Andreas Joswig | SIL International (original) (raw)

Papers by Andreas Joswig

The Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages, May 22, 2023

Participatory Linguistics: Methods and Case Studies from around the World, 2024

A presentation at the 2021 Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, hosted by the University of Edinb... more A presentation at the 2021 Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

Essays on African Languages and Linguistics in Honour of Maarten Mous, Dec 1, 2020

The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the benefits and even the necessity of developing ... more The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the benefits and even the necessity of developing language standards as well as the obstacles and resistances against doing so, as exemplified by a number of situations encountered in Ethiopia. Deciding on a standard for a language touches on the core identity of the language community or communities affected by this decision, and there are a number of (often conflicting) motivations associated with the idea of creating a language standard. This paper attempts to justify language standardization of minority languages as a necessary requirement for multilingual education, and tries to show a way out of the various dilemmas created by sociolinguistic, political, philosophical and practical pressures that work against language standardization.

SIL Electronic Working Papers, Jan 1, 2010

This study presents the phonology of Awngi, a major Central Cushitic language spoken in Northern ... more This study presents the phonology of Awngi, a major Central Cushitic language spoken in Northern Ethiopia. Awngi has six vowels, one of which an almost predictable epenthetic vowel /ɨ/, and twenty-nine consonants, of which five are labialized and two are post-stopped fricatives. Two tone levels are also contrastive in the language. This paper presents evidence for contrast and variation for all Awngi phonemes, a description of the syllable structure, a discussion of the phonological rules, and a list of 325 Awngi words in IPA phonemic writing.

Tonal features play a crucial role in the grammar of Majang. The tonal inventory of two tone leve... more Tonal features play a crucial role in the grammar of Majang. The tonal inventory of two tone levels plus downstep is used to differentiate not only between lexical items, but also between various grammatical categories. This paper gives a very short introduction on how these tonal features are used in the language, and what rules apply.

Mietzner & Storch (eds.): Nilo-Saharan: Models and Descriptions, 2015

This paper presents two syntactic phenomena of the Majang language, which can be seen as a manife... more This paper presents two syntactic phenomena of the Majang language, which can be seen as a manifestation of a high sensitivity of the language to deviations from a preferred clause structure.
The Majang language is a Surmic language spoken by about 30,000 speakers in various scattered pockets in western Ethiopia. In their writings on Majang, both Bender and Unseth note the presence of the marker -ŋ, the use of which defies an easy description. Whereas Bender does not even try to provide an analysis, Unseth proposes that the marker should best be seen as an intransitivity marker. He concedes, however, that this analysis does not account for all the data.
Examining the range of data in which this marker appears (and just as importantly, where it does not appear), this paper reaches the following conclusions:
- Although Bender and Unseth call the marker a suffix, there are reasons to treat it as an enclitic.
- The marker has a purely syntactic function, without any reference to semantic or discourse-pragmatic information. It is therefore not optional, but obligatory if the right syntactic conditions apply.
- The marker is triggered by the absence of any noun phrase or adverb in the clause.
The Majang language, therefore, displays a high degree of sensitivity to the syntactic composition of a clause, forcing the speakers to react to the absence of particular clause components to make the clause grammatical. This also becomes apparent from another syntactic device, the absolutive-disjoint marking on the verb, which seems to be a clear instance of syntactic ergativity in an African language. It appears that the language has a preferred clause structure of Verb – NPabs.

Brenzinger/Fehn (eds.): Proceedings of the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics, Cologne, 17-21 August 2009, 2012

This paper provides evidence that the Majang Language (Northern Surmic) features a seven vowel sy... more This paper provides evidence that the Majang Language (Northern Surmic) features a seven vowel system without ATR-based vowel harmony.

In 1971, Roger Wenman Cowley published a short article on “The Kunfal people and their language,”... more In 1971, Roger Wenman Cowley published a short article on “The Kunfal people and their language,” providing some data on a group of people living in the area west of Lake T’ana in Ethiopia. Since then, no further research has been conducted on the people or the language. This report is based on two recent language survey trips to the area reported in Cowley’s article. A vital community was found that matches Cowley’s description, but rejects the name “Kunfäl,” as this is seen as a derogatory name. Their language is a variety of Southern Agaw (or Awngi) which, in pure linguistic terms, could be seen as distinct enough to be counted as a separate language. The speakers insist that their language is the same as Awngi, and they have no difficulty understanding materials produced for that language. Based on this, it is recommended that this variety be treated as a dialect of Awngi. This report also provides comparative data (including a wordlist) between various Awngi dialects and the varieties spoken west of Lake T’ana; also, a map of the Awngi language area based on the results of this study.

portal.svt.ntnu.no

The Awngi language has previously been described as having three contrastive tone levels: high, m... more The Awngi language has previously been described as having three contrastive tone levels: high, mid and low, with an additional falling tone. This paper will attempt to show that there are really only two distinctive tone levels, high and low, the falling tone being a combination of high and low on one syllable. Finally it will be investigated whether Awngi is really a tone language or a pitch-accent language.

