T H E O X F O R D H A N D B O O K O F AFRICAN LANGUAGES OXFORD HANDBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS Recently published THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ERGATIVITY Edited by Jessica Coon, Diane Massam, and Lisa deMena Travis THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF WORLD ENGLISHES Edited by Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola, and Devyani Sharma THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF POLYSYNTHESIS Edited by Michael Fortescue, Marianne Mithun, and Nicholas Evans THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF EVIDENTIALITY Edited by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING Edited by James W. Tollefson and Miguel Pérez-Milans THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF PERSIAN LINGUISTICS Edited by Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ENDANGERED LANGUAGES Edited by Kenneth L. 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THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES Edited by RAINER VOSSEN and GERRIT J. DIMMENDAAL Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, 2 6 , United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © editorial matter and organization Rainer Vossen and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal 2020 © the chapters their several authors 2020 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2020 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953086 ISBN 978–0–19–960989–5 ebook ISBN 978–0–19–100738–5 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, 0 4 Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. C Acknowledgments List of Maps, Figures, and Tables List of Abbreviations List of Contributors PART I INTRODUCTION Introduction G J. D R V PART II DOMAINS OF GRAMMAR Phonology and phonetics M J. K Tone D O Morphology K B Syntax J Z 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. PART III LANGUAGE COMPARISON African language types R V Dialectology and linguistic geography M B. L Reflections on the history of African language classification L G PART IV LANGUAGE PHYLA AND FAMILIES Niger‐Congo, with a special focus on Benue-Congo J G Atlantic F L Mande H S Kwa M E K D Gur G M Bantu and Bantoid L M Adamawa U K Ubangi H P 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Kordofanian N Q Afro-Asiatic overview V P Egyptian B J. I -N Berber M K East Cushitic M T North Cushitic M V Central Cushitic Z L South Cushitic R K Omotic B K Chadic B C Ethio-Semitic V P Nilo-Saharan and its limits G J. D Saharan N C Eastern Sudanic G J. D A J 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Central Sudanic P B Khoisan H H Linguistic isolates G J. D PART V LANGUAGE STRUCTURES: CASE STUDIES Bom-Kim G. T C Dan V V Biali C S Yukuben R -J A Bende Y A Waja U K Zande H P Zenaga C T -C Sidaama K K 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. Kolisi Z L Iraqw M M Wandala Z F Kumam O H Baale G J. D Songhay languages L S Cara R V ǁX’egwi H H Sandawe H E PART VI LANGUAGE, COGNITION, AND CULTURE Ideophones C K -H Color term systems: Genetic vs. areal distribution in sub-Saharan Africa D L. P 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. Experiencer constructions U Z Language and ethnobotany K L Distinctive languages P F Conversation analysis M R Cognition and language A F PART VII LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY Indigenous African scripts A R S B Language policy and politics K S Language and education I S Language endangerment, documentation, and revitalization J E Language birth: Youth/town language E H Language contact K B Mixed languages: The case of Ma’á/Mbugu M M 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. African languages in the Diaspora A H Pidgin and creole languages G S Sign languages V N Arabic in Africa J O Orthography standardization E K D R Pragmatics and communication T B African languages in information and communications technology K V L PART VIII LANGUAGE AND HISTORY Words, things, and meaning: Linguistics as a tool for historical reconstruction D L. S Language and archaeology K B PART IX LANGUAGE AND ORATURE Narratives W J. G. M 76. 77. Proverbs S K. B Poetry C V Author Index Language Index Subject Index A Special thanks are due to the cartographer of the Institute for African Studies and Egyptology, University of Cologne; Monika Feinen for the range of maps she produced and for her professional attitude; as well as to Jan Knipping for his help with the indexes. The editors would also like to express their deeply felt gratitude to Lakshmanan Sethuraman and Joy Mellor for their dedication and patience during the proofreading stage. Gerrit Dimmendaal would like to thank the Rector of the University of Cologne, the wonderful Prof. Axel Freimuth, for bestowing the Leo Spitzer Prize for excellent research upon him, which made it possible to engage the following two people in order to complete this project. John Vanderelst kindly offered his help in formatting several chapters, at the same time pointing toward several editorial issues for which we are very grateful. His support as well as the help of Mary Chambers in shaping up the texts of authors whose first language is not English is also gratefully acknowledged here. This support would not have been possible without this financial support from the University of Cologne. 