UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

MINI RESEARCH REPORT PRONOUNS IN SPOKEN HAUSA LANGUAGE: A DESCRIPTIVE LINGUSTIC STUDY.

Prepared for: DR. K KARUNAKARAN LECTURER TXG !"#!$ FIELD LINGUISTIC

Prepared %&: ASMAH LAILI INTI MOHD YUNUS TG ''##() *+#+,('(+'#! MASTER OF ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

Page | 1

Pro-o.-/ 0- Spo1e- Ha./a 2a-3.a3e$ A de/4r0p506e 20-3.0/504 /5.d& Asmah Laili Binti Mohd Yunus University of Malaya A%/5ra45 This research aims to describe the functional of pronouns in structures that involve in the spo$en ausa language either in

morphological! phrases and synta"# Apart from that! the researcher intends to study the phrase ausa# The data is an open ended %uestionnaires and ausa# T&o administered intervie&s of the informants &hich &ill gather data on pronouns 'personal! interrogative! possessive! relative! refle"ive! indefinite and demonstrative( in spo$en informant of ausa spea$er has been intervie&ed in fe& administered intervie& sessions# The

research ta$es the %uantitative method &hich data collected is analy)ed and described# Among of the prominent findings discovered are! the first person singular and all the personal pronouns in the plural in ausa are of common gender &hile in the second and third person gender in the ausa too utili)es particles such singular is distinguished by different form and gender mar$ed# pronouns are rarely used in

as ne and ce at the end as the sentences &hich define the gender of the doer# The relative ausa as the researcher discovers! *that+ &ill represent *that+ itself as &ell as *&ho+ and *&hich+ as relative pronouns in the sentences# ,ey&ords - ausa! pronouns

'. Re/ear47 O%8e4506e/ This research aims to describe the functional of pronouns in structures that involve in the spo$en ausa# ausa language either in

morphological! phrases and synta"# Apart from the researcher intends to study the phrase

Page | .

, S03-0f04a-4e of 57e S5.d& The significance of this research is first to discover and analy)e the pronouns and its structures in ausa language# /t is to shed some lights of the variety of linguistics features in languages around the &orld# ". I-5rod.450oAccording to Abdul ,arim'.011( ausa language is one of the e"tensively spo$en an ma1or language in the 2orthern 2igeria and also is one of Africa3s largest spo$en languages after Arabic! 4rench! 5nglish and 6&ahili# 7aron '.011( states includes the 2iger:2igeria border! but Togo and ;hana# Apart from that! ausa is too classified as a member of the <estern subdivision of the ausa is the best= ausa is estimated to be spo$en by ausa land proper around 80 million people! 9 of &hich live in 2igeria 'see figure 1(# The

ausa communities have settled in 6udan! 7ameroon!

7hadic branch of the Afro=Asiatic family of languages# A subdivision of the African language family! the Afro=Asiatic group is embraced of an estimated >00 languages# of education and commerce! and lays claim to a significant body of $no&n and most important member of the 7hadic branch# /t is the most &idely used in the fields ausa language literature# ausa traders can be found in all big <est African cities! and up to 2orth=Africa 'Tripoli! etc#(# /n addition! ausa serves as a national language in both 2igeria and 2iger &hich over ausa as their mother tongue# /n 2igeria! ausa is

.0 percent of the population of 2iger claims 800 different languages 4urthermore! as @@A of the

one of the predominant languages ? a significant fact given that 2igeria is home to an estimated

ausa people are Muslims! the

ausa language has a

significant number of loan&ords from the Arabic language! as &ell as the Tama1a% language of the Tuareg peoples! the 2ilo=6aharan language of ,anuri and the 2iger=7ongo language of Mande#

