The Kainji Languages
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Linguapax Review 2010 Linguapax Review 2010
LINGUAPAX REVIEW 2010 MATERIALS / 6 / MATERIALS Col·lecció Materials, 6 Linguapax Review 2010 Linguapax Review 2010 Col·lecció Materials, 6 Primera edició: febrer de 2011 Editat per: Amb el suport de : Coordinació editorial: Josep Cru i Lachman Khubchandani Traduccions a l’anglès: Kari Friedenson i Victoria Pounce Revisió dels textos originals en anglès: Kari Friedenson Revisió dels textos originals en francès: Alain Hidoine Disseny i maquetació: Monflorit Eddicions i Assessoraments, sl. ISBN: 978-84-15057-12-3 Els continguts d’aquesta publicació estan subjectes a una llicència de Reconeixe- ment-No comercial-Compartir 2.5 de Creative Commons. Se’n permet còpia, dis- tribució i comunicació pública sense ús comercial, sempre que se’n citi l’autoria i la distribució de les possibles obres derivades es faci amb una llicència igual a la que regula l’obra original. La llicència completa es pot consultar a: «http://creativecom- mons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/es/deed.ca» LINGUAPAX REVIEW 2010 Centre UNESCO de Catalunya Barcelona, 2011 4 CONTENTS PRESENTATION Miquel Àngel Essomba 6 FOREWORD Josep Cru 8 1. THE HISTORY OF LINGUAPAX 1.1 Materials for a history of Linguapax 11 Fèlix Martí 1.2 The beginnings of Linguapax 14 Miquel Siguan 1.3 Les débuts du projet Linguapax et sa mise en place 17 au siège de l’UNESCO Joseph Poth 1.4 FIPLV and Linguapax: A Quasi-autobiographical 23 Account Denis Cunningham 1.5 Defending linguistic and cultural diversity 36 1.5 La defensa de la diversitat lingüística i cultural Fèlix Martí 2. GLIMPSES INTO THE WORLD’S LANGUAGES TODAY 2.1 Living together in a multilingual world. -
The Status of the East Kainji Languages of Central Nigeria: Recent Research
The status of the East Kainji languages of Central Nigeria: recent research Version submitted for proceedings of the Hamburg meeting, March 2004, to mark the retirement of Professor Ludwig Gerhardt Roger Blench Mallam Dendo 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/Answerphone/Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687 E-mail [email protected] http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roger_blench/RBOP.htm Cambridge, Saturday, 02 October 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS FIGURES..........................................................................................................................................................I 1. INTRODUCTION: THE IDENTIFICATION OF AN EAST KAINJI GROUP.................................. 2 2. EAST KAINJI LANGUAGES TODAY.................................................................................................... 2 3. LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF EAST KAINJI........................................................................................ 3 3.1 Phonology............................................................................................................................................... 3 Consonants................................................................................................................................................... 4 Tones............................................................................................................................................................. 5 3.2 Nominal morphology............................................................................................................................ -
Advances in Minority Language Research in Nigeria
KAY WILLIAMSON EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION 5 KWEF African languages monographs Advances in Minority Language Research in Nigeria Edited by Roger Blench and Stuart McGill RÜDIGER KÖPPE VERLAG · KÖLN Advances in Minority Language Research in Nigeria Part I edited by Roger M. Blench and Stuart McGill RÜDIGER KÖPPE VERLAG · KÖLN Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbiblio- thek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the In- ternet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN 978-3-89645-426-3 © 2012 The Editors RÜDIGER KÖPPE VERLAG P.O. Box 45 06 43 50881 Cologne Germany www.koeppe.de All rights reserved. Cover: Baba Yabani Ga’alla, Cicipu speaker (photograph by the editors) Production: Druckerei Hubert & Co., Göttingen / Germany â This book meets the requirements of ISO 9706: 1994, Information and documentation – Paper for documents – Requirements for permanence. Nigerian minority languages Roger Blench 1 Part I: Introduction Chapter 1 – Research and development of Nigerian minority languages Roger Blench, Kay Williamson Educational Foundation Keywords: Nigeria, endangered languages, research capacity, survey, sign language 1 Introduction Nigeria is one of the most linguistically diverse countries on earth. There are nearly five hundred languages, and some of those have a considerable range of dialects. It is the meeting place of three of Africa’s four major language phyla, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan and Afroasiatic. Nigeria is the core area for one of the most widely spoken languages in Sub-Saharan Africa, Hausa, as well as severely endangered languages whose last speakers are now very old. Yet its languages remain very poorly researched; compared with the effort that has gone into the indigenous languages of Europe, the Americas or Australia, Nigeria is barely known. -
