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Journal articles on the topic 'Niger – Languages'
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1
Abunya, Levina Nyameye, Edward Owusu, and Faustina Marius Naapane. "A Comparative Study of the Simple Clause in Akan, Dagaare and English." Education and Linguistics Research 7, no. 1 (May 15, 2021): 62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/elr.v7i1.18353.
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The paper compares how the simple clause is expressed in Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo), Dagaare (Gur, Niger-Congo) and English. It examines the simple clause in relation to noun phrase, verbal phrases, adpositional phrases, basic word order in declarative and focus constructions, and the basic locative construction. Basically, the study reveals that despite the differences, Akan and Dagaare have a lot in common as compared to English. This of course shows how distant English is from the two African languages. Certain linguistic features such as serial verb construction and focus constructions were unique to Akan and Dagaare and this, is not surprising since languages within the same language family (Niger Congo) tend to share certain lexical, phonological, morphological and syntactic features. The significant variation between these languages shows where Akan and Dagaare languages diverge into other sub-family groups: Kwa and Gur, respectively.
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Childs, G. Tucker. "The S-Aux-O-V-Other syntagm in Atlantic." Studies in African Linguistics 34, no. 1 (June 1, 2005): 1–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v34i1.107331.
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As the largest language phylum in the world and the most geographically widespread (Williamson & Blench 2000), Niger-Congo understandably exhibits some variation at all grammatical levels. Basic word order stands as no exception to this generalization, and there have been partisans for both an SOV and an SVO reconstructed word order. Gensler 1994 attempts to reconcile the two by claiming that neither proposal is correct; he suggests that both SOY and SVO are derived from Proto-Niger-Congo *S-AUX-O-V-Other. Because of the pattern's "quirkiness" (being found virtually nowhere else in the world) and because it is so widely attested in geographically widely separated Niger-Congo languages, the pattern should be reconstructed for all of Niger-Congo. One crucial piece of evidence for this claim comes from the Southern Atlantic language Kisi. This paper explores Kisi' s facts in further detail to show how central the structure is to the language. It then expands the investigation to other languages of Atlantic, finding that the pattern is much more widely attested than was previously realized, albeit in an attenuated form. The paper concludes by discussing the significance of the Atlantic facts to Niger-Congo in general.
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Storch, Anne. "Dynamics of interacting populations language contact in the Lwoo languages of Bahr el-Ghazal." Studies in African Linguistics 32, no. 1 (June 1, 2003): 66–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v32i1.107347.
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Number inflection systems in Western Nilotic languages appear highly complex and diverse. Comparative work on Nilotic and other Nilo-Saharan families has shown that these languages have a morphologically tripartite system with marked plurals and a bare root singular, marked singulatives constructed from unmarked collectives, and a replacement pattern with morphologically marked singulars and plurals. Historical comparison of the formatives used to construct the different number categories has proven difficult. A number of little-explored Western Nilotic languages of Bahr el-Ghazal have been in contact with Niger-Congo (predominantly Ubangi) languages and have undergone typological as well as specific grammatical changes. An investigation into the historical and present contact situations is needed in order to shed light on how the number inflection systems of these languages were created historically. Sprachbund phenomena include the diffusion of a ka- plural prefix into the Belanda languages, while a convergence phenomenon whose origin is probably more recent is the gradual loss of suffixing singulatives in the Lwoo languages that are in contact with Niger-Congo, which itself does not use singulatives. Retentions and innovations within the system of, number inflection of certain Lwoo languages of Bahr el-Ghazal are discussed and analysed in terms of the history of these languages. This paper argues that crucial changes and differences within Western Nilotic noun morphology cannot be understood without taking into account the long and complicated contact history of these languages.
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Pozdniakov, Konstantin. "Notes on regular polysemy and homonymy (Mande languages)." Language in Africa 1, no. 4 (December 30, 2020): 69–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.37892/2686-8946-2020-1-4-69-84.
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Based on Mande languages as an example, the article examines the possibilities of using regular polysemy and regular homonymy for solving problems of comparative studies and semantic typology. Three cases are investigated. Regular polysemy noted only in Mande languages can be used for semantic reconstruction of Proto-Mande. Regular homonymy, noted only in the Mande languages, makes it possible to distinguish phonetically similar roots of Proto-Mande. Regular homonymy, noted not only in the Mande languages, but also in other branches of the Niger-Congo, makes it possible to discover regular phonetic correspondences between the languages of various branches of the Niger-Congo without any intermediate reconstructions.
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Vigeland, Friederik. "The numeral system in Longuda." Language in Africa 1, no. 3 (December 25, 2020): 216–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.37892/2686-8946-2020-1-3-216-243.
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This article gives an overview of the cardinal and ordinal numerals in Longuda, a language cluster in north-eastern Nigeria, belonging to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo languages. It focuses on three of its five varieties, namely Deele, Guyuk and Gwaanda, analysing the morphology of the numerals, their behaviour in a noun phrase and the derivation of ordinal numerals from cardinal numerals. It becomes clear that numerals in Longuda are neither adjectives nor nouns but should rather be analysed as being on a scale in-between those lexical categories. The tendency in the languages of the world that lower ordinal numerals are suppletive forms while higher ones are regularly derived from cardinal numerals applies to Longuda as well. At the end of the article, the findings of Longuda numerals are compared to other Adamawa languages and the Niger-Congo family as a whole as compiled by Boyd (1989) and Pozdniakov (2018).
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Hyman, Larry. "The Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo Reconstruction." Language Dynamics and Change 1, no. 1 (2011): 3–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/221058211x570330.
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AbstractBasing himself largely on areal and typological arguments, Güldemann (2010) claims that neither Proto-Niger-Congo nor Proto-Bantu had more than a "moderate" system of derivational verb suffixes ("extensions"), and that both proto-languages lacked inflectional verb prefixes. Although drawing largely on the same materials as Hyman (2004, 2007a, b), he arrives at the opposite conclusion that Niger-Congo languages which have such morphology, in particular Bantu and Atlantic, would have had to innovate multiple suffixation and prefixation. However, such hypotheses are weakened by two serious problems: (i) These proto-languages, which possibly reach back as far as 10,000–12,000 bp, have clearly had enough time for their morphosyntax to have cycled more than once. (ii) The areal properties of Güldemann's Macro-Sudan Belt most likely represent more recent innovations which have diffused after the Niger-Congo break-up. In this paper, I present further evidence that multiple suffixation and prefixation must have existed even in languages which have lost them. The general conclusion is that current areal distributions are largely irrelevant for long-range linguistic reconstruction.
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Güldemann, Tom, and Ines Fiedler. "More diversity enGENDERed by African languages: an introduction." STUF - Language Typology and Universals 74, no. 2 (July 1, 2021): 221–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/stuf-2021-1030.
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Abstract We give an overview of current research questions pursued in connection with an ongoing project on nominal classification systems in Africa, with a particular focus on Niger-Congo. We first introduce our cross-linguistically applicable methodological approach which provides new insights into the design of a range of gender systems on the continent. We then apply these ideas to the “noun class” systems of Niger-Congo. We focus on non-canonical phenomena of poorly known languages, which attest to an unexpected systemic diversity beyond the well-known Bantu type and promise to change the synchronic and diachronic perspective on the gender systems of this family.
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Hyman, Larry M., and John Bendor-Samuel. "The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family." Language 68, no. 3 (September 1992): 614. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/415798.
