A “Descriptive Analysis of Bura Verbs and Vocabulary” has appeared at LINCOM. The authors Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu and Fibi Balami are both graduates of General Linguistics and lecturers in the Department of Languages and Linguistics, and General Studies (GST) at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. The book was written during Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu’s tenure as a lecturer in the Department of African Studies (Afrikanistik II), University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Read the full text of the book announcement at Linguist List

(via NACAL) The 38th meeting of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL 38) will be held in Austin, TX, Saturday, 2/13 – Sunday, 2/14. The keynote speaker for NACAL 38 will be Zygmunt Frajzyngier (University of Colorado at Boulder).

The North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL) provides scholars from North America and around the world with a venue to discuss the Afroasiatic language phylum. Now in its 37th year, NACAL has held annual meetings since 1973. Previous meetings have been held in Ann Arbor, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Haven, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, and several other cities in the United States and Canada.

A list of previous conferences, organizers, and (since 1984) conference reminiscers is available at http://www.mandaic.org/nacal/history.pdf. This list is updated annually.

A partial bibliography of papers given at previous conferences is available at http://www.mandaic.org/nacal/nacalbib.pdf.

Russell G. Schuh, one of the most prominent scholars of Chadic Linguistics, has made a large number of his papers and other writings available for download. You can find links to these materials on his website: http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/schuh/downloadable_papers.html.

I have added these links to my ever-growing collection of Chadic bookmarks. Let me remind you again: We are always happy to get news about new publications, ongoing research and also about online activities of Chadic linguists. These will be publicised here on Chadic Newsletter  Online, the same way they used to be when Chadic Newsletter started as a mimeographed leaflet 40 years ago, only much faster. Also, you are always welcome to add comments to the posts.

The following book notice was sent to us by the author, Wolfgang Wegener:

Basalsprachvergleich. Methoden zum Nachweis entfernter Sprachverwandtschaft mit Nachweis semantisch-lautlicher Entsprechungen bezüglich der ursprünglichen Wortbildungsprozesse zwischen dem Indogermanischen und dem Masa-Zweig des Tschadischen (Basal language comparison. Methods to the proof of distant language relationship with the proof of semantic-soundic correspondences relative to the original word-formation  processes between Indo-European and the Masa branch of Chadic)

XV and 327 p., Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag 2008; € 48,-
ISBN 978-3-89645-188-0

In the comparative linguistics book “Basalsprachvergleich”, with a historical aim, entirely new methods of basal (i.e. basis-near) comparison of distantly related languages (language families) are developed. The starting-point is the consideration that a somewhat bigger stock of words (which must then also have comprised somewhat longer words [used in relatively fixed word orders]) has already to precede the development of a more complex grammar (strictly speaking), with, partly, more variable word orders in sentences. Therefore, compound words, as archaic as possible (since longer [and shortened in closely related languages]), and their respective parts from languages, as archaic as possible (since with the longer words mentioned and since with remotely placed spreading areas), on both sides, are, in cases of (very strictly) semantic correspondences, examined for fundamental sound (i.e. sound class) correspondences. The comparison is applied to Indo-European and the group of languages to which Indo-European is recognizably closest (distantly) related, namely the Masa branch of languages (of Chadic).
The morphological analysis of the compound expressions of Indo-European (and, first of all, of the especially archaic Latin) exists far-reaching and, therefore, is taken from the literature. The especially archaic compound words from especially archaic dialects of Masa branch are at first (by consulting parallels from further Masa branch dialects of northern and southern [sub]group) subject to (branch-) internal morphological analysis, before starting the (inter-family) comparison. As especially archaic dialects of Masa branch are consulted, first of all, Lame, dialect of Peve, within southern group, and Banana, dialect of Musey, within northern group (both taken from Ch. H. Kraft), and (for purpose of extended comparison) Lamé, dialect of Hed’e, within southern group (taken from M. Sachnine). As further Masa branch dialects are consulted 4 further dialects (2 of northern, 2 of southern [sub]group) from Ch. H. Kraft, 7 (all of southern [sub]group [i.e. Zime, in a wider sense]) from H. Jungraithmayr and 10 (3 of northern, 7 of southern [sub]group) from A. Shryock (so far as semantic correspondences are available). The comparison makes then possible as well a broader analysis of Masa branch expressions as a finding of different Indo-European roots with, respectively, one probably common (pre-Indo-European) origin (not known, so far) and, thereby, the further analysis of these Indo-European roots.
In the final part of “Basalsprachvergleich”, it is proved that Indo-European is merely more distantly related to other branches of Chadic. This and the probable fact that the other branches of Chadic are closer (distantly) related to other Eurasiatic language families (than to Indo-European) is to explain by the mode of the first settlement of the earth (by the ancestors of the present-day groups of mankind). The Chadic, in this context, is a language family in a wider sense in the case of which separate (related) languages (later branches) developed intensely changing in early phases of language development (by intense borrowings from not narrower related languages), and with subsequently continuous usual borrowings among related languages of the same family (as in other language families also). This is closer examined by the author, in another (not yet published) context.

