Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chadic Newman1977 o
Chadic Newman1977 o
Chadic Newman1977 o
Edited by
Paul Newman & Roxana Ma Newman
Leiden
I977
ISBN 90 70110 1 7 2
Orders s h o u l d b e s e n t t o : Afrika-Studiecentrum, S t a t i o n s p l e i n 1 0 ,
Postbus 9507, 2300 RA Leiden, The N e t h e r l a n d s .
Payment t o b e made through Amro-Bank, Leiden, account no. 45 1 7 . 2 9 . 4 0 4 ;
P o s t g i r o account no. 531031; o r by bank d r a f t , i n t e r n a t i o n a l money
o r d e r , o r p e r s o n a l cheque.
P r i c e : Dutch f 8 . 0 0 + f 5 . 0 0 p o s t a g e o r U . S . $3.50 + $2.00 p o s t a g e .
CONTENTS
Preface
DAUDA BAGAEI
Reanalyzing t h e Hausa c a u s a t i v e morpheme
W . E . A. VAN BEEK
Color t e r m s i n Kapsiki
J A C K CARNOCHAN
Bachama and Semito-Hamitic
KAREN H . EBERT
D e f i n i t e n e s s i n Kera
ZYGMLJNT FRAJZYNGIER
The p l u r a l i n Chadic
PHILIP JAGGAR
The n a t u r e and f u n c t i o n o f a u x i l i a r y v e r b s i n Hausa
WILLIAM R . LEBEN
P a r s i n g Hausa p l u r a l s
PAUL NEWMAN
L a t e r a l f r i c a t i v e s ( " h l a t e r a l s " ) i n Chadic
ROXAKA MA NEWMAM
Y-prosody a s a morphological p r o c e s s i n Ga'anda
RUSSELL G . SCHUH
West Chadic v e r b c l a s s e s
MARGARET G. SKINNER
Gender i n P a ' a
NEIL SKINNER
Domestic animals i n Chadic
EKKEHARD WOLFF
P a t t e r n s i n Chadic (and. ~ f r o a s i a t i c ? )v e r b base f o r m a t i o n s
Preface
T h i s volume c o n s i s t s o f a c o l l e c t i o n o f p a p e r s o r i g i n a l l y p r e s e n t e d
a t t h e Leiden Colloquium on t h e Chadic Language Family, h e l d i n Leiden,
The N e t h e r l a n d s , September 15-17, 1976. A l l o f t h e p a p e r s p r e s e n t e d at
t h e Colloquium a r e i n c l u d e d h e r e . The volume i s n e v e r t h e l e s s n o t a
p r o c e e d i n g s i n t h e s t r i c t s e n s e o f t h e t e r m , and t h i s d e s i g n a t i o n has
p u r p o s e l y been avoided i n t h e t i t l e .
The purpose o f t h e Colloquium--the f i r s t meeting e v e r t o b e devoted
e x c l u s i v e l y t o Chadic l i n g u i s t i c s - - w a s t o s t i m u l a t e t h e exchange o f
i d e a s and d a t a on Chadic languages by p r o v i d i n g s c h o l a r s from a l l over
t h e world t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o e s t a b l i s h p e r s o n a l c o n t a c t w i t h one a n o t h e r
and t o l e a r n about work b e i n g c a r r i e d out e l s e w h e r e . Consistent with
t h e s e aims, a l l o f t h e Colloquium papers were viewed a s p r e l i m i n a r y ver-
sions. Some were w r i t t e n up i n full and d i s t r i b u t e d a t t h e m e e t i n g ,
some were simply p r e s e n t e d o r a l l y ; b u t i n e i t h e r c a s e , it was u n d e r s t o o d
t h a t t h e a u t h o r s welcomed comments, c r i t i c i s m , and s u g g e s t i o n s by t h e
other participants. The f i n a l v e r s i o n s of t h e p a p e r s , r e v i s e d t o i n c o r -
p o r a t e t h e v a r i o u s m o d i f i c a t i o n s a r i s i n g from d i s c u s s i o n s a t t h e Collo-
quium and subsequent communication between t h e a u t h o r s and t h e e d i t o r s ,
were completed d u r i n g t h e s i x months f o l l o w i n g t h e Colloquium.
The Leiden Colloquium was an i n f o r m a l meeting open t o a l l i n t e -
rested scholars. Some t h i r t y - f i v e p a r t i c i p a n t s from s i x c o u n t r i e s
a t t e n d e d : England, France, West Germany, The N e t h e r l a n d s , N i g e r i a , and
t h e United S t a t e s . I n terms o f t h e r e s e a r c h i n t e r e s t s o f t h e p a r t i c i - -
p a n t s , a l l f o u r c o u n t r i e s b o r d e r i n g on Lake Chad where Chadic languages
a r e spoken were r e p r e s e n t e d , namely, Cameroon, Chad, N i g e r , and N i g e r i a .
The p a p e r s i n t h i s volume a r e a good r e f l e c t i o n o f t h e n a t u r e and
range o f work b e i n g done i n Chadic l i n g u i s t i c s a s a whole. About h a l f
t h e papers a r e c o m p a r a t i v e / h i s t o r i c a l , t h e o t h e r h a l f d e s c r i p t i v e . The
f o c u s i n t h e h i s t o r i c a l p a p e r s i s g e n e r a l l y on problems w i t h i n Cliadic,
although comparisons i n v o l v i n g t h e broader A f r o a s i a t i c phylum a r e a l s o
touched o n . I n t h e d e s c r i p t i v e p a p e r s , a h a l f dozen d i f f e r e n t l a n g u a g e s
a r e t r e a t e d , t h e s e a l l having been t h e s u b j e c t o f o r i g i n a l f i e l d
r e s e a r c h by t h e a u t h o r s . Not s u r p r i s i n g l y , Hausa i s t h e o n l y language
t o which more t h a n one d e s c r i p t i v e s t u d y i s devoted.
The Colloquium was sponsored and o r g a n i z e d by t h e D e p a r t ~ ~ noft
A f r i c a n L i n g u i s t i c s , Leiden U n i v e r s i t y . We would l i k e t o thank uur
c o l l e a g u e s J a n Voorhoeve, T h i l o Schadeberg, Thomas Cook, and Nora
Dontchev-Lambrechts f o r t h e i r h e l p i n h o s t i n g t h e meeting. We a l s o
g r a t e f u l l y acknowledge t h e s u p p o r t o f t h e F a c u l t y o f L e t t e r s of t h e
U n i v e r s i t y , and of t h e Afrika-Studiecentrum.
P.N.
R .I^.N.
P a r t i c i p a n t s a t t h e Leiden Colloquium
on t h e Chadic Language Family
September 15-17, 1976
Contributors
Other P a r t i c i p a n t s
Dauda M . Bagari
1. Introduction
( 1) Grade Examples
1 duubg ' t o look f o r (something)'
2 duubg ' t o look a t '
3 zubg 'to spill'
h zubee ' t o pour / s p i l l o u t '
5 zubd ' t o pour away'
6 zuboo ' t o pour ( i n t h i s d i r e c t i o n ) '
7 zubg ' t o "be a l l poured o u t '
1.1. S u r f a c e forms of v e r b s
The a c t u a l s u r f a c e forms of v e r b s a r e d e s c r i b e d w i t h r e f e r e n c e t o
t h r e e s y n t a c t i c a l l y determined forms: an "A-Form", which i s used i f no
o b j e c t immediately f o l l o w s t h e v e r b ; a "B-F'orm" , which i s used i f a
d i r e c t o b j e c t p e r s o n a l pronoun f o l l o w s t h e v e r b ; and a "C-Form", used
b e f o r e a d i r e c t o b j e c t o t h e r t h a n a p e r s o n a l pronoun. The f o l l o w i n g d i a -
gram e x e m p l i f i e s t h e s u r f a c e r e a l i z a t i o n s o f a l l t h e o c c u r r i n g forms o f
a l l seven g r a d e s .
l Termination : -aa
Tone P a t t e r n : HLH)
Terminat,ion : -aa
Tone P a t t e r n : LH(L)
'Termination: -a
Tone P a t t e r n : LH(L)
Termination: -ee
Tone P a t t e r n : HL(H
Termination : -a? -a? ( d a )
Tone P a t t e r n : HH(H HH(H)
Terminati-on : -00
Tone P a t t e r n : HH(H
Termination: -U
Tone P a t t e r n : (L)LH
I n t h i s p a p e r , I w i l l f i r s t o f a l l q u e s t i o n -che v a l i d i t y of t h e
( t r a d i t i o n a l ) a n a l y s i s o f Hausa c a u s a t i v e v e r b s a c c o r d i n g t o which C-riide
5 v e r b s a r e a n a l y z e d a s c o n s i s t i n g of a v e r b a l r o o t (i.e. v e r b minus
f i n a l vowel) and a c a u s a t i v e marker -as. I w i l l b r i n g forward e v i d e n c e
from w i t h i n Hausa t o demonstrate t h a t t h e c a u s a t i v e marker i s a c t u a l l y
only -S and not -as or -(a)s. I w i l l f u r t h e r show t h a t t h e r e a r e i n
f a c t two ways o f a t t a c h i n g t h i s s u f f i x t o a v e r b i n o r d e r t o t u r n it i n t o
a c a u s a t i v e v e r b , one way u s i n g t h e v e r b a l r o o t ( j u s t l i k e t h e o t h e r
g r a d e s ) and a second way i n which t h e s u f f i x i s a t t a c h e d t o v e r b a l stems.
Secondly, I w i l l demonstrate how a c a u s a t i v e v e r b can drop i t s termina-
t i o n by u s i n g a p h o n o l o g i c a l r u l e which I have r e c e n t l y d i s c o v e r e d i n
Hausa.
Compare t h e s e t o s t a n d a r d Hausa:
7
Note t h a t i n t h e Guddiri d i a l e c t t h e p a l a t a l i z a t i o n o f S to sh
t a k e s ? l a c e o n l y b e f o r e e and n o t b e f o r e i .
i n c l u d e t h e marking o f c a u s a t i o n , e . g .
girl-the .
she -camp b u y cause ( p r e p . ) d r e s s - h e r
T h e g i r l - sold- h e r d r e s s '
( 14) r a m - ? da ( -+ rau-da)
gaya-7 da ( -^ gai-da)
saya-F da ( -+ sai-da)
koma-F da ( -+ kwan-da)
f i n a l s o n o r a n t w i l l obey t h i s d e l e t i o n r u l e n o t a l l c a u s a t i v e v e r b s t , h a t
obey t h e r u l e have a f i n a l s o n o r a n t . For example, fit-a-? -> /fit-da/
+ [ fid-da] ' t a k e o u t ' and zub-a-? da -+ zub-da/zuu-da 'pour/throw
away'. Such c a u s a t i v e v e r b s s h o u l d b e c o n s i d e r e d a s e x c e p t i o n s , espe-
c i a l l y when we c o n s i d e r t h a t t h e s e two examples a r e about t h e o n l y
c a u s a t i v e v e r b s i n Hausa t h a t do n o t have a f i n a l s o n o r a n t and y e t obey
this rule.
(17) ~ o o t Masculine
- - Feminine
katsin- ba-katsin-ee ba-katsin-aa
sakkwat - ba-sakkwac-ee ba-sakkwat-aa
anirk- ba-amirk-ee ba -amirk -.aa
10
fS a n s - ba-faransh-ee ba-farans -aa
(19 Ease ( = S t e d
- Feminine form
ba-katsin-ee ba-katsin-ee-aa -È ba-kafcsin-i-y-aa
ba-sakkwac-ee ba-sa.kkwac-ee-aa -+ ba-sakkwac - i - y -aa
ba-amirk-ee ba-amirk-ee-aa -r b a - a m i r k - i -y-aa
ba-f a r a n s h - e e ba-faransh-ee-aa -+ ba-f a p a n s h - i - y - a a
U. Conclusion
W. E. A. van Beek
Introduction
The human eye can perceive between 4 and 10 million shades of color
(~enneberg1967). No language can even approximate this range of varia-
tion, so each language has to label groups of color shades with one
lexeme. If the choice of these groups of shades 'would 'oe as arbitrary
as linguistic theory has long supposed, the immense amount of possibi-
lities vrould make any regularity in color terminology an illusion. One
justly famous study by Berlin and Kay attacks this problem:
-
gical theory is at stake, i .e. universals in language and culture.
short their theory states that though different languages use a diffe-
rent number of color terms (counting only 'basic color terms), there is
In
a very limited and quite universal set of eleven "basic color terms that
2. Method
3. Terms f o r c o l o r i n Kapsiki
4. Discussion
2
kwatlaku
<
kwaxaqwayaxaqwaya
kwagwezu
kwaqgaraxa~garaxa
green
yellow
blue
1 kwaxwama
brown
---
2 kwagalagala / kwapsadapsada
REFERENCES
J a c k Carnochan
The two forms f o r ' h u t ' and ' h u t s ' show a l s o t h a t .t,here i s i n t e r n a l vo-
c a l i c i n f l e q t i o n f o r nouns i n Bachama a s w e l l a n f o r v e r b s . These exam-
p l e s a r e g e n e r a l r a t h e r t h a n unique f o r Bachama, and may s u g g e s t t h a t
t h e Chadic branch i s c l o s e r t o t h e o i l i e r branches of t h e Semito-Hamitic
U -i-
l a n g u a g e s t h a n P r o f e s s o r D i a k o n o f f , 'without s u c h evidence, had p - Cl-
-i 1.1-
S 'LY
t b o 7dt
,- ( c f . ~ e h 1976).
l ~
DEFINITENESS IN KERA
Karen H. D e r t
1. Form
with a accent.
Noun + R e l a t i v e Clause:
AS a r e s t r i c t i v e ( r e i d e n t i f y i n s ) r e l a t i v e c l a u s e i s p a r t of t h e NP, t h e
DEF-marker h a s t o f o l l o w i t .
Noun + Noun:
Only t h e whole NP can -be marked d e f i n i t e .
No e x p r e s s i b i l i t y i s l o s t through t h i s r e s t r i c t i o n . The s i x p o s s i -
b i l i t i e s o f u s i n g d e f i n i t e and i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e s i n E n g l i s h p o s s e s s i v e
c o n s t r u c t i o n s can n o t e x p r e s s more t h a n t h r e e meaning d i f f e r e n c e s :
a ) a
- son o f -
a chief
= a c h i e f ' s son
(.b) m son o f g c h i e f
c ) a
- son o f the c h i e f
(d) son o f chief = m chief 'S son
\ \
I n Kera, ( c ) can b e e x p r e s s e d by adding t h e numeral rnana ' o n e ' t o (11):
2. Use
B. Specific reference
F u r t h e r s u b c 1 a s s i f i c a t i o n i s n e c e s s a r y a c c o r d i n g t o whether t h e
referent i s :
(a) unique i n a given s o c i o - c u l t u r a l c o n t e x t
(21) sun
d i e Sonne
(22) the c h i e f
-
d e r HSuptling
(b) p r e v i o u s l y mentioned
(23) a man ... t h e man
e i n Mann ... d e r Mann
(24) some h u t s . .. -
the huts
e i n i g e Hiitten ... @ K i t t e n
(c) i d e n t i f i a b l e i n r e l a t i o n t o a known r e f e r e n t , t o wln-ch i t
TT--;
(i) R e f e r r i n g t o n e c e s s a r i l y unique i n a l i e n a b l e s
I f t h e p o s s e s s o r i s a human b e i n g , t h e p o s s e s s i v e pronoun i s o b l i g a t o r y
i n E n g l i s h , more o r l e s s o p t i o n a l i n erm man."
e he d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e and p o s s e s s i v e pronouns a r e n o t i n t # e r c h a n g e a b l e
i n a l l c o n t e x t s . T h e i r u s e depends l a r g e l y on s y n t a c t , i c p o s i t i o n , b u t
a l s o on semantic f e a t u r e s such a s , f o r example, t h e d i f f e r e n c e bet,ween
k i n s h i p and body-part t e r m s . The German forms g i v e n are t h e f o r m s pos-
sible i n subject position.
(25) man . . . h i s mother, his head
Mann . . . s e i n e / -d i-e M u t t e r , s e i n / d e r
-. . Kopf
(26) cow . - . --
i t s mother, & head
Kuh ... ? i h r e / d i e M u t t e r , i h r / d e r
-p Kopf
I f t h e p o s s e s s o r i s i n a n i m a t e , t h e d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i s most coninion i n
b o t h E n g l i s h and German.
I f t h e p o s s e s s o r i s an animal:
If t h e p o s s e s s o r i s i n a n i m a t e :
(30) t r e e . Â a
- branch
Baum ... e i n Zweig
( 2 9 ' ) one of i t s l e g s
e i n e s i h r e r Beine
Here r e f e r e n c e i s made t o one element o u t of a s e t which, a s a whole,
counts a s a unique p a r t o f t h e p o s s e s s o r ; t h e forms t h u s b e l o n g i n
c a t e g o r y ( i ) under ( c ) above.
I f we now t u r n t o t h e DEF-marker i n Kera we f i n d a s t r i k i n g s i r n i -
l a r i t y i n use.
A. Generic r e f e r e n c e
I n g e n e r i c s e n t e n c e s , Kera commonly uses t h e DEF-marker.
