Níger-Congo es una familia lingüística hipotética que se habla en casi la totalidad del África subsahariana . [1] Une las lenguas mande (una familia con un nivel similar de diversidad a las lenguas indoeuropeas ), las lenguas atlántico-congo (que comparten un sistema característico de clases nominales ) y posiblemente varios grupos más pequeños de lenguas que son difícil de clasificar. Si es válido, Níger-Congo sería el más grande del mundo en términos de idiomas miembros, el tercero más grande en términos de hablantes y el más grande de África en términos de área geográfica. [2]En general, se considera que es la familia de idiomas más grande del mundo en términos de número de idiomas distintos, [3] [4] justo por delante del austronesio , aunque esto se complica por la ambigüedad sobre lo que constituye un idioma distinto ; el número de lenguas Níger-Congo enumeradas por Ethnologue es 1.540. [5]
Níger – Congo | |
---|---|
Níger – Kordofanian | |
(Hipotético) | |
Distribución geográfica | África |
Clasificación lingüística | Familia lingüística propuesta |
Subdivisiones |
|
ISO 639-2 / 5 | nic |
Glottolog | Ninguno |
Mapa que muestra la distribución de las principales lenguas de Níger-Congo. El rosa-rojo es la subfamilia bantú . |
Si se demuestra que es válida, sería la tercera familia lingüística más grande del mundo por número de hablantes nativos, con alrededor de 700 millones de personas en 2015. Dentro de Níger-Congo, las lenguas bantú por sí solas representan 350 millones de personas (2015), o la mitad de la población total de habla Níger-Congo. Los idiomas de Níger-Congo más hablados por número de hablantes nativos son yoruba , igbo , fula , shona , sesotho y zulu . El más hablado por el número total de hablantes es el swahili , que se utiliza como lengua franca en partes del este y sureste de África. [2]
Si bien la unidad genética última del núcleo de Níger-Congo (llamado Atlántico-Congo ) es ampliamente aceptada, la estructura cladística interna no está bien establecida. Otras ramas primarias pueden incluir Dogon , Mande , Ijo , Katla y Rashad . La conexión de los idiomas mande especialmente nunca se ha demostrado, y sin ellos, no se ha establecido la validez de la familia Níger-Congo en su conjunto (a diferencia de Atlántico-Congo o una subfamilia similar).
Una de las características más distintivas comunes a las lenguas del Atlántico-Congo es el uso de un sistema de clases de sustantivo , que es esencialmente un sistema de género con múltiples géneros. [6]
Origen
La familia de lenguas probablemente se originó en o cerca del área donde se hablaban estos idiomas antes de la expansión bantú (es decir, África occidental o África central ). Su expansión puede haber estado asociada con la expansión de la agricultura del Sahel en el período neolítico africano, luego de la desecación del Sahara en c. 3500 a . C. [7] [8]
Según Roger Blench (2004), todos los especialistas en lenguas de Níger-Congo creen que las lenguas tienen un origen común, en lugar de constituir simplemente una clasificación tipológica, por razones que incluyen su sistema de clases sustantivo compartido, extensiones verbales compartidas y léxico básico compartido. [9] Se han realizado clasificaciones similares a las de Níger-Congo desde Diedrich Westermann en 1922. [10] Joseph Greenberg continuó esa tradición, convirtiéndola en el punto de partida para la clasificación lingüística moderna en África, con algunas de sus publicaciones más notables en imprenta. a partir de la década de 1960. [11] Sin embargo, ha habido un debate activo durante muchas décadas sobre las subclasificaciones apropiadas de los idiomas en esta familia de idiomas, que es una herramienta clave utilizada para localizar el lugar de origen de un idioma. [12] No se ha desarrollado un léxico o gramática "Proto-Níger-Congo" definitivo para la familia lingüística en su conjunto.
Una cuestión importante sin resolver para determinar el momento y el lugar donde se originaron las lenguas Níger-Congo y su rango antes de la historia registrada es la relación de esta familia lingüística con las lenguas kordofanianas , que ahora se hablan en las montañas Nuba de Sudán , que no es contigua con el resto. de la región de habla Níger-Congo y se encuentra en la extensión más al noreste de la actual región lingüística Níger-Congo. El punto de vista lingüístico que prevalece actualmente es que las lenguas kordofanianas son parte de la familia lingüística de Níger-Congo y que pueden ser las primeras de las muchas lenguas que todavía se hablan en esa región que se hablan en la región. [13] La evidencia es insuficiente para determinar si este grupo atípico de hablantes del idioma Níger-Congo representa un rango prehistórico de una región lingüística Níger-Congo que desde entonces se ha contraído a medida que otros idiomas se han entrometido, o si en cambio, esto representa un grupo de Níger -Hablantes de la lengua del Congo que emigraron a la zona en algún momento de la prehistoria donde fueron una comunidad lingüística aislada desde el principio.