… of the XVth International Conference of …, Jan 1, 2003

The status of the Awngi High Central Vowel /᭣/ presents a problem, not only in descriptive terms,... more The status of the Awngi High Central Vowel /᭣/ presents a problem, not only in descriptive terms, but also regarding practical questions like orthography. This paper examines the evidence which points strongly towards a total predictability of the occurrence of /᭣/. However, a limited number of words do not comply with the rules, leaving the phonemic status of the vowel /᭣/ unclear.

Monographs by Andreas Joswig

Hier soll […] ein Versuch unternommen werden, sich sekundären grammatischen Relationen mit Rückgr... more Hier soll […] ein Versuch unternommen werden, sich sekundären grammatischen Relationen mit Rückgriff auf Sprachdaten aus nur einer Sprache, dem Standard-Swahili, anzunähern. Es soll untersucht werden, welche Beziehungen zwischen dem Objekt im Swahili und seinen jeweiligen semantischen Rollen bestehen. Eine solche Fragestellung lohnt sich in dieser Sprache auf Grund der Tatsache, daß hier bei dreiwertigen Verben nicht der Patiens das Objekt sein kann, sondern allein der Rezipien. Dieser Tatbestand ...

The Majang Language, 2019

Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic subfamily spoken in Southwest Ethiopia. This lang... more Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic subfamily spoken in Southwest Ethiopia. This language provides an interesting subject for phonological, morphosyntactic and pragmatic studies, particularly from a typological perspective. Majang is a tonal language with two tones and two different sources of non-automatic downstep; the tones distinguish meaning both in the lexicon and in the grammar. As would be expected from an Eastern-Sudanic language, Majang features an intricate number-marking system, where numerous inflectional strategies are chosen for the different nouns of the lexicon. This number marking interacts with the case marking of Majang, which is one of the few African languages with clearly manifested ergative-absolutive structures, balanced by an alternative system with nominative-absolutive markings; the deciding factor between the two systems is deeply grounded in the pragmatic context of the predications. The topicality of constituents not only influences the cas...

SIL bibliography listing for A Brief Grammar of the Majang Language.

Sl: sn, 2011

SIL bibliography listing for A Brief Grammar of the Hamer Language.

Book Reviews by Andreas Joswig

SIL Electronic Book Reviews, Jan 1, 2005

SIL Electronic Book Reviews, 2012

Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 2022

Review of Firew Girma Worku, A Grammar of Mursi: A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia. Brill, Leid... more Review of Firew Girma Worku, A Grammar of Mursi: A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia. Brill, Leiden 2021, 666 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-44989-3

The Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages, May 22, 2023

Participatory Linguistics: Methods and Case Studies from around the World, 2024

A presentation at the 2021 Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, hosted by the University of Edinb... more A presentation at the 2021 Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

Essays on African Languages and Linguistics in Honour of Maarten Mous, Dec 1, 2020

The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the benefits and even the necessity of developing ... more The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the benefits and even the necessity of developing language standards as well as the obstacles and resistances against doing so, as exemplified by a number of situations encountered in Ethiopia. Deciding on a standard for a language touches on the core identity of the language community or communities affected by this decision, and there are a number of (often conflicting) motivations associated with the idea of creating a language standard. This paper attempts to justify language standardization of minority languages as a necessary requirement for multilingual education, and tries to show a way out of the various dilemmas created by sociolinguistic, political, philosophical and practical pressures that work against language standardization.

SIL Electronic Working Papers, Jan 1, 2010

This study presents the phonology of Awngi, a major Central Cushitic language spoken in Northern ... more This study presents the phonology of Awngi, a major Central Cushitic language spoken in Northern Ethiopia. Awngi has six vowels, one of which an almost predictable epenthetic vowel /ɨ/, and twenty-nine consonants, of which five are labialized and two are post-stopped fricatives. Two tone levels are also contrastive in the language. This paper presents evidence for contrast and variation for all Awngi phonemes, a description of the syllable structure, a discussion of the phonological rules, and a list of 325 Awngi words in IPA phonemic writing.

Tonal features play a crucial role in the grammar of Majang. The tonal inventory of two tone leve... more Tonal features play a crucial role in the grammar of Majang. The tonal inventory of two tone levels plus downstep is used to differentiate not only between lexical items, but also between various grammatical categories. This paper gives a very short introduction on how these tonal features are used in the language, and what rules apply.

