest” (p. 3). The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the history of the study of Hausa.

7 Chapter 2 describes the phonology of Hausa and opens with both a current and a historical inventory of consonants. Following this, Klingenheben’s Law is described (§2.1.3) — “the systematic lenition of syllable-final consonants” first described by Klingenheben (1927‑1928) and revised by Newman (2004) who accepted much of what Klingenheben had originally proposed, but also identified a separate case of reduplicated words in which “syllable-final velar and labial obstruents become geminates”. He calls the new law the “Law of Codas in Reduplication” (§2.1.4).

8 The status of palatals is described in §2.1.5: in Old Hausa (OH) they were “distinct, contrastive phonemes”, whereas in modern, Standard Hausa (SH) they are both allophones and phonemes. In §2.1.6 the glides /w/ and /y/ are discussed; here, the “presumably [...] old inherited feature” (i.e., w does not occur before the front vowels i or e ) is still found in SH where it is a “regular, synchronically active palatalization rule w  →  y /___front vowel”.

9 In §2.1.7 the glottal stop (/’/) and /h/ are shown not to have been “part of the OH phonemic inventory” (p. 30). These two consonants — widely found in SH — take on a certain significance in §2.1.7.2 where body parts are discussed, many of which begin with /ha‑/. Here, Newman suggests a “working hypothesis” for the possible existence of “what looked like a ha ‑ prefix” (p. 33): in OH the body part prefix was * a ‑ , not x ha ‑ and not ’a ‑. The hypothesis rests on the idea that SH ha ‑ emerged after vowel-initial words — widely found in OH — began to add an initial glottal stop. Since a good number of body part terms included a glottalized consonant, this innovation clashed with the rule disallowing “two different glottalized consonants [...] in the same word” (p. 11). Thus, the OH * a‑ prefix was replaced by ha ‑ not ’a ‑. As he does on several occasions in the book, Newman acknowledges the hypothetical nature of this suggestion.

10 In §2.1.8 the history of the two Rs — the independent development of the /r/ ‘flap’ and the /ř/ ‘trill’ — is described. The former is still found extensively, although non-initial * r was lost in OH, changing to /y/ or /i/. In SH the trilled ř is widely found, often in Arabic and English loan words, but also in other contexts. The relationship between the two Rs is complex and depends on the position of the R in the word, intervocalic or preceding certain vowels. Newman concludes that “the co-existence of two Rs [...] is a feature of considerable time depth ... [and that there is] an interesting historical story hidden here: the problem is that at the moment we do not know what it is” (p. 40). The section on consonants ends with a discussion of Nasals, Metathesis, Geminates and the Morphologization of Gemination (§2.1.9 to 2.1.12).

11 The description of vowels (§2.2) begins with the OH vowel system describing how OH i and  u were contrastive, a contrast which is being lost (§2.2.2). The discussion of the development of medial mid-vowels /ee/ and /oo/ (from /ii/ and /uu/) precedes a description of “non-systematic modifications”, for instance, the internal vowel shortening found in in some adverbs, e.g., bákà ‘in the mouth’ (<  bàakíi ‘mouth’). Word-Initial Vowels in OH and the use of /’/ or /h/ in word initial position in SH are discussed in §2.2.5 (see the comment on §2.1.7.2 above). Word-Final Vowel Length and the Lowering of Word-Final *uu to /oo/ are treated in §2.2.6 and 2.2.7.

12 Diphthongs are described in §2.2.8. The diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ originated in OH as “a vowel plus glide sequence ... /ay/ and /aw/” (p. 64) and “by absorption of the coda glide into the nucleus”, they became the diphthongs still found in SH (p. 65) where they are treated as long vowels. A further historical source of the SH diphthong /ay/ is the OH “*r > y Rule” which gives words such as áikìi < *arki. This is followed by a well-argued case for the existence of two additional “ formerly existing ” diphthongs (p. 67, emphasis in the original) — *iu and *ui — both of which have undergone monophthongisation. Prior to the monophthongisation of *iu (> *uu) “palatal consonants only occurred preceding front vowels and  a ( a )” (p. 68); subsequently palatal consonants also preceded back vowels, e.g., cúuràa ‘knead’ and shúukàa ‘sow, plant’. The monophthongisation of *iu >  uu can be seen in the formation of the words ƙîiwáa / ƙyûuyáa ‘indolence’ (p. 46). Both words result from glide metathesis ( y.w =  w.y ): ƙîiwáa < //ƙîywáa// and  ƙyûuyáa < //ƙîwyáa//. In the latter the /w/ automatically became /u/ in syllable final position (//ƙyîuyáa//) and the *iu diphthong undergoes monophthongisation.

