Story of Nobiin - 1000 Years of Language Change

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Story of Nobiin - 1000 Years of Language Change The (Hi)story of Nobiin - 1000 Years of Language Change Bearbeitet von Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst 1. Auflage 2011. Buch. 252 S. Hardcover ISBN 978 3 631 61494 5 Format (B x L): 14 x 21 cm Gewicht: 430 g Weitere Fachgebiete > Literatur, Sprache > Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft > Studien zu einzelnen Sprachen & Sprachfamilien schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, eBooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte. 1. Introduction It is not often that we can observe language change in a language over a period of more than one thousand years. Nobiin-Nubian seems to be the only language belonging to the Nilo-Saharan phylum where this is possible. The present study analyzes language change in Nobiin over a period of about a millennium. This analysis is based on textual data from the older stage of Nobiin written in the medieval period between the 8th and the 15th centuries, called Old Nobiin throughout this book, as well as present-day Nobiin, as it is known through the work of scholars from the nineteenth century onward until the latest grammatical and lexical studies of Werner (1987) and Khalil (1996), called Modern Nobiin here. A few introductory notes on terminology seem to be indicated at this point. The Nobiin language was and is spoken in a region called Nubia. The geographi- cal term, which will frequently be used in this study, comprises the area of As- wan around the 1st Cataract in the north (see map) and the region around ed- Debba between the 3rd and 4th Cataracts in the south. This means that the north- ernmost part of Nubia lies in the modern country of Egypt but the greatest part of Nubia belongs to present-day Sudan. Traditionally, the region between the 1st and 2nd Cataracts was referred to as “Lower Nubia” and the region south of it as “Upper Nubia”, with the Batn el-Hajar or kid-n-tu “Belly of Stones” as a stretch of the Nile difficult to pass as a natural barrier in between the two divisions. The construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s brought about dramatic changes for the Nubian people and the region. People were relocated in regions far from their original homes and great parts of Lower Nubia were flooded. At the same time, the construction project led to the first collaborative international rescue effort involving UNESCO. The so-called “Nubia Campaign” aimed at salvaging the archaeological sites threatened by the Aswan High Dam. Most of the Old Nobiin texts which served as a basis for the grammatical analyses in this book were found in the course of several archaeological campaigns conducted during the “Nubia Campaign”. Throughout this book, the chronological and historical category “medieval pe- riod” is repeatedly used. “Medieval period” or “Middle Ages” usually designate a period in European history mostly dated from the fall of the Western Roman 11 Empire in the 5th century until about the end of the 15th/early 16th century, amongst other things marked by the beginning of European overseas expansion. As part of the European historical periodization, the term “medieval period” and the concept behind it cannot and should not easily and uncritically be transferred and applied to the history of non-European regions. Early scholars of Nubian languages and history used the designation “Christian Nubia” for the period after the “fall” of the Meroitic Empire and a short “Dark Age” and before the final Islamization of Nubia, i. e. between the 6th and the 14th/15th centuries. As late as 2002, Welsby divides the history of Nubia along traditional terms as “Pagan”, a term which is not only biased, but also pejorative, “Christian”, and “Muslim”. This tripartition suggests that history happens in events at identifiable dates and that religion is the defining factor for the periodization of history. In this book, the designation “medieval period” is mainly used for the era when Old Nobiin was a written language in Nubia. As the oldest document is dated to 787 and the youngest to 1484 this compasses a period of about 700 years. In the appendix dealing with written sources, this period is expanded to nearly