Language in Africa Volume 3, Number 2 (2022)
THE PRESENTATION OF NOUN CLASS SYSTEMS OF NIGER-CONGO LANGUAGES Abstract: The graphical presentation of Niger-Congo noun class systems shows considerable variation, which deserves a careful examination. The choices of presentation seem to depend on the mere fancy of authors: close languages may be presented in very different ways while different systems may be given very similar graphical choices. After consulting hundreds of descriptions of noun class languages of the Niger-Congo phylum, I could determine four major presentation types. This huge amount of information also allowed me to present new statistical data on the typology of the noun class systems of the phylum. ________________________________________ VOICELESS RHOTIC / RETROFLEX CONSONANTS AS AN AREAL FEATURE OF THE ATLANTIC LANGUAGES Abstract: Voiceless rhotic or retroflex obstruents like [ʈʂ] or [tɹ] are rare in Africa, but the existence of a single such sound is relatively common among the Atlantic languages within Niger-Congo. The sound is not a shared retention across languages, but was repeatedly innovated through areal pressure. The sound can furthermore be reconstructed for multiple Atlantic protolanguages, and as such seems to have existed in the area for some time. This paper catalogues the occurrence of this rare sound in Atlantic languages as documented in existing sources, and suggests that due to its persistence in the area through time, it is relatively likely that the most recent common ancestor of the Atlantic languages contained a sound similar to [ʈ] or [ʈʂ], supporting existing proposals which reconstruct such a sound. ________________________________________ WHY EIGHT CAUSATIVE SUFFIXES IN WOLOF? Abstract: Like other Atlantic languages, Wolof has a large inventory of verbal derivation suffixes, but is exceptionally well endowed for causative derivation with no less than eight different causative suffixes. This article analyzes the different values of these suffixes and reveals firstly a double gradient of distinctions concerning the degrees of involvement of the causer and the causee. Among these causative suffixes, two show a typologically rare specialization, one being specialized in sociative (assistive) causation, the other in the expression of indirect causation with obligatory omission of the causee. Three causative suffixes, rarely analyzed, combine a direct causation value with indications of the modalities of realization of the process, namely, incomplete, completing and corrective causation. Several of these causative suffixes are clearly complex but cannot be described as multiple suffixation synchronically. Various reconstruction hypotheses are nonetheless presented attesting to multiple derivation in the Atlantic family. Finally, this derivational abundance is compared with the general morphosyntactic strategies of Wolof. ________________________________________ NON-FINITE CONSTRUCTIONS IN WOLOF Abstract: In this article, I study the concept of finiteness in Wolof. I propose a list of criteria for defining what a prototypical finite form is in this language. I am interested in the three constructions most distant from this prototype: the infinitive, the subjunctive-consecutive and the imperative. The subjunctive-consecutive and the infinitive have few characteristics of the prototype. The instantiations of these constructions can thus be considered as non-(fully)-finite forms. The imperative also has relatively few characteristics of the prototype. However, the characteristics that move the imperative away from prototypical finite forms are not the same as those noted for the subjunctive-consecutive and the infinitive. The imperative is therefore a specific predicative construction in this respect. ________________________________________ THE EMERGENCE OF AN ALTERNATIVE SET OF PREFIXES IN THE CLASS INFLECTION OF ADNOMINALS AND PRONOUNS IN JÓOLA FÓOÑI (ATLANTIC) Abstract: In this article, we describe and analyze a set of alternative forms of class prefixes found in the inflection of adnominals and pronouns that have never been mentioned so far in the literature on Jóola Fóoñi. This alternative form of class prefixes differs from the standard form by the presence of a vowel a. We argue that the existence of the Ca-variant of the class prefixes of adnominals and pronouns is not related to the fact that some nouns have a Ca prefix, and results rather from the reanalysis of the prefixal sequence that characterizes participles as an alternative set of class prefixes whose use tends to be extended to other types of noun modifiers. ________________________________________ Идентификация заимствованной лексики среди городских фульбе Гвинеи Аннотация: В работе предлагается описание исследования, проведённого среди носителей гвинейского пулар, с целью выяснить степень идентификации различных типов лексических заимствований в языке, а также факторы, влияющие и не влияющие на этот процесс. Для этого среди специально отобранных носителей различных диалектов гвинейского пулар была распространена анкета, содержащая список лексических заимствований. Заимствования, использованные для исследования, происходят из разных языков, имеют разную степень адаптированности, а также разную степень соответствия исконно фульской лексике. В результате опроса были получены как предсказуемые результаты, например, заимствования из прагматически значимого французского языка были опознаны полностью, так и менее