13 The simple two-tone system of Hausa — (H)igh and (L)ow — is described in §2.3 along with the fact that SH has (F)alling tones; the latter result either from a disyllabic H‑L sequence in which a vowel is lost or after the addition of a suffix with a floating L tone to a word with a final H tone. Newman proposes a third possibility: “Tone bending”. This was found in OH beginning as an intonational change and affecting H tone single syllable nouns with a heavy syllable; this became “phonologized” (p. 74) and these nouns changed from H to F tone. This “preference for pronouncing monosyllabic nouns with Falling tone” is still found — in single syllable English loans with a H tone and a heavy syllable, e.g., bâs ‘bus’, tîi ‘tea’ (p. 75). In contrast, disyllabic L‑H sequences are reduced to a single H tone syllable, e.g., dòomín >  dón ‘in order to’. In §2.3.4 tone polarity of the stabilizer (which marks identificational and equational sentences) is described with some guesswork about their origin. Direct object pronouns are also mentioned — formerly assumed to be polar in tone, but this has been disproved. In §2.3.5 floating tones are described; one example — on a type of Verbal Noun — is mentioned below. The section ends with a discussion of Low Tone Raising (§2.3.6), a function which changed OH L‑L nouns to L‑H. The final section (§2.3.7) describes Tone Integrating Suffixes, found in plurals, imperatives, deverbal adjectives, verbal grades and some verbal nouns.

14 The chapter ends with a description of syllables and syllable weight in Hausa (§2.4): SH has only three syllable types: CV, CVV and CVC, whereby the first is light and the other two are heavy. Newman argues that these three types existed in OH with the possibility that, in word-initial position, a syllable might start without the C onset. Syllable weight is important in both grammar (e.g., pronouns) and word formation (e.g., suffixes) and the section concludes with the assumption that “syllable weight functioned in OH more or less as it does today” (p. 87).

15 One very positive feature of Chapter 2 — indeed, of the book as a whole — is the way in which known facts are highlighted. For instance, in the introduction to palatals (§2.1.1.1), the reader is informed that, in Hausa, “palatals are separate phonemes and not separate phonemes” (emphasis in the original, p. 7). Such comments bring buoyancy to a text which might otherwise be quite dry. The seeming contradiction is explained in §2.1.5.

16 In Chapter 3 (Morphology), nouns, adjectives, and pronouns are discussed (§3.1. to 3.3). Here, I focus on ethnonyms (§3.1.6) and compounds (§3.1.7), and on the description of the verbal system (§3.4).

17 In the description of ethnonyms (§3.1.6) Newman argues that the formation of Hausa ethnonyms might be traced back to the designation ‘(our) language’ in other Chadic languages; he gives three examples: Kanakuru, Kwame and Tangale. In these languages the word ‘mouth’ ( bok , pogi / pok , pọk respectively) loses “the ending ‑ k (V)” and the reduced form precedes the name of the ethnic group ( bo Dera , po Kwaami , pọ Taŋle respectively) to name their language. The argument is that Hausa bàakíi ‘mouth’ was originally used in typical Chadic fashion to designate language; gradually, bàakíi lost the “the ending ‑ k (V)” to become a prefix bà ‑, but, with time, the suffix ‑ áncíi was used to designate languages (e.g., túuřáncíi ‘English’ ←  Túuřáí ‘Europe’) leaving the prefix bà ‑ to designate ethnic groups (e.g., bàtúuřèe ‘European’ ←  Túuřáí ‘Europe’). At the end of this description the author indicates the hypothetical nature of the argument, saying that “there are innumerable details to be worked out”. If the argument is hypothetical the logic — that Hausa uses the same strategy as other Chadic languages — is convincing.

18 In the first part of §3.1.7 (Compounds), verbal compounds formed with bán plus noun are analysed. Various authors have suggested that bán is a reduction of bàa ní ‘give me’ but here Newman makes a convincing case that ‑ n (in bán ) is a reduced form of the OH third person ni ‘him/it’ (common in Chadic) and not of the SH first person ni ‘me’. He points out that the SH demonstratives wátá and  wású (the feminine singular and plural forms of the masculine singular wání ) contain the third person feminine and plural pronouns tá and  sú and concludes that the ‑ ni in wání is the third person singular and not the first person.

19 The focus of §3.4 (Verbs) is the Grade System (§3.4.1) in which the histories of the individual grades — seven regular verb “classes” — are considered. Newman explains here that an analysis of “the system and [of] the individual grades in depth [...] would require a full monograph” and that he focusses “on essential issues where a historical perspective can throw light on the current situation” (p. 140). In the overview the syntactic forms of Hausa verbs are described: the A-form is the form used when no object is expressed immediately after the transitive verb; it is also the basic form of intransitive verbs and the citation form in dictionaries. The B-form is used when “personal pronoun direct objects” immediately follow the verb; the C-form is used “before direct objects other than personal pronouns” (p 139).

