Miya (language)

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The Miya , self-designation və̀na míy , is a language spoken around the place Miya ( mìya ) (approx. 110 km north of Bauchi ) in northeastern Nigeria . It belongs to the western branch of the Chadian languages . Practically all of the approximately 5000 speakers also speak the national language Hausa , to which the Miya is - relatively distantly - related.

According to the system

Consonants

The Miya distinguishes between the following consonants:

Labials Dental Sibilants Lateral Palatal Velare Labiovelare
voiceless plosives p t ts c k kw
voiced plosives b d dz j G gw
prenasal plosives mb nd ndz nj ng ngw
Implosive ɓ ɗ
voiceless fricatives f s ɬ š
voiced fricatives v z ɮ ž γ
Nasals m n nz

Then there are l, r, y, w and h.

Only the consonants m, n, l, r, w and y can appear at the end of a syllable or a word. The distinction between -m and -n, which can alternate at the end of the word, becomes blurred.

Vowels

It is not entirely obvious how many vowel phonemes to distinguish. A, æ, i, u and ə appear as short vowels on the surface. Here, i and u can often be explained as variants of ə in the vicinity of palatal or labial consonants. æ is a variant of a in words which, as a whole, have the attribute "palatalized".

There are also the long vowels aa, ææ, ee and oo. Here, too, ææ is a variant of aa in palatalized words. Furthermore, [iː] and [uː] can be heard acoustically, but these are noted here as iy or uw after Schuh (see literature).

Palatalized words

According to Schuh's analysis, some of the words in the Miya have the feature [+ palatalized]. These show the following properties:

  • Instead of ə, i usually appears, which in other words only occurs immediately next to palatal consonants such as y.
  • Instead of a and aa, an optional pronunciation æ or ææ, or ya or yaa appears.
  • In general, all consonants in such words can sound palatalized, i.e. l ​​and t like ly and ty, respectively.
  • Sibilants (s, ts etc.) do not occur; instead there are the palatals (š, c etc.).

volume

The miya is a tonal language. The Miya sound system is complicated but well studied. Schuh introduced a practical orthography with three types of vowel signs (high-tone: á, low-tone: à, unmarked: a), which is adopted here.

First one needs the concept of a "tone phrase". This is a word or group of closely related words that affect one another in terms of tones. Tone phrases are mainly:

  • Noun phrases, i.e. combinations of noun + adjective, or possessive compounds
  • the verb including its enclitica together with a following direct object

The subject and a following verb, on the other hand, form two different tone phrases.

The following rules apply within a tone phrase:

  • At the beginning of a tone phrase, a syllable can only be either maximally high (á) or maximally deep (à).
  • After a treble, there are three possibilities for the following syllable: (1) Either it remains at the same high level. In this case no accent mark is used (a); In Schuh's notation, lack of accent simply means the continuation of the preceding tone. (2) Or the following syllable is one level lower than the preceding syllable. Schuh notes this as á. This syllable is still used as a tweeter for the following logic. In African studies this phenomenon is known as "downstep". (3) Or the tone of the following syllable sinks to the maximum lowest level; the notation is then à.
  • After a low tone, there are only two options for the following syllable: (1) It either remains as low as possible; then there is no accent mark (a). (2) Or it is high, but no longer at the maximum high level, but one level lower than the last high tone that occurred or would have been possible; then write down á.

Since the possible maximum drops with every low tone or "downstep", there is a tendency towards falling tone progression within a tone phrase. Only the next tone phrase can then begin again with a maximum high tone.

Some examples of practical orthography and its implementation:

  • ápar [⎺ ⎺] "Horn" (continuous maximum high)
  • yàwun [⎽ ⎽] "Elephant" (maximum depth throughout)
  • átín [⎺ ⎻] "Nase" (downstep on the second syllable)
  • šínákə [⎺ ⎻ ⎻] "tongue" (downstep, then constant)
  • átúkuɗə́ [⎺ ⎻ ⎻ ⎼] "turtle" (two downsteps)
  • wútə̀ [⎺ ⎽] "one" (second syllable sinks to the lowest possible level)
  • áməsə̀m [⎺ ⎺ ⎽] "dream"
  • ángárɓàcə [⎺ ⎻ ⎽ ⎽] "ants"
  • lèlémbi [⎽ ⎻ ⎻] "Stier" (high frequency after low frequency no longer reaches maximum high level)
  • ázə̀kú [⎺ ⎽ ⎻] "maternal uncle"

