Studies in African Languages and Cultures formerly known as Studies of the Department of African Languages and Cultures STUDIES published since 1984 54 54 2020 www.salc.uw.edu.pl IN AFRICAN STUDIES IN AFRICAN IN STUDIES AND LANGUAGES CULTURES LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Department of African Languages and Cultures Faculty of Oriental Studies Studies of the Department of African nr 54 g 10.indd 3 16/09/20 12:11 STUDIES IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Vol. 54 (2020) Editorial Board Sergio BALDI, Università degli Studi di Napoli STUDIES Iwona KRASKA-SZLENK, University of Warsaw Marcin KRAWCZUK, University of Warsaw IN AFRICAN Rudolf LEGER, J.W. Goethe Univeristät Frankfurt am Main Helma PASCH, Univeristät zu Köln LANGUAGES Alena RETTOVÁ, School of Oriental and African Studies, London Hanna RUBINKOWSKA-ANIOŁ, University of Warsaw AND CULTURES Beata WÓJTOWICZ, University of Warsaw Vol. 54 (2020) Advisory Board/External Reviewers Felix K. AMEKA, University of Leiden Matthias BRENZINGER, University of Cape Town Katrin BROMBER, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin Janusz DANECKI, University of Warsaw Zygmunt FRAJZYNGIER, University of Colorado, Boulder Marek PAWEŁCZAK, University of Warsaw Robert PIĘTEK, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities Eugeniusz RZEWUSKI, University of Warsaw Hafizu Miko YAKASAI, Bayero University, Kano Izabela WILL, University of Warsaw Jerzy ZDANOWSKI, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University University of Warsaw 2020 Department of African Languages and Cultures Faculty of Oriental Studies STUDIES IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Vol. 54 (2020) University of Warsaw 2020 Department of African Languages and Cultures Faculty of Oriental Studies Chief Editor Nina PAWLAK, University of Warsaw Editorial Secretary Patryk Zając University of Warsaw Department of African Languages and Cultures Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28. PL 00-927 Warsaw. POLAND E-mail: [email protected] Cover design Anna Gogolewska English language Editor Michał Zagrodzki ISSN 2545-2134; e-ISSN 2657-4187 © Copyright by University of Warsaw Press 2020 © Copyright by Department of African Languages and Cultures 2020 The entire journal content is freely available on the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence. Publication co-financed from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant and funds provided by the University of Warsaw authorities On-line version is available at http://www.salc.uw.edu.pl University of Warsaw Press Prosta 69. PL 00-838 Warsaw [email protected] Sales Department: phone (+48 22) 55-31-333 E-mail: [email protected] Internet Bookshop: www.edu.pl Layout Anna Gogolewska Printed by Totem.com.pl Contents FROM THE EDITORS 7 ArticLES Joseph McIntyre Transitive L-verbs (grade 2) and transitive H-verbs (grades 1, 4, 5, and 6) in Hausa verbal compounds 9 Rasmus Bernander, Antti O. Laine & Lotta Aunio The numeral system(s) in Western Serengeti: Formal, functional, and historical inferences 35 Pius W. Akumbu Reflections on a community-based approach to writing grammars of endangered African languages 71 Hideyuki Inui Nominal suffixes as markers of information structure in Basketo 97 Salim A. Mohamed & Erasmus A. Msuya English phonological errors by Kimakunduchi speaking EFL learners in Zanzibar 121 Sabina Brakoniecka Islamic martyrdom in northern Nigeria 143 Berhanu Asaye Agajie Images of Amhara women in oral poetry 163 REVIEWS A History of African Linguistics, ed. by H. Ekkehard Wolff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019, 351 pp. ISBN 978-11-0828-397-7. DOI: 10.1017/9781108283977 (Patryk Zając) 181 Massimo Villa, Filologia e linguistica del testi gəʿəz di età aksumita: Il Pastore di Erma. (Studi Africanistici. Serie Etiopica 10). Napoli: UniorPress 2019, 285 pp. ISBN 978-88-6719-178-9 (Marcin Krawczuk) 188 FROM THE EDITORS The journal is published annualy and provides a forum for presentation of the latest research in various fields of African Studies. It promotes studies on African languages, literatures, and cultures. Scholars working in these areas are cordially invited to submit the results of their work for publication. Preference is given to original research based on sources in African languages. The journal comprises articles, monographs, and reviews, as well as bibliogra- phies, lexicographic studies, and other source materials. Some issues are devoted to specialized topics or events. All papers are reviewed according to the journal’s criterions. The journal is indexed with and included in: • The European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH Plus) • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) • Index Copernicus International (ICI) • Central and Eeastern European Online Library (CEEOL) • Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (CEJSH) • Linguistic Bibliography Online (Brill) Submission guidelines are available at the Journal’s website www.salc.uw.edu.pl. For