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Ratliff, Martha. "Tone Language Type Change in Africa and Asia." Diachronica 9, no. 2 (January 1, 1992): 239–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dia.9.2.05rat.
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SUMMARY Tone languages can be characterized by the degree to which they realize one of two tone language prototypes defined in terms of tone function. Type A tone languages (usually Asian) employ tone lexically and in minor morphological patterns. Type B tone languages (usually African and Mesoamerican) employ tone to make major morphological distinctions in addition to performing type A functions. For communicative reasons, these functions are necessarily linked to other structural properties of the languages of each type. This paper discusses three tone languages which have undergone different degrees of tone language type change and, as a result, are genetically or areally atypical: !Xũ (Khoisan), Gokana (Niger-Congo), and Mpi (Tibeto-Burman). It is the claim of the author that the driving force behind tone language type change, as exemplified by these three languages, is a change in the role of segmental morphology. RÉSUMÉ On peut caractériser les langues tonales par le degré par lequel elles réalisent un des deux prototypes de langues tonales définis en terme de fonction tonale. Les langues tonales de type A (généralement asiatiques) emploient le ton pour des fonctions lexicales et des fonctions morphologiques mineures. Outre les fonctions de type A, les langues tonales de type B (généralement africaines et mésoaméricaines) emploient le ton pour des fonctions morphologiques majeures. La communication ayant ses exigences, ces fonctions sont inévitablement liées aux autres propriétés structurales de chaque type. Dans cette étude il s'agit de trois langues tonales qui ont subi différents degrés de changement de type tonal et qui sont, par conséquent, atypiques du point de vue génétique et régional: !Xũ (Khoisan), Gokana (Niger-Congo), et Mpi (Tibeto-Birman). Se fondant sur ces trois langues, l'auteur émet l'hypothèse que la causalité de l'évolution du ton se trouve dans un changement du rôle de la morphologie segmentate. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Tonsprachen kônnen nach dem Grade, nach dem sie einem der beiden Pro-totypen folgen, charakterisiert werden, und zwar im Sinne ihrer Funktion: Typ A Tonsprachen (meistens asiatische) verwenden Ton lexikalisch und in we-niger wichtigen morphologischen Strukturen; Typ B Tonsprachen (zumeist afrikanische und mittelamerikanische) hingegen verwenden Ton, um wichtige morphologische Unterscheidungen zu treffen, wâhrend sie gleichzeitig auch Funktionen des Typ A wahrnehmen. Aus kommunikativen Griinden sind die Funktionen notwendigerweise mit anderen Struktureigenschaften der Sprachen des jeweiligen Typs verbunden. Der Aufsatz analysiert drei Tonsprachen, die zu verschiedenen Graden Ànderungen in ihrem Tonsystemtyp erfahren haben und daher als entweder genetisch oder areal gesehen atypisch sind: !Xu (Khoi-san), Gokana (Niger-Kongo) und Mpi (Tibeto-Burmesisch). Die Autorin ist der Auffassung, daB die treibende Kraft hinter diesem Tonsprachentypwandel, wie er in diesen drei Sprachen aufgezeigt wird, in der Verânderung in der Rolle der segmentalen Morphologie in diesen Sprachen zu suchen sei.
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Sagna, Serge. "Issues in noun classification and noun class assignment in Gujjolay Eegimaa (Banjal) and other Joola languages." Studies in African Linguistics 39, no. 1 (June 1, 2010): 1–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v39i1.107286.
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In his book on gender Corbett observes that establishing the number of genders or noun classes in a given language ‘can be the subject of interminable dispute’ (1991: 145). Jóola like Gújjolaay Eegimaa (bqj, Atlantic, Niger-Congo) have noun class systems exhibiting irregular singular-plural matchings and complex agreement correspondences between controller nouns and their targets, resulting in endless disagreements among authors in Jóola linguistics. This paper addresses the issues surrounding noun class assignment in Gújjolaay Eegimaa (Eegimaa henceforth) and other Jóola languages. It provides a critical evaluation of the noun class assignment criteria used for those languages and proposes cross-linguistic and language-specific diagnostic criteria to account for the noun class system of Eegimaa and other related languages that exhibit a similar system.
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Kanu, Sullay M., and Benjamin V. Tucker. "Temne." Journal of the International Phonetic Association 40, no. 2 (July 8, 2010): 247–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002510031000006x.
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Temne belongs to the South Atlantic Group of Niger-Congo (formerly the Southern Branch of the Atlantic Group of Niger-Congo; Blench 2006, Childs 2010) spoken in the northern part of Sierra Leone. According to Ethnologue (ISO 639–3: tem, Lewis 2009), Temne has a population of about 1.2 million native speakers. Like other South Atlantic languages, Temne is a tonal language with a noun class system, prefixed noun class markers and agreeing prefixes on dependent elements. Features determining class membership include number and animacy. Temne also features extension suffixes which alter the valency or the semantic structure of simple verb stems. The basic word order is Subject–Verb–Object.
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Benítez-Torres, Carlos M., and Anthony P. Grant. "On the origin of some Northern Songhay mixed languages." Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 32, no. 2 (December 4, 2017): 263–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.32.2.03ben.
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This paper discusses the origins of linguistic elements in three Northern Songhay languages of Niger and Mali: Tadaksahak, Tagdal and Tasawaq. Northern Songhay languages combine elements from Berber languages, principally Tuareg forms, and from Songhay; the latter provides inflectional morphology and much of the basic vocabulary, while the former is the source of most of the rest of the vocabulary, especially less basic elements. Subsets of features of Northern Songhay languages are compared with those of several stable mixed languages and mixed-lexicon creoles, and in accounting for the origin of these languages the kind of language mixing found in Northern Songhay languages is compared with that found in the (Algonquian) Montagnais dialect of Betsiamites, Quebec. The study shows that Tagdal and the other Northern Songhay languages could be construed as mixed languages, although the proportion of Berber and Songhay elements varieties somewhat between these languages, and also indicates that the definition of ‘mixed language’ is labile because different mixed languages combine their components in different ways, so that different kinds of mixed languages need to be recognized. NS languages seem to belong to the category of Core-Periphery languages with respect to the origins of more versus less basic morphemes.
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Bochnak, M. Ryan, Vera Hohaus, and Anne Mucha. "Variation in Tense and Aspect, and the Temporal Interpretation of Complement Clauses." Journal of Semantics 36, no. 3 (April 23, 2019): 407–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffz008.
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Abstract In this paper, we investigate the temporal interpretation of propositional attitude complement clauses in four typologically unrelated languages: Washo (language isolate), Medumba (Niger-Congo), Hausa (Afro-Asiatic), and Samoan (Austronesian). Of these languages, Washo and Medumba are optional-tense languages, while Hausa and Samoan are tenseless. Just like in obligatory-tense languages, we observe variation among these languages when it comes to the availability of so-called simultaneous and backward-shifted readings of complement clauses. For our optional-tense languages, we argue that a Sequence of Tense parameter is active in these languages, just as in obligatory-tense languages. However, for completely tenseless clauses, we need something more. We argue that there is variation in the degree to which languages make recourse to res-movement, or a similar mechanism that manipulates LF structures to derive backward-shifted readings in tenseless complement clauses. We additionally appeal to cross-linguistic variation in the lexical semantics of perfective aspect to derive or block certain readings. The result is that the typological classification of a language as tensed, optionally tensed, or tenseless, does not alone determine the temporal interpretation possibilities for complement clauses. Rather, structural parameters of variation cross-cut these broad classes of languages to deliver the observed cross-linguistic picture.