Lexical tone classes

As I said, at the beginning of a tone phrase, and therefore also for the first syllable of isolated words, there is only a binary opposition between maximum high and maximum low. For encyclopedia entries, however, (at least) a threefold opposition must be assumed due to their behavior within tone phrases:

(1) Words that begin with a tweeter at the beginning of a tone phrase do not normally begin with a tweeter inside a tone phrase, but instead take over the preceding tone, i.e. in practical orthography they lose the accent mark on their first syllable:

  • ákyar [⎺ ⎺] "back" + žáakə [⎺ ⎺] "donkey" → ákyar žaakə [⎺ ⎺ ⎺ ⎺] "the back of the donkey"
  • və̀na [⎽ ⎽] "mouth" + žáakə [⎺ ⎺] "donkey" → və̀na žaakə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "the donkey's mouth"
  • sə̀bə [⎽ ⎽] "people" + də́rɓitim [⎺ ⎺ ⎺] "ten" → sə̀bə dərɓitim [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "ten people"
  • sə̀bə [⎽ ⎽] "people" + fə́rfə́ɗə [⎺ ⎻ ⎻] "eight" → sə̀bə fərfə́ɗə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎻] "eight people"

(2) Some of the words that begin with a low tone at the beginning of a tone phrase retain this tone within a tone phrase:

  • ákyar [⎺ ⎺] "back" + dùwakə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "horse" → ákyar dùwakə [⎺ ⎺ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "the back of the horse"
  • və̀na [⎽ ⎽] "mouth" + dùwakə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "horse" → və̀na duwakə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "the horse's mouth"

(3) Another part of the words that begin at the beginning of a tone phrase with a low tone, within a tone phrase, however, starts with a high tone marking (i.e. high tone at a non-maximum level or downstep):

  • ákyar [⎺ ⎺] "back" + žàžəkə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "porcupine" → ákyar žážəkə [⎺ ⎺ ⎻ ⎻ ⎻] "the back of the porcupine"
  • və̀na [⎽ ⎽] "mouth" + žàžəkə [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "porcupine" → və̀na žážəkə [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎻ ⎻] "the mouth of the porcupine"
  • sə̀bə [⎽ ⎽] "people" + màatsər [⎽ ⎽] "seven" → sə̀bə máatsə̀r [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎽] "seven people"

Personal pronouns

The personal pronoun of Miya not only differentiates gender in the 3rd person. so called as in German, but also in the 2nd person. so called

independent
pronoun		 Subject
prefix perfect		 Subject
prefix Subjunctive		 Subject
prefix imperfect		 Possessive suffix Possessive suffix
preceded by -a		 Object suffix Intransitive copy pronoun
1st sg. "I" mə́n mə́n mə̀n mə̀n -wan -wun -wan -wan
2.sg.mask. "you" fíy fa fàa fàa -fə -afə -fə -ku
2.sg.fem. "you" máciy mà màa màa -γəm -ɤɤm -γəm -kəm
3.sg.mask. "he" tíy (à) də̀ (tə̀) -whatə -uwsə -ya -ta
3.sg.fem. "she" njíy (à) də̀ (njə̀) -zà -azà -ɬa -ɬa
1.pl. "we" míy míy mìy mìy -ma -aama -ma -ma
2.pl. "her" hə́n n / A nàa hə̀n -n / A -ana -n / A -ka
3.pl. "she" ɬə́n (à) də̀ (ɬə̀n) -ɬən -aɬən -ɬən -ɬən

The parenthesized forms of the subject prefixes in the third person are omitted if the verb is already preceded by a nominal subject.

noun

gender

The Miya distinguishes between two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. In the case of persons, the grammatical corresponds to the natural gender. Otherwise, the gender cannot be predicted from the meaning or form of the noun. The gender is then only shown in the congruence properties of the noun.

