CHAPTER THREE

DATA ANALYSIS

3.0 PREAMBLE

Following the series of literature reviewed in the immediate past chapter, this

chapter goes on to present the description and analysis of loaned words from different

languages to Mada language.

Primarily three Mada as a language is heavily bordered by Hausa speaking

communities and as a result there is heavy language contact between Mada and Hausa.

Several Mada native speakers are as a matter of fact bilinguals majorly speaking Mada

and Hausa as their L1 and language of societal communication respectively.

It is little wonder that a host of loaned words are actualy coming from the Hausa

language. Other languages that have contributed to the Morphology of Mada are English,

Fulufulde and surprisingly Yoruba.

3.1 Letters of the Mada alphabet

Before attempting to set forth an orthography of some loaned words from other

languages to Mada language, it is important to observe a systematic and standard way of

capturing these items. This is why an already established ‘Letters of Mada Alphabet’ has

been provided.

The alphabet is phonemic and is made up of 34 letters. These are arranged as follows:

a, b, c, e, ε, ə, d, f, g, gb, h, hw, i, j, k, kp, l, m, n, ng, ny, o, ɔ, p, r, s, sh, t, u, v, w, y, z,

zh.

R. Blench (2019, p6)

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3.2 Hausa Loaned Words

Words loaned from Hausa to Mada rarely maintain their phonology, few of them

however maintain their orthography.

The word for ‘bicycle’ is of particular interest, since it is a borrowing from Hausa

kyeekye and clearly not part of an ancient word-stock. The first syllable has been

analysed as the kì- pseudo-prefix and tonal alternation applied regularly.

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

16. kìkyε noun bicycle; cycle

Despite the Hausa source of some of these words they do not appear to reflect the tones

of the original Hausa, suggesting that they were borrowed indirectly via neighbouring

languages. The word for ‘angel’ has retained the morphology of its Hausa plural, unlike

other loanwords.

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

17. məlɛka angel

18. Ladi noun Sunday

Example 18 in a sentence;

rīmē sē rì Ladi

today is day of Sunday

“today is Sunday”

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Other examples of loan words from Hausa to Mada are as follows;

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

19. bàbər noun motorbike

20. bedərō pl. noun dauro millet

21. beləbelà noun cattle egret

22. cìta noun citta African pepper

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

23. kāləbā noun bottle

24. kpàtì noun box

25. kpətεnyān noun small weeding hoe

26. zinari noun silver

27. kukā noun baobab

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 Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

28. Làmǔ noun orange

29. ləbasā noun albasa onion

30. matò noun vehicle; car

31. takī noun fertiliser

Majority of loaned words from Hausa are nouns, however there are few cases of other

grammatical categories borrowed from Hausa as seen in the example below;

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

32. se adverb sai until

Example 32 in a sentence;

se mbrε

“until tomorrow ”

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3.3 English Loaned Words

The Mada language has also incoperated some english words into use as a result of

contact with the language and new ideas. Such words are listed below;

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

33. kɔmitì noun committee committee

34. kanjùn noun cashew cashew fruit

35. kəlànzər noun kerosine kerosine; paraffin

36. təntùr matò noun tomato tomato

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3.4 Yoruba Loaned Words

The idea of Mada borrowing a word from Yoruba which happens to be a distant

language and which almost seems like contact is not possible might seem quite a difficult

one to accept. However, concepts trancend language contact. The example below

solidifies the fact that where a concept is depicted widely and tagged to the vocabulary of

a language, it is almost certain that that terminology retains some aspect of the root

language.

Word Word Class Root Word Meaning

37. kàrà noun akara bean-cake