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Konoshenko, Maria, and Dasha Shavarina. "A microtypological survey of noun classes in Kwa." Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 40, no. 1 (July 26, 2019): 75–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jall-2019-0004.
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AbstractThis paper provides an overview of noun class systems in a sample of 20 Kwa languages. It focuses on the synchronic productivity of noun classification in Kwa as opposed to the full-fledged class system assumed for Proto-Kwa and for the general “Niger-Congo prototype” (Good, Jeff. 2012. How to become a “Kwa” noun.”Morphology22(2). 293–335; Creissels, Denis. Forthcoming. Noun class systems in Atlantic languages. To appear. In Friederike Lüpke (ed.),The Oxford guide to the Atlantic languages of West Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press). The productivity of class morphology on nouns is studied by exploring class marker alternations as exponents of other grammatical phenomena: the formation of the plural, diminutive derivation and nominalization. We also discuss class indexation on nominal modifiers (adjectives, numerals, demonstratives and indefinite markers) as well as subject and object pronominals. We demonstrate that Kwa languages tend to follow the typological tendencies pertaining to class marking on nouns and class indexation, e.g. the Agreement hierarchy (Corbett, Greville G. 1979. The agreement hierarchy.Journal of Linguistics15. 203–224), as established for world languages in general and Niger-Congo family in particular (Good, Jeff. 2012. How to become a “Kwa” noun.”Morphology22(2). 293–335). However, some intriguing discrepancies, e.g. different patterning of indexation on adjectives vs. on numerals in Kwa as opposed to some other Niger-Congo branches, were also attested. In diachronic perspective, our findings suggest that noun class systems are flexible as they show high intragenetic variation and are easily degradable, but they almost never disappear completely.
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Gregová, Renáta, Lívia Körtvélyessy, and Július Zimmermann. "Phonetic iconicity in the evaluative morphology of a sample of Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian languages." Word Structure 3, no. 2 (October 2010): 156–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/word.2010.0003.
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Universals Archive (Universal #1926) indicates a universal tendency for sound symbolism in reference to the expression of diminutives and augmentatives. The research ( Štekauer et al. 2009 ) carried out on European languages has not proved the tendency at all. Therefore, our research was extended to cover three language families – Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian. A three-step analysis examining different aspects of phonetic symbolism was carried out on a core vocabulary of 35 lexical items. A research sample was selected out of 60 languages. The evaluative markers were analyzed according to both phonetic classification of vowels and consonants and Ultan's and Niewenhuis' conclusions on the dominance of palatal and post-alveolar consonants in diminutive markers. Finally, the data obtained in our sample languages was evaluated by means of a three-dimensional model illustrating the place of articulation of the individual segments.
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Jassem, Zaidan Ali. "THE ARABIC COGNATES OR ORIGINS OF PLURAL MARKERS IN WORLD LANGUAGES: A RADICAL LINGUISTIC THEORY APPROACH." Indonesian EFL Journal 1, no. 2 (September 12, 2017): 144. http://dx.doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v1i2.623.
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This paper traces the Arabic origins of "plural markers" in world languages from a radical linguistic (or lexical root) theory perspective. The data comprises the main plural markers like cats/oxen in 60 world languages from 14 major and minor families- viz., Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Dravidian, Turkic, Mayan, Altaic (Japonic), Niger-Congo, Bantu, Uto-Aztec, Tai-Kadai, Uralic, and Basque, which constitute 60% of world languages and whose speakers make up 96% of world population. The results clearly show that plural markers, which are limited to a few markers in all languages comprised of �s/-as/-at, -en, -im, -a/-e/-i/-o/-u, and �, have true Arabic cognates with the same or similar forms and meanings, whose differences are due to natural and plausible causes and different routes of linguistic change. Therefore, the results reject the traditional classification of the Comparative Method and/or Family Tree Model of such languages into separate, unrelated families, supporting instead the adequacy of the radical linguistic theory according to which all world languages are related to one another, which eventually stemmed from a radical or root language which has been preserved almost intact in Arabic as the most conservative and productive language. In fact, Arabic can be safely said to be the radical language itself for, besides other linguistic features, sharing the plural cognates in this case with all the other languages alone.Keywords: Plurality, language families and relationships, radical world language, radical linguistic theory
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Boutin, Béatrice Akissi. "Décrire le français en relation aux langues en contact." Journal of Language Contact 7, no. 1 (March 31, 2014): 36–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/19552629-00701003.
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It is not possible to explain what happens to French syntax in a situation of close contact with one or more languages, solely in terms of French. How then can we describe French in relation to the languages in contact? We first discuss the early research of Gabriel Manessy and their development by a number of linguists, and later show the importance of exploring several properties of the constructions under study in comparing languages, in order to place them within the context of general language processes. Furthermore, we will insist on the need to go beyond the forms at issue by focusing on their behavior. The examples will be taken from Ivory Coast French, which, ever since its establishment, has been in contact with the languages of the vast Niger-Congo family, in particular Jula and Baule (which have themselves been in contact for several centuries).
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Shay, Erin, and Zygmunt Frajzyngier. "Language-Internal versus Contact-Induced Change: The Split Coding of Person and Number: A Stefan Elders Question." Journal of Language Contact 2, no. 1 (2008): 274–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/000000008792525336.
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AbstractThe aim of this study is to contribute to the methodology for determining whether a given characteristic of a language is a product of language contact or of language-internal grammaticalization. We have taken as a test problem a formal structure that is relatively rare across languages but that occurs in a few geographically proximate languages belonging to different families. The presence of a typologically rare phenomenon in neighboring but unrelated languages raises the question of whether the structure may be a product of cross-linguistic contact.The structures that we examine involve the split coding of person and number of the subject, in which a pronoun preceding the verb codes person only. Plurality of the subject is coded by a suffix to the verb, usually the same suffix for all persons. In some languages the split coding of person and number operates for all persons, while in others the split coding is limited to some persons only. This structure has been observed in several languages spoken in a small area of Northern Cameroon. Three of these languages, Gidar, Giziga, and Mofu-Gudur, belong to the Central branch of the Chadic family, while two other languages, Mundang and Tupuri, belong to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo family. Outside of this geographical area, this structure has been observed in Egyptian, some Cushitic languages, and in some languages of North America.Since every linguistic phenomenon must have been grammaticalized in some language at some point, we must consider first whether there are language-internal prerequisites for such grammaticalization. For each language of the study, we show that the split coding of person and number may represent a product of language-internal development. The presence of the phenomenon in a language that does not have language-internal prerequisites can then be safely considered to be a product of language contact.
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Segerer, Guillaume. "Some Hypotheses About Possible Isolates within the Atlantic Branch of the Niger-Congo Phylum." Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 36, no. 1 (August 24, 2010): 368. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/bls.v36i1.3924.
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In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This paper deals with the status of some potential isolates, i.e. languages that have no more than 20% of common basic vocabulary with any other so-called Atlantic language (from the figures in Sapir 1971). Four candidates may be proposed: Bijogo, Nalu, Sua and Limba. To these we may Bayot, which we will examine in more detail (data from Diagne 2009).