Plural

Nouns can form a plural form. Their form is as follows:

The common plural ending is -aCaw, where C means a repetition of the last consonant of the noun. After short stems the tone progression is -aCáw (i.e. last syllable with non-maximum high tone):

  • kə́m "hand" - kə́mamáw [⎺ ⎺ ⎻] "hands"
  • də̀m "tree" - də̀mamáw [⎽ ⎽ ⎻] "trees"
  • gìti "ax" - gìtatyáw "axes" (gìti is a palatalized word)
  • gùmbə "pumpkin" - gùmbambáw "pumpkins"

After longer stems the tone progression is -áCàw (taking over its level after the treble, therefore then noted as -aCàw):

  • žáakə "donkey" - žáakakàw [⎺ ⎺ ⎽] "donkey"
  • sə́rtə́hə "lake" - sə́rtə́hahàw [⎺ ⎻ ⎻ ⎽] "lakes"
  • zə̀kiy "stone" - zə̀kiyáyàw [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎽] "stones"
  • dùwakə "horse" - dùwakákàw "horses"

There are also some irregular plurals. Examples:

  • ám "woman" - tə̀vam "women"
  • ɮə́rkíy "chicken" - ɮə́rkáw "chickens"
  • íy "dog" - íyúw "dogs"
  • γə̀ruw "cow" - γə̀ruwiy "cows"
  • jìfana "man" - dzàfə "men"
  • sə̀m "human" - sə̀bə "human; people"
  • áfuw "goat" - cùw "goat"

á prefix

In Miya, numerous nouns begin with a prefix á-. For these applies:

  • The á- is not used inside noun phrases, e.g. B. when the noun is used as a possessor.
  • The á- is expanded to áa- if the noun is an object after the verb or if it comes after a preposition.

Examples:

  • ándáži "hippopotamus"
  • ákyar ndáži "the back of the hippopotamus"
  • à tiy aandáži "they killed a hippopotamus"
  • wán aandáži "like a hippopotamus"

Definite article

The noun can be followed by an element ká (takes over its level after the treble and is then written ka), which roughly corresponds to our specific article. It shows no differentiation according to gender or number:

  • sə̀m ká "man"
  • sə̀bə ká "the people"
  • šín ka "the farm"

Demonstrative

The equivalent for "this" is nákən (masculine) - tákən (feminine) - níykin (plural). It comes before the noun. The plural form is only used with reference to living beings; In the case of plural nouns, you have to choose the gender form that the noun also has in the singular:

  • nákən láy "that boy"
  • tákən wún "this girl"
  • níykin wúɬəmíy "these children"
  • nákən víyayùwáwàw "these fire places" (noun with masculine gender)

adjective

Adjectives stand behind their reference word and congruent with it. They usually have one of the three endings -na (mask.) / -Ya (fem.) / -Niy (plural). As with demonstratives, the plural form is only used with reference to living beings. The endings of the feminine and plural make the whole word palatal:

  • mbə̀rgu gárna "a large (male) sheep"
  • tə́máku gyárya "a large (female) sheep"
  • tə́makwìy gyáruwniy "big sheep"

Since the noun and the adjective form a tone phrase, the tone rules discussed above in the "Lexical Tone Classes" section apply. Although the adjective "large" has an isolated low tone (gàrna), it therefore gets (downstep) high tone in context: mbə̀rgu gárna.

Possession

The Miya knows two different possessive constructions, which more or less correspond to the distinction between inalienable and alienable possession and are referred to here as such. The order Possessum - Possessor is always used.

inalienable

In the case of inalienable possession, for example the possession of body parts, the possessum and possessor immediately follow one another. If the possessessor is a noun, follow the tone rules discussed in the "Lexical Tone Classes" section above:

  • átín "nose" + mə̀ɗə "goat" → átín mə́ɗə "the nose of the goat"

If the possessessor is pronominal, a possessive suffix is ​​used. Its tone is difficult to predict and can differ for the individual suffixes; only the tone of -zà "you (fem.sg.)" is without exception deep:

  • átínwàn "my nose"
  • átínfə̀ "your (mask.) nose"
  • átínγə̀m (also spoken as átínyìm) "your (fem.) nose"
  • átínwàsə "his nose"
  • átínzà "her (fem.sg.) nose"
  • átínɬə̀n "her (pl.) nose"

Some of the nouns, especially those of the feminine gender, are given a suffix -a when they function as a possess:

  • ángár "leg" (fem.) + mə̀ɗə "goat" → ángára ​​mə́ɗə "the leg of the goat"