Prospecting Proto- Plateau
Prospecting Proto- Plateau [DRAFT CIRCULATED FOR COMMENT -NOT FOR CITATION WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE AUTHOR Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/ Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7967-696804 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm This version: Cambridge, April 24, 2008 R.M. Blench Prospecting proto-Plateau. Circulated for comment TABLE OF CONTENTS FIGURES.........................................................................................................................................................ii 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Plateau languages............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Existing subclassification of Plateau languages...................................................................................... 2 1.3 Reconstructing Plateau: methodological assumptions ............................................................................ 3 1.4 Language status and language endangerment ......................................................................................... 4 1.5 Plateau languages in education and the media ........................................................................................ 4 1.6 Plateau languages in politics; issues of administrative delineation.........................................................6 -
A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Kulere Dialects of Plateau and Nassarawa States, Nigeria
DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2016-005 A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Kulere Dialects of Plateau and Nassarawa States, Nigeria John Muniru, Carol Magnusson, Marcus Hansley, and Samuel Ayenajeh A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Kulere Dialects of Plateau and Nassarawa States, Nigeria John Muniru, Carol Magnusson, Marcus Hansley, and Samuel Ayenajeh SIL International® 2016 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2016-005, November 2016 © 2016 SIL International® All rights reserved Abstract This report presents a sociolinguistic survey conducted in the Kulere speech communities of Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA), Plateau State and Wamba LGA, Nassarawa State, Nigeria. The purpose of the survey is to identify a potential reference dialect for the development of Kulere. Using participatory methods and group, church, and school interviews the researchers collected data concerning: reported levels of dialect intercomprehension; language use in various domains both public and private; language attitudes towards the dialects; reported levels of bilingualism in various languages; and data on education and literacy levels. While the elicitation and comparison of wordlists was used in determining the extent of shared vocabulary between the dialects, the administration of dialect intelligibility testing provided insights into the levels of dialect inherent intelligibility. Our findings show that considering relevant linguistic and sociolinguistic factors, the Toff dialect could be developed to serve all the Kulere speaking people. Contents 1 Introduction -
Reconstructing Benue-Congo Person Marking II
Kirill Babaev Russian State University for the Humanities Reconstructing Benue-Congo person marking II This paper is the second and last part of a comparative analysis of person marking systems in Benue-Congo (BC) languages, started in (Babaev 2008, available online for reference). The first part of the paper containing sections 1–2 gave an overview of the linguistic studies on the issue to date and presented a tentative reconstruction of person marking in the Proto- Bantoid language. In the second part of the paper, this work is continued by collecting data from all the other branches of BC and making the first step towards a reconstruction of the Proto-BC system of person marking. Keywords: Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, personal pronouns, comparative research, recon- struction, person marking. The comparative outlook of person marking systems in the language families lying to the west of the Bantoid-speaking area is a challenge. These language stocks (the East BC families of Cross River, Plateau, Kainji and Jukunoid, and the West BC including Edoid, Nupoid, Defoid, Idomoid, Igboid and a few genetically isolated languages of Nigeria) are still far from being sufficiently studied or even described, and the amount of linguistic data for many of them re- mains quite scarce. In comparison with the Bantu family which has enjoyed much attention from comparative linguists within the last decades, there are very few papers researching the other subfamilies of BC from a comparative standpoint. This is especially true for studies in morphology, including person marking. The aim here is therefore to make the very first step towards the comparative analysis and reconstruction of person markers in BC. -