1.1 9.1 9.2 10.1 11.1 12.1 13.1 14.1 14.2 15.1 16.1 17.1 18.1 20.1 21.1 23.1 24.1 25.1 L M , F , T Maps Geographical position of languages described briefly in Part V African language families and isolates following recent proposals Niger-Congo subgroups following recent proposals The geographical distribution of Atlantic and Mande languages The geographical distribution of Mande languages The geographical distribution of Kwa languages The geographical distribution of Gur languages The geographical distribution of Bantu languages Bantu language groupings (based on Guthrie 1948) The geographical distribution of Adamawa languages The geographical distribution of Ubangi languages The geographical distribution of Kordofanian languages The geographical distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The geographical distribution of Berber languages The geographical distribution of East Cushitic languages Distribution of Central Cushitic languages The geographical distribution of South Cushitic languages The geographical distribution of Omotic languages 26.1 26.2 26.3 27.1 28.1 29.1 30.1 31.1 32.1 33.1 67.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 10.1 10.2 10.3 The geographical distribution of Chadic languages Hausa extension Chadic (minus Hausa) and phonological zones in Africa (based on Clements and Rialland 2008) The geographical distribution of Ethio-Semitic languages The geographical distribution of Nilo-Saharan languages The geographical distribution of Saharan languages The position of the verb in Eastern Sudanic The geographical distribution of Central Sudanic languages The geographical distribution of Khoisan languages African linguistic isolates The distribution of pidgins and creoles in Africa Figures Map of the georeferenced survey points of the Rif (Lafkioui 2007) Dendrogram vs. CA map—Lv—all lexis CA Lv maps—seven clusters vs. three clusters vs. two clusters—all lexis CA Lv vs. MDS Lv vs. CAC Lv maps CAC—Bin vs. GIW vs. Lv maps—all lexis The six phonological zones of Africa (based on Clements and Rialland 2008) New grouping superseding Atlantic (Pozdniakov and Segerer 2010) “SplitsTree” diagram with reticulations for Atlantic languages (Pozdniakov and Segerer 2010) “SplitsTree” diagram without reticulations (Pozdniakov and Segerer 2010) 10.4 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 20.1 21.1 21.2 21.3 24.1 28.1 28.2 29.1 30.1 34.1 37.1 53.1 56.1 56.2 58.1 63.1 New classification of Atlantic (Pozdniakov and Segerer forthcoming) Bantu within Niger-Congo (after Williamson and Blench 2000) Main subgroups of Grollemund et al .’s (2015) classification A lexicostatistical classification of Bantoid (after Piron 1997: 625) Main groupings of the phylogenetic classification of Bantoid of Grollemund et al. (forthcoming) Blažek’s (2010) classification of Berber founded on Starostin’s calibrated glottochronology based on minimal values (language names adapted) The Cushitic languages (from Tosco 2000a) The classification of Cushitic according to Voigt (1996) A revised classificatory tree of East Cushitic Synopsis of the historical development of PSC (PSC = PWR) Kießling and Mous (2003: 28) The subclassification of Nilo-Saharan The subclassification of Eastern Sudanic Classification of Saharan languages The subclassification of Eastern Sudanic South Atlantic classification (Voeltz 1996; Childs 2004) Vowel trapezium in Yukuben Hypothesized basic color term systems (based on Kay and Maffi 1999, 2011) General distinction of special languages Categorization of distinctive languages Word category continuum for nouns across the Bantu languages Comparison of Nouchi and standard French grammar and vocabulary (Vakunta 2011) 63.2 63.3 63.4 63.5 63.6 66.1 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 9.1 9.2 9.3 Example of Town Bemba compared to standard Bemba (from Kabinga 2010: 64) Examples of Tsotsitaal with a Xhosa and Zulu base Camfranglais via CamP syntax (Schröder 2007) Camfranglais via French syntax (Schröder 2007) Example of Sheng compared to Standard Swahili (Githiora 2002: 167) መስቀል፡ስክዌር፡፡ (Mäsk’äl Square) Tables Examples of click-containing words in Khoisan Inventory of noun classes in Yeyi (Bantu; see Seidel 2008: 105–6) General procedure of computational dialectometry analysis Data excerpt in encoded format of ALR Excerpt from the binary distance matrix of the lexeme ‘heel’ Excerpt from the GIW distance matrix of the lexeme ‘heel’ Excerpt from the Lv distance matrix of the lexeme ‘heel’ Cost of operations allowing modification of awrez into inerz (heel) Example of calculation of Lv distance for modifying awrez into inerz (heel) Possible cognate noun class markers in Niger-Congo following Schadeberg (1989: 72) Possible cognate verbal extensions in Niger-Congo following Hyman (2007: 157) Proto-Bantu noun classes 10.1 11.1 11.2 14.1 15.1 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 23.1 23.2 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 28.1 28.2 28.3 Possible Konyagi correspondences for Sereer b- (Pozdniakov 2007: 6) A classification of Mande languages, major branches, and principal representatives Comparison of reconstructions of initial consonants: Central- Southwest (Kastenholz 1996); Southern (Vydrin 2007); Niger- Volta (Schreiber 2008) Main groups of Bantu languages (based on Guthrie 1967–71; Maho 2003) Adamawa groups and isolated languages Some similarities between noun class markers of various semantic classes across Kordofanian families Tima (Katloid) and Koalib (Heibanian, noun class language) language names nominal derivation Some verb extensions attested in Koalib (Heibanian) Some plausible Proto-Kordofanian roots Core vocabulary items between CC languages and the rest Selected cognates in CC languages and Ethio-Semitic (Amharic) The Chadic language family: classification (Newman 2013a: 3–5) Chadic consonants (Newman 2006: 191) Proto-Chadic and Afro-Asiatic pronouns Internal -a- imperfect/habitative in Chadic languages (Jungraithmayr 1978) Distribution of linguistic features Nilo-Saharan and its limits The accusative case marker in Nilo-Saharan The question word ‘who’ in Nilo-Saharan