This -a merges with the possessive suffix, which results in special forms (see table above). Noteworthy is the 2nd fem., Where -a-γəm becomes a spoken -ɤɤm with a long medium-high vowel, which in Miya practically only occurs in this morpheme:

  • ángarwùn "my leg"
  • ángaràfə "your (mask.) leg"
  • ángarɤ̀ɤm "your (fem.) leg"
  • ángarùwsə "his leg"
  • ángaràza "her (fem.sg.) leg"
  • ángaràɬə́n "her (pl.) leg"

The plural ending -aw becomes -oo before the possessive suffix:

  • wùrumámàw "knee (pl.)" - wùrumámòowan "my knees"

The words báahə "father" and máahə "mother" show special abbreviations in front of possessor:

  • báa vàziya "the father of Vaziya (name)"
  • búwun "my father"
  • báfə "your (m) father"
  • bɤ́ɤm "your (f) father"
  • búwsə "his father"
  • báazà "her (f) father"

Except for inalienable possession in the narrower sense, this construction is also used for more abstract ownership relationships:

  • ábíy γə̀nsə "water of heaven (= rain)"
  • tàla zúw "Beer (from) Sorghum; Sorghumbier"
  • ánìyhə̀ iɬi "medicine (for) cough; cough medicine"

alienabel

For alienable possession, the possession of objects, another construction is used, in which a left-hander steps between the possessum and the possessor. This congruates with the possessum as follows: na (mask.) - ta (fem.) - niy (plural). The tone is taken from the preceding syllable. As with the demonstrative, the plural form is only used with the linker with reference to living beings. The linker can also be followed by a possessive suffix, with which it then merges into a single form:

  • mbə̀rgu na vaziya "the ram of Vaziya (name)"
  • mbə̀rgu nuwun "my ram"
  • mbə̀rgu nafə "your (m) ram"
  • mbə̀rgu nɤɤm "dein (f) Aries"
  • mbə̀rgu nuwsə "his ram"
  • mbə̀rgu naaza "you ram"
  • mbə̀rgu naaɬə́n "you (pl) Aries"
  • kàkər "shoe" (fem.) - kàkəráràw tuwun "my shoes"
  • wùɬəmíy niywan "my children"

verb

The verb forms a series of tenses. Only a selection of the most important is presented here.

imperative

The imperative is the simplest form of the verb. Not all possible combinations of tones occur. Basically, there are only two different tone classes:

(1) consistently deep:

  • bə̀sə "wash!"
  • zàr "call!"

(2) high-low, whereby with a monosyllabic stem only the high tone is visible:

  • tə́fə̀ "shoot!"
  • már "get!"
  • tsá "give!"

The plural of the imperative has an ending -iy. This normally has a falling tone after the treble (otherwise unusual in the Miya), but a treble after the bass:

  • bə̀síy [⎽ ⎻] "wash!"
  • máriỳ "gets!"
  • tsíy "give!"

Another ending -má is used to form an imperative of the 1st person. Plural:

  • bə̀siymá "let's wash!"
  • máriỳmá "let's get!"
  • tsíymá [⎺ ⎻] "let's give!"

Hortative

The hortative expresses a wish to a third person. The form is the same as in the imperative, but preceded by an element tà:

  • tà bəsə "he should wash; she should wash; they should wash"
  • tà zar "he should call; she should call; they should call"
  • kášam tà zar "Kasham (name) shall call"

Perfect

On the one hand, the perfect tense expresses attained states and, on the other hand, functions as a general past tense. It has the following construction scheme: subject or subject prefix + verb + súw (+ object) + áy. The bracket súw ... áy encloses the object. If there is no object, both elements merge to sáy, or there is only súw.

  • mə́n bə̀sə sáy "I washed"
  • mə́n zàr sáy "I called"
  • à zar sáy "he called"
  • míy zàr sáy "we called"
  • kášam zàr sáy "Kasham (name) has called"
  • à zar súw žàak-áy "he called a donkey (žáakə)"

Verbs that have the pitch high-low in the imperative have low-high in the perfect. After this treble, the say element remains on the same pitch and is therefore notated without an accent mark:

  • tə́fə̀ "shoot!" - à təfə́ say [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎻] "he shot"

Monosyllabic verbs that have trebles in the imperative keep this tweeter in the perfect:

  • à már say [⎽ ⎻ ⎻] "he got"

Subjunctive

Here and in all of the tenses discussed below, the verb appears in the form of the verbal noun. This has an ending -aw (before pause) or -a (in context). If the verbal stem already ends in -a, this -a ends in the ending of the verbal noun.