Mietzner & Storch (eds.): Nilo-Saharan: Models and Descriptions, 2015

This paper presents two syntactic phenomena of the Majang language, which can be seen as a manife... more This paper presents two syntactic phenomena of the Majang language, which can be seen as a manifestation of a high sensitivity of the language to deviations from a preferred clause structure.
The Majang language is a Surmic language spoken by about 30,000 speakers in various scattered pockets in western Ethiopia. In their writings on Majang, both Bender and Unseth note the presence of the marker -ŋ, the use of which defies an easy description. Whereas Bender does not even try to provide an analysis, Unseth proposes that the marker should best be seen as an intransitivity marker. He concedes, however, that this analysis does not account for all the data.
Examining the range of data in which this marker appears (and just as importantly, where it does not appear), this paper reaches the following conclusions:
- Although Bender and Unseth call the marker a suffix, there are reasons to treat it as an enclitic.
- The marker has a purely syntactic function, without any reference to semantic or discourse-pragmatic information. It is therefore not optional, but obligatory if the right syntactic conditions apply.
- The marker is triggered by the absence of any noun phrase or adverb in the clause.
The Majang language, therefore, displays a high degree of sensitivity to the syntactic composition of a clause, forcing the speakers to react to the absence of particular clause components to make the clause grammatical. This also becomes apparent from another syntactic device, the absolutive-disjoint marking on the verb, which seems to be a clear instance of syntactic ergativity in an African language. It appears that the language has a preferred clause structure of Verb – NPabs.

Brenzinger/Fehn (eds.): Proceedings of the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics, Cologne, 17-21 August 2009, 2012

This paper provides evidence that the Majang Language (Northern Surmic) features a seven vowel sy... more This paper provides evidence that the Majang Language (Northern Surmic) features a seven vowel system without ATR-based vowel harmony.

In 1971, Roger Wenman Cowley published a short article on “The Kunfal people and their language,”... more In 1971, Roger Wenman Cowley published a short article on “The Kunfal people and their language,” providing some data on a group of people living in the area west of Lake T’ana in Ethiopia. Since then, no further research has been conducted on the people or the language. This report is based on two recent language survey trips to the area reported in Cowley’s article. A vital community was found that matches Cowley’s description, but rejects the name “Kunfäl,” as this is seen as a derogatory name. Their language is a variety of Southern Agaw (or Awngi) which, in pure linguistic terms, could be seen as distinct enough to be counted as a separate language. The speakers insist that their language is the same as Awngi, and they have no difficulty understanding materials produced for that language. Based on this, it is recommended that this variety be treated as a dialect of Awngi. This report also provides comparative data (including a wordlist) between various Awngi dialects and the varieties spoken west of Lake T’ana; also, a map of the Awngi language area based on the results of this study.

portal.svt.ntnu.no

The Awngi language has previously been described as having three contrastive tone levels: high, m... more The Awngi language has previously been described as having three contrastive tone levels: high, mid and low, with an additional falling tone. This paper will attempt to show that there are really only two distinctive tone levels, high and low, the falling tone being a combination of high and low on one syllable. Finally it will be investigated whether Awngi is really a tone language or a pitch-accent language.

… of the XVth International Conference of …, Jan 1, 2003

The status of the Awngi High Central Vowel /᭣/ presents a problem, not only in descriptive terms,... more The status of the Awngi High Central Vowel /᭣/ presents a problem, not only in descriptive terms, but also regarding practical questions like orthography. This paper examines the evidence which points strongly towards a total predictability of the occurrence of /᭣/. However, a limited number of words do not comply with the rules, leaving the phonemic status of the vowel /᭣/ unclear.

Hier soll […] ein Versuch unternommen werden, sich sekundären grammatischen Relationen mit Rückgr... more Hier soll […] ein Versuch unternommen werden, sich sekundären grammatischen Relationen mit Rückgriff auf Sprachdaten aus nur einer Sprache, dem Standard-Swahili, anzunähern. Es soll untersucht werden, welche Beziehungen zwischen dem Objekt im Swahili und seinen jeweiligen semantischen Rollen bestehen. Eine solche Fragestellung lohnt sich in dieser Sprache auf Grund der Tatsache, daß hier bei dreiwertigen Verben nicht der Patiens das Objekt sein kann, sondern allein der Rezipien. Dieser Tatbestand ...

The Majang Language, 2019

Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic subfamily spoken in Southwest Ethiopia. This lang... more Majang is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic subfamily spoken in Southwest Ethiopia. This language provides an interesting subject for phonological, morphosyntactic and pragmatic studies, particularly from a typological perspective. Majang is a tonal language with two tones and two different sources of non-automatic downstep; the tones distinguish meaning both in the lexicon and in the grammar. As would be expected from an Eastern-Sudanic language, Majang features an intricate number-marking system, where numerous inflectional strategies are chosen for the different nouns of the lexicon. This number marking interacts with the case marking of Majang, which is one of the few African languages with clearly manifested ergative-absolutive structures, balanced by an alternative system with nominative-absolutive markings; the deciding factor between the two systems is deeply grounded in the pragmatic context of the predications. The topicality of constituents not only influences the cas...

SIL bibliography listing for A Brief Grammar of the Majang Language.

Sl: sn, 2011

SIL bibliography listing for A Brief Grammar of the Hamer Language.

SIL Electronic Book Reviews, Jan 1, 2005

SIL Electronic Book Reviews, 2012

Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 2022

Review of Firew Girma Worku, A Grammar of Mursi: A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia. Brill, Leid... more Review of Firew Girma Worku, A Grammar of Mursi: A Nilo-Saharan Language of Ethiopia. Brill, Leiden 2021, 666 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-44989-3