Formation of Verbs in U̱t‑Maꞌin
Becky Paterson FieldLing 5 November 2013 The verb in U̠ t-Ma'in 1 Introduction • • U̠t-Ma'in (Fakanci) [gel] is a Kainji language spoken in Kebbi State and Niger State, Nigeria, by approximately 36,000 speakers (Regnier 1992:7). • Most closely related are Gwamhi-Wuri- Mba [bga], C’Lela (Dakakanci) [dri] and U̠t-Hun (Dukanci) [dud]. These form a group Figure 1: Map of Kainji languages (Blench&McGill 2012) known as Northwest or the Duka cluster. • • • Figure 2: Internal classification of Kainji languages (McGill&Blench 2012:95) 2 Classification and state of documentation of Kainji languages within Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo • Kainji language (Kamberi) included in the Benue-Congo subdivision of Niger-Congo (Greenberg 1966) • Kainji a separate branch of Benue-Congo (Williamson 1989) • Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, East Benue-Congo, Central Nigerian, Kainji (Williamson&Blench 2000) • ≅60 Kainji languages (McGill&Blench 2012:97); a new language, Damakawa, was first reported in 2008 (McGill 2008) 3 Basic clause structure • Consistent SV/AVRP word order • Obligatory overt S/A argument (noun or pronoun); optional only in the imperative (see Appendix8). • TAM marking suffixed to verb stem; no person/number/noun class agreement marking on verbs (except possibly plural subject marking on a plural imperative). (1) hɘ̄ːbɘ̄t dâudā hāːg ɘ́mɛ́nɛ̀. S V-TAM OBLLOC hɘ̄ːb-ɘ̄t dâudā hā-ːg ɘ́ mɛ́=nɛ̀ friend-C6 Dauda go-PST LOC 1SG.ACC=PL ‘Dauda’s friends went with me.’ (06.10.20..9) (2) ɘ̄m jāːg wɘ́n ɘ̄màp gjɘ̄p A V-TAM R P ADV ɘ̄m jā-ːg wɘ́n ɘ̄m-àp gjɘ̄p 1SG.NOM -
NOMINAL AFFIXING in the KAINJI LANGUAGES of NORTHWESTERN
NOMINAL AFFIXING IN THE KAINJI LANGUAGES of NORTHWESTERN and CENTRAL NIGERIA Paper prepared for a volume edited by John Watters DECEMBER 2014 VERSION CIRCULATION DRAFT ONLY Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/ Ans 0044-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7847-495590 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm Kainji nominal affixes: front matter Roger Blench Circulation draft TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLES...............................................................................................................................................................I FIGURES........................................................................................................................................................... II MAPS................................................................................................................................................................. II 1. INTRODUCTION: THE KAINJI LANGUAGES ..................................................................................... 1 2. NOMINAL AFFIXES: OVERVIEW........................................................................................................... 4 3. NOMINAL AFFIXES BY SUBGROUP...................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Reshe ........................................................................................................................................................ -
Language Documentation and Description
Language Documentation and Description ISSN 1740-6234 ___________________________________________ This article appears in: Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. Editors: Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin Documentation, development, and ideology in the northwestern Kainji languages STUART MCGILL, ROGER BLENCH Cite this article: Stuart McGill, Roger Blench (2012). Documentation, development, and ideology in the northwestern Kainji languages. In Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin (eds) Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. London: SOAS. pp. 90-135 Link to this article: http://www.elpublishing.org/PID/130 This electronic version first published: July 2014 __________________________________________________ This article is published under a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial). The licence permits users to use, reproduce, disseminate or display the article provided that the author is attributed as the original creator and that the reuse is restricted to non-commercial purposes i.e. research or educational use. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ______________________________________________________ EL Publishing For more EL Publishing articles and services: Website: http://www.elpublishing.org Terms of use: http://www.elpublishing.org/terms Submissions: http://www.elpublishing.org/submissions Documentation, development, and ideology in the northwestern Kainji languages Stuart McGill School of Oriental and African Studies & Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 1. Introduction The Kainji languages of north-central Nigeria, which constitute a major branch of the Benue-Congo language subgroup (Gerhardt 1989, Williamson & Blench 2000), have been largely ignored by academic linguists. The group includes approximately 60 languages divided geographically into three main areas. The Eastern Kainji languages are spoken north and west of Jos, while the Basa subgroup is found at the Niger-Benue confluence. -