The subjunctive denotes a follow-up action and can often be translated as "that someone does" or "and someone does". Its construction scheme is: (nominal subject) + subject prefix + verbal noun (+ object)

The tone of the verbal noun corresponds to that of the perfect tense, i.e. H. where the imperative says high-low, it becomes too low-high. This also applies to monosyllabic verbs of the type már "get!", Which become two-syllable in the verbal noun and can therefore show the tone course low-high.

The subject prefix of the 3rd person is usually set in the subjunctive even if the sentence already contains a nominal subject.

  • mə̀n zaraw [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] "that I call; and I call"
  • mìy zaraw "that we call; and we call"
  • də̀ zaraw "that he calls; and he calls"
  • kášam də̀ zaraw "that Kasham calls; and Kasham calls"
  • də̀ bəsaw "that he washes; and he washes"
  • də̀ maráw "that he gets; and he gets"
  • də̀ tsaw "that he gives; and he gives" (low tone; the verb for "give" has an unusual tone behavior)

Past tense

The past tense denotes events that are going on or that are repeated. It has the construction scheme: subject or subject prefix + àatáa + verbal noun (+ object):

  • t àatáa zàra və́rkə "he calls (just) the boy"

If no object is available, a so-called "cognate complement" is usually set in its place in the past tense:

  • mə̀n aatáa zàra zaráw "I am calling (right now)", literally something like: "I am calling a call"
  • t àatáa zàra zaráw "he calls (right now)"
  • mìy aatáa zàra zaráw "we're calling (right now)"

Future tense

A future tense is expressed by the following construction: subject or subject prefix (the same as in the past tense) + sáa + verbal noun (+ object) + áy. The bracket sáa ... áy is strongly reminiscent of the similar bracket of the perfect, but in the future tense not only encloses the object alone, as in the perfect, but also the verbal noun:

  • mə̀n sáa zàr-áy "I'll call"
  • tə̀ sáa zàr-áy "he will call"
  • mìy sáa zàr-áy "we will call"
  • ndùwya sáa zàr-áy "Nduya (name) will call"
  • tə̀ sáa b-ùwsə́ Mìy-áy "he will go to Miya" (-ùwsə́ is the "intransitive copy pronoun", see below. The directional information is here enclosed in brackets sáa ... áy like an object.)

Plural verbs

Like many other Chadian languages, the miya can, in principle, form a plural verb of any verb, which expresses an action that has been performed several times and is particularly useful when the subject or object is plural. It is formed from the simple verb by inserting -a- after the first consonant, adding -a at the end, as well as by reduplicating the first consonant for short verbs:

  • pə́r "cut": à papə́rà sáy "he cut (several times / several)"
  • kàfə "send": à kaafa sáy "he has sent (several times / several)"

negation

In parallel to the normal (positive) tenses, there are special negative tenses that are needed to express negated statements. Fewer tenses are distinguished in the negative sentence than in the positive sentence.

Negative perfect

It is formed like the positive perfect, but the brackets súw ... áy around the object are replaced by má ... (ú) w or, if there is no object, by máw:

  • mə́n zàr máw "I didn't call"
  • à zar máw "he didn't call"
  • míy zàr máw "we didn't call"
  • à zar má žaak-uw "he did not call the donkey"
  • ndùwya zar má kašam-uw "Nduya did not call Kasham"

After verbs that have a high-low tone course in the imperative, ma (and possibly even a following object) becomes low tone:

  • à már mà žaak-úw "he didn't get a donkey"

Negative subjunctive

This form serves as a negation of the subjunctive, the imperative and the hortative. A special series of subject prefixes is used, predominantly those of the positive subjunctive in the 2nd person. Pl. And 3rd pers. but more like the independent pronouns. The construction pattern is: subject or subject prefix + ta + verbal noun (+ object) + (ú) w. After a subject of the 3rd person, the element ta is high-pitched (on the same level as the subject prefix), for a subject of the 1st or 2nd person, subject pronouns and ta are low-pitched:

