A grammatical description of Mbembe, Adun Dialect, a Cross River language (original) (raw)

Aspects of the phonology and grammar of the Yebu [=Awak] language in Nigeria

2020

This is a summary phonology and a study of aspects of the grammar of the Yebu [=Awak] l language spoken in Kaltungo LGA, Gombe State, Nigeria. There have been no prior dedicated studies of the language, although a Reading and Writing Guide exists (2007). Yebu is an Adamawa language, part of the Tula-Waja group. Other related languages still partly conserve more complete noun class suffix alternations; these have almost disappeared in Yebu and been replaced by a universal number marker. The grammar sketch concentrates on the unusual verbal system and aspects of the pronominals.

A guide to parts of speech in languages of Central Nigeria

2023

This is a guide to parts of speech as they occur in the languages of Central Nigeria. Some of them may be unfamiliar reflecting idiosyncratic usages which are not captured by usual grammar guides. Phonology and syntax are not generally covered.

Aspects of the Phonology and Morphosyntax of Kyak, and Adamawa Language of Nigeria.

Language in Africa, 2020

This paper provides a preliminary analysis of a few aspects of the phonology and morphosyntax of Kyak [bka], a largely undocumented Adamawa language spoken in the northern part of Taraba State in Nigeria. The paper is divided into four main sections. The first section deals with the phonology, focusing on consonant and vowel inventories, some phonetic processes, and syllable structure. The second section looks at nominal morphology, particularly nominal modifiers and possessive constructions, which show a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession. The third section describes the verbal morphosyntax, identifying the various forms that encode the expression of tense-aspect and person-number. The fourth part looks at a couple of clause/sentence level features, namely the clitic-ŋ, which is associated with the marking of assertiveness, and the use of logophoric pronouns. This is the first description of the phonological and grammatical features of the language, and one of the first for the Jen cluster. It thus adds to the knowledge of the cluster and to the evaluation of genealogical and areal hypotheses which involve languages of this region.

Notes on Nyokon phonology (Bantu A.45, Cameroon)

2011

This paper is a preliminary analysis of the phonology of Nyokon based on a wordlist of nearly 1000 words. Nyokon is a Bantu language spoken in the Mbam region of Cameroon. It was classified by Guthrie as A.45 (Guthrie 1971:32). Section 2 provides an overview of the sociolinguistic situation and previous research. Section 3 presents the phonological segments of the language. Section 4 presents the CV structures. Sections 5 though 7 area rough sketch of elements of tone, morphology and morphophonology.

An introduction to Mәgang, a South Bauchi language of Central Nigeria

2021

This paper presents basic data on the Məgang (=Bolu, Pelu) language spoken northwest of Bauchi town in some eight villages. Previously the language was known only from a short wordlist. Məgang is closely related to Gyaazi, part of West South Bauchi. It has a reduced consonant inventory compared with some neighbouring South Bauchi languages, the usual six vowels with length contrast, and three tone heights. A brief section compares the lexicon of Məgang with related languages.

IDEOPHONES IN DZƏ (JENJO), AN ADAMAWA LANGUAGE OF NORTHEASTERN NIGERIA

Language in Africa, 2020

Ideophone is a phenomenon dominant in African languages. Dzə is an under-investigated and under-documented Adamawa language found in Taraba, Adamawa and Gombe States, Northeastern Nigeria. It was noticed that the language has a lot of ideophones. It became necessary to study it to understand its importance in the language. This study is to draw the attention of scholars working on Ada-mawa languages and ideophones. It will also thus form part of the grammar of Dzə someday. The study of ideophone is not exhaustive, especially in the minority languages of Northeastern Nigeria. The study shows that Dzə ideophones express intensity, emphasis and description. Dzə ideophones have unique phonological features and some of the sounds found in the conventional phonology of Dzə are not found in the ideophones. The phoneme /ŋ/ is common in the coda position of the ideophones. Ideophones modify verbs, adjectives and nouns in Dzə. They also function as adverbs and are elements that constitute a noun phrase. They augment other word classes like nouns, verbs and adjectives.

THE PHONOLOGY AND NOUN MORPHOLOGY OF YI KITƱLΕ, AN ADAMAWA LANGUAGE OF EAST-CENTRAL NIGERIA

Proceedings of the first Adamawa Conference (Mainz, September 9–11 2019). Sabine Littig, Friederike Vigeland, Alexander Zheltov eds. Language in Africa, 1(3): 155–180., 2020

The paper describes the phonology and nominal morphology of KItʊlε, an Adamawa language of the Tula-Waja group, spoken in East-Central Nigeria. KItʊlε has a restricted consonant inventory, marked by a loss of voicing contrast in most consonants. It has a system of ATR vowel harmony, which has begun to erode in many lexical items. There are three level tones plus rising and falling glides. The underlying system of nominal number marking is suffix alternation as with the other languages in the group, but this has undergone numerous alterations, in part due to the addition of prefix alterations, and fossilised suffixes which have been incorporated into the stem. Some of these then appear as infixes, although this is not the underlying system. A note on demonstratives is appended, which shows that these are not directly concordial, but which have a broad semantic logic.