Nafaanra
| Nafaanra | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Ivory Coast , Ghana | |
| speaker | 61,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
nic |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
nfr |
|
Nafaanra ([ Nafaãra ], also: Nafaara) is a Senufo language spoken by around 61,000 people in northwest Ghana , on the border with the Ivory Coast and east of Bondoukou ( GILLBT 2003).
The speakers call themselves Nafana , others refer to them as Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is also a tonal language . It is an offshoot in this group whose closest geographical neighbors are the southern Tagwana-Djimini languages around 200 km to the west, on the other side of the Comoé National Park.
Geography and demography
Nafaanra is bordered by the Kulango languages in the west and the Gur language Deg and the Kwa language Gonja in the north and east. The closest eastern neighbor, however, is the Mande language Ligbi (whose speakers are also called Banda ), interestingly also an offshoot of the own family. To the southeast and south of Nafaanra and Ligbi one finds the Akan language Abron (or Bron, Brong).
The Nafana live in the northwest of the Brong-Ahafo region in Ghana, most of them in Sampa, the capital of the Jaman North district, and in Banda. According to Jordan (1980: A.5) there are two dialectal variants of Nafaanra: the Pantera from Banda and the Fantera from Sampa. Bendor-Samuel (1971) recognizes a 79% relationship between the two on the Swadesh list. The Banda dialect is considered central. The names "Fantera" and "Pantera" come from other peoples and are classified as pejorative by the Nafana .
The Nafana report that they come from the Ivory Coast, from a village called Kakala. According to Jordan (1978), their oral story is that some of their people are still there and are never allowed to leave the place when they return. They arrived in Banda after the Ligbi who, according to Stahl (2004) , came to this area from Begho (Bigu, Bighu) in the early 17th century .
Many Nafana are to some extent bilingual and speak Twi , the regional lingua franca . According to the SIL, 50% of the population can “perform everyday social tasks and limited requirements in other areas” while 20% Twi “speak with sufficient structural accuracy and effectively use their vocabulary in very formal and informal conversations on practical, social and professional issues can participate ”. Half of the remaining 30% can either only have a few conversations about family issues or speak no Twi at all. 15–25% of the Nafana are literate in Twi, but only 1–5% in Nafaanra .
According to Roger Blench, Nafaanra is the second language of around 70 Dompo who live in the immediate vicinity of Banda. Their mother tongue was considered extinct until a 1998 field study by Blench proved otherwise.
classification
Delafosse (1904: 1915) was the first linguist to mention the Nafaanra, calling it "a very scattered Senufo tribe". Westermann classified Nafaanra in his classification of West African languages (1970 [1952]: 56) also with Senufo, based on the word list of Rapp (1933). This classification is confirmed by Bendor-Samuel (1971), who used the comparative word lists of Swadesh et al. (1966) based.
It is less clear which Senufo branch Nafaanra is most closely related to. Bendor-Samuel mentions a 60% relationship with Tenere (a western Senari dialect), 59% with Central Senari (the dialect spoken in the vicinity of Korhogo) and 43% with the non-Senufo languages Mo ( Deg), Kabre (Kabiye) and Dogon. The relatively low values of around 60% indicate a rather distant relationship. Mensah and Tchagbale (1983) found a factor of mutual intelligibility of 38% with Tyebaara (Senari), which also indicates a distant relationship with this dialect. Manessy (1981) has cautiously established a connection with the Palaka (Kpalaga), while Mills (1984) suggests a connection with the southern Tagwana Djimini branch. The comparative analysis is still ongoing.
phonetics
Vowels
Jordan (1980) presents seven oral and five nasal vowels . The nasal vowels are marked by an “n” after the vowel, as is the case in many West African orthographies. A distinction is made between short and long vowels. The vowel system is very similar to that of other Senufo languages. Like the two northern Senufo languages, Supyire and Mamara, it only has five nasal vowels versus seven oral vowels.