  • mə̀n ta zará-w [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎻] "that I do not call; I should not call"
  • fà ta zará-w "that you (mask.) do not call; do not call!"
  • mà ta zará-w "that you (fem.) do not call; do not call!"
  • tíy ta zàrá-w [⎺ ⎺ ⎽ ⎻] "that he does not call; he shall not call"
  • njə́ ta zàrá-w "that she does not call; she should not call"
  • mìy ta zará-w "that we do not call; we should not call"
  • hə̀n ta zará-w "that you do not call; do not call!"
  • ɬə́n ta zàrá-w "that they do not call; they should not call"
  • (from ràɓə "moisten" :) fà ta raɓá wəh-uw "do not moisten the clothes!"

Negative past tense

This serves to negate both the past tense and the future tense. The construction pattern is: subject or subject prefix (the same as in the past tense, but high-pitched) + má (downstep compared to the subject prefix) + verbal nouns (+ object) + (ú) w:

  • mə́n má zàrá-w [⎺ ⎻ ⎽ ⎼] "I'm not calling (right now); I will not call"
  • tə́ má zàrá-w "you are not calling (right now); you will not call"
  • míy má zàrá-w "we don't call (right now); we won't call"

Verb with direct object

Nominal object

A verb and the following nominal object are in the same tone phrase, so the object experiences tonal adjustments. Apart from less important exceptions, three types of verb forms can be distinguished with regard to the tone behavior:

Verbal stems of the low frequency class like zàr "call". After such verbs, the object changes its tone according to the rules discussed in the "Lexical Tone Classes" section above. So if the noun begins in isolation in a high tone, it takes over the previous tone inside, i.e. here the low tone of the verb. If the noun starts in isolation, it starts inside with a downstep or low tone:

  • žáakə "donkey" [⎺ ⎺] - zàr žaakə "call a donkey!" [⎽ ⎽ ⎽] - à zar žaakə "he called a donkey" [⎽ ⎽ ⎽ ⎽]
  • mə̀ɗə "goat" [⎽ ⎽] - zàr mə́ɗə "call a goat!" [⎽ ⎻ ⎻] - à zar mə́ɗə "he called a goat" [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎻]

Verbal stems of the high-low class like már "get" (although this verb can only show the high tone in monosyllabic forms, it still belongs to the high-low class). According to such forms, all objects are deeply toned:

  • már žàakə [⎺ ⎽ ⎽] "get a donkey!" - à már žàakə [⎽ ⎻ ⎽ ⎽] "he got a donkey"
  • már mə̀ɗə "get a goat!" - à már mə̀ɗə "he got a goat"

Verbal stems of the high-low class in forms where they adopt the tone course low-high (especially in verbal nouns). Here nouns like žáakə take over the preceding high tone, other nouns show downstep or low tone:

  • də̀ mará žaakə [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎻ ⎻] "that he gets a donkey"
  • də̀ mará mə́ɗə [⎽ ⎽ ⎻ ⎼ ⎼] "that he will have a goat"

After the element súw of the perfect, all objects are low-pitched:

  • à zar súw žàak-áy "he called a donkey (žáakə)"

Pronominal object

The pronominal object is expressed through object suffixes that are attached directly to the verb. These suffixes are mostly low-pitched:

  • à zar-wan sáy "he called me"
  • à zar-fə sáy "he called you (m)"
  • à zar-γən sáy "he called you (f)"
  • à zar-ya sáy "he called him"
  • à zar-ɬa sáy "he called her (f)"
  • à zar-ɬən sáy "he called you (pl)"

After the verbal noun, the object suffixes are replaced by possessive suffixes. Since the verbal noun ends in -a, the series of forms after -a are used here:

  • də̀ zar-uwn "that he calls me"
  • də̀ zara-fə "that he calls you (m)"
  • də̀ zar-ɤɤn "that he calls you (f)"
  • də̀ zar-uwsə "that he calls him"
  • də̀ zara-za "that he calls her (f)"
  • də̀ zara-ɬə́n "that he calls her (pl)"

Further examples:

  • tà már-yà "he should get it"
  • də̀ mar-úwsə̀ "that he gets it"

