The Ejectives /ts/ and / k 1/

The ejectives are the areas of greatest controversy. In considering the history of the ejectives N/M (1966) reconstructed /*'w/ as a possible source of Chadic glottalized consonants other than /*b'/ and /*d'/* They remarked:

"We believe that proto-Chadic probably also had some kind of glottalized velar (perhaps *'w) due to the fact that many present-day Chadic languages do have at least one other glottalized consonant in addition to b' and d MI (N/M 1966:223).

They therefore reconstructed /*'w/ as one of the sources of modern Hausa /k'/f listing the following example, 'bone*

(No.127, p:241) *'W-s- Hs:k'ashii. Other supposed reflexes in Chadic are: Tr:'gEtl; Ngm:'oso; Sr:'Jes; Jg:*eso;

Be:•ule; Br:'yetlu; and Wd:§e§e. Apart from this single example N/M did not provide any other support for their suggestion, due to insufficient evidence.

As an improvement on the (1966) article, NM (1977b) rejected their earlier hypothesis that /**w/ was the third PC phoneme in addition to /*b'/ and /*d'/« Instead he reconstructed /*'J/ as the source of some instances of modern Hausa / k 1/ (cf. Table 2.2 above for his PC phonemes). As NM says, "In some of its instances, Hausa k'

is a reflex of this proto-phoneme, e.g. k'ashii 'bone' <

*»Ja?u" (NM 1977b:14).

Furthermore, NM also considered / k 1/ to have another source, a split of original /*k/ into /k/ and /k'/* In other words there are two separate sources for modern /k'//

one is /*'J/ and the other is /*k/ (NM 1977b:14).

NM (1977b:14) listed the following examples of (/k/ < *k;

/ k '/ < *k) : Hs:kai; Kr:koi 'head'? Hs:jik'a? Kr:yeke

'become w e t 1. The conditioning factor for such a split he was not able to spell out. But in an earlier paper, NM (1973) , he had tentatively suggested that "the major conditioning factor for the *k > k 1 change was the presence of a voiced consonant in the preceding or following syllable" adding that, "This hypothesis - which I still feel to be on the right track - awaits verification" (NM 1977b:14).

N M 1 s claim that modern /k'/ developed from PC /*k/ is consistent with some evidence from Guruntum (West Chadic B) . There is a regular correspondence between Hausa / k 1/

and Guruntum /k/ in the following probable cognates.

Hs. Gr.

Examples: 'neck' k'eeyaakaaya (cf. JG. 1988: 186) 'dust' k'uuraa kudi (cf. JG. 1988: 184) 'strength'k'arfii kwami (cf. JG. 1988: 188) Guruntum does not have a distinctive phoneme /k'/ (cf.

Haruna (1981) and Jaggar (1988)).

While still considering words that contain / k 1/, e.g.

Hs:k'udaa 'fly(n)', one finds that the phoneme /k'/ has also been considered (although not categorically stated, but implied) as a reflex of /*d/ by NM. Consider the following examples: 'fly(n)1 *diwa, Kk:diyau, Ng:juw-ak, Hs:k'udaa (AH), Gs:jijuw-ed', Mg:adway, Dr:diwo, Sm:dou, M s :oro-na (NM 1977b:26), Gr:didau (Jaggar 1988:184). The

important point to note here is that NM has /k'/ as a reflex of either /*d/, /*'J/, or /*k/. In his discussion, NM did not treat /ts/.

Parsons (1970) (answered by NM (1971) cf. below for detailed discussion), arguing for the non-inclusion of Hausa as Chadic, presents some phonological arguments for his doubts, even though he has admitted that his knowledge

of Chadic languages other than Hausa was second hand. He

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presents the following reasons for considering Hausa as unique.

1 The existence of /ts/ and / k '/ in Hausa but absence in other Chadic languages.

2 The absence of /ts/ and / k '/ in N/M (1966). According to Parsons, Hausa "..is a language which has an almost unnaturally tidy and symmetrical system of sound differentiation, distribution and utilization"

(Parsons 1970:274)/

Parsons suggested that Hausa /k'/ and /ts/ might be reflexes of "prenasalized phonemes" /nk/, /ng/ and /ns/ or /nz/ respectively (Parsons 1970:281).