Although the external comparison of Masa branch goes beyond Chadic, the results of basal language comparison are important for understanding the position of Chadic. For, according to the results, Chadic is a quite especially significant language family in a wider sense as well in the history of language development  as for the history of the first settlement of the earth (by the ancestors of the present-day groups of mankind). In this context Indo-European is basal-lingual (i.e. relative to basis-near elements) closest (distantly) related to Masa branch and merely distinctly more distantly related to other branches of Chadic (to the historical background cf. p. 27-30; to the consequences for the language comparison p. 272-316). In this connection the basal language comparison works with entirely new linguistic methods which were developed with the aim to reconstruct the history of the first settlement of the earth (by the ancestors of the present-day groups of mankind) (to the methods cf. p. 7-26; to their general basis p. 270-272). The history of the first settlement of the earth (by the ancestors of the present-day groups of mankind) is reconstructed to seize the decisive long-term conditions of outstanding developments of arts, sciences and technique in history (cf. p. 1; the, so far, unpublished volume 1 [934 p.] of the “Zeitstrukturtheorie der Geschichte” [Time structure theory of history] of the author is referring to [ca. 100 field-comprehensive] developments of arts [{belletristic] literature, {fine} arts and music], sciences [philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry] and technique in written history  [for pragmatical and reasons of sources, first of all, in the modern times of  Southern, Western and Central Europe, and in the antiquity of Greece and Asia]).

The consulted expressions of Masa branch are analyzed at first generally (cf. p. 39-43). They are analyzed then specifically, for the first block of comparison, with regard to all expressions with one of two semantic opposite verbal prefixes, distinctly recognizably in Lame (cf. p. 55-69). Only after this systematic collection, the comparison is undertaken with Indo-European and there specifically, first of all, with Latin which is especially archaic in the basis-near stock of words (cf. p. 70-108 to the first block of comparison). In this context, the (very strictly) semantic correspondences in Latin include, respectively, one of two semantic opposite verbal prefixes, also.
Then the fundamental Latin derivatives of the Indo-European roots, belonging to the compound words and their parts, respectively, and, to these, the very strictly semantic correspondences in Masa branch and there, first of all (since the bigger extent of the stock of words), in Lamé are searched for. The very strictly semantic correspondences are then examined on fundamental sound (sound class) correspondences to Latin.
A case of particular interest, in this context, is, e.g., that in which a first elementary (CV-)syllable with an alveolar sound appears (with merely minor differences of word meaning) in Masa branch, in the position corresponding to the Indo-European s mobile, which occurs word-initially without systematic differences of meaning (cf. p. 99-102 and p. 65-66; and p. 265 to further cases of this kind).
Another case of particular interest is that in which an extensive Indo-European etymological word family, with numerous (over 10) fundamental (semantically distinctly different) Latin derivatives and semantic-soundic (i.e. -phonetic or -phonological) correspondences in Masa branch, is divided, on both sides, in the same  way, relative to the class of consonants of the secondary CV-syllable (alveolar/palatal or labial [frequently Nasals, on both sides]) (with at least 5 cases of either kind) (cf. p. 86-98 and p. 62-65).
Further cases of particular interest are those of Masa branch correspondences to the n of nasal-present with terminative meaning (cf. p. 263, p. 81-85 and p. 62-63) or to the m of durative in Latin/Indo-European (cf. p. 260-263).