предсказуемые, например, отсутствие корреляции между уровнем образования информанта и его способностью опознавать заимствования. Также была подтверждена и уточнена связь между степенью адаптации заимствования и лёгкостью его опознания. ________________________________________ GENITIVAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN EASTERN DAN Abstract: In Eastern Dan (< Southern Mande < Mande < Niger-Congo), the common Mande strategies of marking genitival relations are available, namely head-marking by means of tone, and dependent-marking (by a specialized postposition) in the alienable possession construction. However, against this common background, some important modifications have evolved. The opposition between the head-marked and the head-unmarked constructions, although retained, has become semantically blurred: in the proto-language, the head-marked genitival construction had the semantics of “modification-by-noun, while in the Eastern Dan this meaning has undergone erosion. In the dependent-marked constructions, a case-like opposition has emerged in the alienable possession constructions: different possessive markers (postpositions) are used depending on whether the head noun of an NP containing the possessive construction stands in the locative case or not. Other postpositions can also serve as markers of genitival relations. In addition, morphological case can sometimes serve to mark genitival relations. ________________________________________ CARITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN MWAN Abstract: The paper deals with strategies for expressing caritive meanings in Mwan (Niger-Congo < Mande < South Mande). The difference between the strategies used in Mwan and in some other languages of the same family (Gban, Looma, Bambara) is discussed. Conclusions are made about the grammaticalization of constructions with the suffix -kle and the postposition blaan into specialized caritive means. ________________________________________ AT THE INTERSECTION OF SYNCHRONY AND DIACHRONY: A PHONOTACTIC ANALYSIS OF THE LEXICON OF WAN Abstract: This study explores the phonotactics of Wan (Mande, Côte d’Ivoire) using an extended version of the lexical statistical method introduced in Pozdniakov & Segerer (2007). A lexical dataset was prepared for analysis based on nouns and verbs extracted from a dictionary. Disyllabic nouns and verbs were analyzed for correlations between the initial and the intervocalic consonant and for correlations between the two vowels. The analysis has confirmed the Similar Place Avoidance generalization proposed as a universal by Pozdniakov & Segerer. It has also revealed significant correlations between the two vowels on two parameters: in height, and in backness. Initial syllables of all nouns and verbs were analyzed for correlations between consonants and vowels and correlations between consonants and tone. The consonant’s place of articulation has been revealed to correlate with the vowel’s backness, and the consonant’s voicing has been revealed to correlate with the vowel’s tone. The results suggest that Pozdniakov & Segerer’s method can be useful not only when applied to a typological sample but also in the study of phonotactics of individual languages. The specific findings can potentially shed light on the history of Wan and related languages. ________________________________________ DAHL’S LAW AND G-DELETION IN TIANIA: A DIALECT OF KIMERU (BANTU, KENYA) Abstract: In this paper we take a close look at the voicing dissimilation process known as Dahl’s Law (DL) in Tiania, an understudied variety of the Central Kenya Bantu Kimeru dialect cluster. While there is considerable variation in how this process applies in different Bantu languages, Tiania adds an additional dimension, the deletion of g, including non-post-nasal [g]’s which derive from /k/ by DL. Although other Bantu languages and even other dialects of Kimeru allow multiple applications of prefixal /k/’s dissimilation to g, usually pronounced [ɣ] (Davy & Nurse 1982), Tiania not only limits DL to /k/, but also restricts DL from applying to subject and (most) object prefixes. We consider the possibility that g-deletion contributed to these restrictions as well as to some unexpected realizations of the “pre-final habitual suffix -ag. ________________________________________ **PROTO-BANTU K AND G IN THE MBAM LANGUAGES: A PROBLEM IN CLASSIFICATION Abstract: The Bantu Mbam languages of Cameroun appear at first glance as a very coherent unit, in spite of having been put by Guthrie (1953) in two different groups (A40 and A60). Indeed they differ in their treatment of the two Proto-Bantu velar stops k and g, the latter being generally quite diagnostic in differentiating among larger Bantu units. This contribution will examine in detail the reflexes of the two proto-sounds, examine possible explanations and tentatively suggest directions for further research. ________________________________________ THE PHENOMENON OF MORPHEMIC AND SUBMORPHEMIC NEUTRALIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN SOME ADAMAWA LANGUAGES Abstract: The paper is based on the ideas of Konstantin Pozdniakov about morphemic and submorphemic neutralizations. He considers that full or partial coincidence of the form within the same paradigm is not accidental but rather is an important mechanism for “gluing the elements of the paradigm. He also points out that morphemic and submorphemic neutralizations are in complementary distribution. The paper