New function: subscribe to new links

I have added a new function which you may or may not have noticed: On the right, under the heading "Getting updates", you can now choose to be notified of new links added to our growing collection of Chadic links, in two ways:

• by email
• by feed reader

Also, the address where these links are stored has changed. I have created a new account: http://del.icio.us/chadicnewsletter and have moved all the Chadic and most of the Hausa links to this new account. The former account, http://del.icio.us/hausaonline, will henceforth be used exclusively for links related to Hausa, including newspaper headlines etc. I found it necessary to store these links in a different place, because they are not all relevant for the scientific study of Hausa. On the other hand, they may be useful for Hausa learners and speakers, which are the target of my other weblog: http://hausaonline.wordpress.com.

Once again, feel free — or rather: feel urged — to contribute to Chadic Newsletter Online:

• by sending us information about your own research
• by commenting posts
• by adding links
• by telling others about this resource

Wishing you success,

Uwe Seibert (a.k.a. hausaonline)

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North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL) 36

The following invitation for NACAL 36 was published on Linguist List Issue 18.2557:

The 36th annual meeting of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL 36) will be held in Chicago, IL, USA from March 14-16, 2008 (Friday-Sunday). Papers are solicited for the 36th annual meeting of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL 36), which will be held in Chicago, IL, USA from March 14-16, 2008 (Friday-Sunday).

Papers on linguistic topics relevant to the languages of the Afroasiatic phylum (Chadic, Berber, Cushitic, Omotic, Egyptian, Semitic) are requested. Topics relating to all aspects of Afroasiatic languages will be considered, particularly including phonology, morphology, syntax, comparative linguistics, sociolinguistics, and epigraphy. These topics should be considered as general guidelines and are not intended to be exclusive. No original paper will be rejected on account of its subject, as long as it relates to the languages of the Afroasiatic phylum and meets the scholarly standards established by previous conferences.

In addition to the general sessions, there will be a special panel on Comparative Afrasian, dedicated to Alan S. Kaye. Participants who wish to contribute to this panel should indicate their preference when submitting the abstract or contact Lionel Bender (eswgsiu.edu).

Abstracts describing the precise topic treated with a length of approximately 200-300 words can be sent as an electronic version (pdf or word document) or as a paper copy to the addresses specified on the registration page on the website(www.nacal.org). The deadline for submission is December 1st, 2007. For more information, please visit our website at www.nacal.org.

Just released: Morphologies of Asia and Africa

The two-volume set, “Morphologies of Asia and Africa“, edited by late Alan S. Kaye, has just ben released by Eisenbrauns. Here is a description of the book which was published on Linguist List Issue 18.2543:

This comprehensive collection of essays covers both the Afroasiatic languages of the Middle East and North Africa as well as other languages that are found in this geographic region. Nearly 50 essays by the leading scholars in each language provide comprehensive discussion of the morphology of these languages; and the set is edited by one of the last half-century’s foremost experts on the linguistics of this region. In two volumes totaling almost 1400 pages, this publication provides the most up-to-date summary of the morphology of languages: both ancient languages – from Akkadian to Syriac – and modern – from Arabic to Tsez. Essays on the non-Afroasiatic languages spoken in the geographical region, such as Hittite, Sumerian, Sanskrit, and Armenian (for example), are also included.

More details can be found at the website of Eisenbrauns:

In 1997, Eisenbrauns published the highly-regarded two-volume Phonologies of Asia and Africa, edited by Alan Kaye with the assistance of Peter T. Daniels, and the book rapidly became the standard reference for the phonologies of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Now the concept has been extended, and Kaye has assembled nearly 50 scholars to write essays on the morphologies of the same language group. The coverage is complete, copious, and again will likely become the standard work in the field. Contributors are an international Who’s Who of Afro-Asiatic linguistics, from Appleyard to Leslau to Voigt.

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Alan Kaye on May 31, 2007, while these volumes were in the final stages of preparation for the press. Alan was diagnosed with bone cancer on May 1 while on research leave in the United Arab Emirates and was brought home to Fullerton by his son on May 22.

SIL releases Speech Analyzer 3.0

SIL International has just announced the release of version 3.0 of Speech Analyzer (SA), a tool for recording, transcribing and analyzing speech sounds:

Linguists will find SA useful to perform duration measurements and fundamental frequency, spectrographic and spectral analyses. SA can also combine phonetic, phonemic, orthographic, tone and gloss transcriptions in an interlinear format. Features to enhance language learning include slowed playback, repeat loops and overlays to assist with perception and mimicry of sounds. With SA, ethnomusicologists can perform analysis of music recordings. Version 3.0 is the first significant release of SA since version 2.7 (June 2005).

New features include:

• Unicode support and support for Transcription Encoding Converters for data from previous versions
• Import data in MP3 and WMA formats
• Import and export MusicXML

Other Features:

• Transcribe speech files phonetically with IPA
• Add phonemic, orthographic, tone and gloss annotations to transcriptions in an interlinear format
• View sound file as a waveform, pitch plot, spectrogram, spectrum and various F1 vs. F2 displays
• Formant processing
• Playback at a slower speed
• Playback with variable length delay between repetitions
• Music analysis capability
• Integrated Help files and training materials

(SIL Media release, 16 August 2007)

4th BICCL: Participants and Papers

The 4th Biennial International Colloquium on the Chadic Languages will take place 30th-31st October 2007, at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Here is a list of participants and their respective papers:

• Ahmad, Mustapha: “Hausa in the digital age: Challenges and opportunities”
• Allison, Sean: “Lexical tone in Makary Kotoko“
• Andreas, Heike (& Leger, Zoch): “The Nyam language – first steps towards its research and description”
• Baba, Ahmad Tela (title to be announced)
• Baldi, Sergio (& Leger): “The yi + noun verbs and their positioning in Hausa“
• Batic, Gian Claudio: “Imaginative Dimension and Experiential Constructions in Hausa and Bole“
• Blazek, Vaclav: “All Chadic lakes/ On application of glottochronology for Masa or Kotoko group”
• Blench, Roger: “An introduction to Fali of Kirya”
• Gravina, Richard: “Indirect Object Pronouns and Agreement in Mbuko“
• Holubova, Miroslava
• Ibriszimow, Dymitr: see Zulyadaini, see Porkhomovsky
• Kaploun, Mark: see Suyetina
• Leger, Rudolf: see Andreas; see Baldi
• Löhr, Doris: title to be announced
• Porkhomovsky, Victor (& Ibriszimow, Sheshin): title to be announced
• Roberts, Jim: “Palatalization and Labialization in Eastern Chadic verbs”
• Rothmaler, Eva
• Ruff, Joy: “Tone in Lagwan Verbs: The Conflict between Perceptual Prominence and Lexical Contrast”
• Schumann, Theda: title to be announced
• Seibert, Uwe: “Weblogs, Podcasts, Wikis etc. – what the Web 2.0 has to offer for (Chadic) Linguists”
• Sheshin, Valery: see Porkhomovsky
• Stolbova, Olga: “Plural in Kirfi and in Chadic”
• Suyetina, Yuliya (& Kaploun): “Once Again About Lexical Function of Tones in Hausa“
• Tourneux, Henry: “La proposition relative dans les langues dites ’kotoko’ “
• Wolff, Ekkehard: title to be announced
• Ziegelmeyer, Georg: “Between Hausa and Kanuri: On the Linguistic Influence of Hausa and Kanuri on Bade and Ngizim“
• Zoch, Ulrike: see Andreas
• Zulyadaini, Balarabe (& Ibriszimow): title to be announced

Further details can be found in the second circular, which can be downloaded here:

• bichadic-colloquium-2007_2nd-circular.pdf (12 KB)

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Conferences, Chadic, Hausa

We need your collaboration

We would like to remind our readers that we need your collaboration: Send us details about your own research, conference papers, publications, word lists, recordings, reviews, websites or anything else on Chadic you find interesting and want to share.

You may also contribute to our Chadic links collection. At http://del.icio.us/chadicnewsletter you can find hundreds of links to information on Chadic languages, articles, books, audio files etc. If you want to add your own links, all you have to do is open up an account at del.icio.us, post your links there and include a “Chadic” tag. Or else, send us your links and we will add it to our own collection.

On our contact page you can find details about how to reach us.

BTW: If you haven’t heard about “social bookmarking”, “tags” and “del.icio.us”, you can get further information on their help page.

Chadic languages represented in the Rosetta Project Digital Language Archive

The goal of the Rosetta Project Digital Language Archive is “to build a publicly accessible digital library of human languages”. The resources that can be found in this archive include information on a language’s orthography, grammar, texts, detailed descriptions, etc. So far, not much information is included on Chadic languages. Check out what is available on

• Angas
• Barein
• Bata
• Bole
• Buduma
• Gabri
• Giziga, South
• Kwang
• Mafa
• Marghi Central
• Masana
• Migaama
• Mwaghavul
• Parkwa (a.k.a. Podoko)
• Pero
• Tera
• Tumak
• Wandala

Afrikanistentag 2007: Hausa papers

The “Afrikanistentag 2007” has started yesterday at the Department of African Studies in Vienna. A list of papers can be found here. There are a two papers on topics related to Hausa:

• IBRISZIMOW, Dymitr (Universität Bayreuth) & ZULYADAINI, Balarabe (University of Maiduguri): I think what you think. An evaluation of L1 and L2 Hausa cognitive
• JAGGAR, Philip J. (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London): “Grade 5” Verbs in Hausa: Rethinking whether they can be causative

Technorati Tags: African Studies, Conferences, Chadic, Hausa

Chadic links collection keeps growing

Our Chadic links collection at del.icio.us keeps growing: In the last few days, I have added more links, to languages of all Chadic branches. At http://del.icio.us/chadicnewsletter you can now find hundreds of links to information on Chadic languages, articles, books, audio files etc. These links are organised by language names and branches. If you want to add your own links, all you have to do is open up an account at del.icio.us, post your links there and include a “Chadic” tag. Or else, send us your links and we will add it to our own collection.

If you want to stay informed of newly added links, you can get updates sent to you by email. You can subscribe to this service by clicking on Get New Bookmarks (it is placed at the right side, Under “Suscribe by email”). If you do, a window will open where you can enter your email address. You will be send a confirmation email with an activation link. Once the activation is done, a message will be delivered to your email account whenever we have added new links.

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Chadic recordings and transcriptions at LACITO archives

Recordings and transcriptions in Chadic and other languages can be found at the LACITO archives. The archive is an ongoing project of the research group “Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale (LACITO)” of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Here is what the creators of the archive write about it:

The LACITO Archive provides “free access to documents of connected, spontaneous speech, mostly in “rare” or endangered languages, recorded in their cultural context and transcribed in consultation with native speakers. Its goal is to contribute to the documentation and study of a precious human heritage: the world’s languages. At present, the archive contains some 195 documents in 43 languages.

Sound recordings are available in both uncompressed (wav) and compressed MPEG I Layer 3 (mp3) formats. In order to listen to the recordings, a Media Player needs to be installed.

Unfortunately, so far, only one Chadic language — Ouldeme — is represented in the LACITO archives with a recording and transcription: Le conte de la tête ronde/ Story of the round head . In order to see the special characters, you need to have a UNICODE type font on your PC.

The creator of this resource, Véronique de Colombel, has her own webpage at LACITO, where one can find links to all her Chadic publications.