In the second block of comparison, all expressions with the so called adjective-formans (an element, important for the forming of words with, first of all, adjectival meaning) kwam- in Lame are consulted. Remnants of the (Lame) adjective-formans occur also in other Masa branch languages, to some extent.
At first Latin/Indo-European correspondences to kwam-, namely per-, prae-/*p(e)rai-, *pro- (as expressions, inter alia, for the highest degree of comparison), and the extensive Indo-European etymological word family, belonging to these, are identified and, again, the (strictly) semantic Masa branch correspondences of fundamental Latin derivatives are examined on fundamental sound correspondences. Then all compound words, with Lame kwam-, are analyzed in the same way.
An especially remarkable result, e.g., occurs in the connection with the total number (13) of cases of Latin correspondences out of per-, prae-, pro- to the Lame adjective-formans, in the Latin words of equal/very similar meaning. For, all Latin/Indo-European prefixes per- correspond to the adjective-formans kwam- with high tone on a. And all Latin/Indo-European prefixes prae-/*p(e)rai- or pro- correspond to the adjective-formans kwam- with low tone on a. Thus, there are only correspondences between the maintenance of the Indo-European vowel of first CV-syllable and high tone on the a of Lame kwam- in 5 cases on the one hand, and between the loss or, beside it, the weakening of the Indo-European vowel of first CV-syllable and low tone on the a of Lame kwam- in the remaining 8 cases on the other hand (cf. p. 182-185; to the possible explanation p. 186-188; and to the forms p. 116-123 and p. 128-181).
Another especially remarkable result (found by the systematic mode of proceeding) consists in the finding that the first expressions for ‘oben’ (‘above’) and for the first semantic opposite to ‘oben’ (‘unten’ [‘below’]) are formed in Latin with the short suffix -mo- of the superlative of prepositions and in the northern (sub)group of Masa branch with -mu- in the same position and in the same function (i.e. in the expressions for ‘oben’ and for the semantic opposite to ‘oben’). For, in the southern group of Masa branch, instead of this, the prefix kwam- sporadically appears which corresponds to the Latin/Indo-European prefixes per-, prae-/*p(e)rai-, pro- (which likewise, inter alia, express the highest degree of comparison, as mentioned above) (cf. p. 164-172).

In the third block of comparison, semantic Lamé correspondences to Latin prefix verbs with the most old Latin prefixes are examined with regard to Indo-European etymological word families, on the one hand, and to (strictly) semantic and fundamental soundic Lamé correspondences, on the other hand (cf. p. 190-260).

In the final part of Basal language comparison, the extent of spreading of Masa branch-Indo-European correspondences is examined. Relative to the spreading of the whole of Chadic, the extent of spreading of the equivalent to the m of Latin/Indo-European suffixes of superlative in the expressions for ‘oben’ and for the semantic opposite to ‘oben’ (cf. p. 299-304), of the equivalents to Indo-European laryngals (cf. p. 304-316) and of closer soundic equivalents to the examined words (with Latin correspondences) in general (without consideration of laryngals) (cf. p. 272-298) shows in all cases very resembling patterns, namely with closest (semantic-soundic) equivalents to Masa branch-Indo-European correspondences in Western branch, part B, of Chadic, succeeded by equivalents in Central branch (without Masa group), and then followed by equivalents in Western group, part A (Eastern branch is not sufficiently consulted, pragmatically conditioned). These resemblance groups of Chadic languages (groups with graduated decreasing basal-lingual resemblance to the Masa branch-Indo-European correspondences) are probably closest (distantly) related to different (groups of) Eurasiatic language families, as mentioned above.

A grammatical description of Miship (West-Chadic, a.k.a. Chip) has been published. Here is a book announcement that recently appeared on Linguist List:

Title:     A Grammar of the Miship Language
Written By:     Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu & Katwal Pemak Isah
Series Title:     LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics 78

For a description of the content of the book, please visit the Linguist List website

Thanks to Paul Newman for sending this info. Best wishes to all you Chadicists for the holiday season.

The “19. Afrikanistentag” will be held from 08.-10. April 2010 in Mainz, Germany.

There is no overall theme for the conference. Papers should focus on African languages, dealing with any of the various aspects of their manifestation and representation.

Registration deadline is December 10, 2009.

More information can be found on the conference website

(via SIL) Linguists representing 16 African languages are attending a workshop this month conducted by SIL Cameroon in Yaoundé to produce sketch grammars suitable to introduce bilingual or trilingual dictionaries. The UK Kay Williamson Educational Fund (KWEF) will eventually publish several of the dictionaries in which these sketch grammars appear. (continue reading at SIL website)

From today, August 17 to Friday 21, 2009, the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL6) is held in Cologne, Germany.  Dozens of papers on topics relating to all aspects of the study of African languages (including African sign languages) will be presented.