shows that it seems to be true for four pronominal paradigms of Adamawa languages which have never been analyzed from this point of view. The data show that the opposition of 1/2 person is very often submorphemically neutralized, opposing locutors to other pronouns. The whole system of pronouns tends to be “glued by morphemic/submorphemic neutralizations, but sometimes the 3rd person seems to go out of the system (as in Yendang and Wakka), which should show a rather recent origin of 3rd person pronouns. Adamawa languages give good data for the theory of neutralization, and, on the other hand, the theory of neutralization can help in better understanding of Adamawa data. ________________________________________ FLOATING LOW TONE AND CONSONANT VOICING IN AKEBU Abstract: The paper deals with floating low tone and consonant voicing in Akebu, historically induced by the nasal velar ŋ. The phenomena manifest in combination as nominal and agreement markers in a number of noun classes, as well as in independent pronouns. I argue against the analysis of paired voiced consonants as positional variants of their voiceless counterparts after the floating low tone found in the previous literature. This study proposes that floating low tone be considered only as a special case of the low tone and does not differ from the low tone on overt markers in any respect. Accordingly, paired voiced consonants are viewed as independent phonemes, while keeping in mind that they have acquired their phonemic status recently. ________________________________________ THE SOURCES OF NASAL VOWELS IN THE “CENTRAL SARA LANGUAGES Abstract: “Central Sara languages (Chad and Central African Republic) are the only ones in their group that include nasal vowels. It has already been shown that this nasal feature could result from the weakening or loss of a neighbouring nasal consonant (ɲ). It is demonstrated here that other consonants had a similar effect, namely a nasalised retroflex lateral approximant (ɭ) as well as a glottal fricative (h) resulting from the historical merging of three voiceless plosives, velar (k), labial (p), and labial-velar (kp). ________________________________________ AFFIX KI IN OLD KANEMBU VERBS: A BACKGROUNDING PROGRESSIVE-COMPLETIVE CATEGORY Abstract: Old Kanembu has an aspectual category that derives from imperfective stems by the affix ki. The ki-forms occur in conflicting aspectual domains, the main semantic discrepancy being between progressive and completive readings. The progressive-completive is a rare, but not non-existent, category in world languages, and Old Kanembu seems to be one such language. Completive events presuppose a phase of duration prior to the phase of completion. The selection of the aspectual phases in a given ki-form is determined by aspectual lexical semantics as well as by pragmatic and discourse factors of the situations described in Old Kanembu texts. The main unifying semantic and pragmatic property of various occurrences of ki-forms can be described as a liminal process which establishes background for the following (foregrounded) event. ________________________________________ THE VALUE OF “TRIANGULATION IN DETERMINING PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIP: ON THE AREAL AND GENETIC CONNECTIONS OF THE BERTA LANGUAGES Abstract: In this paper, I argue against a recent attempt at re-classifying the small group of Berta languages, spoken in Ethiopia, as being closely related to the geographically adjacent East Jebel group, based on numerous lexical similarities between the two taxa. It is suggested that the best method to determine if these similarities are due to common genetic descent or intense contact is to “triangulate the lexical data by introducing another possible linguistic relative into the comparison. A simple lexicostatistical test shows that the Jebel languages show at least as strong a link with Nilotic languages as they do with Berta, while Berta and Nilotic, on the contrary, have very little in common. This is a significant argument that Jebel languages belong together with Nilotic in the East Sudanic family, while most of the lexical matches between Jebel and Berta are due to the latter’s strong lexical influence on the former. ________________________________________ HEART METAPHORS IN BEJA Abstract: Cross-linguistically, body parts have been claimed to be universally recruited as a source domain for conceptual metaphors. This article presents a preliminary corpus-based study of the metaphorical constructions in which the noun ginʔa ‘heart’ is used in Beja, the sole language of the North-Cushitic branch (Afroasiatic). The semantic and syntactic particularities of the Beja metaphors are discussed within the background of the cognitive theory of embodiment and in comparison with other languages. It is shown that Beja makes use of the widespread metonymy heart for person, and several well-known metaphors, but displays a number of peculiarities in the choice of the collocations with ‘heart’, including in relation to the target semantic domains of the metaphors. Beja heart-based metaphors illustrate one more case of a language where this organ is conceived as the locus for both cognition and emotion, a double conception which seems to be rare among the languages of Africa.
- Категория: языкознание
- Правообладатель: Институт языкознания РАН
- Год написания: 2026
- Возрастное ограничение: 0+
- Легальная стоимость: 316 руб.
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