(31) b > a n i-
$ harnt; d i g l > b> ' t h e / a n e l e p h a n t d o e s n ' t e a t mice '
(32) pep b> k e b s r i ;- hagan a n a ka:, - raawar) b>
kar$ jb'g -
'when t h e f i r s t r a i n s f e l l , people went t o sow r e d m i l l e t '
( 38' ) nar-
e de d g m e ' h e r mother i s i l l '
à ˆ / /
(39') ye l a s a q cuuru- 'they injured h i s head'
I n a l i e n a b l e p a r t s of i n a n i m a t e s i n Kera a r e u s u a l l y d e n o t e d 'by a
H + H c o n s t r u c t i o n , where t h e second N s t a n d s f o r t h e p o s s e s s o r :
I f t h e p o s s e s s o r h a s been mentioned i n a p r e v i o u s s e n t e n c e , t h e i n a l i e n -
a b l e i s r e f e r r e d t o by a N + N + DEF c o n s t r u c t i o n :
m i n t i c a a r e k u l i n b$ c i m - c i m i & r a
'when he came t o a h u t , he opened t h e d o o r ; he saw t h a t t h e r o o f
was r o t t e n 1
~ n i ~ u e n e si s a l e x i c a l f e a t u r e does n o t n e c e s s a r i l y c o r r e s p o n d
t o r e a l i t y , although it i s 'based on some cuLturaJ s t a n d a r d s . Thus d o o r
counts a:-;[-tuniquo]i n r e l a t i o n t o house even though nowadays houses usu-
a l l y have more t h a n one d o o r . The door t h e n r e f e r s t o t h e f r o n t d o o r ,
i f not i n d i c a t e d o t h e r w i s e by t h e context,.
(Li) I f a r e f e r e n t i s n o t n e c e s s a r i l y u n i q u e , any .--animate pos-
s e s s o r , whether human o r animal, has t o b e i n d i c a t e d by a p o s s e s s i v e
\ \
suffix. The niunera.1 mans ' o n e ' may be added a t t h e end. of t h e sen-
tence. The DEF-marker i s used e x c l u s i v e l y i n c a s e of p r e v i o u s mention
o r presupposition of uniqueness.
^ Â ¥ h s lf i n u ban g e m
1
/ \
However, t h e r e i s an e x c e p t i o n t o t h i s g e n e r a l r u l e r e g a r d i n g t h e
u s e of t h e DEF-marker. Some l e x i c a l l y ambiguous k i n s h i p t e r m s a r e d i s -
t i n g u i s h e d t h r o u g h t h e presence o r absence o f t h e DEF-marker independent
of c o n t e x t .
(53) we lug k ~ p ~ g
we, jarnag kas kzP>g (man:)
' h e climbed a t r e e , he c u t a b r a n c h '
\ 32) p& b> k s b e r i n h a g i n ana ka;,- ka< r & w & b> j b 9 e gard>t$
'when t h e f i r s t r a i n s f e l l , p e o p l e went t o sow r e d m i l l e t ' ( l i - ~ .
f i r s t - r a i n s - D E F r a i n e d s o now-DEF . . . l )
58) jzQ m 4 I& pep bag,
- BCOCOQ aw-12 ghiA
' i f it w a s n o t a d e a t h from Pepe ( g o d / r a i n ) , t h e g r a s s s h a l l f a l l
t o t h e l e f t ' ( l i t . 'was dying from Pepe not-DE F . . . ' )
/ / /
(59) - k$rnnUh- is be m i n t 4 L v i r i Y $
t a l s q g S h nskan-ne warag, ti
'when t h e grave i s r e a d y , h i s r e l a t i v e s s t a r t t o a s k f o r g i f t s '
( l i t . 'hole-DEF 'being-enough
DEF = d e f i n i t e a r t i cle/marker
11'wEF = i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e / m a r k e r (0)
FOSS = p o s s e s s i v e p r o n o u n / s u f f i x
(X) = r e s t r i c t e d use of X
We have shown t h a t t h e r e i s a s u b s t a n t i a l correspondence i n t h e u s e
of t h e d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e i n English/German and t h e DEF-marker i n Kera.
The c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e DEF-marker t o g e t h e r 'with a p o s s e s s i v e pronoun o r
s u f f i x and t h e marking o f a d v e r b i a l c l a u s e s a s d e f i n i t e c o n s t i t u t e t h e
main d i f f e r e n c e s between Kera and English/German.
The DEF-marker i n Kera i s n e i t h e r used l e s s t h a n t h e d e f i n i t e
a r t i c l e , nor i s it used o n l y a s a p r e v i o u s r e f e r e n c e marker. I do n o t
c l a i m t h a t t h e s u b c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s used i n t h i s p a p e r are e x h a u s t i v e ,
b u t I b e l i e v e t h a t t h e y a r e b a s i c f o r t h e languages t r e a t e d and t h a t
t h e y have some r e l e v a n c e f o r o t h e r Chadic languages . 6
REFERENCES
Zygmnt F r a j z y n g i e r
l. Introduction
f f ^
bi'irb bi'$i'rb [pi71ro] 'make f i r e '
tdulb tu$ulb [ t67dl&] 'scatter'
g&elb gaol; i n c l i n e t h e head'
' check, examine
(medically) '
tLam0 &$urn; wait'
/ \ /(h/Â \
curro cuipuro [cd?dr:] V fry'
binno bL$dnb [ &^no] 'look'
D i s y l l a b i c v e r b s which have t h e s t r u c t u r e CVCCV, i . e . t h o s e t h a t
have t h e f i r s t s y l l a b l e c l o s e d , add e i t h e r a s u f f i x -t- + r/V-V or a
Singular P-l u r a l
- Gloss
-t- fund: fdndd-t-0 [ fdnddrb] ' cook '
cdttd-t-0 [cdttdr&] 'wring water out o f
cloth'
baddo baddd-t-h [badddrh] 'finish'
dill; di'lld-t-0 [d3'lldr&] ' f e t c h small quanti-
t i e s of wat,erl
-3 - am& /
ambu- j -0
/ \
' climb '
/ \ f / \
y emmo yemmu- j -0 c a r v e i n wood'
~666: c4bibd- j -0 'plant I
/
mummo
\ / Â
mummu- j -0
¥ \
'close'
/ / \
ben j0 ben ju- j -0 'saw'
The l a s t major c l a s s of p l u r a l s i n c l u d e s v e r b s o f t h e s t r u c t u r e
( c ~ ) v c ~ c i~. ev ,w i t h t h e second consonant r e d u p l i c a t e d . The main s o u r c e
f o r t h i s c l a s s o f p l u r a l s i s verbs of t h e (C)VCV s t r u c t u r e . The o t h e r
s o u r c e i s v e r b s which have t h e f i r s t vowel l o n g :
'eat something h a r d q
'beat
V2 = i i f Vl = i
V2 = U elsewhere
o or v a l u e o f V2 s e e f o o t n
t / C 3 alveolar
j/C3 non-alveolar
2.2. Conclusion r e g a r d i n g Pero
D e s p i t e t h e c o n s i d e r a b l e v a r i a t i o n and complexity i n t h e f o r m a t i o r
of t h e v e r b a l p l u r a l , t h e r e i s s t i l l a r a t h e r 1-arge degree o f r e g u l a r i t y
and most of t h e forms a r e p r e d i c t a b l e from t h e s i n g u l a r form o f t h e v e r b .
It seems t h a t t h e r e d u p l i c a t i o n o f t h e second consonant i s r e l a t , i v e l y
e a r l i e r than s u f f i x a t i o n of -t- or -j-. T h i s c o n c l u s i o n i s b a s e d on
t h e following observations. A number of v e r b s have p l u r a l forms which
have a l r e a d y s p e c i a l i z e d meanings, u s u a l l y a narrowed meaning when corn-
p a r e d w i t h t h e meaning of t h e normal p l u r a l form:
It i s i m p o r t a n t t o n o t e t h a t t h e r e i s no i n f i x o r s u f f i x a i n the
p l u r a l forms o f t h e v e r b . This a f f i x occurs r a t h e r f r e q u e n t l y i n o t h e r
Chadi c l a n g u a g e s .
The e x i s t e n c e of m o r p h o l o g i c a l l y p l u r a l v e r b s w i t h meaning d i f f e -
r e n t from t h e s i n g u l a r v e r b s , e . g . cub; 'show' v s . cub& 'teach'
i n d i c a t e s t h a t gemination and r e d u p l i c a t i o n a r e n o t due t o r e c e n t inno-
v a t i o n i n Pero. T h i s c o n c l u s i o n i s f u r t h e r s u p p o r t e d by t h e f a c t t h a t
the suffixes -t- and -j- are used o n l y when the gemination c a n n o t
a p p l y because t h e stem a l r e a d y h a s t h e s t r u c t u r e CVCCV, w i t h t h e word-
medial consonants i d e n t i c a l o r n o t .
3. Kanakuru
Kanakuru has a nominal p l u r a l r e a l i z e d i n e s s e n t i a l l y t h r e e d i f f e -
r e n t ways, which a r e not p r e d i c t a b l e on p h o n o l o g i c a l o r semantic
grounds (~ewman1 9 7 4 : 8 2 ) . One i s t h e s u f f i x -ngin w i t h what a p p e a r t o
\ / \ /
be i t s v a r i a n t s -njin/-njen; t h e second i s t h e s u f f i x -iyan/-uyan
with i t s v a r i a n t s in, an, yen, and en. The t h i r d means o f forming
t h e nominal p l u r a l i s through gemination ( ~ r a j z y n g i e r1976; Newman 197b
a n a l y z e s it as h a r d e n i n g ) of t h e second consonant and an a d d i t i o n o f one
o f t h e a - ~ o v es u f f i x e s .
Kanakuru h a s a v e r b a l p l u r a l a s w e l l , formed by gemination o f t h e
second consonant o f t h e v e r b ( F r a j z y n g i e r 1 9 7 6 ) , t h u s p a r t i a l l y resem-
b l i n g t h e t h i r d means o f forming t h e nominal p l u r a l . The d i f f e r e n c e
c o n s i s t s i n t h e s u f f i x e s , which a r e p r e s e n t i n t h e nominal p l - u r a l "but
absent i n t h e verbal p l u r a l .
It a p p e a r s t h a t gemination i s an o l d e r d e v i c e than suffixation i n
t h e f o r m a t i o n o f nominal p l u r a l s i n Kanakuru. The argument f o r t h i s
conclusion i s t h e following. There i s a s m a l l number o f v e r b s which
have a p l u r a l form a s w e l l as a s i n g u l a r . There i s a l s o a much l a r g e r
group o f v e r b s i n Kanakuru which a r e p l u r a l i n form, i . e . t h e y have t h e
second consonant geminated, b u t f o r which t h e r e a r e n o r e c o r d e d s i n g u l a r
forms. This may o f course be a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e incompleteness of o u r
d a t a , a l t h o u g h t h e number o f such v e r b s makes t h i s an u n l i k e l y explana-
tion. The o t h e r p o s s i b l e r e a s o n f o r t h e l a c k o f t h e s i n g u l a r counrer-
p a r t s i s t h a t t h e y were l o s t and a r e n o t used any more. I f t h i s i s the
c a s e , it would i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e gemination o f t h e second consonant i s
a r e l a t i v e l y o l d d e v i c e i n t h e formation of v e r b a l p l u r a l , a l t h o u g h it
i s n o t p r o d u c t i v e anymore. The s m a l l s e t o f nouns which form t h e i r p l u -
r a l i n t h e same way i n which t h e v e r b s do may t h e r e f o r e r e p r e s e n t t h e
o l d e s t d e v i c e of forming t h e nominal p l u r a l i n Kanakuru, s i n c e t h i s s e t
i s closed a s w e l l .
The f o l l o w i n g i s an e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h e development o f t h e p l u r a l
markers i n Kanakuru. A f t e r gemination ceased, t o o p e r a t e as a d e v i c e f o r
marking t h e p l u r a l , t h e v a r i o u s s u f f i x e s on nouns emerged as a r e s u l t o f
compensatory change. The o l d v e r b a l p l u r a l s were n o t p e r c e i v e d anymore
as plural forms and, t h e r e f o r e , t h e r e was a s i t u a t i o n i n which t h t - r e
e x i s t e d two forms c o n t a i n i n g e s s e n t i a l l y t h e same semantic c h a r a c t e r i s -
tics. One o f t h o s e forms d i s a p p e a r e d from u s a g e .
It i s p o s s i b l e t h a t t h e whole p r o c e s s was t h e o p p o s i t e from t h e one
d e s c r i b e d above. One could c o n c e i v e , f o r i n s t a n c e , t h a t t h e nomina.1~
s u f f i x e s marking p l u r a l developed f i r s t , and then gemination a s t h e mor-
phological device c e a s e d t o o p e r a t e because it was d u p l i c a t i n g t h e
f u n c t i o n o f t h e nominal s u f f i x e s . But t h i s d i r e c t i o n of development i s
c o n t r a d i c t e d by examining a number of l a n g u a g e s , e . g . Hausa, where t h e r e
i s a l a r g e number of nominal p l u r a l markers and, a t t h e same t i m e ; redu-
p l i c a t i o n o f p a r t o f t h e verb i s a p r o d u c t i v e d e v i c e f o r t h e d e r i v a t i o n
o f f r e q u e n t a t i v e forms.
I n t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f p l u r a l formation i n o t h e r Chadic l a n g u a g e s ,
I w i l l u s e t h e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n i n P . Kewman (1977) i n which f o u r
branches a r e d i s t i n g u i s h e d : E a s t , Biu-Mandara, West, and Masa. The
a n a l y s i s below i s b a s e d on d a t a f o r some o f t h e languages from t h r e e
of t h e s e branches o f t h e Chadic family. Whenever I d i d n o t have d a t a ,
t h i s f a c t i s i n d i c a t e d by "?" i n t h e a p p r o p r i a t e column. Most o f t h e
d a t a a r e quoted a s p r e s e n t e d i n t h e s o u r c e s I have been u s i n g , i n most
c a s e s w i t h o u t any a t t e m p t a t r e a n a l y s i s . The l i s t o f l a n g u a g e s i s "by
io means e x h a u s t i v e . '
' ~ n e f o l l o w i n g a r e t h e s o u r c e s used f o r t h e p a r t i c u l a r l a n g u a g e s :
Dangla ( ~ 6 d 1r 9~7 1 ) ; Jonkor and J e g u ( ~ u n g r a i t h m a y r1961/62; J . Lukas
1974175); Kera ( ~ a r e nE b e r t , p e r s o n a l communication); Kapsiki ( s m i t h
1 9 6 9 ) ; Kotoko, Logone, and Buduma ( ~ e s t e r m a n nand Biyan 1 9 5 2 ) ; T e r a
( P . Neman 1 9 7 0 ) ; Margi ( ~ o f f m a n n1963) ; Bachama ( ~ a r r i o c h a n1 9 7 ~;)
Galanda ( ~ . ~ e w m a1n9 7 1 ) ; Bade ( P . Lukas 1 9 6 7 / 6 8 ) ; Ron languages ( ~ u n g -
r a i t h m a y r 1965, 1970) ; G i s i g a (J. Lukas 1970) ; Angas ( ~ u n g r a i t h m a y r
1 9 6 3 ) ; Sura ( ~ u n ~ r a i t h m 1963164);
a~r Chip ( ~ u n ~ r a i t h m a y 1 9r 6 4 / 6 5 ) ; Bole
( J . Lukas 1 9 7 1 ) ; Kanakuru ( P . Newman 1 9 7 4 ) ; Pero ( ~ r a j z y r i ~ i 1976 er and
field not^^}; Musgu ( J . Lukas 1 9 4 1 ) ; Hausa usse sell Schuli's a n a l y s i s i n
Welmers 1973; F r a j z y n g i e r 1 9 6 5 ) .
EAST
Nominal Verb a 1
Suffix Infi x
I
SUBBRANCR A
Dangla 9
Jonkor v o c a l i c changes, e . g .
D -r a.
l
-an, -e, -i, -0, l
- i k , -nau. I
Tonal changes. I
l
There a r e s i n g u l a r l
s u f f i x e s -0, -e. ,
l
Mub i Vocalic change and l
gemination o f I
second consonant. l
l
1
SUBBRANCH B l
Kera -n . I
,
a i n the prefix.
Nominal Verbal
SUBBRANCH A
Gat anda R e d u p l i c a t i o n of f i r s t consonant
and i n s e r t i o n o f -a-. Rule ( f r o m
R . Newnan 1971 :35 ) :
Tera None.
-
Margi -'yar, -i ( t r a c e s ) . P l u r a l through r e d u p l i c a t i o n .
SUBBRAJMCH B
Mus gu Verb i s number-sensitive b u t , un-
l i k e i n o t h e r Chadic l a n g u a g e s , it
i s i n p l u r a l form when s u b j e c t i s
plural.
--
WEST
Nominal Verbal
Suffix Infix
l
SUBBRANCH A
Daf f o
m
l
f" Sha -a, -aa, -ash, l S u f f i x -an. Reduplication.
&3 -e. Tonal I
crt changes. I
3
l
W
Kulere -egy. Redupli-
G
cation. I
l
Bokkos -ha, -ash. - a - w i t h redu- ?
S2 Ip l ication.
0
l
a n , a s h , -ash, , -a-, -aa-. I n f i x e s -i-, -a-, -aa-.
e , -ee, -i. I S u f f i x e s -aq, -an.