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Zheltov, Alexander. "Plurality marking in Leko and Yendang groups (Adamawa, Niger-Congo) with some reference to noun classification." Language in Africa 1, no. 3 (December 25, 2020): 125–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.37892/2686-8946-2020-1-3-125-154.
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The article presents the available data about plurality marking in two groups (Leko and Yendang) of a hypothetical genetic unit known as Adamawa languages. It shows various strategies that languages of these two groups use in marking plurality. The main focus is made on Nyong and Maya (Bali) languages with which the author worked during field research in Adamawa state (Nigeria). The data of some other languages of these groups (Samba Leko, Kpasham (Sam), Kugama (Wam), Yendang and Waka) are also taken into consideration. This study offers a comparison of plurality strategies in these languages that helps in distinguishing conservative and innovative elements in plurality marking. It also shows some cases of possible plurality/noun class interaction.
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Holm, John, and Incanha Intumbo. "Quantifying superstrate and substrate influence." Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 24, no. 2 (August 21, 2009): 218–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.24.2.02hol.
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To quantify the degree to which the structure of superstrate and substrate languages influence that of a creole, this paper compares the nearly 100 grammatical features of Guiné-Bissau Creole Portuguese surveyed in Baptista, Mello, & Suzuki (2007) with the corresponding structures in Balanta (one of the creole’s substrate/adstrate languages) and Portuguese (its superstrate), proceeding from one area of syntax to another. However, tables summarizing the presence or absence of features in each of the three languages are not organized by area of syntax but rather by the patterns of the features’ presence or absence in the three languages, allowing a quantification of the various patterns of influence, e.g. the percentage of cases in which a feature is found in the creole only, in the creole and its superstrate only, in the creole and its substrate only, or in all three. These percentages are then discussed regarding what support they might lend to the various hypotheses purporting to explain the sources of creole language structures: the influence of superstrate and substrate languages, universals, creole-internal innovations, and the convergence of all or some of these. The issue of Balanta being both a substrate and an adstrate language with many speakers bilingual in the creole is also discussed, as is the dated bias in the very grammatical categories chosen for the survey, which assumes an Atlantic creole prototype based on ‘Kwa’ rather than West Atlantic languages, the Niger-Congo subfamily to which Balanta belongs.
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Wolff, H. Ekkehard, and Doris Löhr. "Encoding focus in Kanuri verbal morphology: predication focus and the "Kanuri focus shift"." ZAS Papers in Linguistics 46 (January 1, 2006): 185–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.46.2006.342.
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Focus on verbal operators such as aspect or tense ("predication focus", lucidly described by Hyman & Watters (1984) under the label "auxiliary focus") has been noticed to exist in African languages of Afroasiatic and Niger-Congo affiliation, but not so far in Saharan. The Saharan language Kanuri is assumed to have substantially reorganized its TAM system, particularly in the perfective aspect domain (Cyffer [2006] dates major changes between the years 1820 and 1900). The paper discusses, for the first time in Kanuri scholarship, the existence of a neat subsystem of predication focus marking by suffix in the perfective aspect which is made up of a total of six conjugational paradigms that uniformly encode predication focus by suffix {-ò}. Kanuri dialects differ in strategies and scope of focus marking encoded in verb morphology. In the light of data from the Yerwa (Nigeria) and Manga (Niger) dialects the paper discusses some "anomalies" with regard to general focus theory which we account for by describing the "Kanuri Focus Shift" as a diachronic process which is responsible for leftward displacement of scope of focus.
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Amfo, Nana Aba Appiah. "Noun phrase conjunction in Akan." Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) 20, no. 1 (March 1, 2010): 27–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/prag.20.1.02amf.
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Noun phrase conjunction in Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa) is performed by placing a connective between two noun phrases, but there is some variation in the forms used in the major dialects. In the Twi dialects the connective is ne, but Fante speakers may use nye or na depending on whether a comitative or a coordinative interpretation is intended. This paper focuses on the historical origins of the noun phrase connective n(y)e in Akan. It suggests that Akan patterns with other sub-saharan African languages such as Ewe, Ga, Yoruba and Hausa, which have noun phrase connectives originating from comitative verbs. This suggestion is based on the morpho-semantics of these connectives. In addition, the paper demonstrates that the origin of the connective n(y)e could be further traced to an equative copula in the language. This conclusion is based on syntactic and semantic evidence available in the language and strengthened by the cross-linguistic tendency for copula verbs to develop into noun phrase connectives in a number of unrelated languages.
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Schadeberg, Thilo C. "The lexicostatistical base of Bennett & Sterks reclassification of Niger-Congo with particular reference to the cohesion of Bantu." Studies in African Linguistics 17, no. 1 (April 1, 1986): 70–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v17i1.107497.
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In 1977, Bennett and Sterk published a reclassification of the Niger-Congo languages which has been highly influential. In this paper I try to discover their lexicostatistic method (section 1), then use their published data to do a conventional lexicostatistic subgrouping (section 2), and finally look at their evidence for denying the genetic unity of Narrow Bantu (section 3).
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Huttar, George L., James Essegbey, and Felix K. Ameka. "Gbe and other West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures." Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 22, no. 1 (April 6, 2007): 57–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.22.1.05hut.
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This paper reports on ongoing research on the role of various kinds of potential substrate languages in the development of the semantic structures of Ndyuka (Eastern Suriname Creole). A set of 100 senses of noun, verb, and other lexemes in Ndyuka were compared with senses of corresponding lexemes in three kinds of languages of the former Slave Coast and Gold Coast areas, and immediately adjoining hinterland: (a) Gbe languages; (b) other Kwa languages, specifically Akan and Ga; (c) non-Kwa Niger-Congo languages. The results of this process provide some evidence for the importance of the Gbe languages in the formation of the Suriname creoles, but also for the importance of other languages, and for the areal nature of some of the collocations studied, rendering specific identification of a single substrate source impossible and inappropriate. These results not only provide information about the role of Gbe and other languages in the formation of Ndyuka, but also give evidence for effects of substrate languages spoken by late arrivals some time after the “founders” of a given creole-speaking society. The conclusions are extrapolated beyond Suriname to creole genesis generally.
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Omoruyi, Thomas O. "Adjectives and adjectivialization processes in Edo." Studies in African Linguistics 17, no. 3 (December 1, 1986): 283–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v17i3.107486.
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Real adjectives are few in Niger-Congo languages. Welmers [1973] warns that we should be suspicious of what is traditionally called adjectives in these languages: In this article, an attempt is made to describe the processes of expressing adjectival concepts in Edo. Like many natural languages, Edo adjectives and verbs are hardly separable; areas of similarity are analyzed. Taking a critical look at some words which have been erroneously called adjectives, we discover that they are in fact relative clauses. An examination of their underlying structures reveals the sources of their singular and plural forms. Finally, we identify some real adjectives (some of which are derived from adjectival verbs) on the basis of their inability to occur alone without "qualifying" nouns.
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Sagna,, Serge. "Physical properties and culture-specific factors as principles of semantic categorisation of the Gújjolaay Eegimaa noun class system." Cognitive Linguistics 23, no. 1 (February 2012): 129–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cog-2012-0005.