a millennium because it includes and critically assesses the work of Chris- tian historiographers on Nubia which starts as early as the 6th century. So it seems justified to talk about the Medieval Period or the Medieval Millennium without referring to religious categories or transferring European periodization to Nubia. Nubia had “its own” medieval period in history which was characterized by a highly organized kingdom interacting with its southern, eastern, western and northern neighbors—of different religious affiliation—and also with the Byzan- tine Empire outside the African continent. The older stage of the language analyzed in this study has been known as “Old Nubian” for about a century. Although it is still used by scholars of the various Nubian languages, this designation is not adequate and appears anti- quated, not the least because Nubian is the name of a language family consisting of different subgroups of languages not mutually intelligible. The language called “Old Nubian”, however, doesn’t represent an early stage of the whole language family but of only one of its members, the Nobiin language, which is moreover isolated within the family (Bechhaus-Gerst 1984/85, 1990, 1996). To call this language “Old Nubian” is at least as misleading as would be calling “Old English” “Old Germanic” which nobody would ever think of. One reason for the misleading designation lies in the history of Nubian studies. For a long time, only the Nubian languages spoken in the Nile Valley were known to Euro- pean scholars. They automatically assumed a closer genetic relationship between these “Nile Nubian” languages which only later turned out to be not the case. When the first pieces of medieval literature were discovered, the writing was deciphered and the linguistic affiliation was identified, it seemed natural to call it 12 Old Nubian, although Griffith (1913:68) in the first comprehensive editing of the then known texts remarked that “the agreement with the Fadija-Mahass dialect [= today’s Nobiin] as opposed to the Kenzi-Dongolese dialect is very clearly marked”. It is recommended here that the term “Old Nubian” should be alto- gether abandoned in favor of the more accurate “Old Nobiin”. The present study is not a work of linguistic theory but it also doesn’t restrict itself to mere descriptions of different language states. It tries to reveal processes of language change and grammaticalization from Old to Modern Nobiin but also within Old and Modern Nobiin respectively. Although the development and changes in the nominal and pronominal systems are discussed, the focus was put on the verbal morphology and syntax. Nevertheless, this book can only represent the beginning of the study of language change in Nobiin. In 1991, the mentor of Old Nobiin studies, the late G. Michael Browne, expressed what he regarded as desiderata of future scholarly work. On top of his list he posted the need for a diachronic grammar which would treat the relationship between Old and Modern Nobiin but also diachronic patterns within Old Nobiin. This study hopefully is a first step towards this end. As most of the work on Old Nobiin has been done by classical scholars and the texts are available only in non-transcribed and non- segmented form, the numerous examples from the texts may also serve to inter- est scholars with different backgrounds for the interesting subject of language change in Nobiin. 13 .
Recommended publications
  • Oldnubian.Pdf
    CONTENTS Włodzimierz Godlewski, Adam Łajtar Foreword xiii Abbreviations xv Map xix GENERAL Eugenio Fantusati Three “Italian” graffiti from Semna and Begrawiya North ........................... 3 Gerald Lauche Sitte Masmas — the life and work of Gertrud von Massenbach (1883-1975) .............. 7 Samia Bashir Dafa’alla Macadam’s files. Notebooks and manuscripts in the personal custody of Professor Abdelgadir Mahmoud Abdalla ........................................................ 13 Constanza De Simone Activities for the preservation of Nubian heritage at the UNESCO Cairo Office ............ 19 Krzysztof Grzymski Gebel Adda revisited ...................................................... 25 Ahmed Siddig Babiker The contribution of archaeology to the Sudanese heritage ............................ 