20 Much of the present description of the seven grades can be found in the historical notes of the author’s Encyclopedic Reference Grammar (Newman 2000: Chapter 74). In the present work, the focus on history is central, and any new evidence is offered. Parsons’ distinction (1960) between primary and secondary grades (Grades 1‑3 and 4‑7 respectively) is retained.

21 The fact that Grade 1 verbs (p. 140‑142) are basically transitive is given a certain prominence and the three sources of these verbs are described in a historical perspective: a) Verbs ending in ‑ a (“Basic a ‑Verbs [...] inherited from Proto-Chadic” where they contrasted with verbs which “for convenience [are] referred to as ‘schwa-verbs’”); b) Applicatives, which are commonly used preceding indirect objects or may “serve to change the orientation of an event”; and c) “Disyllabic Verbs with Frozen Cà Suffixes”. The Frozen Cà suffixes (‑ kà , ‑ nà and ‑ yà ) are interesting because the suffix has a built-in L tone, which means that disyllabic verbs will necessarily appear in Grade 1: H‑L. In other words, the suffix — not the semantics or some other grammatical reason — determines the grade in which the verb appears. Newman says it is: “an unusual situation by Hausa standards where ‘the tail is wagging the dog’” (p. 142).

22 Intransitive verbs in Grade 1 are the result of “secondary developments”, e.g., the LH > H tone simplification rule (described in §2.3). Three examples are given (p. 140): Grade 3 tàfásà ‘boil’ > Grade 1 táfsàa ; Grade 3 fàɗákà ‘wake up’ > Grade 1 fářkàa (< *fáɗ kàa); Grade 3 zàmánà ‘sit, be’ > Grade 1 záunàa (< *zámnàa). The syllable-final changes ( ř <  ɗ and  u <  m ) illustrate Klingenheben’s Law (§2.1.3).

23 In the description of Grade 2 verbs (always transitive, e.g., with the A, B and C forms sàyáa , sàyée and  sàyí ‘buy’) Newman recapitulates earlier information (2000; 1973): the ‑ í found in the C-form (e.g., sàyí ) — not the ‑ áa found in the modern A-form ( sàyáa ) — is the “original lexical final vowel” (p. 142), while the modern A-form was originally a “stem-derived verbal noun”. Here, he offers more recent evidence, viz., the fact that, in the case of polysyllabic A-forms, it is not only the final vowel of the two forms which differs, the tone pattern of the A-form also differs from that of the C-form, e.g., A-form (LHL) dàagúràa ‘gnaw at’, C-form (LLH) dàagùrí ; A-form (LLHL) tàntàmbáyàa ‘ask many or often’, C-form (LLLH) tàntàmbàyí . Like Grade 1 — which contains both basic ‑ a verbs and the Applicative extension — Grade 2 contains basic ‑ i verbs and a Partitive extension.

24 Grade 3 verbs are basic intransitives, e.g., fìtá (A form) ‘go out’, and were originally disyllabic with a light first syllable (still found in other Chadic languages). Polysyllabic Grade 3 verbs, e.g., fàɗákà (A form) ‘wake up’, were rare in OH; however, in SH, we find frozen reduplicated pluractionals and verbs with a ‑Cà suffix. Grade 3a verbs (all HH with a heavy first syllable, e.g., kwáaná ‘spend the night’) are “relatively recent”, probably “created by back formation from nouns” (p. 147). Regarding Grade 3b verbs (HL with a short final vowel ‑ i , ‑ a , or ‑ u ) it is suggested that they go back to “intransitive schwa-verbs [and are] the intransitive counterpart of gr[ade] 2” (p. 147).

25 Grade 4, e.g., sáyèe (A, B and C forms) ‘sell all of’, is the first of the secondary grades (4‑7) which are defined as basic verbs plus an extension. The differences in the nomenclature of the various extensions (compare, e.g., Newman 2000 and Jaggar 2001) are of no great significance. In a further development of his thinking, Newman suggests that the “three main meanings and functions” of Grade 4 (“totality”, “deprivative, separative or malefactive” and “intransitivizer”, p. 148) are a single “polysemous” extension, as found in other Chadic languages (p. 149). Furthermore, in recent times, Grade 4 — which Parsons (1960) classified as a secondary grade — now includes verbs not found in the primary grades (1‑3), i.e., it is taking on the function of a primary grade (p. 149).