Hay más acuerdo sobre el lugar de origen de Benue-Congo , la subfamilia más grande del grupo. Dentro de Benue-Congo, se conoce con gran especificidad el lugar de origen de las lenguas bantú y la época en que comenzó a expandirse. Blench (2004), basándose particularmente en trabajos anteriores de Kay Williamson y P. De Wolf, argumentó que Benue-Congo probablemente se originó en la confluencia de los ríos Benue y Níger en el centro de Nigeria . [9] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] Estas estimaciones del lugar de origen de la familia lingüística Benue-Congo no fijan una fecha para el inicio de esa expansión, aparte de que debe tener sido lo suficientemente anterior a la expansión bantú como para permitir la diversificación de los idiomas dentro de esta familia lingüística que incluye al bantú.
Se discute la clasificación de la familia relativamente divergente de las lenguas ubangianas , centrada en la República Centroafricana , como parte de la familia lingüística Níger-Congo. Ubangian fue agrupado con Niger-Congo por Greenberg (1963), y autoridades posteriores estuvieron de acuerdo, [19] pero fue cuestionado por Dimmendaal (2008). [20]
La expansión bantú , que comenzó alrededor del 1000 a. C., se extendió por gran parte de África central y meridional, lo que provocó la extinción de gran parte de las poblaciones indígenas pigmeas y bosquimanos ( khoisan ) allí. [21]
Ramas principales
La siguiente es una descripción general de los grupos de idiomas que generalmente se incluyen en Níger-Congo. La relación genética de algunas ramas no es universalmente aceptada, y la conexión cladística entre aquellos que son aceptados como emparentados también puede no estar clara.
El filo central del grupo Níger-Congo son las lenguas Atlántico-Congo. Los idiomas que no son del Atlántico-Congo dentro de Níger-Congo se agrupan como Dogon , Mande , Ijo (a veces con Defaka como Ijoid ), Katla y Rashad .
Atlántico-Congo
Atlántico-Congo combina las lenguas atlánticas , que no forman una sola rama, y Volta-Congo . Comprende más del 80% de la población de habla Níger-Congo, o cerca de 600 millones de personas (2015).
El grupo Savannas propuesto combina Adamawa , Ubangian y Gur . Fuera del grupo Savannas, Volta-Congo comprende Kru , Kwa (o "West Kwa"), Volta-Niger (también "East Kwa" o "West Benue-Congo") y Benue-Congo (o "East Benue-Congo") ). Volta-Niger incluye los dos idiomas más grandes de Nigeria , yoruba e igbo . Benue-Congo incluye el grupo bantoide del sur , que está dominado por las lenguas bantú , que representan 350 millones de personas (2015), o la mitad de la población total de habla Níger-Congo.
La estricta unidad genética de cualquiera de estos subgrupos puede estar en disputa. Por ejemplo, Roger Blench (2012) argumentó que Adamawa , Ubangian , Kwa , Bantoid y Bantu no son grupos coherentes. [22]
Aunque la rama kordofaniana generalmente se incluye en los idiomas de Níger-Congo, algunos investigadores no están de acuerdo con su inclusión. Glottolog 3.4 (2019) [23] no acepta que se haya demostrado que las ramas kordofanianas ( Lafofa , Talodi y Heiban ) o la lengua laal, de difícil clasificación, sean lenguas atlántico-congoleñas. De lo contrario, acepta a la familia, pero no su inclusión dentro de un Níger-Congo más amplio. Glottolog también considera que Ijoid , Mande y Dogon son filos de lenguaje independientes que no se ha demostrado que estén relacionados entre sí.
El grupo Atlántico-Congo se caracteriza por los sistemas de clases nominales de sus lenguas. Atlántico-Congo corresponde en gran medida al filo "nigrítico occidental" de Mukarovsky. [24]
- atlántico
El grupo atlántico polifilético representa alrededor de 35 millones de hablantes a partir de 2016, en su mayoría representados por hablantes de fula y wolof . Atlantic no se considera un grupo válido.
- Lenguas senegambianas : incluye wolof , hablado en Senegal , y fula , hablado en todo el Sahel .
- Idiomas bak , a veces agrupados con senegambiano
- Mel idiomas
- Lengua limba
- Idioma gola
- Volta-Congo
- Norte-Volta
- Kru : lenguas del pueblo Kru en África Occidental ; incluye a Bété , Nyabwa y Dida .
- Adamawa-Ubangi :
- Adamawa : cerca de 100 idiomas y dialectos esparcidos por la meseta de Adamawa , hablados por un total estimado de 1,6 millones en 1996; el más grande es Mumuye , que representa aproximadamente una cuarta parte de los hablantes de Adamawa.
- Ubangiano : grupo de lenguas menores que se hablan en la República Centroafricana . Puede ser una familia independiente o agruparse con Adamawa como " Adamawa-Ubangi ".
- Gur : se hablan unos 70 idiomas en las regiones del Sahel y la Sabana de África Occidental, lo que representa unos 20 millones de hablantes (2010). El idioma más grande de este grupo es Mossi (More, Mòoré) , con alrededor de 8 millones de hablantes en 2010. Gur y Adamawa-Ubangi también se han agrupado como idiomas de Savannas .