31 Faisal Mohd Musa Transference of kingship from the Anag to the Fung in the Sennar Kingdom .............. 35 FIELDWORK Claudia Na¨ser The Great Hafir at Musawwarat es-Sufra. Fieldwork of the archaeological mission of Humboldt University Berlin in 2005 and 2006 ............................................ 39 Azhari Mustafa Sadig Es-Sour, a Late Neolithic site in the neighborhood of Meroe. First and second seasons 2005–2006 47 Julie Rene´e Anderson and Salah el-Din Mohamed Ahmed Bread, the Staff of Life: recent discoveries at Dangeil, Sudan .......................... 55 Henryk Paner, Aleksandra Pudło, Zbigniew Borcowski Funerary customs in the GAME Fourth Cataract concession in the light of radiocarbon analysis ...............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Dongolawi Nubian
    Taha A. Taha Florida A & M University The lexicon in endangered languages: The case of Dongolawi Nubian Abstract. Lexical change and attrition is one of the main signs or symptoms of language endangerment that can eventually lead to structural changes. And although the phenomenon of language endangerment/death has received much attention in sociolinguistic studies, the changes in vocabulary associated with it has not been given the same attention. This paper examines the sociolinguistic situation of Dongolawi Nubian*, a language variety that belongs to the Eastern- Sudanic group of the Nilo-Saharan family which is spoken in the northern region of Sudan. More specifically, the paper analyses a sample of DN lexicon with the purpose of identifying the extent of semantic change, including lexical change, attrition, borrowing, and other additions. Analysis of data reflects extensive borrowing from Sudanese Arabic (SA), loss of items associated with traditional ways of life, some of which are replaced while others are not. The study indicates that, despite heavy borrowing, the basic structure of the language variety still remains intact, with no apparent major changes in syntax such as word order. Hence, it is argued that the DN situation is not hopelessly irreversible, and that the variety could still be revitalized as long as there is willingness, commitment, and collaboration of efforts and resources on the part of policy makers, speakers of the language variety, and other organizations concerned with language endangerment. Keywords: Dongolawi Nubian, endangerment, Sudan Arabic, attrition, borrowing. * The following abbreviations are used in reference to different language varieties: Ar. =Arabic; DN = Dongolawi Nubian; Eng = English; Egy.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief Description of the Nobiin Language and History by Nubantood Khalil, (Nubian Language Society)
    A brief description of the Nobiin language and history By Nubantood Khalil, (Nubian Language Society) Nobiin language Nobiin (also called Mahas-Fadichcha) is a Nile-Nubian language (North Eastern Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan) descendent from Old Nubian, spoken along the Nile in northern Sudan and southern Egypt and by thousands of refugees in Europe and the US. Nobiin is classified as a member of the Nubian language family along with Kenzi/Dongolese in upper Nubia, Meidob in North Darfur, Birgid in Central and South Darfur, and the Hill Nubian languages in Southern Kordofan. Figure 1. The Nubian Family (Bechhaus 2011:15) Central Nubian Western Northern Nubian Nubian ▪ Nobiin ▪ Meidob ▪ Old Nubian Birgid Hill Nubians Kenzi/ Donglese In the 1960's, large numbers of Nobiin speakers were forcibly displaced away from their historical land by the Nile Rivers in both Egypt and Sudan due to the construction of the High Dam near Aswan. Prior to that forcible displacement, Nobiin was primarily spoken in the region between the first cataract of the Nile in southern Egypt, to Kerma, in the north of Sudan. The following map of southern Egypt and Sudan encompasses the areas in which Nobiin speakers have historically resided (from Thelwall & Schadeberg, 1983: 228). Nubia Nubia is the land of the ancient African civilization. It is located in southern Egypt along the Nile River banks and extends into the land that is known as “Sudan”. The region Nubia had experienced writing since a long time ago. During the ancient period of the Kingdoms of Kush, 1 | P a g e the Kushite/Nubians used the hieroglyphic writing system.
