Kambari Orthography Design Janie P. Stark S+L +nternational 2010 ii S+L e-Books 16 ©2010 S+L +nternational +SBN: 978-1-55671-245-6 +SSN: 1934-2470 Fair Use Policy Books published in the S+L e-Books (S+LEB) series are intended for scholarly research and educational use. You may make copies of these publications for research or instructional purposes free of charge (within fair use guidelines) and without further permission. Republication or commercial use of S+LEB or the documents contained therein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder(s). Series Editor George Huttar Volume Editor Mary Huttar Managing Editor Bonnie Brown Compositor Karoline Fisher iii DED+CAT+ON To My husband, John, without whom + wouldn’t have finished this book. iv Editor’s Note This work is a slightly revised version of the author’s 2000 Ph.D. dissertation, University of +lorin, Nigeria. Since the initial version of this book was written, many important works on orthography design have appeared (e.g., Handbook of Orthography and Literacy, ed. by R. Malatesha Joshi and P.G. Aaron, Routledge, 2005). Due to circumstances beyond the author’s control none of these recent works are included in the references. The reader should keep in mind that this work describes only one case of writing system development. Several principles of orthography design are discussed in detail. One principle which is left implicit is that community participation is a key factor in the development of an acceptable writing system. v FOREWORD This study deals with designing writing systems: it goes beyond basic principles of orthography development to develop a series of principles intended to guide orthography decisions in situations where the basic principles fall short. Seventeen principles, useful to anyone involved in orthography design and/or reform are delineated. Examples are taken primarily from the three Kambari languages of Nigeria, where the author and + were technical advisors to the Kambari Language Project staff. These examples illustrate the application of advanced orthography principles where the basic principles either were not applicable or produced conflicting results. Some areas discussed in detail are: dealing with the language’s area of complexity, morphophonemic processes, word-division decisions, and the strategic use of spaces to lessen ambiguity in written forms. Preserving the constant visual image of morphemes, an aid to experienced readers, is emphasized in contrast to orthographic representation of allomorphic variation. Throughout the discussion the primary role of an orthography, i. e., to convey meaning to a mother-tongue speaker, is kept in the forefront. The approach presented here advocates that the orthography developers consider multiple options for any decision throughout the developmental period. Each option is to be considered in light of its implications for the overall system; thus, every decision affects and is affected by every other decision. The nature and role of consistency in orthography development is expanded beyond the basic phoneme-grapheme correspondence to embrace system-wide and applicational consistency. vi The author’s specific expertise and experience in African languages results in an African focus in the discussion and illustrations. By doing so, she could insure the accuracy and the pragmatism of the data and principles. And further, Africa represents an overwhelming number of languages in need of orthographies. Those working in other areas of the world will find the principles surmount area restrictions and provide universal guidelines for decision making. The readers will easily see the parallels between the African illustrations and their own situations. John E. Stark, June, 2002 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work began as my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of +lorin, +lorin, Nigeria. As a result, much of the credit goes to Professor O. Awobuluyi and the faculty of the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages at that university. +n addition + am grateful to the Chairman of the Kambari Language Project (KLP) Board of Trustees, Dr. +. Majanbu, who has joined with the Chairman of the KLP Executive Committee, Mr. J. S. Jatau, to undertake both project development and project recognition for KLP throughout the Kambari-speaking area. + am also grateful to the members of the Board of Trustees and Ex-Co for their dedication and input to the project. + acknowledge the immense contribution of the KLP staff, who are dedicated to work day after day, year after year, for the betterment of their people and for the glory of God. Truly, without their input, this study would have never come about. + am grateful to my family and friends in the U. S. whose encouragement and support have made my stay in Nigeria