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AbstractThis paper investigates the semantic bases of class membership in the noun class system of Gújjolaay Eegimaa (Eegimaa henceforth), a Niger-Congo and Atlantic language of the BAK group spoken in Southern Senegal. The question of whether semantic principles underlie the overt classification of nouns in Niger-Congo languages is a controversial one. There is a common perception of Niger-Congo noun class systems as being mainly semantically arbitrary. The goal of the present paper is to show that physical properties and culture-specific factors are central principles of semantic categorisation in the Eegimaa noun class system. I argue that the Eegimaa overt grammatical classification of nouns into classes is a semantic categorisation system whereby categories are structured according to prototypicality, family resemblance, metaphorical and metonymic extensions and chaining processes, as argued within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics. I show that the categorisation of entities in the Eegimaa nominal classification system productively makes use of physical properties such as shape as well as using culture-specific, less productive parameters for the semantic categorisation of entities denoted by nouns. The analysis proposed here also shows that the cases of multiple morphosyntactic classifications of nouns reflect multiple conceptual categorisation strategies. A detailed examination of the formal and semantic instances of multiple classification reveals the existence of conceptual correlations between the physical properties and the culture-specific semantic parameters of categorisation used in the Eegimaa noun class system.
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BOGUSIAK, MAŁGORZATA. "Wyrażanie rozkazu w trzech hausańkich tłumaczeniach Ewangelii według sw. Łukasza." Annales Missiologici Posnanienses, no. 17 (December 15, 2010): 107–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/amp.2010.17.07.
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Hausa in one of the most important and well known African language. It is used in northern Nigeria and in the south of Niger. There were several attempts to translate Bible into Hausa. It is believed that every next translation should be better, because languages are in permanent change and the biblical knowledge is still developing. In this text I would like to examine, which versions of Luke Gospel in Hausa (translated in 1932, 1979 or in 1996), take into consideration nuances in building imperative forms. There are two ways to express imperative in Hausa, but only one in Greek(the original language of Luke Gospel). I present several examples to show, that translators choose different imperative forms in the same verse. I examine which version takes into account context of given example.
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Hassane, Moulaye. "Qur'anic Exegesis in Niger: A Songhay-Zarma Oral Commentary on Sūrat al-Baqara." Journal of Qur'anic Studies 15, no. 3 (October 2013): 184–205. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2013.0117.
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The city of Saayi (Say), Niger has played an important role in the regional development of Islam from the early nineteenth century onwards. This paper traces its history and the biography of the founder, using the available written and oral sources, while also describing its role as a contemporary religious centre. The Qur'an is commented on in local languages both in the context of traditional advanced religious education and in Ramaḍān. The intellectual sources, language and ritual dimensions of enunciation of these oral commentaries are analysed, as are the ceremonies specific to Ramaḍān. Although Say was founded by Fulfulde-speaking scholars, reflecting the general cultural and social evolution of the city and its area, for the past 50 years, the Qur'an commentary in the Friday mosque has been given in Songhay-Zarma. While these commentaries are essentially based on recognised Arabic ones, their language makes some reference to the images and concepts of local Songhay-Zarma culture. The linguistic features and substantive content of Songhay-Zarma oral tafsīr are illustrated by two excerpts, each presenting several verses of Sūrat al-Baqara: one is drawn from a full tafsīr collected in Say in 1968, at the initiative of the well-known statesman and man of letters Boubou Hama; the other was collected in the Zarma country in 1905–6.
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Ansah, Mercy Akrofi. "A Grammatical Description of Leteh Nominal Morphology." Studies in African Linguistics 50, no. 2 (September 18, 2021): 346–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v50i2.125661.
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Abstract: The paper describes Leteh nominal morphology within the framework of Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 2010; Dryer 2006). The nominal morphology is described in the context of two phenomena: number marking and noun classification. Leteh is a South-Guan language from the Niger-Congo family of languages. The morphology of Leteh is largely agglutinative. Güldemann and Fiedler (2019) argue that current analyses of gender systems are heavily influenced by those in Bantu languages and not cross-linguistically applicable. They propose an alternative analysis that includes the notions agreement class and nominal form class. In this paper I adopt the notion of nominal form class to classify nouns in Leteh. The nouns are grouped into four major classes based on the plural morphemes that they take. These classes are subdivided based on the singular forms with which they are paired. Key words: verbal prefixes, Kwa, tense/ aspect, negation, person, mood, motion Note: Changes were made to the title and abstract of this article after publication, on 9/20/2021.
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Jones, Taylor. "An argument for ezafe constructions and construct state in Zulu." Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 3, no. 1 (March 6, 2018): 58. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v3i1.4353.
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Zulu (Niger-Congo, South Africa) exhibits a complicated interplay between morphological and phonological processes that, combined with an inherited, traditionalist approach to syntactic categories in the Nguni languages, obscures an overt phoneme that is argued to be common to all complex DPs. Here it is claimed that the traditional categories of adjective, relative, compound noun, possessive, and demonstrative can all be unified under a DP approach that takes this overt phoneme to be a functional marker that is analogous to those appearing in Persian ezafe constructions and construct state constructions in Afro-Asiatic languages. This approach reduces a variety of seemingly different Zulu-specific phenomena to a single, cross-linguistically established phenomenon.
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Ollennu, Yvonne Akwele Amankwaa. "ADJECTIVE SEQUENCING IN GA." Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics 10 (December 13, 2017): 71–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.5750/bjll.v10i0.1384.
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The use of multiple words to describe nouns is a common phenomenon in language and languages that have adjectives employ this word class.Ga, a Kwa language of the Niger Congo, branch is no exception, whereas languages without adjectives may use other lexical categories like nouns and verbs which play the adjectival role. Ga has adjectives and employs them as attributives for nouns. The paper examines the syntactic rule governing the occurence of several adjectives serving as attibtutes of a single head noun. In this paper the noun is considered as the head of the Ga Nominal Phrase. The order of these adjectives has not received scholarly attention in Ga and this is to fill that gap in the literature. I argued that the order of adjectives is not haphazardly arranged but follows a laid down syntactc prescription. For instance the data showed that Dimension adjectives normall occur in first position, whereas colour adjectives occur further from the head noun. It was also revealed that in the ordering of adjectives in which Value adjectives is included, the Age adjective occurs in last position and Value adjective occurs first or last when included in the ordering of adjectives for a noun. Consequently, it is opined that defying the arrangement in the ordering of the adjectives resulted in unacceptable forms.The adjectives are grouped according to Dixon semantic classes. Data is gathered from native speakers of Ga. The findings contribute to the existing literature on adjective sequencing in Ghanaian languages.
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Stolbova, O. V. "THE SINGULATIVE MARKER n- IN CHADIC LANGUAGES: A RECONSTRUCTION." Journal of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, no. 1 (11) (2020): 294–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.31696/2618-7302-2020-1-294-302.
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The Afro-asiatic macro family includes Chadic, Semitic, Egyptian, Cushitic, Omotic, and Berber languages. The Chadic branch consists of about 170 languages spoken in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The present paper continues a series of publications on Chadic diachronic morphology, focusing on prefixal derivation morphology. (For the velar prefix k- in different noun groups of Chadic languages and the verbalizing prefix ˀa-, see: [Stolbova 2015; 2018]. We propose a reconstruction of the singulative marker n- in Chadic nouns. As follows from our previous studies, lexicalized (or “frozen”) affixes are typical of unwritten Chadic languages; they can be uncovered only on the basis of lexical comparison. A careful analysis of singular forms derived from collective nouns denoting people, hoofed animals or insects suggests that the initial nasal in singular forms should be identified as a derivational prefix. We argue that in Chadic languages, n-forms precipitated the tendency to prenasalize primary singular nouns with the abovementioned semantics (people, animal, insect names). We also discuss external cognates pointing to the proto-Chadic origin of this prefix. Further research, on other Chadic noun groups (wild animals, birds, snakes) and especially on Semitic and Cushitic could clarify whether this morphological innovation was exclusive to Chadic or was shared by other Afro-asiatic languages.
