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A Shared Pronominal Canon in the Macro-Sudan Belt

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1 Workshop “Areal features and linguistic reconstruction in Africa” at ACAL 47 University of California, Berkeley, 23-26 March 2016 2 1.2 The relationship of Niger-Congo and Central Sudanic A shared pronominal canon in the Macro-Sudan belt: + Macro-Sudan belt dominated by two large language families: Niger-Congo throughout typological, areal and genealogical aspects and Central Sudanic in the east Tom Güldemann - treated as genealogically distinct by Greenberg (1963): Niger-Congo within Niger- Humboldt University Berlin and Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Human History Jena Kordofanian vs. Central Sudanic within Nilo-Saharan - but subsumed under various areal concepts: 1 The problem - Tucker’s (1940) “Eastern Sudanic”: Central Sudanic and Ubangi of Niger-Congo - Greenberg’s (1959, 1983) “African core”: coextensive with Macro-Sudan belt 1.1 The Macro-Sudan belt - subsequent genealogical hypotheses of a super-group joining Niger-Kordofanian and Nilo- Saharan: + within a continental macro-areal profile, Macro-Sudan belt (III) as a large partly contact- - Gregersen (1972) mediated area south of Sahara, north of rain forest, and west of Ethiopian plateau, pre- - Boyd (1978, 1996) figured by Greenberg (1959, 1983) but established in more detail by Güldemann (2003, - Blench (1995, 2000, 2007): particular relation between Central Sudanic and Niger- 2008) and Clements and Rialland (2008) Kordofanian, also based on quirky typological features that are alternatively claimed for the Macro-Sudan belt - Dimmendaal (2001) 1.3 Shared pronoun patterns in the eastern Macro-Sudan belt + partly similar pronoun systems in the eastern part of the Macro-Sudan belt > Table 1: maximally diverse set of 11 (of ca. 1500) Niger-Congo and 6 (of ca. 65) Central-Sudanic languages > cf. Map 2 for rough geographical distribution of language groups + types of pronouns chosen for the sake of demonstrating the similar pattern and maximal comparability > not necessarily the same series from a morpho-syntactic perspective: - speech-act participants only, 3rd persons often part of different morphological subsystem - exclude also other language-specific speech-act participant forms, notably for 1st-person inclusive in some Niger-Kordofanaian languages - one representative series with little contextual phonological assimilation + three recurrent observations across the sample of Table 1: - set-symbolic contrast of singular vs. plural number first of all/only by means of tone: all Central Sudanic and Day - set-symbolic contrast of 1st vs. 2nd person exclusively by means of vowel quality: all but Yulu and Ngiti - alliteration of 1st vs. 2nd person based on initial nasal consonant /m/: all but Yulu and Ngiti Note: I = Sahara spread zone (genealogical offshoot of II, II = Chad-Ethiopia, III = Macro- > more detailed characterization of affinities by means of family-internal reconstruction Sudan belt, IV = Bantu spread zone (genealogical offshoot of III), V = Kalahari Basin Map 1: Linguistic macro-areas in Africa proposed by Güldemann (2010) 3 Workshop “Areal features and linguistic reconstruction in Africa” at ACAL 47 