| Jordan 1980 | front | central | rear |
|---|---|---|---|
| closed | i • ĩ | u • ũ | |
| half-closed | e | O | |
| half open | ɛ • ɛ̃ | ɔ • ɔ̃ | |
| open | a • ã |
Consonants
The consonant system of Nafaanra is similar to that of other Senufo languages. Nafaanra has only one palatal fricative ( / ç / ) and takes up an intermediate position between the northern Senufo languages (Mamara, Supyire), both / ç / and the voiced variant / ʝ / own and the southern Senufo languages (Karaboro, Senari, Djimini) that do not have a palatal fricative. The <h> in Nafaanra corresponds to the glottal -Konsonanten, which occurs in most Senufo languages, either as a plosive / ʔ / (Supyire, Senari, Karaboro) or fricative / h / (Mamara) .
In the following table, orthographic symbols are bracketed when they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the use of 'j' for IPA [ ɟ ] and 'y' for IPA [j], as is common in African orthographies.
| Jordan 1980: NAF 5 | bilabial | labio- dental |
alveolar | palatal | velar | labio- velar |
glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | c (ch) ɟ (j) | k g | k͡p g͡b | ||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ç (sh) | H | |||
| nasal | m | n | ɲ (ny) | ŋ | ŋ͡m | ||
| Vibrant | r | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j (y) |
volume
Like the other Senufo languages, Nafaanra has three contrasting tones : high, medium and low. The tone is usually not marked in orthography. Jordan (1980a, b) presents the following examples:
- kúfɔ̀ "sweet potato" (high-low)
- dama "two pesewas (coins)" (medium)
- màŋà "rope" (deep)
Jordan points out that the middle note is sometimes rising, that the high note is sometimes lowered (so that it is realized lower than the previous high note) and that it can also be raised. The rising characteristic of the middle tone may be due to the fact that there are two different middle tones in other Senufo languages (Sucite, Supyire). The lowering of the high tone is indicated by a superscript exclamation mark :
- we ! sɛ (he future tense go) "he will go"
In this particular example, the phenomenon is likely amplified by the nasal prefix found in future tense constructions in some other Senufo languages. Supyire (Carlson 1994: 334) shows a similar phenomenon in future constructions with a direct object. In general, however, the "downstep" is more widespread than in the Supyire and similar phenomena can be found in Palaka, Tagwana and Djimini (Mills 1984: xvi).
There is no known correlate for the "upstep" in other Senufo languages. An example is the following imperative sentence:
- ki tɔ (close it) "close it!"
grammar
The syllable in Nafaanra consists of a vowel and up to three consonants . A nasal consonant can also form a syllable on its own ("syllable nasal"). The basic syllable structure is thus (C 1 ) (C 2 ) V (C 3 ) with a preference for CV and CVV. The position C 1 can contain any consonant, with no / r / at the beginning of the word. In position C 2 only vibrants (/ r /) or approximants (/ w, l, j /) can appear and in position C 3 only nasals ( / mn ɲ ŋ / ). In the latter case, the whole syllable is nasalized.
The Senufo languages have a nominal class system, as is typical for the Niger-Congo languages . The affiliation to a gender is indicated by suffixes on the noun . Pronouns , adjectives, and copulas reflect the gender of the noun they are referring to. Although none of the sources on Nafaanra provide details, one can conclude from the short list of words in Jordan (1980) that the system of Nafaanra is similar to that of the other Senufo languages.
The basic sentence structure in Nafaanra is SOV, as can be seen in the following example:
- bibilɛ ná pé nya (boys past them see) "The boys saw them."
Personal pronouns
Jordan (1980) presents the following list of pronouns with the comment: "Although the system of pronouns seems very simple, it is complicated by the fact that all tenses are formed by a combination of pronouns and particles."
| Jordan 1980 | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ni | O |
| 2nd person | must | e |
| 3rd person | u | pe |
Tense and aspect
Tense and aspect are marked in two places in Nafaanra: on particles in front of the verb and on the verb form. A distinction is made between the past, the immediate past and the future, as well as a progressive aspect (continuative). In a simple sentence the following sequence arises: subject • ( negation ) • (tense) • (aspect) • verb . When the negation suffix -n is present, there is no fusion of preverbal particles. Tense and aspect are also expressed through certain temporal adverbs and auxiliary verbs .