26 The main function of Grade 5 is “to transitivize inherently intransitive verbs” (p. 150). In his description of Grade 5 (e.g., A-form sáyář , B-form sáyář dà or sáishée , C-form sáyář dà ‘sell’) Newman offers several innovations. Firstly, the underlying form of the suffix ‑ ař is * ‑ (a)si, not ‑ as , as was previously postulated (see Newman 2000); however, the final ‑ i is dropped resulting in the suffix ‑ as of which the SH ‑ ař suffix is a reflex. This hypothesis offers a different explanation for the origin of the B-form with the ‑ shee suffix: the ‑ shee is not simply palatalized ‑ s , rather, the short /a/ of the *‑(a)si suffix “is usually dropped” and /s/ is palatalised to give ‑ shee (which contains the same /ee/ as found in the B-form of Grade 2 verbs and takes the regular direct object pronoun). The /a/ in * ‑ (a)si is found in the ‑ shee form of a few verbs where the /sh/ is geminated “for metrical purposes” (p. 151), e.g., *sánáshée →  sánásshée ‘inform’ (<  sánìi ‘know’).

27 A further innovation relates to the so-called Grade 5 short forms, e.g., báa dà ‘give away’. Here, Newman offers “an alternative historical scenario” (p. 151‑152) to the established explanation that this form is simply a contraction of the long form (here, báayář dà ). He argues convincingly that the dà found with the long form is the sociative particle found with verbs such as Grade 1 túnàa dà ‘remember’, while the dà found with the short form is “an extensional suffix [...] that creates a distinct grade separate from (and should be numbered differently from) gr[ade] 5 as represented by the long form containing the extension ‑ as .” (p. 152).

28 Semantically, these verbs are Efferential (indicating “action directed away from the speaker”), not — as they were traditionally known — causative. Newman claims that “causative” is “an unfortunate misnomer for which the label Efferential was proposed some years ago” Neither here (§3.4.1.7) nor in §4.1.2 (“Causative”) is there any discussion of Jaggar (2017) who makes a good case for accepting that many Grade 5 verbs are causative.

29 The discussion of Grade 6 (e.g., sáyóo , A, B and C forms, ‘buy and come’) is short and uncomplicated. Many verbs add the Ventive extension — HH tone and the suffix ‑ oo (“originally possibly * ‑ (a)woo”, p. 153) to indicate action towards the speaker or for the benefit of the speaker. Grade 7 also receives only a brief description. These verbs with LH tone pattern and the final vowel ‑ u (e.g., sàyú ‘bought out’) are all intransitive and have been labelled “sustentative” or “resultative”. Newman says that Grade 7 “is the grade about which we have the least understanding when it comes to etymology and history”; however, he offers the possibility that this extension “does not reflect a traditional Chadic extension per se, but rather derives from a marker of perfectivity, perhaps related to *ko (a particle still found with that function in Bole)” (p. 153).

30 The section on the grades is well written, focussing on the history of the verbal grades and offering new information and/or interpretations. In the eyes of this reviewer, the one flaw is the lack of any discussion of the Grade 5 extension (efferential or causative); this is underscored by the fact that, while the phonology and syntax of the Grade 5 extension is given much space, no parallels are drawn with the verbal semantics of any other Chadic language; this contrasts strongly with, e.g., Grade 6 where we are told that “[v]erbal extensions with this function are widespread in Chadic” (p. 152).

31 Section 3.4 ends with discussions of transitivity (§3.4.2), frozen suffixes (§3.4.3) and pluractionals (§3.4.4). The history of these themes is prominent in all three sections. The chapter ends with short discussions of adverbs (§3.5) and ideophones (§3.6).

32 Chapter 4 (Syntax–Grammar) treats Gender, Demonstratives, and Adjectives (§4.1‑4.3). The themes Tense–Aspect–Mood (§4.4) and Negation (§4.5) are handled well; however, two important themes receive only minimal attention; this is commented on below. The chapter then covers Questions and Focus, Conditionals, Prepositional Phrases, Numerals, Reflexives and Reciprocals, Indirect Objects and Causative (§4.6‑4.12). The history of these themes is highlighted throughout.

33 Chapter 5 offers an overview of loanwords and their sources — Arabic, Kanuri, Tuareg Fulani, Yoruba and other Southern Nigerian Languages (§5.1‑5.3 respectively) and English (§5.4). In §5.5 the influence loanwords have had on Hausa phonology is discussed.