    [Show full text]
  • Graffiti-As-Devotion.Pdf
    lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/ i lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/ lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/ iii Edited by Geoff Emberling and Suzanne Davis Along the Nile and Beyond Kelsey Museum Publication 16 Kelsey Museum of Archaeology University of Michigan, 2019 lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/ iv Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile and Beyond The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Ann Arbor 48109 © 2019 by The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the individual authors All rights reserved Published 2019 ISBN-13: 978-0-9906623-9-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019944110 Kelsey Museum Publication 16 Series Editor Leslie Schramer Cover design by Eric Campbell This book was published in conjunction with the special exhibition Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile: El-Kurru, Sudan, held at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The exhibition, curated by Geoff Emberling and Suzanne Davis, was on view from 23 August 2019 through 29 March 2020. An online version of the exhibition can be viewed at http://exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu/graffiti-el-kurru Funding for this publication was provided by the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and the University of Michigan Office of Research. This book is available direct from ISD Book Distributors: 70 Enterprise Drive, Suite 2 Bristol, CT 06010, USA Telephone: (860) 584-6546 Email: [email protected] Web: www.isdistribution.com A PDF is available for free download at https://lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/publications.html Printed in South Korea by Four Colour Print Group, Louisville, Kentucky. ♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
    [Show full text]
  • Old Nubian Prosody and Assimilation
    Old Nubian Prosody and Assimilation Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei <[email protected]> April 1, 2017 1 Introduction Good afternoon everyone. I would first like to thank Moges Yigesu and the team from the University of Addis Ababa for organizing this conference and hosting us here in Addis Ababa and Angelika Jakobi for her collaboration on putting in place there very exciting panels on Nubian phonology and tonology. Today I would like to talk about reconstructing Old Nubian prosody. Old Nubian is a Nilo-Saharan language1 spoken in the medieval Nubian king- doms established below the First Cataract of the Nile: Nobadia, Makuria, and Alwa. It has been attested between the 8th and 15th centuries,2 with a highpoint around the 12th century.3 Old Nubian is part of the Nubian family within the North-Eastern Sudanic subgroup of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. Its closest relatives are other Nile Nubian languages such as Dongolawi, Kenzi, and Nobiin, as well as the Western Nubian languages that include Birgid, Midob, and a large group of Kordofan Nubian languages. Together with Meroitic, it is the oldest known representative of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. Even though Old Nubian is an extinct language and did not, as far as we cur- rently know, have any system of expressing prosodic features such as stress or tone, it will be my claim that we can reconstruct at least part of its prosody based on assimilation, deletion, and epenthesis patterns that heretofore had remained unexplained. In his groundbreaking article on Old Nubian morphophonology Fritz Hintze remarks that ‘Bei der Durcharbeitung des altnubischen Materials macht man bald die Beobachtung, daß die Handschriften die Assimilationsregeln nicht im- mer befolgen, so daß assimilierte Formen neben nicht assimilierten stehen’.4 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Old Nubian — Black African Language of Most Ancient Attestation
    1 Old Nubian — Black African Language of Most Ancient Attestation By Helmut Satzinger 1. Nubian Languages. Nubian is a dialect cluster, or a cluster of closely related languages. Nubian idioms were spoken in the Nile Valley between the 1st and the 3rd cataract (the greatest part of them has been displaced in the 1960s because of the flooding of their land), in the Kordofan mountains and in the Dar Fur Region. The Nubianlanguage areas suffered great losses in the past 125 years: In the Mahdist Wars many villagers were dispersed, if not killed in the fights; Nubian was replaced by Arabic as vernacular language in many places, especially in the South of the present Nubian-speaking area. After 1900, the Aswân Dam was built; the farmers of Lower Nubia lost their fields and therefore their economic basis. Many migrated to the towns in the north, in particular to Cairo. In the early 1960s the High Dam was erected south of Aswân, Lake Nasser (in Nubia: “Lake Nubia”) began to flood anything that remained from the Nubian lands in Egypt as well as in Northern Sudan. The Nubians had to settle elsewhere: the Egyptians mostly near Kôm Ombo, north of Aswân; the Sudanese (the "Halfâwis", from the district of Wâdi Halfa) near Khash el-Girba on the ‘Atbara River, near the Ethiopian border. Presently, dam projects (Merowe, Kajbar) cause severest irritation and opposition in the Sudanese Nile Valley. The 1980s brought particular desaster to the languages of many Sudanese peoples: the First Civil War 1965-72; 1983/1984 a horrid famine, with nearly 100,000 Darfûris left dead; the Second Civil War, 1983 to present, and in particular the Darfur Conflict,1 from 1 “The conventional point indicated to be the start of the conflict in Darfur was 26 February 2003, when a group calling itself the Darfur Liberation Front (DLF) publically claimed credit for an attack on Golo, the headquarters of Jebel Marra District.