Reduplication. l
-unaa, -ukaa, -uwaa, -c ' a a , R e d u p l i c a t i o n o f first
- a i , -uu, -ii, -aa, -akuu, t h r e e phonemes o r o f s e -
-akii, -annii, -aCtii. cond s y l l a - b l e .
I n f i x -a-. R e d u p l i c a t i o n of
a consonant i s i n v o l v e d i n a
number o f s u f f i x e s .
Angas P l u r a l s e x i s t b u t are n o t
numerous.
Bole R e d u p l i c a t i o n of i n i t i a l
s y l l a b l e o r doubling o f
l a s t consonant o f stem.
No p l u r a l . Reduplication.
5. A n a l y s i s of t h e t h r e e branches of Chadic
5.1. Nominal p l u r a l
'3.2. Verbal p l u r a l
5.3. S u f f i x -Vn
mjilY;r :
k ' t h e s e people' (besides m j i k;)
~ h i l : ' ~ ; r k$ ' t h e s e men', e t c .
-Vn CGPLZ1Lii:g
REFERENCES
P h i l i p Jaggar
1. Introduction
2. The s y n t a c t i c behaviour of a u x i l i a r y v e r b s
2.2. Non-auxiliary v e r b s
As i s perhaps i n e v i t a b l e w i t h any a t t e m p t a t d e t e r m i n i n g t h e c l a s s
membership o f a v e r b , we f i n d t h a t t h e r e i s a c o n s i d e r a b l e o v e r l a p i n
7 ~ h ec h o i c e o f t h i s l a b e l i n no way i m p l i e s t h a t I c o n s i d e r t h i s sub-
category o f v e r b s t o b e more " a u x i l i a r y " t h a n " n o n - a u x i l i a r y " . It i s
simply t h a t t h e focus throughout t h i s paper i s on AV a s d i s t i n c t from and
i n c o n t r a s t t o NAY. The term t h e r e f o r e seems a p p r o p r i a t e t o a p p l y t o
t h i s i m p o r t a n t o v e r l a p p i n g group o f v e r b s . However, t h e q u e s t i o n o f t h e
r e l a t i v e frequency o f AV-2 o c c u r r i n g a s e i t h e r AV o r NAV, w h i l e i m p o r t a n t ,
i s beyond t h e p r e s e n t scope o f t h i s s t u d y .
1 n a l l t a b l e s , v e r b s a r e l i s t e d a l p h a b e t i c a l l y by g r a d e , s t a r t i n g
w i t h Grade 1; t o n e p a t t e r n s a r e i n d i e a t l e d i n p a r e n t h c b e s . A b l a n k s p a c e
I n d i c a t e s n o n o c c u r r f n c r of t h e item. A l l examples i n t h p p a p e r a r e a t t e s -
t e d by Hausa s p e a k e r s ; some a r c t a k e n from t h e well-known Hausa books
Magana J a r i Ce [ M W ( rrna'ri 1937-39) and Shehu Umap [W\ ( ~ a l e w a1955 1 .
TABLE I
Grade 1 ( ~ i - L O )
cika ya c i k a shan g i y a do t o o / v e r y t a cika tulu fill
much, do t o
he d r i n k s t o o much b e e r she' f i l l e d t h e waterpot
excess
dada ya dada zuwa r e p e a t , do ya dada ruwa i n c r e a s e , add
he came a g a i n he added more water
daina ya d a i n a zuwa stop/cease
doing
he h a s s t o p p e d coming
dinga na dinga t a f i y a keep on doing,
c o n t i n u a l l y do
I k e p t on t r a v e l l i n g
dosa1O y a dosa t a f i y a keep on d o i n g ,
do r e g u l a r l y
he k e p t on t r a v e l l i n g
fara sun faxa k a r a t u b e g i n l s t a r t , be
f i r s t t o do
t h e y have s t a r t e d r e a d i n g
fasa ya f a s a zuwa f a i l t o , miss, tafiya t a fasa be postponed
d e c i d e n o t t o do
he f a i l e d t o come t h e journey h a s been
postponed
gama ya gama g i n i n g i d a finish, com-
p l e t e doing
he h a s f i n i s h e d b u i l d i n g
t h e house
(0 S
M M
.1-1
asa
g
h 0
-
S U)
(0 -1-14-10G
r-i C '4 -d
.1-1 (U % @ * - P
En (U (0 0)
G Q M m h $
H G Q
g3 ^
h
0)
c
4 - P
c
G)
0
(LI
3
to+Â¥
EaD nj
.$I^"
-1-1
(0 (U
ina4-1ca
kusa can an kusa gama masa a s k i nearly/almost a b i n c i y a kusa n e a r l y /almost
MJC 212) done done
t h e food i s n e a r l y ready
l a t e r on when h i s h a i r c u t
was almost f i n i s h e d
sha ya sha zuwa nan do often/much y a s h a ruwa drink
he comes h e r e o f t e n he drank some water
y i ta15 suka y i t a rokonsa keep on doing
t h e y k e p t on begging him
Notes t o Table I
he c i t a t i o n forms used f o r t h e n o n - a u x i l i a r y o p e r a t i o n o f t h e s e v e r b s a r e t h e C form ( t h e form
of t h e verb when followed by a d i r e c t o b j e c t o t h e r t h a n a p e r s o n a l pronoun) and t h e A form ( u s e d
i f no o b j e c t f o l l o w s t h e v e r b ) .
l0T'here i s an KAV Gra.de 1 verb d o s a , which h a s a completely u n r e l a t e d meaning ' t o h a f t a h a n d l e ' .
Although it i s homophonous w i t h t h e AV Grade 1 dosa 'do r e g u l a r l y ' , it i s d e r i v e d from a d i f f e -
r e n t l e x i c a l base.
T h e phrase y a i y a doki i s h i g h l y i d i o m a t i c . The combination o f t h i s v e r b w i t h a noun d i r e c t
o b j e c t i s r e s t r i c t , e d t o such f i x e d p h r a s e s as y a i y a ruwa ' h e can s w i m ' , y a i y a Hausa 'he can
speak Hausa ( o r any o t h e r l a n g u a g e ) ' . Bargery (1934:482) g i v e s ya i y a hannunsa ' h e h a s become an
e x p e r t ' , and ka i y a bakinka ' c o n t r o l your t o n g u e ! ' . There i s a l s o an i n t e r e s t i n g K a l a l a t u ba ta
i y a miya ba ' K a l a . l a t u c o u l d n o t make/prepare/cook soup' ( M J C 2 : 1 6 ) .
^When followed "by a c o n c r e t e noun d i r e c t o b j e c t , t h e a d d i t i o n of t h e a s s o c i a t i v e p a r t i c l e da
i s o b l i g a t o r y , b u t o p t i o n a l b e f o r e a f o l l o w i n g VDN.
1 3 1 t i s p o s s i b l e of course t o g e n e r a t e a s e n t e n c e i n c o r p o r a t i n g b o t h a u x i l i a r y and non-auxi1iar.y
usage o f a v e r b such as t a b a , e . g . ka t a b a t a b a m a c i j i ? 'have you e v e r touched a s n a k e ? '
14*sama i s a non-occurring form; sarnu i.s t h e r e g u l a r l y used A form.
15-
m e two elements of t h i s compound verb a r e sometimes i n c o r r e c t l y written t o g e t h e r , t h u s yita.
The i d e n t i t y o f t a i s u n c l e a r , though it could b e t h e v i a t i v e p a r t i c l e meaning 'by way of ' .
2.5. O b s e r v a t i o n s on Table I
2.5.1. AV i n Hausa s e r v e t o q u a l i f y a f o l l o w i n g v e r b whicht,nenbecomes
nominalised i n t h e form of a v e r b a l noun and whose semantic c o n t e n t i s
a t t h e same t i m e modified, e . g . y a zo ' h e came' , cf. ya dinga zuwa
' h e k e p t on coming'. With r e g a r d t o s y n t a c t i c b e h a v i o u r , AV can "be
d i v i d e d i n t o t h e two s u b c a t e g o r i e s AV-1 and AV-2.
M
D
1)
oj
a
CO
a
0 a
0
+J
ft 4-1
D
^E'
1-1
m
D D
X; S
a)
r-i
-P
V)
a;
h
te
0
P
d
1)
-P
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2.7. (reservations on Table I1
^ A t t h e t i m e o f w r i t i n g up t h i s s t u d y , ve were unable t o f i l l t h e s e
"blank spaces i n Table I1 w i t h combinations a c c e p t a b l e t o my Hausa a s -
s i s t a n t s . I s h o u l d add t o o t h a t t h e r e was sometimes disagreement amongst
t h e s t u d e n t s a s t o t h e semantic p l a u s i b i l i t y of a few of t h e combina-
t i o n s AV ( + VDN y i n ) + AN c i t e d i n Table I T . I n many c a s e s , o f c o u r s e ,
a p a r t i c u l a r s e l e c t i o n i s simply a m a t t e r o f p e r s o n a l p r e f e r e n c e ( ~ a u s a
t a n a da yawa a i ! ). I am aware a l s o t h a t , because of t h e p o t e n t i a l i n t e r -
c h a n g e a b i l i t y o f some of t h e s e AV i n c e r t a i n environments, Hausa spea-
k e r s may d i f f e r i n t h e i r choice of t h e a p p r o p r i - a t e AV.
So t o o , a s c l e a r l y r e v e a l e d i n T a b l e 11, such c o n s t r u c t i o n s a s
ya c i k a s u r u t u ' h e c h a t c e r s a l o t ' (AV + NVDil i n s u r f a c e f o r m ) , and.
an k a r e z a f i ' t h e h o t weather i s o v e r v (AV + AS i n s u r f a c e form) a l s o
q u a l i f y i n f a c t a s AV + VDN + NVDN and AV + VDN + AN a u x i l i a r y c o n s t r u c -
t i o n s , r e s p e c t i v e l y , s i n c e t h e dummy VDN yin i s a g a i n p r e s e n t i n deep
s t r u c t u r e , and o p t i o n a l l y marked i n s u r f a c e s t r u c t u r e w i t h o u t any change
i n meaning, g i v i n g ya cika yin surutu, and an Rare y i n z a f i . TO
t a k e y e t more examples from Table 11, such s e n t e n c e s a s suka y i t a
hira ' t h e y k e p t on c h a t t i n g ' , and ruwa y a kusa c f i m i ' t h e water i s
nearly h o t ' i n no way i n v a l i d a t e t h e b a s i c formula AV + VDN ( 2direct
o b j e c t ) s i n c e t h e NVDN hira and t h e AN cfimi a r e simply f i l l i n g t h e
d i r e c t o b j e c t s l o t f o l l o w i n g t h e VDN yin which i s p r e s e n t , y i e l d i n g
suka y i t a y i n h i r a and ruwa y a kusa y i n c f i m i a g a i n p e r f e c t l y a c c e p t -
a b l e Hausa s e n t e n c e s and completely synonymous w i t h t h e above. I am
a r g u i n g , i n o t h e r words, t h a t a s e n t e n c e such a s y a y i t a atishawa
' h e k e p t on s n e e z i n g ' i s i n f a c t s t r u c t u r a l l y comparable t o t h e s e n t e n c e
1
y a y i t a bugun y a r o ' h e k e p t on b e a t i n g t h e b o y ' , t h e former b e i n g
simply a d e l e t i o n o f ya y i t a y i n atishawa.
It s h o u l d b e p o i n t e d o u t a t t h i s s t a g e t h a t i n most i n s t a n c e s t h e
dummy VDN yin does not i n f a c t m a t e r i a l i s e i n s u r f a c e s t r u c t u r e i n
Hausa, a f e a t u r e which t e n d s t o obscure i t s e x i s t e n c e i n u n d e r l y i n g
structure. 20 That it i s indeed p r e s e n t , however, i s f u r t h e r i n d i c a t e d
by t h e f o l l o w i n g s u p p o r t i v e evidence:
i ) The f i n i t e v e r b yi i s obligatory i n a l l a s p e c t s except t h e conti-
nuous when combined w i t h a NVDN o r AN, e . g . ya y i barci 'he s l e p t '
( l i t e r a l l y ' h e d i d s l e e p i n g ' ) , and ya y i sauki 'he i s b e t t e r ' ( l i t e -
r a l l y ' h e h a s made r e l i e f ' ) ,a feature already referred t o e a r l i e r .
3a) ya s h a y i n s u r u t u
(ha) ya sake y i n a i k i
(4b) y a sake a i k i
2 2 am
~ g r a t e f u l t o Mu'azu S a n i of Bayero U n i v e r s i t y C o l l e g e and t h e
School o f O r i e n t a l and. A f r i c a n S t u d i e s , U n i v e r s i t y o f London, f o r b r i n g -
i n g my a t t e n t i o n t o t h e counterexamples d i s c u s s e d h e r e .
grounds, b u t a s NAV i n (5b) and ( 6 b ) , though from a semantic p o i n t o f
view, a t l e a s t , one i s tempted t o c o n s i d e r them AV i n a l l t h e above
examples, s i n c e t h e s h i f t i n r e l a t , i o n a l meaning i s v e r y s l i g h t i n d e e d ,
u n l i k e s e n t e n c e s ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) d i s c u s s e d e a r l i e r , where t h e AV/NATJ
c o n t r a s t i n o p e r a t i o n and meaning i s c l e a r - c u t . Furthermore, m e r e may
b e some j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r c o n s i d e r i n g t h e nouns e x e m p l i f i e d i n Fentences
( 1 ) and ( 2 ) a s p o s s e s s i n g d i f f e r e n t v a l u e s , i . e . (semi-) c o n c r e t e noun
a s opposed t o v e r b a l dynamic noun, depending upon whether t h e preceding
v e r b i s AV o r NAVY a p o s s i b l e e x p l a n a t i o n which c a n n o t , I t h i n k , b e ex.-
t e n d e d t o s e n t e n c e s ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) -
Another e x p l a n a t i o n which might perhaps account f o r t h i s c o n t r a s -
t i v e behaviour i s t h a t we a r e i n f a c t d e a l i n g h e r e w i t h two d i s t i n c t
lexemes ,a NVDN magana ' t a l k / s p e e c h l i n (512) and ( 5 b ) , and. a p h r a s a l
verb y i magana ' t o t a l k / s p e a k l i n ( 5 a ) and ( 6 a ) , a t e n t a t i v e explana-
t i o n a l r e a d y proposed e a r l i e r .
There a r e a l s o semantic r e s t r i c t i o n s , a g a i n o f a r a t h e r deep n a t u r e , ^
on t h e p r e s e n c e o r absence of yin b e f o r e a b s t r a c t nouns w i t h a h a n d f u l
of AV (examples marked w i t h + i n Table 11). Compare t h e f o l l o w i n g :
2.8. AV + o b j e c t c l a u s e i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e a s p e c t
The remaining e x c e p t i o n s t o my b a s i c s y n t a c t i c d e f i n i t i o n , a l r e a d y
a l l u d e d t o e a r l i e r , w i l l now b e t r e a t e d . 6 of t h e 35 AV l i s t e d , a l l o f
them AV-2, may govern a complement c l a u s e i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e a s p e c t ( s e e
a l s o d i s c u s s i o n under s e c t i o n 2 . 5 . 4 ) . Such a c l a u s e may s u b s t i t u t e f o r
a f o l l o w i n g VDN w i t h no change i n meaning, p r o v i d e d t h a t t h e two s u b j e c t s 1
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2.10. The " p r o - f o r m naka and sG~)-forms o f AV
It seems t h a t t h e r e i s one e x c e p t i o n t o t h i s r u l e , d e t e r m i n e d by
e x t r a - l i n g u i s t i c f a c t o r s , and t h i s i n v o l v e s t h e AV-2 isa i n a sen-
t e n c e such a s t a i s a aure ' s h e s h o u l d b e m a r r i e d ' , where t h e two sub-
j e c t s a r e not i n f a c t i d e n t i c a l . This becomes c l e a r when t h e complement
VDN i s r e p l a c e d "by an o b j e c t c l a u s e i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e , which would b e
t a i s a a aure t a , l i t e r a l l y , ' s h e i s worthy t h a t one s h o u l d marry h e r f ,
w i t h t h e i m p l i c a t i o n t h a t t h e s u b j e c t i s a young g i r l who i s a t t r a c t i v e
enough o r whose p a r e n t s a r e r i c h and i n f l u e n t i a l enough f o r h e r t o b e
m a r r i e d , and n o t t a i s a t a y i aure ' s h e should marry', r e f e r r i n g t o
a woman who h a s a l r e a d y been m a r r i e d and s h o u l d marry a g a i n .
The v e r b s koma and shiga may a l s o precede a c l a u s e i n t h e sub-
junctive, e.g. y a koma y a s a c i kaya and ya shiga ya y i karatu,
meaning, r e s p e c t i v e l y , ' h e went back ( i n o r d e r ) t o s t e a l t h e g o o d s ' , and
' h e went back ( i n o r d e r ) t o s t u d y ' , b u t i n t h e p h y s i c a l o r l i t e r a l s e n s e .