University of California, Berkeley, 23-26 March 2016 4 2. Towards reconstructing pronoun paradigms Language Family/ Highest-order family S P Source Dadiya Tula-Waja in ADAMAWA/ 1 mì bə̀n Jungraithmayr 2.1 Niger-Congo Niger-Congo 2 mo jièn (1968/9: 171, 195-6) Burak Bikwin-Jen in ADAMAWA/ 1 mi gbo Jungraithmayr 2.1.1 Genealogical status Niger-Congo 2 mo ya (1968/9: 171, 203) - largest language family globally Mundang Kebi-Benue in ADAMAWA/ 1 mè rù Elders - considerable internal complexity that is little understood Niger-Congo 2 mò wì (2000: 157) - recognition of a genealogical “Niger-Congo” core as early as Westermann (1927, 1935), Doyayo Samba-Duru in ADAMAWA/ 1 -mi -wɛ Wiering and Wiering despite absence of a robust family tree and historical-comparative reconstructions Niger-Congo 2 -mɔ -nɛ (1994: 74) - dominated in terms of research history, depth of documentation, and comparative Mumuye Mumuyic in ADAMAWA/ 1 mí- wó- Shimizu approach by the demographically central but genealogically shallow Bantu subgroup Niger-Congo 2 mọ́- nó- (1983: 58) - many secure subgroups are “genealogical pools” rather than proven subfamilies: Day Isolate in ADAMAWA/ 1 -mà -ɲā Nougayrol Benue-Kwa, Atlantic, Gur, Adamawa, Ubangi, Kru Niger-Congo 2 -mɔ ̀ -mɔ̄ (1979: 167) > pool-internal subgroups (~70) to be taken into account on a par with traditional higher- Fali Isolate in ADAMAWA/ 1 mì òtò Kramer order subgroups Niger-Congo 2 mù ùnù (2014: 156) - uncertain membership of some, partly under-researched subgroups and languages: Mbodomo Gbayaic in UBANGI/ 1 mí ɛĺ ɛ́ Boyd Ijoid, Mande, Dogon, Pɛrɛ, Bangime; entire domain: Kordofanian, Katlaic Niger-Congo 2 mɛ ́ ɛń ɛ́ (1997: 66) Geme Zandic in UBANGI/ 1 mì hàáɲ Boyd and Nougayrol No. Basic Number of Geographic Niger-Congo 2 mɔ ̀ hɛǹ ɛ̀ (1988: 71) unit languages location Togoyo Raga in UBANGI/ 1 mi ye Santandrea 1 BENUE-KWA (>20) ~1000 Ivory Coast to southern Africa Niger-Congo 2 mo ni(i) (1969: 103) 2 Pɛrɛ* 1 northern Ivory Coast Mayogo Mundu-Baka in UBANGI/ 1 ma ya Sawka 3 Dakoid* 5 northwestern Nigeria Niger-Congo 2 mʉ yi (2001: 22) 4 Ijoid* 10 Niger delta (Nigeria) Yulu Bongo-Bagirmi/ 1 mà máà Boyeldieu 5 KRU (2) ~40 Liberia, Ivory Coast Central Sudanic 2 kìn jikè̆ (1987: 195) 6 ATLANTIC (7) ~65 western Atlantic coast (except Fula) Birri Isolate in 1 má maà Santandrea 7 Mande ~70 western half of West Africa Central Sudanic 2 mú muù (1966: 201-2) 8 Dogon˚ 20 Bandiagara M. (Mali, Burkina Faso) Ngiti Lenduic in MORU-MANGBETU/ 1 ma mà Kutsch-Lojenga 9 Bangime* 1 Bandiagara M. (Mali) Central Sudanic 2 nyɨ nyɨ ̀ (1994: 192) 10 GUR (7) ~100 central interior West Africa Efe Mangbutu-Efe in MORU-M./ 1 mū àmū Vorbichler (1979: 437), 11 ADAMAWA (14) ~90 western Nigeria to southern Chad Central Sudanic 2 ímí àmì Demolin (1988: 78-9) 12 UBANGI (7) 70 Cameroon to South Sudan Moru Moru-Madi in MORU-M./ 1 má mà Kilpatrick 13 KORDOFANIAN* (4) ~30 Nuba M. (Sudan) Central Sudanic 2 mí mì (2006: 271) 14 Katlaic* 2 Nuba M. (Sudan) Mangbetu Mangbetu-Asua in MORU-M./ 1 ɪmá́ àmà Demolin (1992, app. 2: Total ~1500 Central Sudanic 2 ímí àmɪ ̀ 25, 49, 32, 53) Note: GENEALOGICAL POOL; (n) = number of potentially separate subgroups; Note: GENEALOGICAL POOL, form involved in set-contrast and/or alliteration without comprehensive modern and published