The past is expressed by the preverbal particle ná (high tone as opposed to the continuative particle with a low tone), the future tense by the particle wè . Simple sentences without particles express an immediate past. Sentences without an aspect mark are interpreted as complete. (Examples from Jordan 1978: 85-87)
- kòfí ná sɛ́ (Kofi Verg. go-complete) "Kofi went." - Past
- kòfí wè sɛ́ (Kofi future tense go-complete) “Kofi will go.” - future tense
- kòfí sɛ́ (Kofi go-complete) "Kofi has just left." - immediate past (unmarked)
The continuative denotes an ongoing or repetitive action and is indicated by the preverbal particle nà (low tone) and a change in the verb form. The verb sɛ́ “to go” in the following example sentences appears in the progressive form síé . When the past and the continuative occur at the same time, the particles merge into náà . In the immediate past, the continuative particle is omitted and the aspect is only displayed on the verb.
- kòfí náà síé (Kofi Verg. + Cont. go- Cont. ) "Kofi was about to go." - progressive past
- kòfí wè nà síé (Kofi future tense cont. go- cont. ) "Kofi will go." - progressive future tense
- kòfí síé (Kofi go- cont. ) “Kofi just went” - progressive immediate past
According to their behavior in sentences marked for aspect, one can distinguish between two classes of verbs. One group has two different forms (as in the example sentences above), the other does not differ in aspect and has the same form for both aspects. In the case of the immediate past, this can lead to ambiguities because the continuative particle is omitted. Thus, the sentence kòfí blú can be interpreted as follows:
- (Kofi swimcont.) “Kofi swim.” -progressive immediate past
- kòfí blú (Kofi swim-complete) "Kofi just swam." - immediate past (unmarked)
Substantial fusions occur between pronominal subjects and the preverbal particles. For example, ná (past) and pé ("she", plural) merge to prá sɛ́ or wè (future tense ) with pé to píè sɛ́ .
ask
Questions can be formed in different ways in Nafaanra. Simple yes / no questions are formed by adding rá at the end of the sentence. W questions be double-tagged - with a question word at the beginning of a sentence and a back end of the sentence. (Examples from Jordan 1980: NAF4)
- u pan rá (he come rá ) "Has he come?"
- (what he +Verg.Seeback) "What did he see?"
numbers
The following table shows the cardinal numbers according to Jordan (1980: D.1.4). As far as possible, the tone scheme is based on the list by Rapp (1933: 66-67). For comparison there are a few correlates from the Supyire (Carlson 1994: 169). The numbers six to nine are formed by adding the numbers one to four with the conjunction na to kɔɔ ("five"). The same applies to the numbers 11–19 (one to nine are appended to 10 with the conjunction mbɔ ).