    [Show full text]
  • Remarks Toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian
    Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies Volume 1 Article 8 2014 Remarks toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian Vincent van Gerven Oei [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns Recommended Citation van Gerven Oei, Vincent (2014) "Remarks toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian," Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies: Vol. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns/vol1/iss1/8 This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Remarks toward a Revised 165 Grammar of Old Nubian Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei* 0. Introduction This paper makes a number of brief proposals on pending issues in Old Nubian linguistics. I will argue that in order to advance Old Nubian studies toward a comprehensive grammatical description of the language,1 it is necessary to adopt a point of view that moves beyond the classicist perspective that has dictated much of the field of Old Nubian studies so far, and to eschew the traditional catego- ries that apply within philological investigations of Greek, Latin, or Coptic sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Short History of the Church of Makuria (Mid-6Th–Early 12Th Century)
    Short history of the Church of Makuria (mid-6th–early 12th century) Abstract: The article outlines the history of the Makurian church from the conversion of the kingdom to Christianity until the death of the archbishop Georgios in AD 1113, focusing particularly on the relations of the Makurian Church with the Church of Alexan- dria, and emphasizing its independence from Byzantine and Coptic influence from the second half of the 8th century until the time of Georgios. Keywords: Makuria, Church, Archbishop Aaron, Archbishop Geor- gios, Bishop of Pachoras Paulos, King Ioannes I, King Zacharias I, King Merkurios, King Ioannes II, King Chael, King Georgios I, Metropolitan bishop of Pachoras Ioannes I, Church of Archangel Raphael in Dongola [SWN.B.V] Two decisions taken in the first half of the 6th century were crucial to the formation of Africa’s most important late antique and early medieval kingdom, the Kingdom of Makuria. First, the power center was transferred from the region of Napata to the territory of Dongola and second, relations were established with Byzantium, Makuria ac- knowledging conversion to Christianity as a prerequisite condition for admission to the Byzantine civilizational sphere. This coincided with Justinian’s aspirations to spread Christianity beyond the borders of the Empire by political means. The one-sided report of Nubia’s Chris- tianization left by John of Ephesus cannot be considered as a just base for the present considerations. Archaeologi- cal sources, broadly understood, are much more reliable in this respect. The huge citadel fortifications of Don- gola and the rock tombs on the southern fringes of the necropolis in el-Ghaddar, as well as the building MC on Kom E, a civil structure in their vicinity, constitute at Włodzimierz Godlewski present the fullest body of evidence for the first stage in the emergence of Makuria as a Christian kingdom with Polish Centre of Mediterranean its power center in Dongola (Godlewski 2013b).
    [Show full text]
  • Remarks Toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian Vincent Van Gerven Oei [email protected]
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Humanities Commons Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies Volume 1 Article 8 2014 Remarks toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian Vincent van Gerven Oei [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns Recommended Citation van Gerven Oei, Vincent (2014) "Remarks toward a Revised Grammar of Old Nubian," Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies: Vol. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns/vol1/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Remarks toward a Revised 165 Grammar of Old Nubian Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei* 0. Introduction This paper makes a number of brief proposals on pending issues in Old Nubian linguistics. I will argue that in order to advance Old Nubian studies toward a comprehensive grammatical description of the language,1 it is necessary to adopt a point of view that moves beyond the classicist perspective that has dictated much of the field of Old Nubian studies so far, and to eschew the traditional catego- ries that apply within philological investigations of Greek, Latin, or Coptic sources. Not only are the terminological conditions of this classicist tradition, such as for example a clear distinction between nominal and verbal functions and strong reliance on established textual traditions, less applicable to the Old Nubian context, their active imposition onto this non-Indo European language obscures its grammatical particularities.2 However, this does not mean that Old Nubian would require its own idiosyncratic terminology, at a remove from universally recognized grammatical categories such as case, person, or number marking.