Page | B

o&ever! since the time of colonialism! 5nglish and 4rench have also come to contribute to the 4rench on the ausa language as 5nglish primarily on the ausa spo$en in 2igeria! and ausa ausa of 2iger# Although a variety of outside influences can be seen in the

language! its longstanding contact &ith the Arabic language has had greater influence over ausa than any other language Cn the other hand! numerous dialects can be found &ithin the on the ,oine dialect of ,ano! an enormous ausa languageD they are ausa dialect is based

divided into t&o main groups! north=&estern and eastern# The EstandardF all ausa language dialects are mutually intelligible# Presently! the

ausa commercial centre located in 2igeria# Almost

ausa community! has e"pending over the centuries through the

absorption of heterogeneous populations! is best defined by its common language# This on=going process of integrating vast non= ausa spea$ing populations has left its impression on the language# 4or e"ample! the ausa spo$en in Bauchi and Gariadoes do not mar$ gender# A ausa! represented by 6o$oto! relatively &ea$ dialect differentiation can be observed spreading from <est to 5ast! in stripes &ith a 2orth=6outh orientation! &ith t&o main groups- <estern and 5astern ausa! represented by ,ano# 7aron '.011( states that ausa has ta$e pleasure in a long tradition of linguistic studies

&ith such as the most important early scientific &or$s! t&o ma1or dictionaries 'Bargery 1@B>! Abraham 1@H.(! a grammar 'Abraham 1@8@(!and a collection of articles by 4# Parsons developing from 1@88 to 1@I8 &hich set the pace for modern ausaist research# The recent years have seen the final results of these decades of scientific research &ith the consecutive publication of t&o monumental grammars '2e&man! P# .000 'IH0 p#( and Jaggar .001 'I8> p#(( and t&o ma1or dictionaries '2e&man! K#M# 1@@0 and 2e&man! P# .00I(#

Page | >

4igure 1 The distributions of ausa language spea$ers

(. L05era5.re re60e9 There is a considerable literature on the deictic origin of pronouns# According to Jaggar'.001( pronouns are closed sets of morphemes &hich are dependant! as deictic elements on the e"tra linguistic conte"t for recoverability and proper interpretation# pronoun and the non personal pronoun# /n addition! Kobinson '1@L8( states that /ndefinite Pronouns# ausa language has developed si" classes of e states in ausa language! the functional terms it has been grouped into t&o ma1or sets &hich are the personal

pronouns &hich are Personal! Possessive! Keflective! Kelative! /nterrogative! Memonstrative and

Page | 8

Personal pronouns! indefinite pronouns! relative pronouns! reciprocal or refle"ive pronouns have a very important role in ausa# The distinctions bet&een the tenses are also reflected in the sub1ect pronouns rather than in the verbs themselves# Therefore they need very special attention# Cn the other hand! ausa is a tonal language! meaning that different tones can change a &ord3s meaning# Language students &ho are beginning to learn ausa should pay careful attention to the tones used by native spea$ers# There are three tones- the lo& tone! the high tone! and the falling tone# /n addition! the ausa language also distinguishes bet&een long and short vo&el sounds# /n some dictionaries and language references! tones and vo&el length may be mar$ed &ith various diacritics over vo&els# o&ever! the diacritic mar$s are not used in the everyday &ritten form of the language! so the best &ay to learn ausa pronunciation is to listen carefully to the &ay it is spo$en by native spea$ers# an$s '.00H( propose that pronouns are one type of deictic e"pressions &hich has a pragmatically interesting phenomenon in conversation# 4ilmore'1@I8!p#B8( too has described pronouns as Edetermined by! and &hich are interpreted by $no&ing! certain aspects of the communication act # According to Bla$e '1@@>(! pronouns essential elements connect to every part of speech &ith the nouns# 4uthermore! ,ent '1@B.( states! generally the pronouns and the numerals are least affected by the obscuring changes! and are therefore the best criteria of relationship among languages#