34 The final chapter (6: Lexicon and Etymologies) opens with an account of Chadic Lexical Retentions in Hausa (§6.1), a further historical theme. In §6.2 (Individual Etymologies) individual words and their various origins are described. Perhaps the most interesting is the etymology of the Hausa word bóokòo (as in boko haram , the radical Muslim organisation known since ca. 2008). Here, Newman points out that bóokòo is a “native Hausa word indicating deceit, trickery, underhandedness, etc.” and is not derived from English book , a false interpretation endorsed by scholars for many years. Phonologically, the English pronunciation of book would not give bóokòo : the Hausa words kúukùu and ’úulùu are borrowed from English cook and wool respectively; the English word book would have been pronounced */búukùu/. Thus, the term máka ř ántá ř bóokòo ‘western (as opposed to Koranic) school’ has no connection with book , rather, bóokòo was used “as a subtle means of disparaging British colonial policies and Western culture in general” (p. 215).

35 The descriptions and discussions of the various themes in the present volume are first rate. Nevertheless, two important themes — verbal nouns and the continuative aspect — are not discussed. Verbal nouns — and their history — is an important theme in any discussion of the history of the Hausa verbal system, but they are not considered either in §3.1 (Nouns) or §3.4 (Verbs). However, references to the various kinds of verbal noun (VN) are found, e.g., to VNs which add a ‑ `waa suffix, traditionally referred to as “weak” VNs. Newman refers to this suffix either as “the ‘ing’ marker” (p. 73), “the ‘‑ing’ suffix ‑`waa ” (p. 79) or “the present participial ‘‑ing’ formative” (p. 85).

36 The so-called “strong verbal nouns”, and their histories, are found in §2.2.3.6 (“ablauted verbal nouns”), in §3.1.9 or §3.1.10 (VNs taking either a ‑ koo or ‑ makoo suffix or a ‑ naa suffix). Other historical details of VNs are mentioned in §3.4.1 concerning VNs in Grades 2 and 3; in §3.4.3.1 we find a list of old “strong” VNs from which verbs in various grades have been formed by the addition of suffixes. Indeed, here, a possible definition of VN is offered: “‘Verbal noun’ refers to verb-derived nominals comparable to English gerunds and present participles” (p. 160).

37 The absence of information on VNs conflates with the absence of a discussion of the affirmative and the so-called “relative continuative” TAMs. I use the term “conflates” because VNs are typically used with continuative aspects. And, as with the VNs, continuative aspects have not been entirely overlooked. In Chapters 3 and 4, examples — with VNs, verbal phrases, and adverbial statives — are given with the Continuative (§3.4). Examples with the Relative Continuative are given following question words and in focus sentences (§4.6). Furthermore, the Negative Continuative and its history is briefly described in §4.5 (Negation) and descriptions of other aspects are satisfactory: the Completive, the Future, Completive and Preterite TAMs are discussed along with the Subjunctive, the Aorist, and the Negative Continuative in §4.4 (Tense‑Aspect‑Mood); the Completive again in §3.3 (Morphology).

38 In the past, Newman has treated the history of both VNs and the continuative aspects. In his Reference Grammar (2000) he devotes a chapter to “Verbal Nouns” (Chapter 77), and several historical notes are included. The Continuative — affirmative, Negative and Relative — is also treated and commented on in historical notes (Chapter 70); furthermore, together with Russell Schuh, Newman (1974) published a historical review of Hausa TAMs.

39 The histories and functions of VNs and of the Continuative and Relative Continuative TAMs surely deserve a discussion in the present volume. Perhaps a clue as to what deterred a thorough discussion is found in the introduction to the verbal grades (§3.1.4) where Newman says, “[r]ather than analyse the system and the individual grades in depth, which would require a full monograph , we shall focus on essential issues where a historical perspective can throw light on the current situation” (p. 140, emphasis added). May I ask a propitious question? Are these themes the subject of a further monograph?

40 A “full monograph” on these themes would be more than welcome. They are probably more controversial than many other themes; certainly, various authors — including myself — have suggested that the semantics of the verbal grades relate to their initial tone. In the present volume, however, Newman (p. 142) adduces a good argument against an oversimple analysis: the fact that Frozen Cà suffixes ( ‑ kà , ‑ nà and ‑ yà ) determine the grade in which the verb appears (Grades 1, 2 or 3) means that the initial tone of these verbs is determined by phonology and has no semantic implications.

41 It is the sad duty of the reviewer to mention typos. There are quite a few typos in this volume, both in the text and in the marking and alphabetical listing of examples. However, they hardly detract from the content: the history of the Hausa language. The volume is well thought out and well written; the focus — the history of the Hausa language — is retained throughout, and, excepting the lacunae mentioned above, the author has achieved the aims he outlined in the introduction.

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Joseph McIntyre , « Paul Newman, A history of the Hausa language: Reconstruction and pathways to the present  » ,  Linguistique et langues africaines [En ligne], 9(1) | 2023, mis en ligne le 30 juin 2023 , consulté le 08 mai 2024 . URL  : http://journals.openedition.org/lla/4959 ; DOI  : https://doi.org/10.4000/lla.4959

Joseph McIntyre

Universität Hamburg

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• 9(2) | 2023
• 9(1) | 2023 Special issue: Bantu universals and variation
• 8(2) | 2022 Special issue: The noncausal/causal alternation in African languages
• 8(1) | 2022
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Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Department of African Studies

The hausa language.