Thus t h e two v e r b s koma and shiga a r e h e r e o p e r a t i n g n o t as AV b u t
a s KAV ( v e r b s o f motion) w i t h a f o l l o w i n g c o n j o i n e d c l a u s e i n t h e sub-
j u n c t i v e t o i n d i c a t e purpose o r i n t e n t i o n . For koma and shiga to
a c t a s AV, t h e above s e n t e n c e s would have t o r e a d ya koma s a t a r kaya
' h e r e t u r n e d t o s t e a l i n g g o o d s ' , and ya shiga ( y i n ) karatu 'he has
started/turned t o studying', i . e . i n a figurative sense.
2 6 1 s a y "immediately" b e c a u s e , w h i l s t o n l y a h a n d f u l o f AV c a n
govern a v e r b i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e a s a f i r s t v e r b , most AV may b e f o l l o w e d
by a -verb i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e a s t h e second v e r b , e . g . kana i y a d'aukan
wannan akwati k a s a k a s h i waje 'you can t a k e t h i s box and p u t it o u t -
side' .
REFERENCES
The b a s i c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e p a r s i n g model a r e t h e f o l l c v i n g .
Lexical r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s a r e e s s e n t i a l l y phonetic representati.ons; f o r
c l a r i f i c a t i o n , s e e Leben ( i n p r e s s ) . D e r i v a t i o n s c o n s i s t i n comparing;
two forms Wi and W i w i t h r e s p e c t t o a morphological r u l e R w i t h a view
t o determining whether t h e y a r e r e l a t e d by R . Proving t h a t Lwo Tornis
a r e r e l a t e d r e q u i r e s t h a t t h e r e b e some s t a g e i n t h e d e r i - v a t i o n a t which
t h e two forms i n q u e s t i o n match t h e environment o f morphological r u l e R ,
D e r i v a t i o n s proceed by undoing t h e e f f e c t s o f p h o n o l o g i c a l r u l e s step by
s t e p on t h e forms i n q u e s t i o n , when t h i s w i l l i n c r e a s e t,he reseir-biaice
between them. A rule A -+ [-F] / Y Z i s undone by r e p l a c i n g [--F]
w i t h [+F] on A i n YAZ. Analogously, an i n s e r t i o n 0 -r A / Y U-.- Z is
undone by d e l e t i n g A from YAZ, and a d e l e t i o n A --> 0/ Y Z i s done
by r e s t o r i n g A between Y and Z . As soon as t h e forms i n q u e s t i o n match
t h e s p e c i f i c a t i o n s o f t h e morphological r u l e , t h e d e r i v a t i o n s t o p s .
For example, c o n s i d e r t h e p l u r a l c l a s s wi.th a f a l l i n g t o n e b e f o r e 7
2 ) Korphological r u l e ( ~ a l l i n gt o n e + -aa c l a s s )
[ CVCV] => [cVC-C-;a]
1234 sg 123 3 pi
William R. Leben
Introduction
The r e l e v a n t d i f f e r e n c e i s t h a t i n ( h a ) t h e r o o t vowel i s l o n g w h i l e i n
( b b ) it i s s h o r t . Accordingly, Newman proposes t o a p p l y a d o u b l i n g r u l e ,
which we may f o r m u l a t e a s i n (5), i n - t h e f o r m a t i o n o f t h e p l u r a l s .
(5) Doubling
-La- i s e x p r e s s e d by r u l e ( 6 ) :
(6) I n f i x a tion
S i n c e t h e p l u r a l s i n (4a) do n o t s a t i s f y t h e environments of r u l e s ( 5 )
\ /
and (6), t h e y a p p e a r w i t h -aa-ee s u f f i x e d t o t h e s i n g u l a r r o o t , and a
g e n e r a l r u l e of y-Epenthesis changes t h i s s a f f i x t o -ha-y-&.
Regarding ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) a s s e p a r a t e p r o c e s s e s p e r m i t s N e w a n t o cap-
t u r e t h e correspondence between t h e s i n g u l a r s and p l u r a l s o f ( 7 ) :
(7) Singular -
P l u-
ral
kisk00 kgsaakee 'bowl 9
birnii biriange 'city'
kulkii kdlhakee ' cudgel '
The r o o t s kask-, e t c . do not f i t t h e environment o f r u l e ( 5 ) and s o do
n o t undergo doubling. But t h e y do f i t t h e environment o f (6), and s o
the infix -;a- i s i n s e r t e d j u s t t o t h e l e f t o f t h e f i n a l r o o t conso-
n a n t , y i e l d i n g t h e p l u r a l forms i n ( 7 ) .
p a r s e d by t h i s r u l e u n t i l t h e e f f e c t s o f some p h o n o l o g i c a l r u l e s a r e
undone. I n accordance w i t h t h e conventions summarized above, we undo
p h o n o l o g i c a l r u l e s on t h e s e forms u n t i l t h e s i n g u l a r and. p l u r a l p a i r f i t
t h e description of r u l e ( 2 ) . The f a c t t h a t t h e s i n g u l a r d a t & o has a
l o n g vowel i n t h e f i r s t s y l l a b l e w h i l e t h e p l u r a l Rattia has a s h o r t
one i s d e a l t w i t h by undoing t h e r u l e which s h o r t e n s vowels in c l o s e d
syllables. We undo t h e s h o r t e n i n g r u l e by changing vowels i n closed.
s y l l a b l e s t o [ + l o n g ] where t h i s would i n c r e a s e t h e i r s i m i l a r i t y t o c o r -
responding l o n g vowels. The f i r s t s y l l a b l e of k3ttaa q u a l i f i e s and.
becomes ~ a a t t g a . A t t h i s p o i n t t h e r e i s no need t o undo any f u r t h e r
rules, since &at& and R3ttaa a r e a l r e a d y i n a form t o f i t t h e e n v i -
ronment o f r u l e ( 2 ) , and s o t h e d e r i v a t i o n i s complete.
Example ( 1 c ) shows t h a t a l o n g w i t h a d i s c r e p a n c y i n vowel l e n g t h i n
g&or&o/gw3rr;a, t h e r e i s a l s o a d i s c r e p a n c y i n t h e h e i g h t o f t h e vowel
of t h e f i r s t s y l l a b l e . This l a t t e r discrepancy i s t h e r e s u l t of t h e
n e u t r a l i z a t i o n o f nonhigh vowels t o a i n closed s y l l a b l e s . The d e r i - T
v a t i o n f o r t h i s p a i r i s sketched i n ( 3 ) . Redundant l a b i a l i z a t i o n o f t h e
i n i t i a l consonant o f i s i n c l u d e d i n Wi.
(3) W1 W2 MORPHOLOGY
LEXICAL FORMS: 9
+r(i-'&or&o
<3
L +rdlarraa
,. [cvcvj
1234 sg
=> [cQc-c-&q
123 3 P
!
v 9 [ hv, la!"-
a- * a/-^ -- [ +,-..l --
( 8 ) a. damoo = damoo
(10) W1 W2 MORPHOLOGY
LEXICAL FORMS: gamoo
WS S
wvS s s
[9yisg =>
( Q i s a v a r i a b l e encompassing t h e e n t i r e form up t o t h e e n d i n g . )
\
[Q-~~Y=I^
/
1 1 ) W1 W2 MORPHOLOGY
LEXICAL FORMS: damdo [F:] => [ Q-iaye'e] -
PJ-
3. Concluding remarks
2.11. P h r a s a l verbs
a. y-Epenthesis -- -- ^'F ss -
-> \ /
[Q-aa-eel
l p1
b. Infixation -- dam-m-aa-ee
\ /
--
c. Doubling -- / \
dam-aa -ee
9
--
After stage (c), the singular and plural match the specifications of the
morphological rule (which, in its turn, has lost the y of ->ay& by
undoing y-Epenthesis), and so the derivation succeeds in relating them.
f&maayee. These i n t u i t i o n s cannot stem d i r e c t l y from t h e r u l e s o f
Hausa, s i n c e t h e r u l e s ( a s now c o n s t r u e d ) would s a n c t i o n t h e p a r s i n g o f
a l l f o u r o f t h e s e h y p o t h e t i c a l examples a s p o s s i b l e s i n g u l a r / p l u r a l
pairs. I n s t e a d , what d i f f e r e n t i a t e s t h e l e s s a c c e p t a b l e p l u r a l s from
t h e more a c c e p t a b l e ones i s t h e degree t o which t h e y resemble o t h e r mem-
bers of the aa-ee c l a s s p l u r a l paradigm. Of c o u r s e , it i s t h e morpho-
l o g i c a l and p h o n o l o g i c a l r u l e s o f Hausa t h a t determine t h e c o m p o s i t i o n
of t h e aa-ee c l a s s paradigm--this i s , i n e f f e c t , what was d e m o n s t r a t e d
i n section 4. To t h i s e x t e n t , t h e r u l e s a r e r e l e v a n t t o t h e d e c i s i o n as
t o whether some form i s a member o f a g i v e n paradigm. But a n o v e l f o r m
i s judged not o n l y by i t s p a r a s i b i l i t y b u t a l s o by i t s s i m i l a r i t y t o
a t t e s t e d forms o f t h e same c l a s s . T h i s i s why a n o v e l E n g l i s h form l i k e
espical provokes a more p u z z l e d r e a c t i o n t h a n a n o v e l form l i k e opical
does. The -ical ending s u g g e s t s t o t h e l i s t e n e r t h a t t h e form i s mor-
p h o l o g i c a l l y complex, b u t t h e r e a r e no e x i s t i n g forms i n - ical that
are similar t o espical, w h i l e corresponding t o opical there are r e a l l
1 2 ) M e t r i c f o r l i k e l i h o o d - o f membership i n a paradigm
Membership of a n o v e l form i n a paradigm P i s a f u n c t i o n
of t h e p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t t h e resemblance of t h e n o v e l form
t o an o c c u r r i n g form Fi a r b i t r a r i l y s e l e c t e d from P w i l l
e q u a l t h e resemblance of F1 t o a n o t h e r form F; a r b i t r a r i l y
s e l e c t e d from P . Resemblance i s measured by t h e number o f
s u b s t i t u t i o n s t h a t must b e made t o change one form i n t o
another.
( 1 2 ) markes it a s an u n l i k e l y c a n d i d a t e f o r t h e Wi s l o t i n a d e r i v a t i o n
for the aa-ee c l a s s , because t h e r e i s o n l y one m a r g i n a l i n s t a n c e i n
which an ending o f t h e form - & a ~ e e i s preceded by a n a s a l : ky&&ar4e,
a d i a l e c t a l v a r i a n t of ~y;waar&e 'door c o v e r i n g s ' . F i n a l l y , bawraayee
undergoes a d e r i v a t i o n analogous t o t h a t of b$ng>ayee, and fty~w~ar~e
undergoes one analogous t o kasaakee.
7. A d i a c h r o n i c argument f o r t h e p a r s i n g a n a l y s i s
Conclusion
r e n t t h e r e a l i z a t i o n o f an a f f i x i s compared w i t h i t s s p e c i f i c a t i o n i n
a morphological r u l e . The p a r s i n g a n a l y s i s can p r o v i d e an i n d e x o f
t h e s e t y p e s o f d i f f e r e n c e s by c o n s i d e r i n g t h e number (and. p e r h a p s t h e
complexity) o f r u l e s t h a t apply i n a p a r s i n g . Thus, d e r i v a t i o n ( 18) i s
t o be compared w i t h t h e d e r i v a t i o n i n ( 19) f o r r e l a t i n g t h e noun &awn&
with t h e innovative p l u r a l bawnaayge.
REFERENCES
Source l : PC *h1
Bade
War ji
, Tera
.Â¥^.l ,Mandara
Mat a k m
Sukur
CHAD1 C BIU-MANDARA Daba
FAMILY
Bata
\\ Kotoko
S
Somrai
Nancere
-- Kera
EAST
Dangia
Mokulu
.
- Sokoro
Source 2 : PC *s
The PC h l a t e r a l j u s t r e c o n s t r u c t e d accounts f o r t h o s e Chadic cog-
n a t e s where a h l a t e r a l i n BM corresponds t o a h - i . ' f e r a l o r a l a t e r a l in
t h e WST branch. It a l s o p r o v i d e s a s o u r c e f o r t h e h l a t e r a l s one f i n d s
i n MASA and i n t h e languages of t h e WST-B subbranch. It does n o t , how-
e v e r , account f o r t h e numerous etymologies i n which a h l a t e r a l i n BM
--
^*h1 may a l s o nave been p h o n e t i c a l l y r e a l i z e d a s [ l ] and [fill i n
s p e c i f i c p h o n o l o g i c a l environment,^ .
Ill
On t h e b a s i s of t h e r e g u l a r 1 / h l : : h1 : : h1 correspondence between
t h e WST, BM, and MASA b r a n c h e s , one can r e c o n s t r u c t a h l a t e r a l phoneme
*h1 f o r Proto-Chadic. T h i s h l a t e r a l was c a r r i e d down a s i s i n t o t h e
proto-languages of t h e s e b r a n c h e s . Subsequently, i n one subbranch o f
WST (WST-A), *h1 changed i n t o 1, i n what was a p p a r e n t l y a n excep-
t i o n l e s s , u n c o n d i t i o n e d sound change. This innovation took p l a c e i n t h e
proto-language of t h i s subbranch, i . e . a f t e r t h e s e p a r a t i o n o f WST-A
from WST-B b u t b e f o r e t h e d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n o f WST-A i n t o i t s component
groups. h he *h1 > 1 change i s one o f t h e s h a r e d i n n o v a t i o n s t h a t
j u s t i f i e s p u t t i n g t h e Hausa, B o l e , Angas, and Ron groups t o g e t h e r i n t o
a s i n g l e subbranch w i t h i n West ~ h a d i c . ) The change r e s u l t e d i n t h e com-
p l e t e e l i m i n a t i o n of h l a t e r a l s i n t h e WST-A subbranch. Their presence
i n Bole group languages such as Karekare and Maha i s c l e a r l y a l a t e r
1
r e i n t r o d u c t i o n w i t h o u t s i g n i f i c a n c e f o r t h e g e n e r a l q u e s t i o n of h l a t e r a l s
i n Chadic .
S i n c e h l a t e r a l s a r e n o t found i n EST languages, it i s obvious t h a t
PC *h1 must have changed i n t o something e l s e i n t h a t "branch, b u t i n t o
what and a t which p e r i o d i s q u e s t i o n a b l e . A good p o s s i b i l i t y i s t h a t
PC *h1 underwent a s p l i t i n Proto-EST, going t o 1 i n i n i t i a l posi-
t i o n and t o sh i n n o n - i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n ( w i t h l a t e r "hardening" o f sh
into c or ty). T h i s h y p o t h e s i s , however, i s b a s e d on s c a n t y e v i d e n c e
and needs t o b e i n v e s t i g a t e d f u r t h e r b e f o r e it can b e e s t a b l i s h e d a s
fact.
The e x i s t e n c e o f a h l a t e r a l consonant i n t h e PC phonemic i n v e n t o r y
S almost c e r t a i n . An i n t e r e s t i n g q u e s t i o n i s whether PC a l s o had a
he e x i s t e n c e o f 1 r a t h e r t h a n t h e expected h1 i s due t o a n
i n t e r n a l d i s s i m i l a t i o n of * a h l s i t o * a l s i ( a n d t h e n c e t o a l e s i ) .
' ~ a r e k a r e probably borrowed i t s h l - a t e r a l s f ' r c y f l a now-extinct Bade
group language o r i g i n a l l y spoken i n t h e a r e a now occupied by t h e
Karekare. The Maha h l a t e r a l s a r e probably due t o i n f l u e n c e from T e r a
o r Bura.
t h e s p l i t h y p o t h e s i s were c o r r e c t . BM S and BM h1 ( i n ( 2 ) and ( 3 )
must t h e r e f o r e go back t o two d i f f e r e n t proto-phonemes, t,hese being *S
f o r t h e former and a s i b i l a n t t h a t I am r e p r e s e n t i n g by *S for the
latter. E x a c t l y what d i s t i n g u i s h e d *S from *S i s y e t t o be d e t e r -
mined.; b u t it seems c e r t a i n t h a t *S was an s h - l i k e s i b i l a n t ( i f n o t
a c t u a l l y ~ h ? and
) ~not a h l a t e r a l . The i d e a t h a t t h e e x i s t e n c e of
h l a t e r a l s i n t h e etymologies i n ( 2 ) was due t o a BM i n n o v a t i o n t h u s
t u r n s out t o be c o r r e c t a f t e r a l l . The BM i n n o v a t i o n , however, was n o t
the s p l i t of *S into S and hi, a s e a r l i e r t h o u g h t , b u t r a t h e r t h e
p h o n e t i c change of PC *S into h1 and t h e subsequent merger of t h i s
h1 with t h e h1 d e r i v i n g from PC *hl. T h i s i n n o v a t i o n can be as-
c r i b e d t o t h e proto-language of t h e e n t i r e BM branch s i n c e h l a t e r a l r e -
flexes of *S a r e normal b o t h i n t h e subbranch t h a t i n c l u d e s T e r a ,
Margi, Matakam, e t c . ( i . e . BM-A) , and i n t h e subbranch t h a t i n c l u d e s
Kotoko and Musgu ( i . e . BM-B).
