A History of the Hausa Language
A History of the Hausa Language
With more than sixty million speakers across Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Ghana Hausa is one of the most widely spoken African languages. It is known for its rich phonology and complex morphological and verbal systems. Written by the world's leading expert on Hausa, this ground-breaking book is a synthesis of his life's work, and provides a lucid and comprehensive history of the language. It describes Hausa as it existed in former times and sets out subsequent changes in phonology, including tonology, morphology, grammar, and lexicon. It also contains a large loanword inventory, which highlights the history of Hausa's interaction with other languages and peoples. It offers new insights not only on Hausa in the past, but also on the Hausa language as spoken today. This book is an invaluable resource for specialists in Hausa, Chadic, Afroasiatic, and other African languages as well as for general historical linguists and typologists.
- Provides reconstructions of the earlier stages of a major African language without a long written tradition
- Describes regular Neogrammarian-like sound laws
- Explains how seemingly irregular and unusual aspects of current-day Hausa came about as a result of natural historical developments
Reviews & endorsements
'… a must read for specialists in Hausa, Chadic, Afroasiatic and other African languages, as well as for general linguists and typologists.' Bernard Caron, Journal of African Languages and Linguistics
Product details
August 2024Paperback
9781009124300
250 pages
229 × 152 × 13 mm
0.37kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. The hausa language
- 2. Phonology
- 3. Morphology
- 4. Syntax-grammar
- 5. Loanwords
- 6. Lexicon and etymologies
- 7. Conclusion.