Page | H

+.Re/ear47 Me57odo2o3& This field &or$ adopts a %ualitative research as both open ended %uestionnaires and administered intervie&s for the descriptive study of the ausa language# The %uestionnaires cover %uestions on structures of nouns! pronouns! ad1ectives! negations! modifiers and numeral in ausa language# The informants have been given a &ee$ time to analy)e the %uestions in order to be prepared for the intervie& sessions# /n addition! as the study focuses on pronouns! the %uestionnaires that have been set cover the personal pronouns! demonstratives! interrogative! indefinite! possessive relative and refle"ive pronouns# The open ended %uestion helps the researcher to identify and understand the descriptive of pronouns in ausa morphologically! in phrase as &ell as syntactically# The data collected &ill be analy)ed and processes to shed some light in understanding the ausa language# !.Sa:p2e T&o male informants from 2igeria have been chosen for the study# The first informant is Ahmad 6hehu &ho is .L years old and from Adamalia native# level students# e received his primary education of e is an instructor for the tertiary ausa language only during his primary

school as he shifted to 5nglish medium school later for the secondary level school# The second informant is the .H years old! Alha1i Maiungu&a# native and a teacher# Both of them are graduates of B#A of Lingustics in the University of Maidugiri! 2igeria# 7urrently they are enrolling MA in Linguistics in Universiti of Malaya ,uala Lumpur# e is form the Bauchi

Page | I

;. F0-d0-3/ I#1 Personal pronouns The table belo& sho&s the personal pronouns in %uestionnaires and the intervie&# Per/oSingular F0r/5 per/oSe4o-d per/oT70rd per/oPlural F0r/5 Se4o-d T70rd Ca/e Ge-0506e M& (na) Yo.r (ka) Yo.r <10= H0/ (sa) Her (ta) I5$-o5 a6a02a%2e O.r (mu) Yo.r (ku) T7e0r (su) ausa &hich has been tabulated from the

No:0-a506e I (ni) Yo. <:= kai Yo. <f= ke He (shi)

O%8e4506e Me (ni) Yo. (ka) Yo. <10= H0: (shi)

Po//e/06e M0-e (nawa) Yo.r/ (naka) Yo.r/ <-a10= H0/ (sa) Her/ (ta) I5$-o5 a6a02a%2e O.r/ (namu) Yo.r/ (naku) T7e0r/ (nasu)

S7e (ita) Her (ita) I5$ -o5 a6a02a%2e I5$ -o5 a6a02a%2e >e (mu) Yo. (ku) T7e& (su) U/ (mu) Yo. (ku) T7e: (su)

Based from the table &e can notice that there is no form of first person singular inanimate ob1ects EitF available in ausa because of the generali)ation for both human and non human# /t is because from the data collected the researcher finds out that! *it+ is constantly referred as human 'first or second person pronouns( such as *she+:+ita+ or *he+:+shi+# Cn the other hand! the researcher too notices that the first person singular and all the personal pronouns in the plural are of common gender &hile in the second and third person gender in the singular is distinguished by different form# 4or e"ample *ni for E/F the first person in e%uivalent both for nominative and ob1ective! as &ell as the first person plural &hich is mu for *&e+ has an e%uivalent form for nominative! ob1ective and as &ell as for the genitive# 4or an instance the sentences belo& sho& that the *ni+ for */+ and *me+! the same form of first person * ni+ been used in both nominative and ob1ective

Page | L

form &hich similar to the first person plural case &hich is * mu+ been used for E&eF in the three forms of nominative! ob1ective and genitive# Mean&hile for the sentence formation! ausa employs for particle ne at the end of the