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van Putten, Saskia. "Perception verbs and the conceptualization of the senses: The case of Avatime." Linguistics 58, no. 2 (April 26, 2020): 1–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0039.
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AbstractLanguages differ in their number of basic verbs that describe perceptual experience. Some languages have only two such verbs: one for visual perception and another for non-visual perception. How do speakers of these languages conceptualize sensory perception? To shed light on this question, this paper investigates the perception verbs mɔ̀ ‘see’ and nu ‘hear/feel/taste/smell’ in Avatime (Kwa, Niger-Congo). These verbs are studied together with the constructions in which they occur, using both translated data and spontaneous discourse. Both perception meanings and meanings outside the domain of perception are taken into account. The detailed picture that emerges shows some previously undocumented patterns of perception encoding and enriches our understanding of the conceptualization of the senses more generally.
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Aziza, Rose O. "Neutralization of contrast in the vowel system of Urhobo." Studies in African Linguistics 37, no. 1 (June 1, 2008): 1–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v37i1.107297.
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Urhobo, a South Western Edoid language of the Niger-Congo family, is spoken in Delta State, Nigeria. In the synchronic phonology of the language, there are seven surface vowels: [i, e, E, a, J, 0, u], but the behavior of some vowels, especially e, 0, G, is sometimes at variance with their expected vowel behavior, indicating that there may be abstract underlying vowels */r, v, ;)1 which have merged with Ie, 0, EI. The result, when compared with sister languages such as Degema and Isoko, is that the Urhobo system appears quite complex. The focus of this paper is showing that abstract underlying */r, v, ;)1, which are Proto Edoid vowels, still have an effect in the synchronic phonology: thus, Ir, el become [e], lv, 01 become [0], and I;), EI become [E] and possibly [ a]. When we account for the 'awkward' behavior of apparent Ie, 0, E/, the Urhobo vowel system is clear and straightforward.
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Guérin, Maximilien. "Système de numération en wolof : description et comparaison avec les autres langues atlantiques." Faits de Langues 51, no. 2 (April 7, 2021): 121–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/19589514-05102007.
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Abstract The Wolof (Atlantic, Niger-Congo) numeral system is decimal, with an additive pivot 5. This means that there are special words for the numbers 1 to 5, but that 6, 7, 8 and 9 are formed by 5 + one unit (1, 2, 3, 4 respectively). From 10 onwards, the count starts again. The system is very regular, as only 20 and 30 have unpredictable forms. In addition, despite the relative genetic proximity between the members of the Atlantic family, the numeral systems of these languages display many differences, in particular with regard to the structure of complex numbers. This article provides a detailed description of the Wolof numeral system (list and status of lexical units, morphosyntactic structure of complex numbers), as well as a comparison with the systems of other Atlantic languages.
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Lindsey, Geoffrey, Katrina Hayward, and Andrew Haruna. "Hausa glottalic consonants: a laryngographic study." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 55, no. 3 (October 1992): 511–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x00003682.
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The Chadic (Afroasiatic) language Hausa, spoken mainly in Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, has a series of ‘glottalic’ obstruents. This includes both ejectives ([k’], [s’] or [ts’]; orthographic κ,ts) and two other consonants which have often been described as ‘implosives’ and are represented by the IPA symbols for implosives in Hausa orthography (б,d). In addition, there is a ‘laryngealized’ palatal glide (orthographic ‘y). The description of orthographic б,das implosive has been called into question, however. Ladefoged, in his well-known work on the phonetics of West African languages (Ladefoged (1964: 16)), suggested that, while these sounds may on occasion show the ingressive air flow characteristic of implosives, their most consistent characteristic is a distinctive mode of vocal fold vibration (phonation type) known as creaky voice or laryngealization; thus, Hausa б anddshould be labelled ‘laryngealized stops’ rather than ‘implosives’. One implication of this change in descriptive label is that, at least from a phonetic point of view, б anddshould be grouped with ‘y.
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Michaud, Alexis, Guillaume Jacques, and Robert L. Rankin. "Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel." Diachronica 29, no. 2 (June 8, 2012): 201–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dia.29.2.04mic.
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Comparative data from several language families show that nasality can be transferred between a syllable-initial consonant cluster and the following vowel. The cases reported to date are summarized, and a new analysis is proposed for a set of Sino-Tibetan data. The evolution appears to go in both directions: from the consonantal onset to the following vowel in Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo (Kwa) and Indo-European (Celtic), and from the vowel to the preceding consonant in Siouan. However, an examination of the conditions on these changes brings out an asymmetry. In most cases, transfers of nasality take place from a consonantal onset to a following vowel; the instances we found of a regular change in the opposite direction all come from languages where there is one of the following restrictions on nasal sounds: (i) nasal consonants are nonphonemic (contextually predictable), or (ii) the opposition between nasal and oral vowels is neutralized after nasal consonants (in favor of nasal vowels).
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Caesar, Regina Oforiwah. "The participle form of causative verbs in Dangme." Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics 9 (May 31, 2017): 91–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.5750/bjll.v9i0.1174.
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AbstractThis paper presents a descriptive analysis of verbs with the participle marking affixes in expressing causatives in Dangme, a language that belongs to the Kwa group of the Niger-Congo family of languages. The paper examines the syntax and the semantic perspectives of the participialized form of causative verbs in the Role and Reference Grammar’s (RRG) theory in Dangme. The participle is an affix which expresses the completion at the final stage of a process. As a verbal affix, it can take objects and have tense or aspect in languages. They also indicate active agency (actor) and an agency receiving an action (sufferer). Generally affixes that express participial are in two forms: the finite and non-finite categories. Unlike Akan and other languages that have both forms, Dangme has just the non-finite category which of two forms. The two non-finite forms of the verb in Dangme are the participle and the gerund. The gerund affix {-mi} denotes a new word class from verbs in Dangme, (noun). The participle on the other hand has adjective-like characteristics and it is expressed mostly with the front vowels of Dangme: /i, e, ԑ/. It is to be noted that to form the participle in Dangme, two processes are required. Firstly, the verb stem is reduplicated either partially or totally depending on the shape of the verb stem. The reduplicant then selects a front vowel of the same tongue height of the vowel of the verb stem. The words formed imply a process of change caused by a causer. For the purpose of this paper, my focus is on the participial affix used in expressing causative meaning in Dangme.
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Ollennu, Yvonne Akwele Amankwaa. "On Predication of Adjectives in Ga." International Journal of Linguistics 9, no. 2 (April 14, 2017): 70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v9i2.11067.