Intransitive copy pronoun

As in many Chadian languages, the Miya also knows the so-called "intransitive copy pronoun". After many - but not all - intransitive verbs that have no object, the object suffix must be replaced by a pronominal suffix that congruces with the subject. One can probably use the reflexive verbs of German for comparison ("I remember" etc.). The suffixes of the intransitive copy pronoun are formally not completely identical in the Miya with the object suffixes, but instead give way in the 2nd pers. and the 3rd person sg.mask. from:

  • mə́n bə̀su-wan sáy "I have bathed"
  • fà bəsə-ku sáy "you (m) have bathed"
  • mà bəsə-kəm sáy "you (f) have bathed"
  • à bəsə-ta sáy "he bathed"
  • à bəsə-ɬa sáy "she bathed"
  • à bəsə-ɬən sáy "they bathed"
  • tsə́r "stop" - tsə́riy-kà "stop!"

After the verbal noun, the intransitive copy pronoun is replaced by a possessive suffix, just like the object suffix:

  • mə̀n bəsu-wun "that I bathe"
  • fàa bəsa-fə "that you (m) bathe"
  • màa bəs-ɤɤn "that you (f) bathe"
  • də̀ bəs-uwsə "that he bathes"
  • də̀ bəsa-za "that she bathes"
  • də̀ bəsa-ɬə́n "that they bathe"

dative

If the sentence contains a dative object, the verb must have an ending -a. If the verb already ends in -a, as always in the verbal noun, no further -a is visible with a dative. Otherwise the nominal dative is not marked any further:

  • də̀ tsaa gitúwà "that he (it) gives the Gituwa (name)"

The pronominal dative is expressed using object suffixes similar to the pronominal direct object, with the following peculiarities:

  • In contrast to the direct object, the dative suffixes are mostly high-pitched
  • the suffixes merge with the preceding -a, which must be attached to the verb
  • In the dative sense, the object suffixes are also attached to the verbal noun and are not replaced by possessive suffixes
  • "me" means -an (opposite -wan "me")

Examples:

  • də̀ tsa-ná mìr "that he (-ná) gives you (-ná) money (mìr)"
  • à tsa-ná suw mìr-áy "he gave you money"
  • à mar-án súw mìr-áy "he got money for me"
  • à bəsa-ma súw kàb-áy "he washed our clothes (kàbə)"
  • də̀ ɗənga-ɬá "that he says (to) her"

prepositions

The miya doesn't have a lot of real prepositions. Examples of such are ə̀náá "with (together)" and àa "with (instrumental)". After these there is either a noun or an independent personal pronoun:

  • ə̀náá žàakə "with a donkey"
  • ə̀náá fìy "with you (masc.)"
  • ə̀náá mìy "with us"
  • ə̀náá wùn tɤɤm "with your (fem.) daughter"
  • àa giti "with an ax"

The status of a local prefix á (a) -, which occurs only with some nouns, is somewhat unclear:

  • kàm "house" - á-kám "at home; home"
  • kàasuw "market" - á-káasùw "on the market; to the market"

Most German prepositions are reproduced in Miya with the help of nouns, especially body part designations, with the following possessor (e.g. possessive suffix):

  • há "place" - h-úwun "my place = with me" - h-úwsə "with him" - háa-zà "with her"
  • və̀n "mouth" - və̀na-fə "your mouth = in front of you" (və̀n is one of those nouns that take on the ending -a before possessor)
  • γàm "head" - áaγáma ɗáy "on the head of the rock = on the rock" (áa- is the local prefix, ɗáy = "rock")
  • ákyar "back" - ákyar-wásə "his back" - áakyar-wásə "on his back = behind him"
  • kàm "house" - ákám hà kašam "at home with Kasham (name) / in Kasham's house"

Word order in verbal sentence

There are two common forms of word order for common main clauses in Miya: subject-verb-object and verb-object-subject. In the latter case the subject is introduced by the preposition aa; this usually takes on the tone of the preceding syllable, and the subject always begins after it with a low tone:

  • dùwakə a vár sáy = à var sáy aa dùwakə "the horse (dùwakə) has run away"
  • ndùwya sáa tə̀nza márɗ-áy = sáa tə̀nza márɗ-ay aa ndùwya "Nduya (name) will plant millet (màrɗə)"

With a focused subject (see below), only the sequence subject-verb-object is available.