The Masa group, by c o n t r a s t , d i d n o t s h a r e t h e *sj > h1 change-- ';
t h i s b e i n g a n i m p o r t a n t r e a s o n f o r doubting i t s t r a d i t i o n a l l y assumed
membership i n t h e BM b r a n c h . Rather, *S went t o s i n Masa, merging
w i t h t h e r e f l e x e s of PC *S, cf. asi- 'egg' < *asi with ase-
8
'leg' < *ase. S i m i l a r l y , i n t h e EST b r a n c h , *S > S and merged wit,h
t h e pre-existing S, cf. D. sZqo and Tn. h i n 'tooth' < *sari with
D. SF and Tm. he 'drink' < *sa. ( ~ o t et h a t a f t e r t h e merger, sound
laws such a s t h e change o f i n i t i a l S to h i n Tumak whould have ope-
r a t e d i n d i s c r i m i n a t e l y on a l l S'S whether o r i g i n a l l y d e r i v e d from PC
*S o r from PC *S.)
I n t h e WST, *S a t f i r s t remained 9, i . e . it was s t i l l a s i b i -
l a n t ( u n l i k e i n BM) b u t i t was a l s o s t i l l d i s t i n c t from *S ( u n l i k e i n
EST and MASA). The changes a f f e c t i n g *S t o o k p l a c e o n l y a f t e r t h e two
subbranches had s e p a r a t e d from one a n o t h e r . I n WST-A, *S shifted t o
S and merged w i t h t h e S'S d e r i v e d from *S, a s had happened e l s e w h e r e ,
'T'he i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of PC * ? a s simply * s h , i . e . a s t h e r e g u l a r
p a l a t a l counterpart t o *S, was s u g g e s t e d i n d e p e n d e n t l y b y R u s s e l l Schuh
and Suzanne P l a t i e l ( p e r s o n a l communication).
'fi.11 PC r w o n d r u c t e d forms a r e taken from Newman ( 1 9 7 7 ) .
correopond t o an s or 311 i n t h e ozher branches. dorripare t h e exa-m-
p i e s i n ( 2 ) , ~ i - c nt h o s e i n ( I ) and i n ( 3 ) .
(2) Words w i t h PC * S
Gloss WST-A WST-B BM
-
'bone ' A. @ e s N. am-k T. ^ahl
'break' H. f a s - M. pahla
A . as W. sil- Lo. n h l e
'name' .
Kf sum Z . sum T. Ulam Mb. s a m i
'root1 P. cOri G. hlar- K C . sar-
'scatter' P. wacu I$. ways G. we1
' send' W . can Lo. h l a n Zm. s h i n
'tooth' Z. s h i n G. hlan- D. sago
'work' W. c 5 n a T. hiena So. u s s a n Ja. s i n
( 3 ) Words w i t h PC *S
G ~ O SS WST-A WST-B BM
- EST
P
MASA
1
' dream' B. s u n n a N . suwan Br . suni D. sOne Zm. m i s i n
'drink' B. s5 N . sa M. sa D. S'S
' know ' H. s a n i W. s a n G. sen KC. s e n
'leg' R. say L o . ass D. ase Ms. ase-
'mouse ' H . kiisii Z . kusag Mg . kusum Zm. kusom-
5 ~ h appearance
e of / h i / i n t h e presumably ccgnaLe P a ' a (WST-B) form
h i a r ( b r o u g h t t o my a t t e n t i o n by Margaret 3h-Lr ~ n e r ) i s i n e x p l i c a b l e .
' ~ e r o c (+ [ j ] i n t e r v o c a l i c a l l y ) i s r e g u l a r l y 6 e r i v e d from * S . I n
Ga'anda, n o n - i n i t i a l h i - l i t e r a l s sometimes a p p e a r a s / h i / , sometimes as /l/.
e.g. H. ftashi 'bone' < *?Jasu, c f . H. kiisi3 'mouse' < *kusam. In
t h e Bade group o f WST-B, *S changed i n t o a semivowel ( y o r w ) i n con-
trast to *S which remained s, e.g.
(4 Words w i t h PC *? Words w i t h PC *S
Gloss Bade Group Gloss Bade Group g
(~gizim) (~gizim)
' send' wana Lo . hlan 'dream' suwan Lo. suwane
' work ' wand T . hlsna ' buy ' mass T. masa
'tooth' yZnau G. hlan - 'drink' sa G. sa
' bone ' awu-k B r . Cpyehlu 'laugh' gamsa Br . kumshi
'scatter' ways G. we1 ' two ' shirin G. sarri
(5) *S *z
Za a r Other WST Zaar Other WST
' drink' hlya B. s a 'body' fili B. ziwo
'laugh ' gyornhla N . gamsa ' guinea-fowl ' filepm K . zSbanu
Loss o f h l a t e r a l s
-
W -
-
^ ~ c t u a l l ~Kanakuru
, h a s on1 y f i l and n o t h i , b u t t h e sound i s
l i m i t e d t o a couple of words and cannot r e a l l y he c o n s i d e r e d a n i n t e g r a t e d
p a r t o f t h e phonemic system.
does fii come from? Could t h e r e have been a d i s t i n c t i v e l y v o i c e d PC
hiatera1 *5l? Could fii be & d i r e c t r e f l e x of t h e m i s s i n g f r i c - z i o n -
less *l? O r i s it t h e r e s u l t o f secondary developments having t a k e n
p l a c e a t a more r e c e n t d a t e ? I n t h e absence of d i s t i n c t correspondence
s e t s involving h1 vs. fil o r any o t h e r r e l e v a n t evidence o f a n i n -
d i r e c t n a t u r e , t h e r e seems l i t t l e b a s i s upon which t o p o s i t a *hl/*ftl
c o n t r a s t ( i n whatever form) f o r Proto-Chadic. T h e r e f o r e , w h i l e none o f
t h e v a r i o u s p o s s i b i l i t i e s can b e r u l e d o u t a t t h i s p o i n t , I p e r s o n a l l y
would adopt t h e l a s t mentioned a l t e r n a t i v e a s a working h y p o t h e s i s and
look f o r i n d i c a t i o n s of a secondary s p l i t of *h1 into hi and E l 5 t?.e
c o n d i t i o n i n g f a c t o r s and t h e h i s t o r i c a l t i m e depths i n v o l v e d v a r y i n g from
group t o group and branch t o "banch.
REFERENCES
Roxana Ma Newran
Noun. stems
he t o n e of t h e e p e n t h e t i c a i s a copy of t h e p r e c e d i n g one.
k6t;r-A ' chief '
coxweb-a
/ \ /
' frog'
mbo?lm-a 'flea'
There a r e a number o f nouns w i t h [U] i n t h e simple stem which change
to i i n t h e m o d i f i e d stem, t h u s a p p e a r i n g t o b e counterexamples. In
a l l t h e s e c a s e s , however, t h i s [U] i s e i t h e r preceded o r f o l l o w e d by W
and i s t h e r e f o r e a n a l y z e d a s a, t h e r e b e i n g no c o n t r a s t between a
and U i n t h i s environment.
\
mm-ca
\
[Amci]
\
wim-a
\
' ra.t '
\ \ \ \ /
cswan-CS [cUwAnci] ciwen-a 'elephant'
i n i t i a l l y , m e d i a l l y , and f i n a l l y .
A t f i r s t g l a n c e , it a p p e a r s t h a t t h e S -+ sh change i s a s i m p l e c a s e o f
a s s i m i l a t i o n r e s u l t i n g from t h e s h i f t from c e n t r a l t o f r o n t v o w e l s , i .e .
t h a t t h e r e i s a r u l e of S - p a l a t a l i z a t i o n i n t h e environment o f f r o n t
vowels. I n t h e case o f sh preceded by a f r o n t vowel, t h i s e x p l a n a t i o n
c o u l d h o l d s i n c e , i n Ga'anda, only ( i ) i s h and (e)esh a r e found,
never *(i)is and *(e)cs, e .g. x<shfi 'outside', mishta 'CO-wife' ,
teesh! 'to bury (waste)' . Thus a p r o g r e s s i v e S - p a l a t a l i z a t i o n r u l e
I I I / \ /
c o u l d account f o r sh occurring i n kishex-a, weesh-a, e t c . , but it
i s l e s s s a t i s f a c t o r y i n cases l i k e pirsha where sh is- n o t immediately
preceded by a f r o n t vowel. One may n e x t a s k whether a r e g r e s s i v e s - p a l a -
t a l i z a t i o n r u l e e x i s t s which c o u l d e x p l a i n t h e o c c u r r e n c e of sh in
\ \ \
examples l i k e she?!, shimena, and ?LshinA. It i s t r u e i i i a t a num-
b e r o f words have a l e x i c a l sh ( i . e . t h o s e n o t d e r i v e d from s as
above ) o c c u r r i n g b e f o r e a f r o n t vowel, e . g . shiyt: 't o begt , sherd
' t o be o l d ' . But t h e r e a l s o e x i s t words and c o n s t r u c t i o n s v h e r e
t h e sequences si and se a r e never r e a l i z e d a s [ s h i ] o r [ s h e ] , e . g .
f&-hl$asi ' day a f t e r tomorrow' , ksrnsica 'youths ', hauseci 'Hausa
people' , kesi' S$ ' h e l p me 1 ' , \ \ /
a s i - t a ?y&m8a ' h e drank w a t e r ' . From
t h e s e examples, it i s c l e a r t h a t p a l a t a l i z a t i o n of S before f r o r t
vowels i s n o t a u t o m a t i c . I t s o c c u r r e n c e i n t h e modified stems of Y nouns
i s t h u s n o t e x p l a i n a b l e i n terms o f a simple p h o n o l o g i c a l p r o c e s s .
R a t h e r , t h e p a l a t a l i z a t i o n h e r e must be t r e a t e d a s one o f t h e changes
a s s o c i a t e d s p e c i f i c a l l y w i t h a morphological i n f l e c t i o n a l p a t t e r n of Y
nouns.
The o t h e r consonant change found i n modified stems o f Y nouns h a s
t o do w i t h s t e m - f i n a l g. I n a d d i t i o n t o vowel f r o n t i n g , words w i t h
final g i n t h e s i m p l e stem change t h e g to y i n t h e m o d i f i e d stem.
Cfey -a 'fly'
d y -a 'bird'
\
sag-ca
/ \
s h i y -a
/
'stirring stick'
I I / I ' t
xarag-ca xirey-a 'nose'
' crocodile '
\ / \ /
cirey-a
khnbey-! ' t y p e o f melon'
T h i s change c o u l d p o s s i b l y b e d e s c r i b e d i n terms of a p a r t i c u l a r t y p e
of p a l a t a l i z a t i o n c o n d i t i o n e d by a p r e c e d i n g f r o n t vowel. But se-
quences o f ir) and eg occur elsewhere i n Ga'anda, e.g. finan 'dye
it r e d ! ', sheg6 ' count ! ' , ketenr&nca 'storks'. Such examples c l e a r l y
show t h a t t h e r) -+ y s h i f t i.s n o t phonol.ogically c o n d i t i o n e d .
There i s an i n t e r e s t i n g h i s t o r i c a l a s p e c t t o t h e i~/y alternation.
Most nouns w i t h stem-final g i n Ga'anda have cognate forms w i t h a n a s a l i n
c l o s e l y r e l a t e d l a n g u a g e s , e . g . G. carag- ' c r o c o d i l e ' , c f . Tera jiraq;
G. xaraq- ' n o s e ' , c f . Fidlimndi hadan. Some Q words, however, have
cognate forms w i t h y i n o t h e r languages, e . g . G. &g- "bird1, cf.
Gisiga cfiyaw; G. raq- ' b o w ' , c f . Hona riye. The e x p l a n a t i o n i s t h a t
i n present-day Ga'anda t h e simple stems cfaq- and rag- are reinter-
p r e t a t i o n ~b a s e d on a p r o c e s s o f back-formation. The e x i s t e n c e of
an a l t e r n a t i v e Ga'anda p l u r a l form f o r ' b i r d ' , cfiyca - ctegca, supports
t h i s analysis.
The s e t o f changes d e s c r i b e d above a l l p e r t a i n t o Y noluns e n d i n g i n
a consonant; t h e y do n o t a p p l y t o v o w e l - f i n a l Y nouns (which o n l y end i n
-i, as stated e a r l i e r ) . For r e a s o n s n o t y e t a p p a r e n t , i - f i n a l Y nouns
do n o t undergo any i n t e r n a l vowel/consonant changes. R a t h e r , t h e modi-
f i e d stem i s formed from t h e simple stem by dropping t h e f i n a l -i, with
no f u r t h e r changes.
'spider'
' fever'
'moon '
'r i v e r '
There a r e two e x c e p t i o n s however; t h e two -i nouns below show b o t h
vowel f r o n t i n g and p a l a t a l i z a t i o n o f S i n addition t o -i deletion:
'youth"
'mosquito'
Verb stems
t h e y shot'
'they refuse '
'I got sick'
\ / \ /
t&sy a taxs-inca 'I got ready'
\ \ \ /
san- a san-man 'we ( i n c l . ) knew'
'you ) should r u n '
There i s a r e s t r i c t i o n on t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e Y-prosody w i t h v e r b
stems ending i n f i n a l -a. I n the perfective tense only, f i n a l -a is
r e p l a c e d by -i, e.g.
Singular Plural
\ \ P
a si-mun ( i n c l.)
1st L S;-inc; [sinci]
\ \ /
a si-?an (excl. )
(P rule: a -r i/- #\
I t i s t h e e x c e p t i o n t h a t proves t h e r u l e .
The one c o n s o n a n t a l change i n t h e Y-prosody d e s c r i b e d f o r nouns
which does n o t apply t o v e r b s i s t h e g -F y change. I n verb stems,
final g remains g:
/
tag- L t :g -Sn 'you got s t u c k '
REFERENCES
B e l l o Ahmad Salim
Introduction
T h i s p a p e r i s an a t t e m p t t o f i n d some p l a u s i b l e e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h e
i n d e t e r m i n a t e [ + h i g h ] vowel t h a t i s found i n some Hausa words, t h e cor-
r e c t phonemic n a t u r e of which seems t o e l u d e even n a t i v e Hausa s p e a k e r s .
C e r t a i n groups o f words, nouns and v e r b s a l i k e , pose s p e c i a l problems i n
phonemic and o r t h o g r a p h i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n . T h i s s t a t e o f a f f a i r s h a s been
r e a l i z e d by b o t h n a t i v e s p e a k e r s and l i n g u i s t s . The Working P a r t y on
Hausa Orthography (1972:8) r e p o r t s :
I a g r e e w i t h t h e Working P a r t y t h a t t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f a n o t h e r
graphemic vowel would o n l y cause c o n f u s i o n . My aim, t h e r e f o r e , i s t o
t r y and f i n d a p l a u s i b l e e x p l a n a t i o n ( i f any) t o h e l p i n t h e p h o n o l o g i c a l
Section 1
but
(1) V -+ [ + c e n t r a l ] /-C!# ,
a more p l a u s i b l e r u l e would b e
(2 V -+ [ a ] / n # .
but
Section 2
5 [+velarl
To summarize, we have an o b l i g a t o r y v e l a r a s s i m i l a t i o n r u l e ( t o g e t
labialized or palatalized velars ) , plus an o b l i g a t o r y d i p h t h o n g i z a t i o n
r u l e before t h e assimilated v e l a r s , and. t h e two o p t i o n a l ( t h o u g h p e r v a -
s i v e ) r u l e s o f vowel r e d u c t i o n ancl subsequent a s s i m i l a t i o n t o t h e vowel
h e i g h t o f t h e f i n a l h i g h vowel.
The n e x t p r o c e s s of f i n a l vowel d e l e t i o n ( a s w i t h i t e m s 1 and 4)
might w e l l prove our ( t r a d i t i o n a l ) g e n e r a t i v e approach i n a d e q u a t e .
Notice t h a t i n t h e t h i r d v a r i a n t s o f i t e m s 1 and h , t h e f i n a l vowel may
o p t i o n a l l y be d e l e t e d , where b o t h vowels a r e o f t h e sar-e vowel h e i g h t .
1 n L, t h e r e i s f u r t h e r o p t i o n a l v a r i a t i o n between /S/ and /X/ in final
p o s i t i o n , p o s s i b l y c o n d i t i o n e d by Hausa i d e o p h o n e s ? ) But t h i s d e l e t i o n
r u l e r e f u s e s t o work i n t h e c a s e of i t e m 8. Here, a f t e r t h e vowel
r e d u c t i o n and a s s i m i l a t i o n r u l e s , t h e c o n d i t i o n f o r t h e o p e r a t i o n o f t h e
deletion rule i s c r e a t e d and s o , l i k e i n 4, we should expect t o g e t
* [ m ~ s [ o r * [ m a r ] , b u t we d o n ' t . Also, i f t h e r u l e would work i n I , w h y
not i n 6?
Section 3
As s t a t e d e a r l i e r , t h e r e a r e c e r t a i n words where we do g e t an i n d e -
t e r m i n a t e vowel which seems t o a l t e r n a t e between [U], [ i ] ,and [ i ] . T h i s
p r o c e s s could have happened due t o a c a s e o f vowel r e d u c t i o n on s y l l a b l e s
w i t h l e a s t s t r e s s , 3 i . e . where a vowel g e t s reduced and t h e n assimilates
t o t h e f o l l o w i n g vowel. If we expand r u l e ( 6 ) a l i t t l e , therefore, we
might be a b l e t o e x p l a i n t h e process--if it i s j u s t due t o a c a s e o f
vowel r e d u c t i o n .