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The adjective as a word class is elusive, as sometimes this distinct class is not easy to be identified in some languages though recent linguistics studies have claimed it exists in all languages. In Ga, a Kwa language of Niger Congo, the adjective class can be clearly defined. The Ga adjective class consists of both derived and underived forms. Adjectives are syntactically known to play the role of attribution, and/or predication and also found in comparative constructions. This paper investigates how adjectives in predicative positions in English are expressed in Ga and more especially when multiple ones serve as copula complement. It shows that adjectives in predication are expressed through verbs in Ga. The adjectives found in Ga are classified according to Dixon semantic classes. The data for this study were collected through questionnaire and follow up interviews from some native speakers. From the study, it came to light that verbs that occur in predicate positions as head of the verb phrases may have adjective equivalents but speakers prefer the verbs to the adjectives and there seems to be some number agreement with the nouns in subject position. When the adjective has no verb equivalent, natives make use of relative clauses and also make use of the adjectives. The study further revealed that when multiple adjectives are used in predicative position, though a restricted order was not established, there exist a preferred order for example, dimension adjectives occur before colour adjectives.
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Hyman, Larry M. "A note on Nuba Mountain verb extensions." Faits de Langues 51, no. 1 (November 25, 2020): 29–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/19589514-05101003.
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Abstract Based on the available literature and personal communications with specialists, this paper surveys the rich occurrence of verb extensions in the Nuba mountain languages which mark different grammatical functions such as causative, dative and locative applicatives, comparative, passive, antipassive, reciprocal/reflexive, and associative/instrumental, as well as ventive, itive, habitual, iterative and pluractional marking. Given the diversity of forms among the different groups in the area, a set of guidelines is considered to determine whether specific extensions can be reconstructed or are recent innovations. An extensive table is provided which provides the forms of the reported extensions and compares them with those reconstructed in specific subbranches of Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and in Khoe.
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Blench, Roger, and Kay Williamson. "Ịzọn verbal extensions." Studies in African Linguistics 44, no. 1 (June 1, 2015): 60–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/sal.v44i1.107262.
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Systems of verbal extension, consisting of affixes that alter argument structure, are widely reported in the world, and are scattered throughout Africa, where they compete with strategies such as serial verbs and auxiliaries, plus verbal collocations. The Ijoid languages can have suffixed verbal extensions, but these are constructed out of very limited segmental material. There is an example of what seems to be a composite extension, but Ijoid does not generally allow seriated extensions. The paper describes the extensions that have been identified in Ịzọn and presents an analysis of their possible semantics. Although there are broad typological similarities to other branches of Niger-Congo, there are no transparent segmental cognates, suggesting that the Ịjọ system may be innovative.
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Araujo, Gabriel Antunes de, Manuele Bandeira, and Ana Lívia Agostinho. "Harmonia vocálica no Proto-crioulo do Golfo da Guiné." Entrepalavras 10, no. 1 (April 28, 2020): 36. http://dx.doi.org/10.22168/2237-6321-11747.
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The Proto-Creole of the Gulf of Guinea is the common ancestor of the Santome, Angolar, Lung’Ie and Fa d’Ambô languages. Based on a supposed occurrence of vowel harmony (vh) in these modern languages and the proven influence of the languages of the Niger Delta (HAGEMEIJER, 2009), in which vh is attested, this study aims to discuss the existence of vh processes with [atr] mid-vowels in the Proto-Creole of the Gulf of Guinea, considering as a starting point its phonological and lexical reconstruction (BANDEIRA, 2017). Therefore, we intend to verify what phonological parameters related to vh in the literature (trigger, target, domain, application direction and blocking element) indicate about vh processes in Proto-Creole, based on the lexical reflexes of a set of cognates in daughter languages and proto-forms. We will show that many of the items interpreted as harmonic derive from the maintenance of mid-vowels in Portuguese etyma and from the insertion of a vowel copy in order to avoid roots ending in consonants in the Proto-Creole of the Gulf of Guinea. In this analysis, we will argue for the hypothesis according to which parasitic vh processes (COLE; TRIGO, 1988) with [atr] mid-vowels in contiguous syllables occurred in Proto-Creole within the prosodic word domain. However, the vh was limited because, based on the observation of proto-forms and harmonisation patterns with [atr] mid-vowels in contiguous syllables, there were many cases in which there was neutralisation of final non-stressed mid-vowels and, therefore, no application of the harmony process in favouring contexts.
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Olivio, Ann Marie. "Exploring the speech rhythm continuum." Journal of Speech Sciences 1, no. 2 (February 3, 2021): 3–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.20396/joss.v1i2.15022.
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In current speech rhythm research, the traditional search for isochrony and speech rhythm classes has been replaced with a focus on uncovering the acoustic correlates of rhythm in the speech signal (Ramus, Nespor, and Mehler 1999, Grabe and Low 2002, Cummins 2002). In this paper, I present findings from a study in which I describe speech rhythm in a language whose rhythm had not been previously studied—Ashanti Twi (Niger-Congo, Kwa). Additionally, I test the validity of claims made about the utility of various rhythm metrics. Two native speakers of Ashanti Twi participated in the study. Each speaker was recorded while reading a translation of “The North Wind and the Sun”. Vocalic and consonantal intervals were measured in Praat using auditory and visual cues. Various rhythm metrics (interval measurements and Pairwise Variability Indices) were then computed and compared to results from prior studies. Results show that Ashanti Twi is rhythmically more similar to languages that have been traditionally described as syllable-timed, such as French and Spanish. However, it does not fall clearly into the traditional stressor syllable-timed categories, supporting the claim that speech rhythm should be studied as a continuum rather than a categorical distinction.
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Wiesinger, Evelyn. "Non-French lexicon in Guianese French Creole." Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 34, no. 1 (March 22, 2019): 3–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00027.wie.
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Abstract Guianese French Creole1 (GFC) is one of the least studied French Creoles, which is especially true with respect to its non-French-related input. Combining sociohistorical, demographic and linguistic data, this contribution gives a first lexico-etymological account of the GFC lexicon of non-French origin, including Amerindian and Portuguese influences and especially the quantitative and qualitative nature of the contribution made by different Niger-Congo languages. These findings are discussed in light of controversial hypotheses on the particular influence of early numerical and/or socially dominant ethnolinguistic groups on the creole lexicon (i.e. Baker 2012), as well as with regard to word classes and semantic domains to which the different groups contributed. Whereas Gbe and non-Gbe languages clearly diverge with regard to their semantic contribution, the early dominance of presumably Gbe-speaking slaves in French Guiana is not reflected in the numerical proportion of Gbe-related lexical items in GFC, at least on the basis of my still limited data. This study thus tentatively confirms the lesser explanatory power of the lexicon for creole genesis scenarios and points to the fact that sub- or adstrate-related lexical items may have taken very complex etymological routes, which clearly need further study.
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Vansina, Jan. "Linguistic Evidence for the Introduction of Ironworking into Bantu-Speaking Africa." History in Africa 33 (2006): 321–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hia.2006.0022.
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Did Africans once independently invent the smelting of metals or did they obtain this technology from Europe or the Middle East? This continues to be an unresolved and hotly disputed issue, mainly because the dates for the earliest appearance of smelting in Africa south of the Sahara remain inconclusive. All the earliest sites in Western and West-Central Africa from Walalde in Senegal to the Tigidit cliffs and Termit in Niger, the firki plains south of lake Chad, Taruga, and perhaps Nsukka in Nigeria, Ghwa Kiva (Nigeria), and Doulo (Cameroon) in the Mandara mountains, Gbabiri (Ndio district) in the Central African Republic, and a few sites in Rwanda, Burundi, and Buhaya cannot be dated more closely than between 840 and 420 BCE. Greater precision is impossible because the C14 curve runs flat during these four centuries, hence all these sites yield the same date. (Alpern, Killick, Me Eachern, Holl, Jézégou/Clist, Kanimba Misago). If the earliest “real” dates fell before 800 BCE, they would support independent invention, while later dates strengthen the case for borrowing. Still, this information does tell us that ironworking was adopted in the northern parts of West and West -Central Africa and in the region of the Great Lakes within the span of a mere four centuries.The emergence of ironworking must have left linguistic traces in the relevant terminology irrespective of whether it spread by borrowing or by independent invention—hence historical linguistics can contribute to this debate. That approach is best tested by an examination of the relevant vocabulary in Bantu languages because the historical study of those languages is further advanced than that of any other language family in Africa (Nurse/Phillipson). Moreover Bantu-speakers occupy a large portion of the continent.