| number | Nafaanra | Supyire | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | núnu | nìŋkìn | |
| 2 | shíín | shùùnnì | |
| 3 | táárɛ̀ | tàànrè | Mpre: eta (Rapp 1933) |
| 4th | jíjirɛ̀ | sìcyɛ̀ɛ̀rè | |
| 5 | kúnɔ | kaŋkuro | |
| 6th | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-nù | baa-nì | <5 + 1 |
| 7th | kɔ́ɔ̀-na-shin | baa-shùùnnì | <5 + 2 |
| 8th | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-tárɛ̀ | baa-tàànrè | <5 + 3 |
| 9 | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-jirɛ | baa-rìcyɛ̀ɛ̀rè | <5 + 4 |
| 10 | kɛ́ | kɛ | |
| 20th | fúlo | benjaaga | |
| 30th | fúlo na kɛ | benjaaga na kɛ | <20 + 10 |
| 40 | fúloe shiin | <20 × 2 | |
| 50 | fúloe shiin na kɛ | <20 × 2 + 10, Rapp féleshen-ná-kɛ | |
| 60 | fuloe taarɛ | <20 × 3, compare Rapp félèko-a-ná-nò | |
| 70 | fuloe taarɛ na kɛ | <20 × 3 + 10, Rapp féleko-náshèn | |
| 80 | fuloe jijirɛ | <20 × 4, Rapp féleko-ná-tàrɛ | |
| 90 | fuloe jijirɛ na kɛ | <20 × 4 + 10, Rapp félèko-ná-nyèrɛ | |
| 100 | lafaa | Mpre: ke-lafa (Rapp 1933) | |
| 200 | lafɛɛ shiin | ||
| 400 | lafɛɛ jijirɛ | ||
| 1000 | kagbenge nunu | Rapp láfâ-kɛĭ (<100 × 10) or káboŋge | |
| 2000 | kagbenge shiin |
For numbers greater than ten, the systems in Nafaanra and Supyire differ from one another. The multiplication of fulo (“twenty”) and the addition of kɛ (“ten”) with the conjunction ná are used to form 30 to 90. Surprisingly, there are large differences between Rapp (1933) and Jordan (1980). In rapps 60, 70 and 80, féle is used to mark the ten, which with 6, 7 and 8 results in 60, 70 and 80. Rapp (1933) compares the numerals in Nafaanra for "three" ( táárɛ ) and "one hundred" ( lafaa ) with eta and ke-lafa from the previously unclassified Ghanaian language Mpre. However, the eta of the Mpre is similar to the Kwa languages (e.g. Brong esã , Ga etɛ ), while the Nafaanra form táárɛ has relatives in other Senufo languages (e.g. Supyire tàànrè ). The lafaa (hundred) of Nafaanra is a typical Kwa numeral and probably borrowed from one of the neighboring Kwa languages (e.g. Dangme làfá , Gonja kì-làfá , Ewe alafá ). Rapp's implication that Mpre and Nafaanra are related is therefore doubtful.
Sometimes there are morpho- phonological alternations , e.g. B. the reduction from kúnɔ (five) to kɔ́ɔ̀ (preservation of the tone scheme) and the change from lafaa to lafɛɛ in the hundreds.
Color words
The three basic color words in Nafaanra are wɔɔ (“black”), finge (“white”) and ɲiɛ (“red”). As with the adjectives in the Senufo languages, the form of the color word reflects the gender of the modified noun.
- wɔɔ - ki wɔ "It's black."
- finge - ki fninge "It's white."
- ɲiɛ - ki ɲina "It's red."
Carlson (1994: 154,710n9,10) names the related forms -ɲyɛ- (red, warm colored) and -fyìn- (white, light) in the Supyire. He also notes that these adjectives are related to the verbs fíníŋɛ́ (to be white, become white) and ɲááŋá (to be red, to blush), which in turn are causative forms of the extinct verbs fini (to be white) and ɲana (to be red).
Example sentences
- mùùrà kà ní čàà mè gbú mè é nyìè tɛ́ɛ́ mè kí lóó
- Story some I want and- future tense beat and- future tense put your ear and- future tense hear it
- "I want to tell you a story."
- yɛ́ngè nà kòmó ǹdrá
- true that hyena hide-completely
- "The hyena was really hiding."
- ké bĺè kà kpáhù wá
- it day some frog not-here
- "On a certain day the frog wasn't here."
- ẃrè ǹnà pè kúú
- he non- prog. they kill- prog.
- "He wasn't about to kill her."
- ná múúrò ḿnà kàà mà ná yo mà
- if fish you- Verg.-prog. chewing prog. you-nich forget. say-completely that
- "If you had eaten fish, you wouldn't have said that."