3 ~ i o t i c et h a t t h i s seems t o be a c a s e where a p h o n e t i c p r o c e s s t a k e s
p l a c e i n b o t h heavy and l i g h t s y l l a b l e s . Does t h i s mean t h a t though
s y l l a b l e weight s e r v e s a s a p h o n o l o g i c a l v a r i a b l e (~ewman1 9 ~ 2 it ) ~h a s
no p h o n e t i c r e l e v a n c e ? Also s e e Hyman (1975) on t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f t o n e
languages h a v i n g s t , r e s s .
l y i n g phoneme i n each o f t h e s e i n d e t e r m i n a t e c a s e s , e.g.
Section 4
5
J o t e t h a t this t r e a t m e n t i s n e i t h e r completely s i m i l a r t o t h e con-
T,
R u s s e l l G . Schuh
1. Chadic v e r b c l a s s e s
L@-L0
. .
Tone : ...
t o n e s on c i l l v e r b s a r e ( L O
,.
.
) ni , 1.-e low t o n ? - on
a l l s y l l a . b l e s b u t t h e l a s t ; monosyllabic v e r b s ar?
a l l h i g h t o n e s i n c e t h e y have o n l y a l a s t " s y l - i a b l e
2. Reconstruction of p e r f e c t i v e verb c l a s s e s
( 7 ) Vowel c l a s s e s : C-
$C-
-sc- } -a;
-U
-U ( U -F [ a , U , i] depending on
phonetic context)
10-
~ n Duwai, a l l v e r b s ending i n -a add -W&. I n a d d i t i o n , v e r b s de-
r i v i n g from o r i g i n a l *CV o r *SCUwhose l a s t consonant i s a l a b i a l o r a
p a l a t a l add -& (er6hwd 'move', muwo ' t a k e ' ,
\ / \ \ /
zsnyuwo ' t e l l , s h h k
' l i f t ' ) w h i l e v e r b s ending i n o t h e r consonants simply end i n -6 (becf6
.
' c l o s e ' , ackd ' e x t r a c t ' , n o ' c o u n t ' , r6 ' s t o p ' ) There a r e , how-
e v e r , a few u n e x p l a i n e d e x c e p t i o n s t,o t h i s g e n e r a l i z a t i o n , e . g . t u w d
' e a t ' , where we would e x p e c t *to, and. b6 ' w r e s t ; l e t , w h e r e we would
e x p e c t *&W;.
'?luvai has no d i s y l l a b i c v e r b s of t h e s t r u c t u r e CaCV s i n c e medial short
a has s h i f t e d t,o aa o r a . The cont,exts f o r choosing aa. o r a a r e u n c l e a r .
-
SCu
\
naayu
/ \
naayu
/ \
naayo
/
' grind'
kalmd k&rn6 ksrm6 cnop'
The s u b j u n c t i v e
A d e t a i l e d r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e s u b j u n c t i v e h a s n o t been worked
o u t f o r West Chadic . As an a p p r o x i m a t i o n , one can s a y t h a t f o r m a t i o n of
t h e Proto-West Chadic s u b j u n c t i v e i n v o l v e d adding -i t o the lexical
stem w i t h r e t e n t i o n of t h e (LO ...) H i tone pattern. The coarparati-ve
data, s t r o n g l y s u g g e s t t h a t t h e s u b j u n c t i v e -i was added t o t h e l e x i c a l
( p e r f e c t i v e ) stem, i n c l u d i n g i t s f i n a l vowel. For -U stems, t h e -U
-S C u
fat ^ 'go o u t '
doncfe dhrfi ' sew'
rnbiale bury'
^ ~ u k a s (1970/71:248) c a l l s t h i s a s p e c t t h e "Pr:iteritumU. D a t a on
monosyllabic v e r b s come from Lul~cas. The remainder o f t h e d a t a a r e from
my ova n o t e s but a g r e e w i t h those o f Lukas.
"one v e r b , *Le--&
\
'see'
/
, was recorded f o r K i r f i . I n the sub-
j u r i c + i v ~ ,t h i s v e r b i s n e e ^ c .
added -i a s s i m i l a t e d t o t h e p r e c e d i n g vowel ( t h e Gera system i s s i m i -
l a r ) , w h i l e i n B o l a n c i and K a r e k a r e , t h e ii/uu of the perfective stem
was r e p l a c e d by -a, e i t h e r a s d i s s i m i l a t i o n from t h e added -i, o r "by
analogy w i t h v e r b s having l e x i c a l -a, which comprise t h e m a j o r i t y of
monosyllabic v e r b s .
For d i s y l l a b i c v e r b s , t h e e v i d e n c e f o r f i n a l vowel i s c o n t r a d i c t o r y .
K i r f i ( a s w e l l a s Galambu and Gera) r e p l a c e s t h e l e x i c a l vowel w i t h -i
i n a l l c a s e s , b u t r e c a l l t h a t t h e s e l a n g u a g e s have o n l y a s i n g l e l e x i c a l
vowel c l a s s , t h e -a c l a s s having f a l l e n t o g e t h e r with t h e -U/@ class.
Bolanci and Karekare each have two vowel c l a s s e s i n t h e s u b j u n c t i v e ( a s
does Ngamo, whose system i s i d e n t i c a l t o t h a t o f ~ o l a n c i ) ,b u t w h e r e v e r
Bolanci has f i n a l -i Karekare h a s f i n a l -e and v i c e v e r s a . A t pre-
s e n t I have no e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h i s s t a t e of a f f a i r s . Note t h a t i n 'both
l a n g u a g e s , S ~ a aand SCUv e r b s f a l l i n t o t h e same s u b j u n c t i v e vowel c l a s s .
Arriving a t a h i s t o r i c a l explanation f o r t h e present s u b j u n c t i v e
t o n a l system i s a s p r o b l e m a t i c as t h a t f o r t h e vowels. As w i t h f i n a l
vowels, Ngamo p a t t e r n s w i t h B o l a n c i , w h i l e Galambu and Gera p a t t e r n w i t h
Kirfi. I n no c a s e a r e s u b j u n c t i v e t o n e s n o t p r e d i c t a b l e e i t h e r from t h e
form of t h e v e r b i t s e l f o r from t h e t o n e i n t h e p e r f e c t i v e .
Newrnan ( 1 9 7 4 ) h a s g i v e n a complete d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e v e r b a l s y s -
tem o f Kanakuru, a language o f t h e Bole group somewhat more d i s t a n t l y
r e l a t e d t o t h e languages documented above t h a n any o f them a r e t o e a c h
other. The Kanakuru system shows l i t t l e resemblance t o t h a t r e c o n s t r u c -
ted here. I n p a r t i c u l a r , it does n o t have t h e c o r r e l a t i o n s n o t e d i n
( 3 ) between f i n a l vowel c l a s s and stem shape n o r does it u s e an i n v a -
riant (LO . . . ) H i p a t t e r n i n t h e p e r f e c t i v e o r any o t h e r a s p e c t . How-
e v e r , comparative evidence a l l o w s u s t o d i s c o v e r t h e i n n o v a ~ i o n st h a t
have t a k e n p l a c e i n Kanakuru.
Kanakuru v e r b s have two f i n a l vowel c l a s s e s : -i and -e , e.g.
\
y i n
/
'stop' , kap& 'sow' . Hewman (1975:78-79) e q u a t e s t h e s e vowel
c l a s s e s w i t h t h e Proto-Chadic -a and -a c l a s s e s , r e s p e c t i v e l y , and
a t f i r s t g l a n c e t h i s seems c o r r e c t . However, when s u b j e c t e d t o c l o s e
s c r u t i n y it does not h o l d up i n i m p o r t a n t d e t a i l s . Frajzyngier (1.976)
g i v e s us t h e key f o r u n d e r s t a n d i n g how t h e Kanakuru system matches t h e
r e s t o f t h e Bole group. In Frajzyngier's a n a l y s i s , verbs w i t h f i n a l
-i a l l have t h e r o o t s t r u c t u r e CVC- w h i l e v e r b s w i t h f i n a l -e have
r o o t s t r u c t u r e CVCC-, CWC-, o r CVcc- (where cc = a geminate c o n s o n a n t ) .
Thus v e r b s i n -i a r e those of t h e s t r u c t u r e h, and verbs i n -e are
t h o s e o f t h e s t r u c t u r e %V. I n f a c t t h e v e r b r o o t s which F r a j z y n g i e r
a n a l y z e s a s CVcc- never a p p e a r w i t h a geminate consonant, b u t t h e e v i -
dence t h a t t h e consonants i n q u e s t i o n d e r i v e h i s t o r i c a l l y from gemi-
n a t e s i s v e r y s t r o n g , even i f one r e j e c t s F r a j z y n g i e r ' s s y n c h r o n i c ana-
lysis. F i r s t , comparative evidence from Pero and o t h e r Bole group l a n -
guages shows t h a t gemination o f t h e medial consonant o f v e r b r o o t s ,
o f t e n t o show p l u r a l i t y of s u b j e c t o r o b j e c t , h a s been a common p r o c e s s
i n t h i s group. Second, sound changes w i t h i n Kanakuru a l l o w u s t o under-
s t a n d what happened t o p r e v i o u s l y geminate consonants. Single stops
i n t e r v o c a l i c a l l y have weakened t o c o r r e s p o n d i n g s o n o r a n t s , e . g . *&J'
> Lr3' 'chew' ( s e e Newman 1 9 7 0 ) . T h i s sound change d i d n o t a f f e c t gemi-
n a t e c o n s o n a n t s , but s i n c e t h e r e w a s no l o n g e r a c o n s t r a s t between gemi-
n a t e and simple c o n s o n a n t s , t h e geminates were s i m p l i f i e d t o s i m p l e con-
s o n a n t s -with no reductlion i n t h e number o f c o n t r a s t s , e . g . *kapp6 > kape
'sow' ( c f . Bolanci kappd). Frajsyngier (1976:202-203) assumes t h a t
f o r a l l v e r b s of t h e shape CVCe, t h e second C was o r i g i n a : x r g:miiia'e.
However, I b e l i e v e a t l e a s t some CVCe v e r b s i n Kanakura i r e re.flp:.e.s
of Proto-West Chadic *CVCa, and t h a t Kanakuru C V C i a r e r e f l e x e s of
Proto-West Chadic *CVCu.
Let us now compare some Kanakuru v e r b s w i t h t h e i r c o g n a t e s i n
Bolanci i n b o t h t h e p e r f e c t i v e and s u b j u n c t i v e forms:
5. Summary
The following table i,s a list of fifty verb stems which can be
reconstructed with a high level of confidence for West Chadic. They
have been grouped according to stem class, and within each class, in
approximate order of descending confidence in details of how they should.
be reconstructed. Cognates from every language where they have been
identified are included so that other investigators may have as broad a
range of data as possible to compare within this group and with languages
outside this group. Most sound changes affecting consonants are either
documented or are immediately obvious from the data here. Fairly syste-
matic vowel changes in three languages can be seen in these data: in
Gera, medial short *a has usually reduced to i or U, and in Kana-
kuru *a has usually reduced to a. In Bolanci *a has usually become
o in -U stems. Note that in Bolanci a in verb stems assimilates to
final -e in the subjunctive and in verbal nouns. Furthermore, in
Lukas' (1970-72) list of about 400 verbs, less than ten have short e
as their vowel. The implication is that short e and o, which are
fairly common in Bole group languages, may all come from *a. Within
the data here, vowel correspondences other than those noted have so far
not allowed the establishment of any systematic sound laws.
An interesting observation in identifying cognates is that while
CVCCu verb stems are numerically among the most common type in all the
languages, very few such stems can be easily reconstructed. On the
other hand, a large number of CV stems,of which most languages have less
than twenty, can be reconstructed with considerable confidence. For CV
stems, even the stem vowel (a or U) can be reconstructed, but among CVCV
stems, where the final -U/-a distinction should also be found, very
fe-w verbs can be reconstructed with certainty as having final -a.
The vowel system used in the reconstructions is given in footnote 5.
The 1-etterV stands for a reconstructed vowel whose quality is uncertain.
3
'10
m
3
'(0
3
/a
c
3
'(0
4-1
ri
9
m
03
U
U
ID
TJ
crt
m
c 'ITS -2
(0 I -2 (0 .r-l
'ri '(09 ' a *
g,(D
(U
'ric
'(0Q
'riG
- * /<S -3
% G
Q i"^ 2 04 3
,Q- Q -
~1-13
l
'03 -P^
e
I C H C13-l
/g
C k
0)
Q
.3
Q
(U
5: ~1-1
'E!,
C - C - U- 03
.-
'3
I-]
'3
!-l
8
Â¥" /(d /o '4 h0
CD CD CO CO-
/(D m
,
M M A
S-1 .d
Â¥" /"I /(D '"I
2 A A M
ri '3
1-1 I-]
? /(D
-
ft
*.1-1
W 0 a) F ni a:'
^d a m
0)
v4
T-i
;4
c6
0 U
Ej
:3 kd 1.1-1
N
Ñ
:3
Q !:l;
REFERENCES
* P a l a , c a l l e d f d u c ~ k by
~ s p e a k e r s o f the l a n g u a g e , i s sgoken by
some 20,000 N i g e r i a n s c o n c e n t r a t e d i n e i g h t v i l l a g e s s o u t h e a s t of K i n g i ,
Bauchi S t a t e . A f t e r t h e i n i t i a l d i s c o v e r y t h a t 'god' took feminine gen-
d e r a t t r a c t e d me t o t h e language, I s t a y e d t e n months in 1973-7b r e h e a r -
ching Pa'a , funded by Fulbright-Hays D o c t o r a l ~ e l l o w s h i pGECT 0-73-5396.
T rrade one follow-up t r i p i n t h e slimmer o f 1975, assis-ced by t h e H i b b a r d
Award of t h e Wisconsin c h a p t e r of t h e P h i Kappa P h i honorary s o c i e t y .
This p a p e r has b e n e f i t e d from t h e h e l p f u l s u g g e s t i o n s o f E , Wolff
and C . Hoffmann a t t h e Colloqui.um, and R . New-man, whose e d i t o r i a l sug-
g ; ? s t i o n s r e s u l t e d i n considerabl-e r e v i s i o n of t h e nominal a n a l y s i s . Only
t h e a u t h o r i s , of c o u r s e , r e s p o n s i b l e f o r the e r r o r s which remain.
'Viz. Greenberg (1966: h 5 ) : "Here f i n Lukas], once a g a i n , w e meet t h e
t y p o l o g i c a l t h i n k i n g which has produced such confusion i n r e g a r d t o ] i n -
. , - r e l a t i o n s h i p s . Lakas e x c l u d e s iarig~iagr-Swhich do n o t have s e x
2 3 :;"-.i~
gender.
degrees of gender d i s t i n c t i o n made i n Chadic l a n g u a g e s .
A t t h e one extreme, languages such a s G i s i g a ( ~ u k a s1970:17) make
no gender d i s t i n c t i o n s o f any k i n d . S i m i l a r l y i n Margi ( ~ o f f m a n n1963:
66-67), s e x i s n o t a morphological c a t e g o r y , though t h e r e a r e o c c a s i o n a l
words which r e f e r t o t h e male o r female o f a s p e c i e s . Tera has a r e l i c
of what might have been an e a r l i e r gender system i n t h e words which t a k e
the t l i n k e r v e r s u s what Newman c a l l s t h e "I" l i n k e r (Newman 1970:154-
55). Other languages such a s Ngizim ( ~ c h u h1972) d i s t i n g u i s h s e x gender
of a n i m a t e s , w i t h a b i t o f f u z z i n e s s i n t h e a r e a o f animal c h a r a c t e r s i n
o r a l n a r r a t i v e s , w h i l e lumping a l l i n a n i m a t e s i n t o t h e c a t e g o r y "femi-
nine". Conversely, Kanakuru (Newman 1974:85-86), i n which grammatical
gender i s c l o s e l y t i e d t o semantic s e x , d i s t i n g u i s h e s words which r e f e r
t o f e m a l e s , lumping a l l o t h e r s i n t o t h e c a t e g o r y "masculine" f o r demon-
s t r a t i v e and pronoun agreement.
I n l a n g u a g e s such a s Hausa and, a s we s h a l l s e e , P a ' a , words w i t h
no semantic s e x a r e a s s i g n e d masculine o r f e m i n i n e gender i n a seemingly
arbitrary fashion. As P a r s o n s (1960, 1961, 1963) h a s d e a l t e x h a u s t i v e l y
w i t h t h e q u e s t i o n of gender i n Hausa, I s h a l l r e f e r t o Hausa o n l y f o r
comparative p u r p o s e s i n o u t l i n i n g t h e system o f gender i n P a ' a .
P a l a h a s what I would d e s c r i b e a s a f u l l gender s y s t e m , w i t h t h e
gender of t h e noun governing t h e c h o i c e from two s e t s o f p o s s e s s i v e pro-
nouns, masculine o r feminine e q u a l i z e r - s t a b i l i z e r s , and, i n t h e c a s e o f
s u b j e c t s , o f t h e second and t h i r d p e r s o n p r e v e r b a l pronouns. Addition-
a l l y , t h e r e a r e f a i r l y r e g u l a r endings f o r masculine and f e m i n i n e nouns
though, l i k e Hausa, t h e r e a r e s e v e r a l common e x c e p t i o n s . The one a s p e c t
of t h e Hausa gender agreement system which P a ' a l a c k s i s t h e l i n k e r , f o r
p o s s e s s i o n i s e x p r e s s e d i n P a l a by t h e noun p o s s e s s e d f o l l o w e d by t h e
p o s s e s s o r , w i t h no p h o n o l o g i c a l change i n e i t h e r .