possible. With heartfelt thanks + acknowledge my debt to my husband, John, for the many, many hours of discussion from which these thoughts and concepts emerged. He was always ready to help and support me in a thousand ways throughout the process. +n conclusion, whatever mistakes there are in this book, mea culpa. Janie P. Stark June 2002 viii Contents Dedication Editor’s note Foreword Acknowledgements +ndex of tables +ndex of Figures Abbreviations/conventions Abstract 1 Basic Orthography Design: Where +t Works, Where +t Falls Short 1.1 The foundations of orthography design 1.1.1 Language/area-specific articles 1.1.2 Theoretic articles 1.1.3 “How-to” works 1.2 Summary of the foundations 1.3 A philosophy of orthography design 1.4 The simplest description of orthography design 1.4.1 Sound/symbol correspondence 1.4.2 Adequate clarity 1.4.3 Social sensitivity 1.5 The second level of orthography design 1.5.1 Tone 1.5.2 Word-division decisions 1.5.3 Standardization 1.6 An illustration: the various Kambari orthographies 1.6.1 The Crozier orthography 1.6.2 The Carroll orthography 2 About the Kambari Languages 2.1 +ntroduction 2.2 Scope of research 2.2.1 Terminology 2.2.2 The Kambari cultural setting 2.2.3 Sociolinguistic setting 2.2.4 Lexical comparison 2.2.5 Semantic dissimilarity 2.2.6 Agwara Area Kambari 2.2.7 Auna Area Kambari 2.2.8 Salka Area Kambari 2.2.9 Kambari Language Project 2.3 Structure of Kambari 2.3.1 The phonology of Kambari 2.3.2 Kambari morphology and syntax 2.3.3 Summary 3 Development of the KLP Orthography 3.1 Language complexity ix 3.2 Kambari areas of low complexity 3.2.1 Letters corresponding to English and Hausa 3.2.2 Letters corresponding to Hausa 3.2.3 Consonants unique to Kambari 3.3 Kambari areas of high complexity: orthographic difficulties 3.3.1 Decisions regarding graphemes 3.3.2 Decisions regarding phonological processes 3.3.3 Variations by speakers 3.3.4 Decisions regarding morphemes 3.3.5 Kambari power syllables 3.4 Conclusion 4 +nsights on Orthography Principles 4.1 Advanced principles 4.1.1 The convey meaning principle 4.1.2 The consistency principle 4.1.3 The optimal simplicity principle 4.1.4 The limited ambiguity principle 4.1.5 The preference for independent words principle 4.1.6 The underlying form principle 4.1.7 The stable form principle 4.1.8 The easiest-for-users principle 4.1.9 The acceptability principle 4.1.10 The familiarity principle 4.1.11 The proliferate options principle 4.1.12 The weigh advantages and disadvantages principle 4.1.13 The teaching load principle 4.1.14 The act-the-same, write-the-same principle 4.1.15 The clarification from co-languages principle 4.1.16 The evaluation of conflicting parameters principle 4.1.17 The positive criterion principle 4.2 +nteraction of advanced principles 4.3 Standardization, harmonization, and conformity 4.3.1 Standardization and harmonization in Kambari 4.3.2 Conformity in the Kambari setting 4.4 Simultaneous consideration of co-languages 4.5 General insights 4.5.1 The role of tradition 4.5.2 The network model 4.5.3 +t has to be taught 4.5.4 Appearance matters 4.5.5 Orthography development: progression toward the ideal 4.5.6 Anything is possible 4.5.7 The role of testing 4.5.8 The central role of meaning 4.5.9 The role of the community 4.5.10 The influence of the LWC 4.5.11 +t is worth doing 4.6 Conclusion x Appendix A Sample text English source Agwara Kambari Auna Kambari Salka Kambari Appendix B Orthographies Agwara orthography +ntroduction The philosophical basis of the KLP orthography The current alphabet Vowels Consonants Problems still to be considered A sample story in the Agwara Kambari orthography Auna orthography +ntroduction The philosophical basis of the KLP orthography The current alphabet Vowels Consonants Problems still to be considered A sample story in the Auna Kambari orthography Salka orthography +ntroduction The philosophical basis of the KLP orthography The current alphabet Vowels Consonants Problems still to be considered Sample text in Salka orthography References xi +ndex of tables Table 2.1: Kambari vowels Table 2.2: Kambari consonant phonemes Table 2.3: Suffix addition in Auna Kambari Table 2.4: Salka vowel copying Table 2.5: Vowel copying skipping high vowels Table 2.6: NCMs of U-class nouns Table 2.7: Noun classes Table 2.8: Kambari verbal elements Table 3.1: Morphemes to the left of the verb root Table 3.2: Subject pronouns Table 3.3: Morphemes to the right of the verb Table 3.4: Kambari power syllables xii +ndex of Figures Figure 2.1: Kambari intelligibility and identity Figure 2.2: Map of Nigeria Figure 2.3: Map of the Kambari area Figure 3.1: Glottal syllable decision flow chart Figure 3.2: Relation between pronoun sets 1 and 2 Figure 4.1: Word profiles Figure 4.2: Standardization and harmonization xiii Abbreviations/conventions AGW Agwara Area Kambari.