    [Show full text]
  • Nubianvoicesii
    SUPPL_XXVII_NUBIAII.qxd:Janiszewski_cov. 10/29/1511:24AMPage1 Supplement XXVII Supplement P J J T APYROLOGY URISTIC OF OURNAL HE NEW TEXTS AND STUDIES JJP Supplement XXVII NUBIAN VOICES II | ON CHRISTIAN NUBIAN CULTURE T HE J OURNAL OF J URISTIC P APYROLOGY Supplement XXVII JACQUES VAN DER VLIET VAN JACQUES GRZEGORZ OCHAŁA ¸AJTAR ADAM EDITED BY N N ON WARSAW 2015 EW C UBIAN HRISTIAN T EXTS AND N V UBIAN S TUDIES OICES C ULTURE II SUPPL_XXVII_Nubia_str:Janiszewski_str.ok 10/29/15 11:03 AM Page 14 UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW FACULTY OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION CHAIR OF ROMAN AND ANTIQUE LAW UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF PAPYROLOGY THE RAPHAEL TAUBENSCHLAG FOUNDATION THE JOURNAL OF JURISTIC PAPYROLOGY Supplements SERIES EDITORS TOMASZ DERDA ADAM ¸AJTAR JAKUB URBANIK VOLUME XXVII SUPPL_XXVII_Nubia_str:Janiszewski_str.ok 10/29/15 11:03 AM Page 15 NUBIAN VOICES II NEW TEXTS AND STUDIES ON CHRISTIAN NUBIAN CULTURE APYROLOGY EDITED BY P ADAM ¸AJTAR GRZEGORZ OCHA¸A JACQUES VAN DER VLIET URISTIC J OURNAL OF J HE T Supplement XXVII WARSAW 2015 rz04_redaction_rz04_redaction 29.12.2015 10:45 Page IV The Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements Series is jointly published by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, the Insti - tute of Archaeology of the University of Warsa2w6 , 2a8nd0 t0h-e9 R27aphael Taube6n 4- schlag F4o8u n2d2 ati5o5n 2, 2K 8ra1k5 owskie4 P8r z2e2 dm55ie 2śc0i e3 84 / , 48 22 W5a5r s2z4a w31a 9 tel. (+ -) and (+ ) , fax: (+ ) e mails: [email protected], [email protected], - [email protected], [email protected] web page: <http://www.taubenschlagfoundation.pl> Cover design by Maryna Wiśniewska DTP and image processing by Grzegorz Ochała © for the book by the Raphael Taubenschlag Foundation © for the constituting papers by the authors This publication has been published with financial support from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw .
    [Show full text]
  • Noun Phrase Constructions in Nubian Languages: a Comparative Study
    Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies Volume 1 Article 10 2014 Noun Phrase Constructions in Nubian Languages: A Comparative Study Suzan Alamin [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns Recommended Citation Alamin, Suzan (2014) "Noun Phrase Constructions in Nubian Languages: A Comparative Study," Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies: Vol. 1 , Article 10. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns/vol1/iss1/10 This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Noun Phrase Constructions in 203 Nubian Languages: A Comparative Study Suzan Alamin 1. Introduction Most of historical-comparative studies of Nubian languages deal with sound correspondences and lexical similarities in order to re- construct the Proto-Nubian sound system and lexicon, Proto-Nu- bian being the assumed ancestor of the Nubian languages.1 The pres- ent paper attempts to reconstruct the Proto-Nubian noun phrase. According to Payne, “noun phrases are traditionally thought of as consisting minimally of a head noun, together with any number of noun phrase modifiers”2 such as an adjective, numeral, quantifier, determiner, possessive adjective, genitive, and/or a relative clause.
    [Show full text]
  • Old Nubian Texts from Gebel Adda in the Royal Ontario Museum
    Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies Volume 1 Article 9 2014 Old Nubian Texts from Gebel Adda in the Royal Ontario Museum Adam Łajtar [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns Recommended Citation Łajtar, Adam (2014) "Old Nubian Texts from Gebel Adda in the Royal Ontario Museum," Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies: Vol. 1 , Article 9. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/djns/vol1/iss1/9 This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Old Nubian Texts from Gebel 185 Adda in the Royal Ontario Museum Adam Łajtar In a paper read during the 12th International Conference for Nubian Studies in London in August 2010 I gave a survey of Christian textu- al finds made in the 1960s by the Mission of the American Research Center in Egypt on the site of Gebel Adda and now kept in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.1 Here I would like to concentrate on the Old Nubian part of the material.
    [Show full text]