I s h a l l begin o u t l i n i n g t h e s p e c i f i c s of P a ' a with t h e s e t of
p o s s e s s i v e pronouns s u f f i x e d t o masculine nouns f o l l o w e d b y t h o s e s u f -
f i x e d t o f e m i n i n e nouns.
S u f f i x e d P o s s e s s i v e Pronouns
[vb].
impers. a4
In this set, i marks feminine and p l u r a l , w h i l e U and. a a r e found.
i n masculine a n d / o r s i n g u l a r pronouns.
I n t h e nominal system, on the o t h e r hand, p o l y s y l l a b i c feminine
nouns, w i t h few e x c e p t i o n s , end i n -a. P o l y s y l l a b i c masculine nouns
end i n vowels o t h e r t h a n a, i n d i p h t h o n g s , and i n r e s o n a n t c o n s o n a n t s .
There a r e , however, a s i s t h e c a s e i n Hausa, a number of common mascu-
l i n e nouns which end i n a. Monosyllabic nouns a r e a l s o l e s s r e g u l a r i n
correspondence between f i n a l vowel and gender.
P l u r a l s a r e formed on p h o n o l o g i c a l grounds, such t h a t , p o l y s y l l a b i c
nouns which end i n -a form t h e i r p l u r a l s by r e p l a c i n g ;he -a with
-i, and p o l y s y l l a b i c nouns which end i n any o t h e r vowel, d i p h t h o n g , o r
consonant, add t h e p l u r a l s u f f i x -aani, w i t h o r w i t h o u t t h e fina.1
vowel. A l l monosyllabic nouns form t h e i r p l u r a l s w i t h t h e -aani s'affix.
p--
taka f tak:!' ' arrow ' bimi m birniyaan; ' ashes '
dlh?;rft&a f dl&rfthmi 'bee' baftalti m b i ~ i l t i y a a n ' i 'bark'
'breast '
f hifiybl; 'dish' jknk:!' m
\ l
finkiy&ini/ ' cooking
jinkaani pot '
'root '
toad'
'rat'
Gender E x c e p t i o n s
(plurals regular)
v 3 / <."I
sila m Sili I axe I rangasi f r&ng&kyaan^. 'mudfish'
j &a m jam:!' 'beans ' \
vagwe
I
f v>gw&y$an^. 'thorn'
\ /
ciri m cirl 'moon, month'
k00 t A m k00ti 'shoe I
Monosyllabi c Nouns
It s h o u l d be n o t e d t h a t t h e l i s t s , even o f e x c e p t i o ~ ~ c are
', by no n ~ & c *
e x h a u s t i v e , b u t a r e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of c a t e g o r i e s o f P a ' a 11cra~nals.
There a r e , a d d i t i o n a l l y , two nominal s u f f i x e s -cab and -ciki
which, w h i l e no l o n g e r f u l l y p r o d u c t i v e , s e r v e t o d i f f e r e n t i a t e gend-2r.
Nominal S u f f i x
Feminine Masculine
Singular Plural Gloss Singular Plural IJ-Loss
Â¥
riarcaka
i / \
fiarwi
/
' cow' samb6rciki s&ib&i 'guest'
. - ~ n c"
r - l \
ska ndhtli 'jaw' dricik: wuraani
\ / \
'leopard '
(alternative plural) / X \ . / I \
nailaclk:l ngilaani 'lizard'
I f \
If I \
l < ~ k i r ~ ~ : ~kko ik i n a a n i 'land
monitor'
T h e r e i s g e n e r a l l y n o c h a r i g ~i n nomj n i l modifier;:;, w b e t n e r t h o y
which t h e masculine nouns t a k e kaka, and t h e f e m i n i n e kaki, the
o p p o s i t e f i n a l vowel o f most s i n g u l a r m a s c u l i n e and f e m i n i n e noiins. In
c o n t r a s t t o t h e Hausa c a s e , adverbs g e n e r a l l y t a k e masculine pronouns
and e q u a l i z e r - s t a b i l i z e r s when used a s s u b j e c t s . Verbal nouns do l i k e -
w i s e , p o s s i b l y because v e r b a l nouns u s u a l l y end i n o, normally a
masculine noun ending.
I n c o n c l u s i o n , P a ' a i s a language w i t h a f u l l y developed system of
graamatical gender, including a s e p a r a t e s e t of s u f f i x e d possessive
pronouns f o r masculine and feminine nouns, two d i s t i n c t e q u a l i z e r -
s t a b i l i z e r s , and d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n by gender i n t h e second and t h i r d p e r -
son s i n g u l a r p r e v e r b a l pronouns. A l l o f t h i s does n o t , o f c o u r s e , make
P a ' a any more o r l e s s Chadicthan a language such a s G i s i g a o r Ngizim
which does n o t have grammatical gender b u t which h a s many o t h e r l e x i c a l
and s y n t a c t i c f e a t u r e s i n common w i t h o t h e r members o f t h e Chadic f a m i l y .
REFERENCES
Neil Skinner
The f o l l o w i n g e i g h t e e n etymologies a r e an a t t e m p t t o b r i n g t o g e t h e r
d a t a a t p r e s e n t a v a i l a b l e , b o t h f o r Chadic and f o r o t h e r b r a n c h e s of
A f r o a s i a t i c , and t o s u g g e s t , v e r y t e n t a t i v e l y , what might have been t h e
etymon f o r e a c h . The e x t e n t t o which any o f t h i s may b e r e l e v a n t f o r
a ) Proto-Chadic forms and ( b ) t h e s u b c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f Chadic l a n g u a g e s
depends l a r g e l y on t h e r e l a t i v e d a t i n g . Which o f t h e modern forms a r e
i n f a c t d i r e c t r e f l e x e s o f Proto-Chadic forms and which o f them a r e l a t e r
borrowings, t h e s e a r e t h e q u e s t i o n s which t h i s c o l l e c t i o n o f d a t a prompts
us t o a s k . I f g o a t s , s h e e p , and c a t t l e a l l were i n t r o d u c e d t o A f r i c a
from A s i a i n N e o l i t h i c t i m e s ( ~ u r d o c k1 9 5 9 ) , and i f Proto-Chadic was
spoken i n A f r i c a b e f o r e t h a t p e r i o d , t h e n probably o n l y t h e forms f o r
d o g 1 , ' c h i c k e n ' , and, p o s s i b l y , 'guinea-fowl' are s t r i c t l y relevant
evidence f o r Proto-Chadic.
Apart from A f r o a s i a t i c l a n g u a g e s , Kanuri ( o r ~ a z a - T e d a - ~ u b u )fi-
g u r e s i n t h e etymologies f o r ' c a m e l ' , ' c a t 1 , ' d o g ' , 'horse', 'ram', and
'sheep'. ( ~ a n u r ia l s o h a s kaji, which may b e Hausa kaajii 'chickens',
f o r 'guinea-fowl'.) Proto-Niger-Congo too figures i n those for 'chicken'
and ' g o a t ' . On t h e assumption t h a t an A f r o a s i a t i c language s e r v e d as
t h e v e h i c l e o f t r a n s f e r o f t h e name f o r t h e newly introduced, a n i m a l , i t
seems l i k e l y t h a t these--except f o r 'camel1--were a l l borrowings from
s ~ ~ ca nlanguage. Of c o u r s e , t h e r e have been more r e c e n t borrowings the
o t h e r way, by Chadic languages from Kanuri, such a s t h e forms f o r
' donkey' , ' c a t ' , and. ' camel' , used by s e v e r a l languages spoken i n t h e
r.eighborhood of Kanuri .
'meat, w i l d animal' ( l )
U W aa
u w a
0
u w i
U W ai
U ki ku- and - k i are affixes
b a ? n o t cognate
U U
U U t
u
i
U/ i. v o i c i n g uncert.ain
cf. s e g u r t e 'do;rxstic animal'
and s e k a a k e y ' w i ld ani.mal.
19a t l u w i
2Ob t l a b a
"
22h i S e
27a tl i W n a
Arabic 1 i y aah 'wild 3 u l l ' ? p1
he k i r y e t
5f a r a al-so has r o o t ( l )
6f/g *kw a r -
18b h a r a a l s o has r o o t ( l )
Cushitic
Gawwada g U r S e ? s u f f i x cognate with r o o t ( l )
Gobeze k U r S -
Werize k u r s e
5a kw a m ' cow1
8b k w a m a n 'bull '
12b k u m a
1 2c g i m o 'b u l l '
13 k o m e
151-) k u m
r aak U m ii
d l u k u r n o
* l a k u m i ? borrowed from Hausa b e f o r e
Hausa 1 > r occurred
d l a g a m a u
Egyptian
Semitic
-
i s t h e s o u r c e , which seems p r o b a b l e , it i s s u g g e s t e d t h a t E e r b e r ~ a s
English--borrowed t h e word, a s d i d t h e B e r b e r s t h e b e a s t , from t h e Arabs
( ~ r .a l - g m l ) , i n c o r p o r a t i n g t h e d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e a s p a r t o f t h e word.
Kanuri a l s o borrowed p r e f i x i n g ka, kaligimo; and one s u s p e c t s t h a t
Logone borrowed from Kanuri. Perhaps t h e -0 o f some l a n g u a g e s came
from -a1 , s u g g e s t i n g t h a t t h e s e borrowed d i r e c t l y from A r a b i c . Lan-
guages f u r t h e r west more u s u a l l y have *g-l-m, e.g. Fula ngeloba.
The g e n e r a l l y c l o s e resemblance o f a l l t h e forms g i v e n i s i n s h a r p
c o n t r a s t w i t h a r o o t such a s 'dog' o r ' g o a t ' , where t h e r e a r e wide
divergences--so much s o t h a t some w i l l deny cognacy t o some o f t h e forms.
The r o o t ' g u i n e a - f o w l ' , on t h e o t h e r hand, h a s forms which ( e x c e p t f o r
examples quoted from t h e P l a t e a u ) a r e a l l c l e a r l y r e l a t e d , b u t it i s
s t i l l n o t e a s y t o p o s t u l a t e t h e i n i t i a l proto-consonant. A likely
r e a s o n f o r t h i s v a r i a t i o n i n e x t e n t o f d i v e r g e n c e i s t h a t t h e Chadic-
s p e a k i n g p e o p l e s made t h e a c q u a i n t a n c e o f t h e guinea-fowl a t some p e r i o d
between t h e t i m e s t h e y domesticated t h e dog and were i n t r o d u c e d , t o t h e
camel. Thus w h i l e l e s s d i v e r g e n t t h a n , f o r example, t h e forms f o r
' g o a t ' , t h e forms f o r 'guinea-fowl' a r e n o t s o uniform a s t h e forms f o r
camel' .
Two minor p o i n t s a r e worth making about t h i s etymology. First,
t h e r e i s s u p p o r t f o r t h e f a i r l y r e c e n t d a t e o f Hausa 1 9 r (~ewman
1970); secondly, 1 > dl i s a p r o d u c t i v e p r o c e s s . This l a t t e r i s
o b s e r v a b l e i n languages i n Adamawa t h a t have borrowed F u l a luumo
'market' with i n i t i a l dl.
'cat'
1 a g w a a
ee 'male c a t '
2 e n ~ we
3a m s u n civet cat '
5f a
6 1 m
a m
8a i m
8b a m a n
lOa n a
lob aa n
12b i m
m S U 'civet cat'
12 c a m
l8'0 e t e ? e < a y < a w
22e m ung a m o k
22h m a g a m a k
26 ~ i i a u
Cushitic * ' A Z A HA r 'wild c a t '
1 z a k a r a a ' cock
k aa z aa ' hen '
2 3 a k a r a ' cock'
k a j a hen'
3a d i l k i ' cock '
k i ' hen
3b d ee 1 ' cock'
kw ee ' hen '
3c d e l k o ' cock '
kw o m 'bush f o w l ' ? c o g n a t e
V
bb S 1 k o r 'hen'
k o r o g ' cock'
' hen '
' cock '
k a z i 'hen '
9 a j a ' cock '
k o l a k ' cock'
*dl- r k - ' c h i c k e n , cock'
c U k u r a n ' cock'
g a a z a
g a s k a m a n ' cock'
k a n 'chicken'
o k i r a c o c k , h e n l ( d i s t i n g u i s h e d by
tone)
12c k o k o r 'cock'
lha k u z a ' hen '
g a c a k ' cock'
1 5a mt a k a 'her.'
l5b a mt a k a hen'
16 k a g k a hen'
l7d Y U k y1 h e n ' probably n o t c o g n a t e
18b cf e k e y1 ' cock ' probably n o t cognate
cf i y e k t e1 ' hen' probably n o t cognate
l9a X t a k W a ' hen '
v a z a k a ' cock '
19b y a t a kw a 1
20 a o k k u l a ' chicken'
ts a k a l a ' cock'
20 c yw a c k a
20d g U S k e
20e i c o k o
21 t a k U r
22a nz U g u r a ' hen '
a g u r d a k cock '
22? 3 0 g u l o k
22h k a ts k a r
25a US k U 'hen'
k u s k u n i ' cock'
26 g amd a k 'hen'
g omz o k 'cock'
27a tl C k - ' c o c k , hen'
27b g u 3 a n a
Cushitic *l A kkw 'chicken, cock '
Arabic d ii k ' cock "
p i - Saanuu
domestic aninal'
a l s o 'wealth'
F u l a n i c a t t l e ' , c f . lob
m -
a 13 g i r 'domestic animal, wealth'
a a
a
' ak tl a n 'cow'
tlatl a r a n 'cattle'
i i d i ? n o t cognate
a Q
a be i
d o n 'meat', c f . 3b
dl a ' cow'
g e tl 'bull'
tl
*tl
murg U dl bull'
tl
a tit1
maan tl
22h g U s a g
25a ntl a
2 7b tl a a'
Hebrew S $ (h)
Akkadian 2 a '11 urn
Cushitic *tl t
' dog' * k - d - r
k a r e e
kw i kw i Y a
k e r e
k w e e Q
k y a r a
c i r a
$7 y a r a
a dd a
a d a
i y e n a
' Y a
k a d a r i
k a r a m
k ooy a
d o g o r o metathesis
pi. gaarag
k a n Y a
k a n Y
lha y iicf a
15a k i l a
15b h Y a'
16 k i/u r e
17a x u d a n
18a k a d e
18b S a k e Y ? not cognate5
19a k a r e
19c k i r e
20b, 22f k a d a
22g g i d e y
25a k 1 e
26 h e r 9 e ? not cognate
27a d ii - pi. durnay-na
Cushitic *k A ( r ) r -
Akkadian k 1 b ? not cognate
Hebrew i y Y ? not cognate
Tuareg 'a Y d i
Egyptian Y W ? not cognate
1 3 a a k i i
? < Tuareg
IIJ a k e
4b ? loan < Hausa
6 *Z a
*"z a
12b cf U
19 a z U
V
2 Ob z U
20 c a 2y U
20 f dl i
22 a 1 z
22h z U
kw a i
g w a i w a 'testicles'
k oqy i
a k i n
8a agw a Y
8b gw 1 Y aa n
lob 13(g) a a .
l4a ~ ga rdl i
15b i hy i
17a t k w u r s i n
18a Q9Y a
l8b k w a l e
Cushitic *K A ~ WA Q (n) -
Tamazight t a g1 a i t
Arabic k a 1 W a testicle'
Maghrebi )
Arabic k a i k a h
3b,c aa S
5a 'y i ns a
5b c f i n s a
6 - 'ts -w/h -
8a z b ai 'egg sat on b u t n o t hatched'
9c k a c a k i ka- is a prefix
lOa g a s s o
12b cf ii S a
1 2c cf ee s ( h ) e
IT^ a dl i
19a tliitl i
v
20a s e y a
22a dl a y
2% tletl e t
26 a tl e
27 a z e n a
-- - -
Hebrew b e ( y ) s a a h
Arabic b a i d a h
Akkadian p e 1 U
It i s o f g r e a t i n t e r e s t t h a t a l l t h r e e c o n s o n a n t s , c, 5, and 1,
occur w i t h i n S e m i t i c a l o n e . Perhaps *DL i s indicated.
'goats'
'male g o a t '
t 'male g o a t ' p i . b u k u r - i n
'goat'
'male goat,'
b U k/g 0
l
aw k o
b e r k - 'cattle'
W eeg i r i
g U n o
b o k a r a 'male g o a t
y i k w a t a
k U
b a g e n
b o g a r e
mb a g a t e 'ram, s h e e p '
h U t u
ago
b o k
25 a s e b e g e 'male goat ' ? f o r p r e f i x
see root ( 2 )
m U
26 b egg â‚ r e
27a h U t a pi. bok-~a
Cushitic *b A(g)g A 'goat, sheep '
Arabic b a q a r 'cattle '
nd a k u S
"
S iky e n
*'ts - G -
g a b u z
m a z a r a n
j ii g
z u f a
m u n z a x w u n
t aqg a r a
d i ~ a 1
m a z a w a l
z a v g i
*W Ay ; A 1 ' goat, ? wild'
m z 'male g o a t '
canz a ' female goat '
As w i t h ' d o g ' , t h e g r e a t v a r i a t i o n s o f b o t h r o o t s s u g g e s t a n t i q u i t y .