While agreeing with Parsons that the origin of the phonemes /ts/ and /k'/ is still a problem which remains unsolved in Chadic, NM says,

"While I admit that like Parsons I have no ready answer to this question, I do not see how our ignorance can be adduced as evidence in support of his (Parsons') thesis that Hausa is not a Chadic language. The solution to the problem may have a bearing on the classification of Hausa but the mere existence of such a problem is not itself significant" (NM 1971:171).

There are additional problems with Parsons' claims:

1 Parsons did not provide sufficient evidence to support his claim that / k 1/ and /ts/ derived from the prenasalized phonemes (/nk/, /ng/ and /ns/ or /nz/) respectively. He only cites the form k'wai 'egg' PC

*(N)g-(r) (cf. N/M 1966:234) in support of his claim.

2 As noted in Skinner (1971) when Hausa borrowed words containing /NG/ from Kanuri (cf, Greenberg (19 60) for a study of Kanuri loan words into Hausa), /NG/ did not become glottalized phoneme but rather acquired a

prothetic vowel preceeded by a glottal stop. Consider the following examples of borrowing from Kanuri into Hausa taken from Skinner (1971:301):

Examples: 'fine horse’ some stage, this still does not strengthen the case of /NC/

> /c '/ (/c '/ = glottalized consonant; /NC/ = prenasalized consonant).

Other loan-word evidence, however, seems to support the hypothesis that Hausa glottalized consonants have come about as a result of the coalescence of a nasal segment plus plosive, i.e. /NC/ > /C'/. Consider the following examples of borrowing from West Atlantic languages into Hausa also cited by Skinner (1971:303), where he suspects the possibility that these forms are related:

'groundnut1 'sweet thing’ ma ndi > mad* ii5

hair*

'a sweet

'to take da ndi > daad1ii

drink’

'pleasure1 pleasure’

Skinner suggests that the loan words acquired glottalization when adopted into the Hausa language or else the feature might have been acquired later as a result of the loss of the /N/. Still, the coalescence hypothesis, Skinner admits, is debateable, from the point of view of what we know about Hausa clusters /-nd-/ and /-nt-/. for

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they are acceptable clusters in the present day language.

For example, dandi 'roaming about leading to a loose, carefree life' and bantee 'loin-cloth1.

3 A further argument against Parsons* prenasalized phoneme theory is based on the observation that many other Chadic languages are found to have at least one other glottalized phoneme in their phonological inventory apart from / b 1/ and / d 1/ (cf. above). Thus, the overriding view today is that /ts/ and / k 1/ could be related to some Chadic glottalized velar or palatal phoneme(s).

From a somewhat different view point, Skinner (1971) suggested that a good starting point from which to consider the history of Hausa /ts/ and /k'/ is the fairly large number of loan-words, mostly from Arabic that include glottalized consonants in Hausa (cf. Greenberg (1947) for detailed study of Arabic loans into Hausa). For example, Arabic (uvular) /q/ > Hausa / k 1/ is fairly regular with /k/

: /?/ as a variant in some dialects, as is Arabic (alveolar emphatic) /t/: Hausa /d'/ with /ts/ as a variant in some dialects (cf. below).

Skinner also cited examples of borrowing from Kanuri (Nilo-Saharan), Mande, Vai, Wolof, Fula (Niger-Congo) (cf.

above), English and Arabic. Only a few examples from these languages will be given here.

He suggests that "there are signs that the glottal feature in loan words may represent traces of a number of elements in the donor language and come into existence in several ways" (p. 304) , one of which is fusion of /?/ plus consonant, cf. examples below.

Thus Skinner was the second scholar to propose a merger, though this is limited by him to the merging of two

segments, one of them being /?/. Consider the following examples given by Skinner (1971:302-303):

'fall in, collapse*

'crochet tray mat,' Eng:antimacassar >

H s :tumaak1asaa

Kn:saiga Hs:sark'aa 'chain'

'beseech, pray1 emerges does not point to a single source for /ts/ and /k'/

(cf. Skinner 1971:309). Furthermore, comparing Hausa /ts/

and /k'/ with some other Chadic languages, he found some the following examples, (cf. p.308).