Hausa is classified as a member of the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. It is the best known and most important member of the Chadic branch. It is the most widely used in the fields of education and it lays claim to a significant literatures. By way of number, it is spoken by an estimated 40 to 50 million people as a first and second language thus, it believed to be one of the most commonly spoken African languages.

Where is Hausa Spoken?

Most Hausa speakers live in Northern Nigeria and Southern Republic of Niger. In Nigeria, Hausa-speaking area encompasses the historical emirates of Kano, Katsina, Daura, Zaria and Gobir, all of which were incorporated into the Sokoto caliphate following the Fulani Jihad led by Usman Shehu Ɗanfodio in the early 19 th century. Hausa is also spoken in diaspora by traders, scholars and immigrants in urban areas of West Africa, for example, southern and central Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Togo as well as Chad and the Blue Nile Province and western region of the Sudan.

Hausa and its Dialects

Hausa has a number of geographical dialects, marked by differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. In some instances, one can notice the variation between eastern dialects on the one hand, e.g. Kano, and areas to the south (Zaria), southeast (Bauchi), with (Daura) and western dialects on the other, e.g Sokoto, Gobir, and northwards into Niger. Within eastern dialect, Standard Hausa is coined. It is based on “ Kananci ” the dialect of Kano, an enormous Hausa commercial centre located in Northern Nigeria. Standard Hausa has been recognised as the norm for the written language as contained in books and newspapers and also for broadcast in radio and television. This variety is used as Subject and Course as well as language of instruction in schools, colleges, universities including Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. It is pertinent to mention that Hausa language dialects are mutually intelligible.

Hausa Phonology and Language Structure

The phonemic inventory of Hausa consists of consonants and vowels. There are 34 consonants in Standard Hausa. The vowels are 13 comprising of 5 short vowels and 5 corresponding long vowels and 3 diphthongs.

In the inventory, some consonants are not found in English. Most common of these are the hooked letters, ɓ, ɗ, ƙ and the semi vowel `y, which are entirely different from the corresponding plain letters b, d, k and y.

/b/      barìi               To leave/To stop

/ɓ/      ɓarìi               Shivering

/d/      daidai            Correct/Exact

/ɗ/      ɗaiɗai             One by one

/k/      bàakii             Mouth

/ƙ/      bàaƙii             Guests

/y/      yaayaa?         How?

/`y/    `yaa`yaa        Children/Sons/Daughters/Fruits

In like manner, short and long vowels also show difference in meaning in some cases.

/a/      Tàfi                To go/To travel/To walk

/aa/    Taafii              Palm of hand/Sole of foot/Clap

The 3 diphthongs are: /ai/, /au/ and /ui/.

/ai/     Râi                  Life

          Mài                 Possessor of, Doer of                     

/au/    Yâu                 Today

          Yàushè?          When?

/ui/     Guiwa              Knee

Hausa is a tonal language. It has 3 tones:

3. Falling.

High tone is left unmarked. Low tone is indicated by a grave accent (`) while falling tone is a combination of high and low and is indicated by a circumflex (^). These tones are extremely important in distinguishing meanings and grammatical categories. For example,

Bàaba  (LH)    Father.                       

Baabà  (HL)    Mother.                      

Baabaa          (HH)  Indigo.

Dà       (L)      And/With.

Dâ       (F)      Formerly/Before

On language structure, Hausa sentences are basically in conformity with the Subject Verb Object (SVO) order. For example,

Markus  yaa      tàfi Nijeriya. Markus went to Nigeria.                   

Markus  He.PST go  Nijeriya.

Writing Systems in Hausa

Hausa has a literary tradition extending back several centuries before contact with Western culture. Hausa was first written in an Arabic script known as Ajami. Today, this representation of the language has been superseded for most purposes by the Roman script.

Adamu, M. 1978. The Hausa Factor in West African History. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Press

Adamu, M. 1984. “The Hausa and their Neighbours in the Central Sudan”, In: General History of Africa. IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. D.T. Niane (ed), Californica: University of California Press

Cowan, Jr. and Russell, G. Schuh. 1976. Spoken Hausa, Ithace, NY: Spoken Language Services.

Charles H, Kraft and A:H:M: Kirk-Greene. 1973. Teach Yourself Hausa, London: The English University Press, Ltd.

Graham L. Furniss 1996. Poetry, prose and popular culture in Hausa, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

M.A.Z Sani. 1999. Tsarin Sauti Da Nahawun Hausa, University Press PLC Ibadan.