Conversely, in relative clauses and many other subordinate clauses, the verb-object-subject position must be chosen, so the verb is pulled forward, e.g. B .:

tá dòo m áa γə̀ns-úw
when falling NEG SUBJ Rain-NEG
"when it doesn't rain"

Focus

There are more grammatical means in Miya than in German to express the category of focus . The subject can only be touched on briefly here.

If the focus in the perfect is on the subject, a special tense of the form subject + də́ + verbal nouns is available:

  • mə̀n də́ zàraw "(only / straight) I called"

If in the perfect the focus is on the object or an adverbial, the normal perfect construction is used, but without the brackets súw ... áy. Compare:

  • à már suw žàak-áy "he got a donkey" (without focus)
  • à már žàakə "he got (only / even / of all things) an ASS"

In a similar way, the past tense also has special variants for expressing the focus. For other tenses, these are less common or not available.

Question sentence

Word question

When forming verbal questions, note the following:

  • The question word must be in a grammatical focus construction.
  • The question element à appears at the end of the sentence.
  • Unlike in German, the question word does not appear automatically at the beginning of the sentence.

Examples:

wàa də́ zàra-ɬə́n à
who call PERF.FOC-they QUESTION
"who called you (pl.)?" (Perfect with subject focus)

fà tsa-yá màa
you give-him what
"what did you give him?" (Perfect without brackets súw ... áy; the final question element à goes into the question word here)

à náy-fə̀ γájà
he see-you when
"when did he see you?"

Question sentence

In sentence questions the question element à appears at the end of the sentence:

fà ɬa-kú suw nd à
you get up-ICP PERF already QUESTION
"have you got up yet ?" = "good morning!" (usual greeting)

Relative clause

Relative clauses are introduced by a relative pronoun that is congruent with the reference word: bá (a) (mask.) - má (a) (fem.) - sə́ba (a) (plural, only for living beings). The verbal forms in relative clauses differ from those in ordinary main clauses; for example, the brace súw ... áy is omitted in the perfect tense . We cannot go into details here. Examples:

sə́bə sə́ba buwa-ɬə̀n
people REL come-ICP
"the people who came"

àm máa mə̀n tsiyá-zà
Ms. REL I ask-she
"the woman I asked"

hám báa mə̀n sənaw
thing REL I know
"what I know"

In the relative clause, the verb must be in front and a nominal subject must be shifted backwards accordingly:

və́rkə ba tsa-yà mir áa kàšam
boy REL give-him money SUBJ Kasham
"the boy to whom Kasham gives money"

Non-verbal sentence

A copula is not necessary in sentences without a verbal predicate. If the subject is pronominal, the independent personal pronoun is used:

mə́n íykən
me here
"I'm here"

mə̀n aakyar-wásə
me behind-him
"I am behind him"

ɬə̀n aakám
you at home
"you are at home"

ndùwya miy-dzəhə
Nduya Miya man
"Nduya is a Miya man"

tíy mìy-dzəhə
he Miya man
"he is a Miya man"

tə́makwìy ká pyòoniy
sheep ART knows
"the sheep are white"

vocabulary

Some elements from the basic vocabulary. The verbs are quoted in the form of the imperative.

eye átíy
three kìdi
one wútə̀
eat tá
woman at the
five vàaɬə
give tsá (a)
go ba (irregular imperative: tàku)
big gàrna
Well mbán
hand kə́m
Listen də̀kay
man jìfana
mouth və̀n
Surname ngə̀n
say bə̀la
see náy
four fə̀ɗə
water ábíy
knowledge sə̀n
two tsə̀r

literature

  • Schuh, Russell G. 1998: A grammar of Miya, Berkeley
  • Schuh, Russell G. & Vaziya Ciroma Tilde Miya 2010: Miya-English-Hausa dictionary, draft version

Both documents are also available online at http://aflang.humnet.ucla.edu/Miya/Pages/miya_documents.html

Remarks

  1. ↑ Here, according to Schuh's orthography, the du- is written without an accent, because the tone is identical to the preceding tone; however, there is no change in tone.
  2. ↑ This could indicate that the future tense emerged from a periphrastic construction in which the verbal noun was originally an object.