1 'black' Hs:bak*ii

Skinner added that:

"On the other hand, comparison here with other Afroasiatic languages does lend some support to the idea that the etymon of the Hausa /k'/ was here a velar with an additional feature, rather than a cluster, comprising /?/ plus another phoneme" (p.307).

On the whole Skinner's article can be praised for providing evidence from both within and outside Chadic in the search for the origin of /ts/ and /k'/ in Hausa.

Table 2.3: JS's (1981) Proto-Chadic Phonemes Source JS (1981:19-20)

p b' b mb m

t d' d nd n 1

(C) _{l Y} (j) (nj)

k k' _g ng (h)

si

S2 s? z

S3

lzl lz

lz2

() not yet established

JS's (1981) study of Chadic Lexical Roots, gives a comprehensive representation of proto-Chadic glottalic sounds. It is the only study that reconstructs all five of the glottalic phonemes (/*b'/, /*d'/, /*ts/, /*k'/ and /*'y/ (cf. Table 2.3).

J S 's approach to carrying out the reconstructions was

"...determined entirely on the basis of the present-day distribution of the reflexes. Thus it is our (JS) working hypothesis that the Chadic-wide distribution of a root indicates its possible Proto-Chadic origin, if the wide distribution is not due to borrowing, and that we may thus reconstruct it at the Proto-Chadic

level" (JS 1981:27).

Three levels of reconstruction, i.e. root, sub-root, and variants are set up and presented. For each lexical item they said, "there often exist for a given lexical item not only one, but often two or more widely distributed Proto-Chadic roots” (JS 1981:27). The reconstructed sets are given in order of the most widely used to least widely used with the branch and sub-branch noted, something which in the words of the authors "was neglected in earlier studies" (JS 1981:28). JS suggested that /*ts/ and /*k'/

are protoforms from which the modern /ts/ and /k'/ derive.

However, JS failed to give the actual forms in the language(s) on which the reconstructions were made. They also did not give the sound laws to account for the reflexes of /*k'/ and /*ts/ in modern Chadic languages.

Another problem that may cast some doubt on the setting up of protoforms /*ts/ and /*k'/ is their limited distribution in modern Chadic languages apart from Hausa.

Schuh*s (1982) work was limited to West Chadic.6 Building on the earlier reconstructions of proto-Chadic forms by NM (1977b) and a few other sources and also his own field work notes, he made several suggestions of the possible sources of /ts/ and / k 1/. Evidence from the comparative data he considered made him suggest that Hausa /ts/ and /k'/ have cognate forms in other West Chadic languages. Schuh provided a list of West Chadic etymologies as evidence pointing towards their existence in Proto-West Chadic. For example, he suggests that Hausa tsayaa and Bolanci 'yoruu- 'to stand1 come from an original root something like

*d*yar-, (p. 9), i.e (Hs.ts:Bl.’y < *d'y). However Schuh in other cases also suggested that /ts/ and Bolanci /'y/

originate from /*'y/. Consider the following examples:

'stand' *d'yar- Hs:tsayaa; Bl: 'yoruu-; (p. 9) 'fat' *k- *y-r Hs:kitsee; Bl:shid'or;

My:ha?ar? (p. 13) 'urine' *f-'y-r Hs: fitsarii;B1: 'yofaa-bu?um;

Ng:v@d*au; (p. 13) 87

'guinea *'y-l- Hs:hatsii; Bl:'yala. (p. 16) corn'

According to Schuh ha- (which is common in Hausa and West Chadic-B) is a prefix.

Schuh's reconstructions for proto-West Chadic suggest that / k '/ has five separate sources as either /*'y/, /*'w/,

Hs:k»waafii 'fill in where crops

Gr:yivshi (cf. JG. 1988:183);

(cf. S. 1982:12):

Nevertheless, the work is the first systematic comparative

treatment of any one branch of the Chadic family (West Chadic branch) and shows the general picture as to the survival of proto-West Chadic sounds. It provides very good evidence demonstrating that even after a long period of separation considerable similarities still survive. Many more new reconstructions (more than the 150 items of NM 1977b) were made of items not normally found in the list of very frequent and common vocabulary.

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