further information please write to the Editor at [email protected]. The printed version of the journal is distributed through subscriptions on the basis of exchange with academic centres. Please address the offers of journal exchange to: Uniwersytet Warszawski Wydział Orientalistyczny Katedra Języków i Kultur Afryki ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28 PL 00-927 Warszawa, POLAND Studies in African Languages and Cultures, Vol. 54, 2020 ISSN 2545-2134; e-ISSN 2657-4187 DOI: 10.32690/SALC54.1 ARTICLES Joseph McIntyre Hamburg Transitive L-verbs (grade 2) and transitive H-verbs (grades 1, 4, 5, and 6) in Hausa verbal compounds*1 Abstract This paper examines Hausa verbal compounds in terms of the division of regular verbs (verbs in the “grade system”) into verbs which have a High or Low tone first syllable. The focus of the paper is the surprisingly small number of transitive L-verbs (verbs beginning with a Low tone – “grade 2”) and their limited use of compound markers which contrasts strongly with the frequency of transitive H-verbs (verbs beginning with a High tone) and their markers. I also describe several devices (e.g. grade-switching and covert subjects) which “allow” the formation of verbal compounds with transitive L-verbs. Keywords: Hausa, verbal compounds, (modified) grade system * I would like to thank Bernard Caron and Phil Jaggar for their comments on earlier ver- sions of this paper. Any remaining errors are my own. 10 Joseph McIntyre 1. Introduction Hausa verbal compounds are many and varied. Their first member is generally a verb, although a few verbal compounds have either a person-aspect-complex or a /ma-/ prefix preceding the verb (see subsection 2.1). A wide variety of verbs are found in these compounds, both regular (those found in the “grade system” – see subsection 2.2) and irregular. In this paper I focus on the regular transitive verbs in compounds and describe a stark contrast between compounds which have a H[igh] or L[ow] tone first syllable (“H-verbs” versus “L-verbs”, defined in subsection 2.2.2). In a word, the number of transitive L-verbs found in Hausa verbal compounds is surprisingly small. Before explaining this contrast I describe verbal compounds and the verbal “grade system”, as well as various modifications to that system, concluding with my own definition of regular H- and L-verbs. 2. Hausa verbal compounds and Parsons’s “grade system” Here I describe verbal compounds in terms of the types of verb and marker found in these compounds (subsection 2.1). In subsection 2.2 I describe Parsons’s “grade system” (originally proposed in 1960) and the modifications which have been suggested since that date. 2.1. Hausa verbal compounds Most Hausa verbal compounds have an imperative form (see 1a); a further form – the tone-lowered form – is only found in compounds (1b); in a number of com- pounds the finite form of the verb is found (1c): (1a) The verb with an imperative form: rùfa-baaya1 (cover back) ‘support’ nèemi-naakà (look.for yours) ‘a name’ sàkoo-tumaaki (loosen sheep) ‘simpleton’ 1 Hausa examples and words in the text are written in italics; when the vowel is long it is written double, when short it is written with a single vowel. High (H) tone vowels are unmarked, e.g. -uwaa is HH and the vowels are short-long; low (L) tone vowels are marked with a grave accent, e.g., gyàaru is LH and the vowels are long-short. The ‘trilled’ /r/ is marked r˜ , the ‘flapped’ /r/ is unmarked (r). Transitive L-verbs (grade 2) and transitive H-verbs... 11 (1b) The verb with a tone-lowered form (not found in normal verbal morphology): dàfàa-dukà (cook all) ‘jollof rice’ ƙàarèe-dangì (finish family) ‘type of arrow poison’ bìi-bango (follow wall) ‘leakage along a wall’ (1c) The verb with the finite form: mootsà-jìkii (move body) ‘sport, physical exercise’ tunà-haifùwaa (remember birth) in: ran ~ ‘birthday’ kashè(e)-wàndoo (kill trousers) ‘unemployment’ In many compounds with a noun direct object the final vowel of the direct object is shortened. In the examples below the nouns baayaa ‘back’, dangìi ‘family’ and bangoo ‘wall’ have a short final vowel, marking the compound (along with the verb): (1d) Final vowel shortening: rùfa-baaya (cover back) ‘support’ ƙàarèe-dangì (finish family) ‘type of arrow poison’ bìi-bango (follow wall) ‘leakage along wall’ Compounds with a noun direct object are the main focus of this paper; however, other syntax is found; in the examples below the first example has two transitive verbs but their direct object is assumed; the second has a pronoun direct object; the third has a pronoun indirect object and a noun direct object: (1e) Varied syntax: dàki-bàri (beat stop) ‘strong, reliable thing’ m a r˜ m a r˜ t o o - n ì (desire me) ‘small plant used in love potions’ cìree-mîn-ƙayàa (pull.out for.me thorn) ‘children’s game’ There are compounds where a person-aspect-complex (expressing person, number and aspect) precedes the verb; in the example below the person-aspect pronoun is fourth person subjunctive (= ‘one should’).