There are not many papers on Chadic languages, but there are quite a few on other Afroasiatic families, including Berber, Cushitic and Semitic.

Find out more at www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/afrikanistik/wocal/schedule

The Fifth Biennial International Colloquium on the Chadic Languages (BICCL) has taken place in Leipzig from June 10 to 14, 2009. Here is a short report.

Most of the participants arrived on Wednesday 10th. In the evening, we had an informal get-together at “Café Kowalski“, a restaurant close to Villa Tillmans, the University Guest House where the conference took place and where most of us stayed.

The conference started on Thursday 11th at 8.30 in the morning, with about 30 participants. Many of them had  come for the first time. In his opening remarks Ekkehard Wolff gave a special welcome to Paul Newman and Roxana Ma-Newman from Bloomington, Indiana and to Hak-Soo Kim, who had come all the way from Hankuk, Korea. There were also two young colleagues from Scandinavia: Harald Hammarström from Gothenburg, Sweden and Marit Lobben from Oslo, Norway.

A special greeting was given to Paul Newman and Roxana Ma Newman.

Ekkehard Wolff mentioned that it might be the last time for the conference to take place in Leipzig, as he was about to retire and the fate of African Studies in Leipzig was uncertain. But even though he would retire as the chair of the Department of African Languages, he would continue  his research: “Watch out for me!”

In the first paper of the morning and the conference, Norbert Cyffer talked about areal features of Chadic and Nilo-Saharan syntax: “What‘s Chadic? What‘s Saharan?”

This was followed by Victor Porkhomovsky’s paper on “Kinship terms in Chadic and Hamito-Semitic from a diachronic perspective”. He offered some fresh insights on kinship terms gained from the AAKTS database using the KinShIP computer programme.

The third paper was by Gábor Takács from Szekesfehervar, Hungary, on some “Chadic Lexical Roots” related to hunting and their Afro-Asiatic background.

After a short coffee break, Olga Stolbova in her paper “Chadic Lexical Database – a project in process” presented some reflexes with sibilants and sibilant affricates in the anlaut.

Next came Vaclav Blazek’s paper on “Chadic words for ‘brother’ and ’sister’ and Harald Hammarström’s paper on “Numerals in Chadic”.

After our lunch break we started the afternoon session, chaired by Sergio Baldi. First, Roger Blench gave us a short presentation on Baka,  a so far unreported Central Chadic language).  He also talked about some of his other work in progress.

This was followed by a paper by Georg Ziegelmeyer “On the adjective class in Bade” and one by Theda Schumann on “Postural Demonstratives in Masa“.

After the coffee break, we listened to three more papers. First, Birgit Hellwig talked about “Lexical aspect in Goemai (West Chadic) – a contact phenomenon?” Next was Roger Blench’s paper on “Plural verbs in Mwaghavul“. The final paper for the day was presented by Heike Andreas, who talked about “The marking of Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM) in Nyam“.

In the evening, we had an informal gathering at the “Moritz Bastei“, a Student Club in a place which used to be part of the Leipzig city wall.

The second day’s morning session was all about Hausa. It started with a paper by Marit Lobben on “The agreement marker origin of Hausa causative and benefactive suffixes”. Next, Joe McIntyre proposed a description of the Hausa Verbal System without  ‘grades’. The third paper was by Phil Jaggar, who proposed to move Hausa “subordinating conjunctions” (‘after’) and “adverbs” (‘behind, at the back’) into the preposition category.

After the coffee break, the topic was “lexicography”. First,  Paul Newman presented a linguistic detective story: “Why /j/ is the last letter in Mischlich’s Hausa Dictionary.” Next, Henri Tourneux talked about Heinrich Barth’s contribution to Kotoko lexicography and Doris Löhr presented some insights on “Idiomatic expressions in Malgwa“. Finally, Ari Awagana gave a paper on Buduma lexicography.

Henri Tourneux talks about Heinrich Barth's contribution to Kotoko lexicography

After the lunch break, we heard three papers on different aspects of  Central Chadic languages.  First, Hak-Soo Kim talked about the “Some aspects of the Guduf verbal system”. Next came Mohammed Muazu’s paper on “Kilba morphological processes”, followed by Jonathan Owens‘ paper on “Glavda verbal morphology”.