sentence &ith sub1ective personal pronouns as ausa does not utili)e &ith au"iliary verbs# a( ni dalibai ne : / am a studentN / Ostudent O 'particle ne( Ya ban ni: e gave it to me b( mu dalibaine : <e students are 'particle ne( wanna gidan mu ne ? 570/ 0/ o.r 7o./e @570/A 7o./eA o.r Apar5042e $ne Ya ban mu : e gave it to us Cn the other hand! loo$ing at the second and third pronoun singular! it is clearly seen that the second pronoun *you+ has a gender mar$ either for the male or female# 4or *you+ that refers to a boy a man *kai is used and *ka+ for *you+ for ob1ective and *your+ genitive form# a( kai tafi: You come 'nominative( b( Ya ban ka : e gave it to you 'ob1ective( 4= gidan ka ne? 05 0/ &o.r 7o./e< 3e-0506e= @ 7o./e A&o.rA par5042e ne Mean&hile! to refer to a girl or a &oman *$e+ &ill be used in the nominative form and *$i+ for both ob1ective and genitive form# d( ke tafi: You come 'nominative( e( Ya ban ki: e gave it to you 'ob1ective( f= gidan ki ne? I5 0/ &o.r 7o./e< 3e-0506e= @7o./e A&o.rApar5042e ne As for the third person singular 'sentence b( *he+ and *she+! both nominative and ob1ective forms are using the same unit &hich is E shi for *he:him+ and *ita for *she:her+# o&ever for the

Page | @

genitive form the forms has morphologically changed into *sa for *his+ and *ta+ for *her+ from the vo&el deletion process' sentence c(# /n addition! for the third person singular in e"ample 'a(! the usage of particle * ne+ and *ce+ &hich are a gender mar$er is important in a phrase as &ell as the sentence level# * ne+ is a particle to mar$ a boy:man and *ce+ is used to mar$ a girl:&oman# a( shi likita ne: e is a doctor N he Odoctor O particle *ne+

ita dalibi ce: 6he is a studentN she OdoctorO particle *ce+ b( na gayyace shi :/ invited him na gayyace ita : / invited her 4= littafin sa ne? I5 0/ his %oo1 @%oo1/A 70/ Apar5042e -e gidan ta ne? I5 0/ 7er 7o./e @ %oo1/A7er A par5042e ne Based form the sentences above! the sentence formation in ausa for possessive nouns that acts as ad1ective '0- %o2d( are mostly using formatted as Noun+ possessive pronoun+ particles Littafin Boo$ ta her ne it is 'particle ( Nit is her boo$

ere! noun comes at the beginning of the sentence follo&s by the possessive pronouns and particle ne is obligatory at the end# Apart from that! for possessive pronouns! the morphological process of addition *na+ before the genitive forms of both singular pronouns and plural pronouns &ill ta$e place# 4or e"ample-

Page | 10

;enitive - $a 'his( O *na+ N na$a 'his( - su 'their( O na N nasu 'theirs(

These morphological changed pronoun &ill be used the sentence as belo&# nasa ne : /t is his nasu ne :/t is theirs 4or compound sentences! if there is t&o or more nouns ta$e place in the same sentence! the plural form of the pronouns &ill be utili)ed# 4or e"ampleYaro da obansa suna-zua faranta 'The boy and his father 57e& go hunting(# ere! it contrasts &ith 5nglish pronoun *they+ &hich is used as a reference to the previous nouns in a different sentence or phrase# I#. Memonstrative pronouns 4rom the data collected! very literally then it can be noticed that wannan wadannan! is usually used &henever this'these( is used in 5nglish but it overlaps in 5nglish that 'those( wanchan"wadanchan are largely restricted to great physical or remote # De:o-/5ra506e pro-o.-/ This is my room That is my room Those are my rooms These are my rooms

T70/ T7a5 T7e/e T7o/e

Wannan Wanchan Wadandan Wadanchan

#annan daiki na ne #anchan daiki na na ne #addanan daiki na ne #adanchan daiki na ne

4rom the sentences belo&! it is clearly seen that the formation of the interrogative pronouns sentence &ould adapt the interrogative pr+ n+genitive pronouns +particle formation# /n the last sentence for e"ample 'wadanchan(#