Yahaya Y. Ibrahim. 1988. Hausa a Rubuce: Tarihin Rubuce-rubuce Cikin Hausa, NNPC, Zaria.                                 

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Browse : A - a - B - b - Ɓ - ɓ - C - c - D - d - Ɗ - ɗ - E - e - F - f - G - g - H - h - I - i - J - j - K - k - Ƙ - ƙ - L - l - M - m - N - n - O - o - P - p - Q - q - R - r - S - s - T - t - U - u - V - v - W - w - X - x - Y - y - Ƴ - ƴ - Z - z

Hello! <> Sannu!

HausaDictionary.com is an online bilingual dictionary that aims to offer the most useful and accurate Hausa to English or English to Hausa translations and definitions. This site contains a wide range of Hausa and English language materials and resources to help you learn Hausa or English. Pick up some basic terms and phrases here , expand your vocabulary, or find a language partner to practice with. Other ways to learn is through language immersion where you spend a good amount of time with the language you would like to learn through a combination of reading, listening , or watching Hausa content on YouTube , Arewa24 , or Hausa films . To learn more about HausaDictionary.com and its mission, click here .

Glosbe Google Bing

• A Hausa-English dictionary by George Percy Bargery (1934) online search in the Bargery's dictionary

• Hausa dialect vocabulary , based on the Bargery's Hausa-English dictionary , by Shuji Matsushita (1993)

• Hausar baka : Hausa-English Vocabulary (1998)

• Zaar-English-Hausa dictionary by Bernard Caron

• Boston university : Hausa-English basic vocabulary (+ audio)

• Defense language institute : basic vocabulary (+ audio) - civil affairs - medical ( Defense Language Institute )

• Dictionary of the Hausa language by Charles Henry Robinson (1913)

• English-Hausa

• Vocabulary of the Haussa language by James Frederick Schön (1843)

• Essai de dictionnaire : Hausa-French dictionary, by Jean-Marie Le Roux (1886)

• Wörterbuch der Hausasprache : Hausa-German dictionary, by Adam Mischlich (1906) (Latin & Arabic scripts)

• studies about the Hausa language, by Nina Pawlak

• Woman and man in Hausa language and culture , in Hausa and Chadic studies (2014)

• The concept of "truth" ( gaskiya ) in Hausa, between oral and written tradition , in African Studies (2016)

• The conceptual structure of "coming" and "going" in Hausa (2010)

• Hausa names for plants and trees by Roger Blench (2007)

• Hausa names of some common birds (2003)

• The etymology of Hausa boko by Paul Newman (2013)

• The provenance of Arabic loanwords in Hausa : a phonological and semantic study , by Mohamed El-Shazly, thesis (1987)

• French loans in Hausa by Sergio Baldi, in Hausa and Chadic Studies (2014) NEW

• Hausa proverbs by George Merrick (1905)

→ Hausa keyboard to type a text with the special characters of the Boko script

• Teach yourself Hausa : Hausa course

• Hausa basic course , Foreign service institute (1963) (+ audio)

• Hausa online Lehrbuch : Hausa course, by Franz Stoiber (2002)

• Hausa by Al-Amin Abu-Manga, in Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics (2007)

• Le haoussa by Bernard Caron, in Dictionnaire des langues (2011)

• Hausa in the twentieth century : an overview , by John Edward Philips, in Sudanic Africa (2004)

• linguistic studies about Hausa, by Bernard Caron

• Hausa, grammatical sketch (2011)

• The Hausa lexicographic tradition by Roxanna Ma Newman & Paul Newman, in Lexikos (2001)

• An introduction to the use of aspect in Hausa narrative by Donald Buquest (1992)

• Comparative study of morphological processes in English and Hausa languages by Zubairu Bitrus Samaila (2015)

• Hausa verbal compounds by Anthony McIntyre, thesis (2006)

• Introductory Hausa & Hausa-English vocabulary, by Charles & Marguerite Kraft (1973)

• Grammar of the Hausa language by Frederick Migeod (1914)

• Hausa Grammar with exercises, readings and vocabularies , by Charles Robinson & John Alder Burdon (1905)

• Hausa notes : grammar & vocabulary, by Walter Miller (1922)

• Grammar of the Hausa language by James Frederick Schön (1862)

• Manuel de langue haoussa : grammar, readings and Hausa-French vocabulary, by Maurice Delafosse (1901)

• Manuel pratique de langue haoussa : Hausa grammar, by Adolf Adirr (1895)

• Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache : Handbook of the Hausa language, by Adam Mischlich (1911)

• books about the Hausa language: Google books | Internet archive | Academia | Wikipedia