After the coffee break, two more papers were presented: Richard Gravina talked about “The Internal Classification of Chadic Biu-Mandara” and Sergio Baldi presented some aspects of Bole-Tangale nouns and pronouns.

In the evening, we had Italian food in town and afterwards some of us met again at Villa Tillmanns, where we spent a nice evening singing oldies. Besides Joe McIntyre, Richard Gravina proved himself to be a skilled musician and singer.

Joe McIntyre and Richard Gravina singing some "oldies"

On Saturday morning, we heard two papers on Oral Literature. First, Ekkehard Wolff presented some interesting facts about “Constructional “Rhymes” in Lamang Verbal Art”. Next, Adam Mahamat talked about Topics in Makary Kotoko oral literature. Another paper (“Anthroponymie et histoire des Moundang Za-sin (Nord-Cameroun)”) that had been scheduled wasn’t presented, because Alain D. Taino Kari couldn’t  get to the conference in time.

“Focus” was the topic of the two papers after the coffee break. First, Andreas Haida and Katharina Hartmann talked about “Focus asymmetries in Central Chadic languages”. Next, Peggy Jacob compared “Optional Focus Marking in Tar B’arma, Tangale and Bura“.

After the lunch break, the remaining papers all had to do with semantics. First, Baba Mai Bello talked about “Metaphors and euphemisms in the discourse of HIV/AIDS in Hausa“. Next, Maria Schubert presented “The concept of VEHICLE in Hausa for L1- and L2-speakers”. The last paper of the day and the conference was presented byDymitr Ibriszimow and Balarabe Zulyadaini, who talked about “Deep love, mutual visits or quarrel: Hausa ‘relationship’, ‘family’ and women from a cognitive semantic point of view”.

After Ekkehard Wolff’s closing remarks, the conference went on with a surprise for him: Paul Newman, Phil Jaggar, Henri Tourneux, Victor Porkhomovsky, Larry Hyman (who had come as a surprise visitor), Norbert Cyffer and Ari Awagana each delivered a short speech, as a farewell to Ekkehard Wolff and in order to express their appreciation.

Ekkehard was presented with some gifts, including a book where the conference participants had also left some personal notes to him. During the following Farewell Reception in the Garden of Villa Tillmanns, Joe McIntyre played and sang some more, to everyone’s enjoyment.

Altogether, this was a great conference. “Thank you!” to the organizers.  I  look forward to the next BICCL, which will be in Paris in 2011.

If you want to see more of the pictures I took during the conference, visit www.flickr.com/photos/hausaonline. There, you can still find some pictures of the last BICCL in Bayreuth 2007, too. Roger Blench, too, has some conference pictures on his website.

Very little has been published so far on Kilba, a Chadic language spoken in Adamawa State of Nigeria, the closest relative of which is Margi. Soon, a  publication on Kilba will appear at LINCOM Europe. Here are some details which the author of the book, Dr. Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu, has sent me:

SAL 76: A Grammar of the Kilba Language

ISBN 9783895866654. LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics 76. 198 pp. 2009. Price: EUR 63,00
Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu
University of Bayreuth
The book describes some linguistic aspects of Kilba. As a preliminary to the main discussion, the geographical location of Kilba land, the culture and dialects of the Language are highlighted. The book then describes the Phonology, Morphology and Syntax of the Language. On phonology, the book treats the sound system, phonological processes and the tonal system of the language.

The section on Morphology treats, in part, nominal and verbal morphology of the language. On the nominal, the book treats nouns, adjectives, pronouns and adverbs, while the verbal morphology discusses the derivational and inflectional aspects of the verbs. Finally, concerning syntax, the book treats the various constituents that make up the two phrases: nominal and verbal. The book reveals the nature and restrictions that occur in the usage of the lexical items in the two phrases. Each of the items that occur in both the phrases are spelt out and phrase structure tree diagrams of some of the sentences are drawn and phrase structure rules are also established in order to show how the constituents are hierarchically related.

Mohammed Aminu Mu’azu holds a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of Maiduguri, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Languages and Linguistics. The book was written during his tenure as lecturer in the Department of African Studies (Afrikanistik II), University of Bayreuth, Germany (2008 – 2010). He has also published articles on various linguistic aspects of the Kilba language in international journals of languages and linguistics.