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Grubic, Mira, Agata Renans, and Reginald Akuoko Duah. "Focus, exhaustivity and existence in Akan, Ga and Ngamo." Linguistics 57, no. 1 (January 26, 2019): 221–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling-2018-0035.
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Abstract This paper discusses the relation between focus marking and focus interpretation in Akan (Kwa), Ga (Kwa), and Ngamo (West Chadic). In all three languages, there is a special morphosyntactically marked focus/background construction, as well as morphosyntactically unmarked focus. We present data stemming from original fieldwork investigating whether marked focus/background constructions in these three languages also have additional interpretative effects apart from standard focus interpretation. Crosslinguistically, different additional inferences have been found for marked focus constructions, e.g. contrast (e.g. Vallduví, Enric & Maria Vilkuna. 1997. On rheme and kontrast. In Peter Culicover & Louise McNally (eds.), The limits of syntax (Syntax and semantics 29), 79–108. New York: Academic Press; Hartmann, Katharina & Malte Zimmermann. 2007b. In place – Out of place: Focus in Hausa. In Kerstin Schwabe & Susanne Winkler (eds.), On information structure, meaning and form, 365–403. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.; Destruel, Emilie & Leah Velleman. 2014. Refining contrast: Empirical evidence from the English it-cleft. In Christopher Piñón (ed.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 10, 197–214. Paris: Colloque de syntaxe et sémantique à Paris (CSSP). http://www.cssp.cnrs.fr/eiss10/), exhaustivity (e.g. É. Kiss, Katalin. 1998. Identificational focus versus information focus. Language 74(2). 245–273.; Hartmann, Katharina & Malte Zimmermann. 2007a. Exhaustivity marking in Hausa: A re-evaluation of the particle nee/cee. In Enoch O. Aboh, Katharina Hartmann & Malte Zimmermann (eds.), Focus strategies in African languages: The interaction of focus and grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic (Trends in Linguistics 191), 241–263. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.), and existence (e.g. Rooth, Mats. 1999. Association with focus or association with presupposition? In Peter Bosch & Rob van der Sandt (eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives, 232–244. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; von Fintel, Kai & Lisa Matthewson. 2008. Universals in semantics. The Linguistic Review 25(1–2). 139–201). This paper investigates these three inferences. In Akan and Ga, the marked focus constructions are found to be contrastive, while in Ngamo, no effect of contrast was found. We also show that marked focus constructions in Ga and Akan trigger exhaustivity and existence presuppositions, while the marked construction in Ngamo merely gives rise to an exhaustive conversational implicature and does not trigger an existence presupposition. Instead, the marked construction in Ngamo merely indicates salience of the backgrounded part via a morphological background marker related to the definite determiner (Schuh, Russell G. 2005. Yobe state, Nigeria as a linguistic area. Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 31(2). 77–94; Güldemann, Tom. 2016. Maximal backgrounding=focus without (necessary) focus encoding. Studies in Language 40(3). 551–590). The paper thus contributes to the understanding of the semantics of marked focus constructions across languages and points to the crosslinguistic variation in expressing and interpreting marked focus/background constructions.
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Gut, Ulrike. "Nigerian English prosody." English World-Wide 26, no. 2 (June 14, 2005): 153–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eww.26.2.03gut.
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Nigerian English (NigE) prosody has often been described as strikingly different from Standard English varieties such as British English (BrE) and American English. One possible source for this is the influence of the indigenous tone languages of Nigeria on NigE. This paper investigates the effects of the language contact between the structurally diverse prosodic systems of English and the three major Nigerian languages. Reading passage style and semi-spontaneous speech by speakers of NigE, BrE, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba were analysed acoustically in terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and tonal structure. Results show that NigE prosody combines elements of intonation / stress languages and tone languages. In terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and syllable length, NigE groups between the Nigerian languages and BrE. NigE tonal properties are different from those of an intonation language such as BrE insofar as tones are associated with syllables and have a grammatical function. Accentuation in NigE is different from BrE in terms of both accent placement and realisation; accents in NigE are associated with high tone. A proposal for a first sketch of NigE intonational phonology is made and parallels are drawn with other New Englishes.
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Michaud, Alexis, and He Xueguang. "Reassociated tones and coalescent syllables in Naxi (Tibeto-Burman)." Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37, no. 3 (December 2007): 237–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002510030700309x.
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The Western dialect of Naxi has four lexical tones: High, Mid, Low and Rising; the latter is rare in the lexicon. Rising contours on monosyllables are frequent in connected speech, however, as a result of a process of syllable reduction: reduction of a morpheme carrying the High tone results in re-association of its tone to the syllable that precedes it in the sentence, creating a rising contour. An experiment (with one speaker and five listeners) establishes that there is not only one rising contour that originates in tonal reassociation, as reported in earlier descriptions, but two: Low-to-High and Mid-to-High – as could be expected by analogy with phenomena observed in Niger-Congo languages and elsewhere. A second set of experiments (same speaker; six listeners) investigates the reduction of Mid- and Low-tone syllables: they reduce to [] and [], respectively, and coalesce with the preceding syllable (in Naxi, syllabic structure is simply consonant + glide + vowel). Unlike High-tone syllable reduction, this process stops short of complete tonal de-linking. These experiments aim to provide a complete picture of syllable reduction patterns in Naxi. It is argued that the notions of floating tones and tonal reassociation can be usefully applied to the Naxi data.
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McClintock, Heather F., Julia M. Alber, Sarah J. Schrauben, Carmella M. Mazzola, and Douglas J. Wiebe. "Constructing a measure of health literacy in Sub-Saharan African countries." Health Promotion International 35, no. 5 (August 22, 2019): 907–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daz078.
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Abstract We sought to develop and evaluate a health literacy measure in a multi-national study and to examine demographic characteristics associated with health literacy. Data were obtained from Demographic Health Surveys conducted between 2006–15 in 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Surveys were the same in all countries but translated to local languages as appropriate. We identified eight questions that corresponded to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) definition of health literacy. Factor analysis was used to extract one measure of health literacy. Logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between demographic characteristics and health literacy. A total of 224 751 individuals between the ages of 15 and 49 years were included. The derived health literacy measure demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.72) and good content validity. The prevalence of high health literacy overall was 35.77%; females 34.08% and males 39.17%; less than or equal to primary education 8.93%, some secondary education 69.40% and ≥complete secondary 84.35%. High health literacy varied across nations, from 8.51% in Niger to 63.89% in Namibia. This is the first known study to evaluate a measure of health literacy relying on the NAM definition utilizing a large sample from 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our study derived a robust indicator of NAM-defined health literacy. This indicator could be used to examine determinants and outcomes of health literacy in additional countries.