Source: Jordan (1978: 88-90)
See also
literature
There is relatively little publication in or about Nafaanra. The first linguistic treatise on Nafaanra is that of Delafosse (1904), which contains some remarks on the Nafana people and a comparative Senufo word list, unfortunately without a tone mark. Rapp (1933) is an appendix to an article about Kulango, which contains a word list German - Nafaanra with around 100 elements that he collected during a four-hour stay in Sampa. He says that he "paid special attention [...] to recording the pitches" (1933: 66).
After a long break, Painter (1966) appeared with word lists of the dialects Pantera and Fantera. The SIL linguist Dean Jordan published an article on the Nafaanra discourse in 1978 and in 1984 presented a translation of the New Testament together with his wife Carol . Volume II of the West African language data sheets (Kropp-Dakubu 1980) contains a few pages on Nafaanra, compiled by Dean and Carol Jordan in the late 1970s, and a phonology , lists of nouns, pronouns and numeralia, and a few example sentences Include without tone markings. A detailed phonology of the Nafaanra of Jordan with a Swadesh list appeared in 1980. The SIL published several books of folk tales of the Nafana. Mensah and Tchagbale took a comparative Senufo word list in their linguistic atlas of the Ivory Coast, in which Nafaanra is included under the name "Nafara of Bondoukou". An orthography of the Nafaanra without tone markings can be found in Hartell (1993). Recent archaeological studies have looked at the area where Nafaanra is spoken (Stahl 2004). A translation of the Old Testament was subjected to an exegetical revision in 2005 .
Primary texts
- Delafosse, Maurice (1904) Vocabulaires comparatifs de plus de 60 langues ou dialects parlés à la Côte d'Ivoire ou dans les régions limitrophes (avec des notes linguistiques et ethnologiques, une bibliographie et une carte) . Paris: Leroux. The whole book PDF
- Jordan, Dean (1978). "Nafaara tense-aspect in the folk tale", in Joseph Grimes (ed.), Papers on discourse. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 84-90.
- Jordan, Carol & Jordan, Dean (1980a). "Nafaara", in Kropp-Dakubu, ME (ed.), West African language data sheets , Vol. II. Leiden: West African Linguistic Society / African Studies Center, 138-143.
- Jordan, Dean (1980b). "Collected Field Reports on the Phonology of Nafaara", Collected Language Notes 17 . Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
- Painter, Colin (1966) Word lists of two Senufo dialects: Fantera et Pantera . Legon: University of Ghana. (30p)
- Rapp, Eugen Ludwig (1933). The Náfana language on the Ivory Coast and on the Gold Coast. [The Náfana language in Ivory Coast and Gold Coast], Notes from the Oriental Languages Seminar (MSOS) 36, 3, 66–69.
Secondary texts
- Blench, Roger (1999). Recent Field Work in Ghana: Report on Dompo and a note on Mpre. PDF
- Carlson, Robert (1994). A Grammar of Supyire . Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Hartell, Rhonda L. (ed.) (1993). The Alphabets of Africa . Dakar: UNESCO and SIL.
- Manessy, Gabriel (1981) 'Les langues voltaïques', in: Les langues dans le monde ancien et moderne vol. I, Paris, CNRS, 103-110.
- Mensah, ENA; Tchagbale, Z. (1983) Atlas des langues gur de Côte d'Ivoire. Abidjan, Paris: ILA.
- Stahl, Ann (2004). "Making history in Banda: Reflections on the construction of Africa's past", in Historical Archeology , 38, 1, 50-56.
- Swadesh et al. (1966) 'A preliminary glottochronology of Gur languages', Journal of West African Languages , 3, 2, 27-65.
- Westermann, Diedrich & Bryan, MA (1970 [1952]). The Languages of West Africa . Oxford: International African Institute / Oxford University Press.
- Brɔfu ni yuu (a bridge material to English) Nafaanra . Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (1994)
Web links
- The Rosetta Project: Nafaara
- Nafaanra orthography (Source: Hartell 1993)
- Nafaanra in the Ethnologue
- Nafaanra dictionary (PDF document) by Dean Jordan from SIL International (394 kB)