description ˚ before 2000, * today; Table 1: Speech-act participant pronouns in the eastern Macro-Sudan belt Table 2: Basic genealogical units in the Niger-Kordofanian domain 5 Workshop “Areal features and linguistic reconstruction in Africa” at ACAL 47 University of California, Berkeley, 23-26 March 2016 6 2.1.2 Pronoun reconstruction + approximative reconstructions for all four forms possible whereby historical depth of plural forms is unclear (?genealogical status of Ubangi core groups) > Table 4 + major methodological steps: > reconstruction does not necessarily inform the question about the genealogical status of (I) assemble maximally large set of comparative (proto)-forms > APPENDIX 1 families that cannot (yet) be shown to share (parts of) the pronoun pattern a. specific forms of single-language units (marked by italics) b. reconstructions of subgroups established in literature (marked by *X) Genealogical pool Lineage 1S 2S 1P 2P c. establish preliminary “pseudo-reconstructions” based on representative samples of BENUE-KWA Bantoid: Bantu *mi/ *-n- *u- *-cú- *-ɲú- member languages (marked by *X) - for example, Ɓəna-Mboi (Adamawa) > Table 3 BENUE-KWA Oko -mẹ -wọ -tọ -nọ Language 1S 2S 1P 2P ATLANTIC Mel: Temnic *mi *mO *sV *nV Ɓəna (Yungur) of Dumne i.nâ i.ngâ i.(n)da í.sá ATLANTIC Sua meN- mɔɔ nrɔ nɔɔ Ɓəna of Pirambe i.nâ i.ngâ i.nda í.sá GUR Central: Oti-Volta *mV *bV/(f)V *ʈV*(n)yV Voro í.nà í.ngà ɪ.ndá́ i.za̰ ADAMAWA Mumuyic *mE/ *N *mo *rO *noO ̃ ̃ Ɓəna of Bodei na.shè gá.shé ndaá.shè njáá.she ADAMAWA Kwa~Baa IyO -mù -(t) -n Ɓəna of Yang ná.jé gá.jé daa.z(h)á jha.jhá ADAMAWA Fali (-)mì *mu *-to *-no Mboi of Livo nə ngə̂ ndá zá UBANGI Gbayaic *mí *mɛ́ *(-)lɛ̣ ́ *(-)nɛ ́ front back ?back ?back Mboi of Haanda ni.shè ngí.s(h)è ndá gə̀nà za Early Niger-Congo (preliminary) *mV *mV *TV *NV Kaan (Libo) na.yá ga.yá ta.nyá za.nyá Note: see Appendix 1 for sources Table 4: Pronoun paradigms in Early Niger-Congo and conservative subgroups Proto-Ɓəna-Mboi *na *(n)ga *(n)da *Sa Table 3: Pronominal pseudo-reconstructions of Proto-Ɓəna-Mboi (Adamawa) based on 2.2 Central Sudanic Kleinewillinghöfer (2011c) 2.2.1 Genealogical status (II) compare forms/reconstructions across Niger-Kordofanian and search for: - compared to Niger-Congo, smaller inventory of languages and fewer and genealogically - recurrent forms in each of 4 person/number values better articulated subgroups > Table 5 - recurrent paradigmatic patterns across the 4-term paradigm - inconclusive status as a family (cf. Boyeldieu and Nougayrol 2008, Boyeldieu 2010) (III) establish preliminary proto-forms also taking geographical distributions of individual attestations into account No. Basic unit Number of Geographic languages location + reconstruction result: front front 1 Sinyar 1 on Chad-Sudan border 1S: 3 recurrent abstract forms: mV (>30 attestations), mV (7), and N(V ) (15) mVfront most frequent and plausible source for other forms (cf., e.g., §2.2.2 for 2 Bongo-Bagirmi ~40 Chad, CAR, Sudan, South Sudan contextual emergence of N(Vfront)) 3 Kresh 1 western South Sudan 2S: 4 recurrent abstract forms: mVback (>20 attestations), mV (2), (B)Vback (13), BV (3) 4 Aja 1 western South Sudan mVback most frequent and plausible source for other forms (cf.
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