• Hausa online : resources about the Hausa language (blog)

• BBC - VOA - RFI - DW : news in Hausa

• Specimens of Hausa literature by Charles Henry Robinson (1896)

• Hausa reading book by Lionel Charlton (1908)

• Hausa folk-tales , the Hausa text of the stories in Hausa superstitions and customs , by Arthur Tremearne (1914)

• Hausa superstitions and customs , an introduction to the folk-lore and the folk , by Arthur Tremearne (1913)

• Hausa folk-lore, customs, proverbs … collected and transliterated with English translation and notes, by Robert Sutherland Rattray (1913): I & II

• Magana Hausa , Hausa stories and fables , collected by James Frederick Schön (1906)

• Hausa stories and riddles , with notes on the language & Hausa dictionary, by Hermann Harris (1908)

• Hausa popular literature and video film by Graham Furniss (2003)

• La-yia yekpe nanisia, wotenga Mende-bela ti Kenye-lei hu : The Gospels (1872)

• The Epistles and Revelations in Hausa (1879)

• Visionneuse : translation of the Bible into Hausa

• Tanzil : translation of the Quran into Hausa by Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi

Su dai ƴan-adam, ana haifuwarsu ne duka ƴantattu, kuma kowannensu na da mutunci da hakkoki daidai da na kowa. Suna da hankali da tunani, saboda haka duk abin da za su aikata wa juna, ya kamata su yi shi a cikin ƴan-uwanci.

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights : translation into Hausa (+ audio)

→ First article in different languages

→ Universal Declaration of Human Rights : bilingual text in Hausa, English…

→ languages of Africa

→ Nigeria - Niger

→ Africa

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CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS UNDERLYING VISUAL AND AUDITORY PERCEPTION VERBS IN ENGLISH AND HAUSA ROMANCE FICTION

2023, JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATIONS (JLC), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

We often use verbs that describe sight, sound, touch, taste and smell to explain the nature of the world and the manner we perceive it. What is profoundly intriguing, though, is how frequently these words refer to things outside of our physical reality. They also allude to "knowledge," "thinking," "feelings," and "preferences," rather than just "shapes and colours," "sounds," "textures," "flavours," or "odours." Our physiological experiences have a significant impact on how we think and communicate. Such expressions are manifestations of conceptual metaphors, which are fundamental cognitive mappings between the source and target domains. Thus, the current cross-linguistic study focusses on the metaphorical use of visual ('see' and gani) and auditory ('hear' and ji) verbs in English and Hausa romance novels. The conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff and Johnson and the mind-as-body metaphor theory of Sweetser serve as the theoretical foundations for this study. The study is situated within the cognitive semantics domain and adopts a qualitative corpus-based approach to collect its data. Ibarretxe-Antuñano's (2013a) perception metaphor model was used for data analysis. Although the findings revealed that the two languages share some perception metaphors, they differ significantly in a number of perception metaphors. Specifically, the findings from English data consistently show that knowledge and understanding are developed from the verbs of vision, which provide support for the universality of perception metaphor. However, findings from the Hausa data provide evidence otherwise, in that the higher intellection verbs such as 'understanding' are developed from auditory perception verbs, thus suggesting culture-specificity of the perception metaphors.

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to cultural beliefs and norms, emphasising the importance of visual and auditory cues in human relationships. This article provides insights into how language and culture intersect in using perception verbs in Hausa romance fiction texts and demonstrates the importance of understanding metaphorical extensions in studying language and culture.

Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano

Carita Paradis

Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh

Linguistics

Saskia van Putten

Languages differ in their number of basic verbs that describe perceptual experience. Some languages have only two such verbs: one for visual perception and another for non-visual perception. How do speakers of these languages conceptualize sensory perception? To shed light on this question, this paper investigates the perception verbs mɔ̀ ‘see’ and nu ‘hear/feel/taste/smell’ in Avatime (Kwa, Niger-Congo). These verbs are studied together with the constructions in which they occur, using both translated data and spontaneous discourse. Both perception meanings and meanings outside the domain of perception are taken into account. The detailed picture that emerges shows some previously undocumented patterns of perception encoding and enriches our understanding of the conceptualization of the senses more generally.

International Journal of Linguistics

florence gachugi

This paper examines the polysemy that exists in the semantic field of perception verbs in Gĩkũyũ which is a Bantu Language of the Niger – Congo group spoken in Kenya. These verbs do not only convey the meanings that are related to the physical perception of each sense modality but they are extended to express varieties of meanings in other semantic fields. The paper also examines the link between the concrete and the abstract meanings within perception verbs in GĩKũYũ through conceptual metaphor.

Heli Tissari

Here I review a very interesting book that concerns language and cognition.

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