Tarok and Related Languages of East-Central Nigeria
TAROK AND RELATED LANGUAGES of EAST-CENTRAL-NIGERIA Nomenclature and subclassification Roger Blench DRAFT ONLY NOT TO BE QUOTED WITHOUT PERMISSION Roger Blench Mallam Dendo 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/Answerphone/Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687 E-mail [email protected] http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roger_blench/RBOP.htm This printout: October 22, 2004 R.M. Blench Yangkam Wordlist Circulated for comment TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................1 2. INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGES.....................................................................................................................................3 2.1 Tarok (Yergam) .....................................................................................................................................................3 2.2 Pe (Pai)....................................................................................................................................................................3 2.3 Yangkam (Basherawa) ..........................................................................................................................................4 2.4 Sur (Tapshin)..........................................................................................................................................................4 2.5 Alumu-T´su (Arum-Chessu) and Toro (Turkwam) ...........................................................................................5 -
East Benue-Congo
East Benue-Congo Nouns, pronouns, and verbs Edited by John R. Watters language Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 1 science press Niger-Congo Comparative Studies Chief Editor: Valentin Vydrin (INALCO – LLACAN, CNRS, Paris) Editors: Larry Hyman (University of California, Berkeley), Konstantin Pozdniakov (INALCO – LLACAN, CNRS, Paris), Guillaume Segerer (LLACAN, CNRS, Paris), John Watters (SIL International, Dallas, Texas). In this series: 1. Watters, John R. (ed.). East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs. 2. Pozdniakov, Konstantin. The numeral system of Proto-Niger-Congo: A step-by-step reconstruction. East Benue-Congo Nouns, pronouns, and verbs Edited by John R. Watters language science press John R. Watters (ed.). 2018. East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs (Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/190 © 2018, the authors Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-96110-100-9 (Digital) 978-3-96110-101-6 (Hardcover) DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1314306 Source code available from www.github.com/langsci/190 Collaborative reading: paperhive.org/documents/remote?type=langsci&id=190 Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Sebastian Nordhoff, John R. Watters Illustration: Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Ahmet Bilal Özdemir, Andrew Spencer, Felix Hoberg, Jeroen van de Weijer, Jean Nitzke, Kate Bellamy, Martin Haspelmath, Prisca Jerono, Richard Griscom, Steven Kaye, Sune Gregersen, Fonts: Linux Libertine, Libertinus Math, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Contents Preface iii 1 East Benue-Congo John R. -
Nominal Affixes and Number Marking in the Plateau Languages of Central Nigeria Roger M
Chapter 4 Nominal affixes and number marking in the Plateau languages of Central Nigeria Roger M. Blench McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge The Plateau branch of East Benue-Congo consists of between sixty and eighty lan- guages spoken in central Nigeria, spreading from Lake Shiroro to the banks of the Benue River. Proto-Plateau is usually considered to have a system of alternating nominal affixes marking number combined with alliterative concord. Thepaper presents an overall internal classification and then reviews the evidence for affix systems by subgroup, taking a specific language as an exemplar, with a view to link- ing these to broader hypotheses about Niger-Congo nominal classes. It appears that Plateau has undergone extensive affix renewal, and thus only fragments of any more coherent system are still present. Plateau languages originally had a rich noun class system with CV- and V- prefixes and alliterative concord, but a wave of renewal and analogical re-alignment led to many of the CV- prefixes disappearing or becoming unproductive and replaced by a much smaller set of V- prefixes. 1 Introduction: Plateau languages The Plateau branch of East Benue-Congo consists of between sixty and eighty languages spoken in central Nigeria, spreading from Lake Shiroro to the banks of the Benue River (Figure 1). Although most Plateau populations are small (2-10,000 speakers), there are probably more than a million speakers of Plateau languages, with the bulk of the numbers made up from large groups such as Berom and Eggon. Some Plateau languages, such as Sambe and Yangkam, are moribund and others are severely threatened, such as Ayu.