Page | 11

#adanchan daiki na ne This rooms my is# $%&r! + noun! + '%pr !+ particle! I#B /nterrogative pronouns I-5erro3a506e pro-o.-/ Me Me ya sa Wa Ina Masu/yaya Nawa

>7a5 >7& >7o >7ere Ho9 Ho9 :.47

Mene ne wannan( '<hat is thisP( Me ya sa zuciyarki ta aci( '&hy are you sadP( wa ya fada maka labara( ' &ho told you the ne&sP( ina ka rayu( '&here do you liveP( Yaya tayar ne( 'ho& big is itP( nawa ne wannan( 'ho& much

is thisP( The table above sho& the interrogative pronouns used in functional ausa language# 4or egwa ya fada maka labara <ho Opersonal pronounsO toldO youO the ne&s 4or this sentence! the personal pronoun is placed before the verb as &ell as the interrogative pronoun# Cn the other hand! for the sentence ina ka rayu( where you live! The interrogative pronoun &ill be used in front of the interrogative %uestions 'as in the 5nglish language( and follo&ed by the genitive pronouns and nouns#

Page | 1.

Apart from that! in ausa language interrogative %uestions too can be as$ed &ith or &ithout the interrogative %uestions# As ausa is a tonal language! %uestions can be formulated by utili)ing the falling and rising tone in the sentence# 4or e"ample)u dalibai ne% 'they students are(= declarative sentence )u dalibai ne(- &ith the falling=rising tone interrogative sentence ;.( I-def0-05e pro-o.-/ /n analy)ing the indefinite pronouns of 4or e"ample! *o O wa '&hoP( + kowa 'everyone( *o O mi '&hatP(N komi 'anything( *oO youshe'&hen(N koyoushe 'anytime( I-def0-05e pro-o.-/ Ne057er No-e No570-3 Se6era2 So:eo-e So:e%od& A-&570-3 ausa! the researcher found out that most part of

the indefinite pronouns are formed by prefi"ing the particle Eko E to the interrogative forms#

A22 A-& o57 Ea47 E6er&o-e Fe9 So:e

Duka K wa ne Duka !iyu K wa ne K wa Kadan Wasu

K K daya "a k mai Da dama Wasu Wani K mi

*owa ya )o ? everyone has come #ani ya )o ? somebody have come *adan ya )o ? fe& have come

Page | 1B

These sentences sho& the formation of sentences using relative pronouns# Mostly! the relative pronouns &ill be using in the beginning of the sentence# Then! it follo&s by definite article 'ya( and the verb# Ya is a definite article in ausa that defines the doer#

*owa ya zo N kowa'everyone( O ya 'definite article(O zo'come(

I#8 Kelative pronouns 4rom the intervie&! the informant did mention that relative pronouns in ausa rarely adopt

the 5nglish relative pronouns# The ordinary relative pronouns such as &ho! &hom! &hich and so on ! is wanda# All three forms are fre%uently contracted to da! &hich does not differ for the feminine or for the plural# 4or e"ample! 4or a relative pronoun of *&ho+ and *&hich+ for 5nglish adapted in ausaa%!,a su kassine mutume nan wanda ya-sata doki 'They do not $ill 57a5 man 97o stole the horse( c! $na su wanda uwake tab aka '/ &ant 57a5 97047 your mother gave you( 4rom the sentence above! the researcher discovered that in ausa! *that+ &ill represent *that+ itself as &ell as *&ho+ and *&hich+ as relative pronouns in the sentences# I#H Kefle"ive pronouns 4rom the table belo&! the researcher discovered that in ausa the refle"ive pronouns are formed by using &ords *kai ' the head ( together &ith the simplest forms of the possessive pronouns '*na+! *$a+ !+$i+! *sa+! *ta+ !+mu+! *$u+! *su+( as e"plained previously# 4or e"ample-

Page | 1>

kai + na'my(N *kaina 'myself( kai + sa' his(N *kansa+ 'himself( Ref2eB06e pro-o.-/ Kaina Kanta Kansa Kansu Kanmu Kanka Kanki Kanku