The i n i t i a l l a b i a l , p a r t of t h e r o o t i n ( l ) ,a p p a r e n t l y a p r e f i x i n (2),
common t o b o t h , s u g g e s t s t h a t t h i s meant ' g o a t ' . I n t h a t case, k-r
may have meant ' female' ( a s was s u g g e s t e d f o r ' c h i c k e n ' ) and - GW -
'male ' . Williamson a n d Shimizu (1968) s u g g e s t a Proto-Niger--Congo -bi-
' goat ' .
00
'horse' (1) * d - W -
d 0 k
*d - W k -
d a kw a ' r.iare '
d u u k a
k u s t a ' ponyf
d u w U n
d i i kwa n ' mare
d a a n a ' mare '
d o X ' s-Lallion '
15b t a g U
16 *g i/u d U wi
17a 2 U X U n
18b d U we
d U U ' mare '
113 g a d u u
Be Aauye h a t a i ? riot c o g n a t e
Egyptian 12 t r ? not c o g n a t e
'horse' ( 2 ) *P - r ( s -)
b r a n a l s o h a s r o o t (I)
b a r i g
b u r i
m b i r i
p u r i
"
p i r i S
w a a z a n ? not cognate
p i S s o 0
P 1 S 0 'stallion'
b o o r a h o r s e , mare '
P e S 0
P a r S a a l s o h a s root. (1)
inb a r S e ' m a l e donkey' ; a l s o has
root, ( l )
m 2 i e donkey'
As Newman and Ma ( 1 9 6 6 ) p o i n t e d o u t f o r T e r a , it i s o f i n t e r e s t
t h a t s e v e r a l o f t h e languages have b o t h r o o t s . For r o o t ( l ) ,i t seems
fairly clear that the k- i s a s u f f i x ( c f . 'donkey' and ' s h e e p ' ) .
Root ( 2 ) i s complicated by t h e e x i s t e n c e o f Kanuri far, Songhai bari
and Mande so, and y e t it i s a l s o t h e r o o t t h a t i s c l e a r l y widespread.
i n AA--though n o t one o f D o l g o p o l ' s k i j ' s r e c o n s t r u c t i o n s i n C u s h i t i c ,
c f . Cohen ( 1 9 4 7 ) . Perhaps r o o t ( l )r e f e r r e d t o an o l d e r b r e e d of
a n i m a l , l a t e r w i d e l y r e p l a c e d by a new a r r i v a l , p e r h a p s o f S e m i t i c
provenance.
O ~ h 0s u b s c r i b e d riot, i n d i c a t e s an ext,ra f e a t u r e , p r o b a b l y [ + p r e n a s a l ] .
22 a g o r a g o r a
22b <3 W a r a
22 f Q9 w u r
22 g e Z e m
22h dl e r~g e r e k
' sheep' *D - m
1 t U m aak ii plural
3a t u/a m
3b t u m
"
4a t a n ng a S
be t a m o
4e t imb a h
6 *t - m akw - -akwa i s a feminine s u f f i x
i n N . Bauchi
t S m aak U
t aam a n
t a m a k u n
aam a g a
a m a a i
a m a
a m <7 a Lone p a t t e r n s d i s t i n g u i s h sex
a 13 l< 0
u m a k
a 6 a ~
o m o x
t i m a
t u w a k a
23 t a m a k
25a t e m a
26 e d m a edmak 'ram'
27a h u d i m i i s u f f i x e s d i s t i n g u i s n sex; f o r
t h e p r e f i x , s e e 'goat,' ( l )
2 7 ~ c i m e
Cushitic *c I d - V2 i s o i n f i v e of the
examples quoted ( ? < aw)
Berber a d a m a n
Ekkehard*Wolf f
1. I n t r o d u c t i o n
2. Methodological p r e l i m i n a r i e s
Before d i s c u s s i n g t h e i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p of b a s e l e v e l and a ~ p e c t ~ u a l
p l u r a l i t y , a few p r e l i m i n a r y remarks may b e a p p r o p r i a t e w i t h r e g a r d to
t h e model t h a t I have found t o b e u s e f u l f o r comparative s t u d i e s o f
Chadic ( a n d ~ f ~ o a s i a t i morphology.
c) The u n i t s of t h i s model s h a l l be
defined a s follows :
(1) "Root" s h a l l denote t h e u n i t which c o n t a i n s o n l y t h e i n d i s p e n s a b l e
elements of a lexeme. For comparative A f r o a s i a t i c , t h e r o o t i s assumed.
t o c o n t a i n no vowels. There i s o n l y one r o o t f o r each lexeme.
The term r o o t a s it i s used h e r e r e f l e c t s i t s usage i n S e m i t i c s .
Whether t h e r o o t a s t r a d i t i o n a l l y conceived of 'L':. Semitic languages
r e a l l y m e r i t s t h e s t a t u s o f a u n i t w i t h i n t h e morphology o f t , h e l a n g u a g e s
o r whether--as non-Semitic s t u d i e s have suggested--we ought t o s t a r t
i s a q u e s t i o n f o r f u r t h e r comparative A f r o a s i a t i c s t u d i e s . A s long a s
t h e r o o t i s n o t elii,.inaLed. as a u n i t and s t i l l b e r v c s d ~ s c r i p t i v cpu'-
poses i n a t l e a s t one branch o f A f r o a s i a t i c , i t 'will add t o c l a r i f i c a -
t i o n i n comparative A f r o a s i a t i c s t u d y t o d i s t i n g u i s h between " r o o t s " and
"bases" i n t h e way s u g g e s t e d h e r e .
(2) "Bases" s h a l l b e a l l v o c a l i z e d m a n i f e s t a t i o n s o f r o o t s , i . e . a l l
p o s s i b l e shapes o f r o o t s a f t e r r u l e s of v o c a l i z a t i o n and ( o p t i o n a l )
\
(ii) Augmentation
+ apophony)
. . . l
i n ) Affixation
Botn t h e s e n m ~ e r - s e n s i t i d - ebad;-;
::.a d G c :-
~ L A 7-~rbcll . lr,
the A-I " p e r f e c t i v e " stem.
(4) a d i s y l l a b i c b a s e used i n A-11 stems A i c h is c l ~ ~ ~ r az e d . by a
r e d u p l i c a t e d augmented t h i r d r a d i c a l consonant /k/, sequence o f
i d e n t i c a l vowels, and apophonic change o f a 1 1 [ + h i g b j vov=l S ' 2
-nigh] : *matakk
( ~ h e s eax-e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h i s t y p e o f A-11 b a s e which i~ i-nared, by
a l l b i r a d i c a l v e r b s whether t h e y d i s p l a y number-sensitive v e r b base
d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n i n A-I o r n o t . )
A l l o t h e r v e r b s have o n l y two b a s e s and must b e considered rimher-
insensitive :
4m . .
~ - * h ~is c1 f o r m of 1"
. ; probably an a.,.,~!ILL l^!,< ?l a t r r r C i p 1 icat,ivt,-
base of the type also observed in, e.g. cepcip 'crush'.
Apparently verb b a s e p l u r a l i t y and. i m p e r f e c t i v e aspect. arc- .L:; :-;erne way
incompatible because we have reason to assume thufc L!!-:: i.;;b.,.l Ye .-Â¥'l..Ll~-i'
stems of t h e t y p e matakk-a s e r v e f o r t h e p l u r a l vorb 'ba.::? *matt,
s i n c e t h e s i n g u l a r v e r b b a s e s form t h e i r own i s p c - r f e c t i v e a s p e c t s1;em.
They do ' t h i s w i t h o u t augmentation by C 3 r a d i c a l and v i t h o u t :subsequc:nL
r e d u - p l i c a t i o n , b u t w i t h l e n g t h e n i n g o f t h e s u f f i x vow-el ins? >ad. Thus
f o r ' d i e ' , f o r example, we f i n d two imperfect!ve a s p e c t steins: (i\;
matakk-a corresponding t o *m a t t , and ( ii ) mat-aa correspcndir-g T;3
300T 1 B A S E S S T E M S
AUX
<-iirrp>
7 /
pan-aw pan -e
m------
? ? f ?
<+pl> m a t t - matakk- matt-o matt-e
< +nun >
l l
? /Â Y\ ? / /
<-p].> m a a t - mat- m a a t -0 m a a t -e mat -aa
. .
several by ~ D p : . , - ,- _~; ' L -.,I .-.i^p.:.
-,7 ,.--r
-.- .:'-.:I:^' ;":,.:-ryi::,, >k!-?i., f ~ : , l
, -
v e r b bases itny .,'i-T \ L., , tf . i ; 2 ~ . ~r~:~.;.l. -
. ,. "..
,~., ? . ~ - -; ~ L t : l : ~ y ~ , ~ ~ ~ , . ~,: ~ c ~ , 2
some cases -.
D;{
,
~,:.)na-Lc;"&:-(----:- ;,!-.' .,-I?
;\
,., S
'
..> - tone--,,.
+,c,, ,-,
kalakala manamana
tlagalatlagala
ghambasaghambasa
gwaravagwarava
yardayard a/
yaradayarada
sav~alasawala
a 6al-inca c i n i c a 'I k i l l e d l i o n s t
a babal-inca c i n i c a I k i l l e d l i o n s b y of them)
a ce-nda marta xa t h e y 'shot up t h e corpset
a caca-nda marta xa 'they shot up (many times) t h e corpset
tla necan 'yar-i-ta 'he is (hab.) i n s u l t i n g me*
t l a necan *ya9yar-i-ta 'he i s (hab. ) i n s u l t i n g me (without
l e t t i n g up)
The ' i n t e r n a l -a-' vowel change of t h e root i s no doubt a r e f l e x of
t h e ' i n t e r n a l -a- p l u r a l s ' found i n other Chadic fend ~froasiatic)
languages. I n Gatanda9 however, it i s not considered as a formation
of a p l u r a l verb stem agreeing i n number with p l u r a l o b j e c t s , since
( a ) t h e o b j e c t may be s i n g u l a r , and ( b ) a non-intensive verb stem
can be used with plural objects ."
4.3. Kapsiki . Different from Lamang and Gat anda, Kapsiki a language
of t h e Higi subgroup, does not seem t o e x p l o i t t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s of in-
t e r n a l vowel change t o mark intensive verb bases, b u t r a t h e r seems to
use only p a r t i a l and complete reduplication t o i n d i c a t e i n t e n s i t y / p l u r a -
l i t y (smith 1969 :l l l f f . ) . Kapsiki verb stems occur with both completely
and p a r t i a l l y reduplicated bases. Simple stems with p a r t i a l l y redupli-
cated bases usually denote h a b i t u a l action. Extended stems with parti-
a l l y reduplicated bases seem t o i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e a c t i o n w a s done several
times o r was d i r e c t e d toward several goals, e.g.
Underlying 'thatch'
singular base
'break'
' chew'
' cook '
Underlying
p l u r a l base
Daffo-Butura m>r :
\
mwar ' slave '
The ~ ' a s c i n a t i n gt e r m "Habitua.1-Plural stem" used i n t h i s e a r l y p u b l i c a -
t i o n w a s s u b s e q u e n t l y e l i m i n a t e d by Jungraithmayr b e c a u s e , a s h e a r g u e d
a few y e a r s l a t e r i n h i s more e x t e n s i v e t r e a t m e n t o f t h e Ron l a n g u a g e s
f
l y i n g bases :
Derivational-Thematic Aspectual-Infl-exional
( plural" ) habitual" 1
-- -.-
D a f fo 6il : 5yS1
Sha shum : shwb
--
ci : cyan 'eat,'
du : dwan ' go'
shum : shwh ' catch'
shish : shGsh 'slaughter'
go1 : golol rbre&- ( ~ ) 'r
'a k i l l e d p e r s o n '
' k i l l e d persons'
'a killer'
'killers '
The c o n c l u s i o n i s a p p a r e n t : t o u s e t h e a s p e c t u a l dichotomy o f t h e v e r b
system t o mark t h e number d i s t i n c t i o n o f s g : p l i n agreement w i t h t h e
number o f t h e nominal head of a c o n s t r u c t i o n would seem t o "be a s i l l y
t h i n g t o do f o r any language i f t h e number d i s t i n c t i o n were n o t
i n h e r e n t i n t h e a s p e c t u a l dichotomy!
2. -vc2/civcz- 4. -VC2/CiVC2-
3. -an / monoverbs 5. -ay / monoverbs
Kulere ( l . -aa- ) -aa- / p o l y v e r b s : < + h i g h>
3. -ay / polyverbs : -high >
/ monoverbs
/ /
Kulere sisig : star'
kiqgyer : kirigyaar ' snake '
sumor :
/ /\
sumaar hare'
:uk&h : ?ukw$h "baboon '
zAr : zair ' rope '
The s i t u a t i o n i n t h e Ron languages cannot he t a k e n t o he r e p r e s e n -
tative of t h e Western branch of Chadic. F o r c o n t r a s t i v e p ~ i r p o s e sI~
s h a l l t h e r e f o r e quote from t h e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e p l u r a l v e r b b a s e s a n d
one t y p e o f noun p l u r a l i n Kanakuru, and ti-ien t u r n t o a d i s c u s s i o n of
some r e d u p l i c a t i v e f o r m a t i o n s i n t h e Hausa verb and noun s y s t e m s .
rniakhr-Le 'strangle'
l
tarts-Le ' smash'
-
We now t u r n t o t y p e ( 2 ) o f r e d u p l i c a t i v e v e r b b a s e f o r m a t i o n , i . e .
Parsons ' " p o s t - r e d u p l i c a t i v e d e r i v a t i v e verbs". F r a j z y n g i e r (1965 ) h a d
mentioned f o u r c a s e s i n which t h e s e extended b a s e s s e r v e a s " i n t e n s i v e s "
( q u o t e d i n t h e o f f i c i a l o r t h o g r a p h y from Bargery and ~ a y l o r :)
\ / \ \ \ /
gajeer- : gajajjeeruu (< *gajerjeer-) 'short (things)'
(1:) gidia : gidiaj&e < *gidaad-I 'compound~s)'
bat- : bak>ak&e b l a c k ( t h i n g s) '
As r e g a r d s A - I 1 f o r m a t i o n i n Hausa, t h i s language makes u s e of a noaii-
n a l i z e d v e r b stem. Since base l e v e l i s t h u s not involved at all-, t h e r e
is PO r e a s o n why < p l u r a l / i n t e n s i v e > v e r b b a s e s s h o u l d n o t o c c u r i n t h e
v a r i o u s forms of A - 1 1 ( "continuous , r e l a t i v e c o n t i n u o u s , nega Live con-
t i n u o u s " ) which a r e a l l b a s e d on t h e v e r b a l noun.
Summary and c o n c l u s i o n
Lamang + - I -
Ga ' anda + - ++ 1 -
Kapsiki + -
+ -
Bachama
Ran-Fyer
----l+
-
------
+ -i
I
I - v -
+
- - -
-Bokkos 1 - + +
-Daffo + + - +
-Sha + 1 + - +
-Kulere (+) + 4-
Kanakuru + - +
Haus a + - +
l
* I n c l u d e s suprasegmental marking, v e r b a l noun stem s u b s t i t u t i o n , and
a f f i x a t i o n a l marking
~i:~,i~:.i!
l ! f l I 11~:i.1;:" w i . , t ~ \ t ~ ~ ~ 1.0~ ~: ; id: r vrc \ d l . l i i ' r ri\.iui.\icr eurii'c,t,ij ivii,i' ;;!~l~ji,:rL
o r DI),,cL:I, , or x , y . r i ; i . - ~ i ~ , ~Wi i ,i UI :;~.;rri:-i.nt,.i c I'LL(: (,or:;i 1 1 :i. vi ' 1 :: i ,,JJ,I, [un, ; ; i ~ : i ' i
l,l.\n:;c (l;rr-i;i:i,ii "AI< I, i o n : ; : ~ r i , c r i " ) . AL S.11 i S l.~:i,r!., i c:u i :,.I' :: l,;iy;i' 0 1 ' ilL,v,-.!.: ! ' -
!,(!lil, i.: i b l l c ' f L t i t ' 9 l J c I i t,lirttl:~,l,J tf dc:J?i.vaL ini! :J,L Lill,' -ii Li.'nl i i!Vi'l , GJ: ^.'l(.'y b-'~?;',
leave the safer grounds of comparative phonolcw and. 1 .xi
- ~911. i l p v e r ~ h e -
less 1 am of the opinion that the data available from Chadic languages
are today of sufficient quantity and quality to venture comparative
'enterprises of great pitch and moment" in the field, of gracmar too.
Many aspects of the problem necessarily had to be left iinconsi4ered3
mainly because my inquiry into them has not yet gone far emu*. Admit-
tedly this paper raises more questions than it answers. Yet one a.?::
this presentation has been to stimulate fellow Chadicists and maybe even
Hamito-Semitists to check the hypotheses and, on the basis of their o w
experience, either reject the approach suggested here or accept it as a
promising line of further research in the fields of comparative Chadic
and comparative Afroasiatic.
REFERENCES