M&/e2f Her/e2f H0:/e2f T7e:/e26e/ O.r/e26e/ Yo.r/e2f <:= Yo.r/e2f <f= Yo.r/e26e/

/n the case of increasing the emphasis for eg- */ myself+! *she herself+! and e"cluding other person but the spea$er! they are formed by prefi"ing the personal pronouns and syllable *da+ before E$aina+! *$anta! *$ansa+ and so on # 4or e"ample*ni+ O*da +kaina N ni dakaina '/ myself( su +da+ kansuN *su dakansu 'They themselves( *. Co-42./0oTo summari)e! the preceding investigation has made it obvious of the pronouns variations in ausa language and its scope# /t could be understood that pronoun choice depends on a number of factors! such as the gender! party membership! social class! and role and so on# o&ever! as the researcher focuses on only the functional pronouns and it structures! hence it involves gender and party membership e"clusively# 4or e"ample! particles are important in defining the gender of the sub1ect &hereas the inanimate nouns are generali)ed into human pronouns#

Page | 18

The simplicity of the language to can be observed as no au"iliary verbs 'such as is! are! &as! &ere( is utili)ed to the nouns or pronouns! thus the sentence construction &ould be literal as it only involves the particle# Cn the other hand! it is to be believed that ausa too depends on intonation heavily in

defining meaning of the sentences spo$en# /n the interrogative pronouns it is obvious that intonation of rising and falling &ould able to interchange the declarative sentences into interrogative %uestions &ithout adapting any interrogative pronouns# /t &ill be interesting to see ho& this &ill develop in the ne"t decades# Cne has to be very careful not to overgenerali)e the results of this investigation of a limited $ind of data# o&ever! / do hope that my &or$ &ill spar$ more interest in the use of te"ts for the investigation of sociolinguistic phenomena# ) L0:05a50o- of 57e S5.d& 4or this study! it is a study &hich involves only . respondents# Apart from that both are the spea$ers having minimum educational 'primary level( e"posure to&ards the ausa language# Apart from that! the study covers only on the spo$en form of pronouns in language# ence! the findings might be limited and applicable to similar situation# Refere-4e/ Abdul$arim /sha% '.01.( -orrelates of .ausa Language /eading 0bility among 0dult Learners in ,orno )tate1 Nigeria /nformation and ,no&ledge Management - Qol .-2o#H- 1=8 ausa

Bla$e! Barry J# 1@@># 7ase# 7ambridge- 7ambridge University Press# 7aron! Bernard# '.011(# Mott! a$a GoRi '7hadic! <est=B! 6outh=Bauchi(- grammatical notes! vocabulary and te"t# 0frika und 2bersee L8-1H1=.>L#

Page | 1H

4illmore! 7harles! 1@I8# 6anta 7ru) Lectures on Mei"is# /ndiana University Linguistics 7lub! Bloomington# an$s! <illiam# '.00H(# 7onte"t! communicative# /n- Bro&n! ,eith '5d#(! 5ncyclopedia of Language and Linguistics! second ed# 5lsevier! Boston! pp# 118?1.L# Jaggar! Philip# .001# .ausa# Amsterdam Philadelphia!- John Ben1amins ,ent! Koland ;# 1@B.# The sounds of Latin# Lan= guage Monographs 1.# Baltimore# <averly Press# 2e&man! P# .000 2e&man! Paul# 1@@H# .ausa and the -hadic Language 3amily% 0 ,ibliography! 'vol H(#,Sln - KTdiger ,Sppe! 18. p# 7oll# African Linguistic Bibliographies# Kobinson! 7# '.00I(# $ssues of multilingualism in adult literacy% /eport of the international workshop on mass literacy campaign as a strategy for achieving the 430 and 56's on education in Nigeria# Pg 8@=IB#Abu1a- U2567C#

Page | 1I