- Senufo : idiomas del pueblo Senufo (alrededor de 3 millones de hablantes en 2010), hablados en Costa de Marfil y Mali , con un valor atípico geográfico en Ghana ; incluye Senari y Supyire . Senufo se ha colocado tradicionalmente dentro de Gur, pero ahora generalmente se considera una rama temprana del Atlántico-Congo.
- Sur-Volta
- Kwa : un vínculo divergente [25] de lenguas de unidad genética incierta, habladas a lo largo de Costa de Marfil, en el sur de Ghana y en el centro de Togo, con un total de unos 40 millones de hablantes (década de 2010). El idioma más grande de este grupo es el akan , hablado en Ghana , con alrededor de 22 millones de hablantes en 2014, seguido del twi (9 millones en 2015).
- Volta-Níger (también conocido como "West Benue-Congo" o "East Kwa"): un gran vínculo [25] de lenguas de África Occidental, que representa aproximadamente 110-120 millones de hablantes (finales de 2010).
- Gbe : hablado en Ghana , Togo , Benin y Nigeria , de los cuales Ewe (7 millones de hablantes en 2017) es el más grande y conocido.
- " YEAI ": un gran grupo de idiomas centrado en Nigeria, que representa alrededor de 100 millones de hablantes (finales de la década de 2010)
- Yoruboid : 50 millones de hablantes (década de 2010), incluido el yoruba (c. 40 millones de 2017)
- Edoid : incluido Edo (5 millones de 2010)
- Akoko
- Igboid : incluido Igbo (24 millones 2011)
- " NOI ":
- Nupoide : c. 3 millones (c. Estimaciones de 1990)
- Oko : un continuo de dialectos menores hablado en el estado de Kogi
- Idomoide : grupo de idiomas del centro de Nigeria, incluido Idoma con 1 a 2 millones de hablantes (década de 2010)
- Ayere-Ahan (moribundo o extinto)
- Enlace Benue-Congo [25] (East Benue-Congo)
- Cruz de bantoide:
- Río cruzado
- Bantoide del Norte :
- Dakoid ?
- Fam ?
- Tikar ?
- Mambiloide
- Bendi
- Bantoide meridional : incluye las lejanas lenguas bantúes esparcidas por el África subsahariana en la expansión bantú de c. 1000 a. C. hasta 500 d. C.
- Tivoid-Beboid: una gran variedad de idiomas del suroeste de Camerún y el sudeste de Nigeria: Tivoid , Esimbi , Medio Beboid , West Beboid ?, Momo ,? Furu ,? Buru ,? Menchum ?
- Ekoid-Mbe
- Mamfe
- Grassfields
- Jarawan-Mbam
- Bantu: divided into Guthrie zones A–S, for a total of between 250 and 550 named languages.
- Central Nigerian (Platoid): Jukunoid, Kainji, Plateau
- other languages unclassified within Benue-Congo: Ukaan, Fali of Baissa, Tita.
- Cruz de bantoide:
Other
The putative Niger-Congo languages outside of the Atlantic-Congo family are centred in the upper Senegal and Niger river basins, south and west of Timbuktu (Mande, Dogon), the Niger Delta (Ijoid), and far to the east in south-central Sudan, around the Nuba Mountains (the Kordofanian families). They account for a total population of about 100 million (2015), mostly Mandé and Ijaw.
- Mande: languages of the Mandé peoples, estimated at roughly 70 million as of 2016
- Dogon: languages of the Dogon people of Mali, estimated at 1.6 million as of 2013. May have a noun-class system related to the Atlantic-Congo languages.
- Bangime, spoken in Dogon country but seemingly unrelated to Dogon. May show evidence of a Nilo-Saharan substrate.
- Siamou, once classified as Kru
- Ijoid: Ijaw, the language of the Ijaw people (14 million as of 2011), plus the moribund Defaka language
"Kordofanian"
The various Kordofanian languages are spoken in south-central Sudan, around the Nuba Mountains. "Kordofanian" is a geographic grouping, not a genetic one, named for the Kordofan region. These are minor languages, spoken by a total of about 100,000 people according to 1980s estimates. Katla and Rashad languages show isoglosses with Benue-Congo that the other families lack.[26]
- Talodi languages
- Heiban languages
- Lafofa languages
- Rashad languages
- Katla languages
The endangered or extinct Laal, Mpre and Jalaa languages are often assigned to Niger-Congo.
Overview map
Overview map of Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon
Table of demographic estimates in the same color code as the maps (est. 400 million speakers as of 2007)
Historial de clasificación
Early classifications
Niger-Congo as it is known today was only gradually recognized as a linguistic unit. In early classifications of the languages of Africa, one of the principal criteria used to distinguish different groupings was the languages' use of prefixes to classify nouns, or the lack thereof. A major advance came with the work of Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle, who in his 1854 Polyglotta Africana attempted a careful classification, the groupings of which in quite a number of cases correspond to modern groupings. An early sketch of the extent of Niger-Congo as one language family can be found in Koelle's observation, echoed in Bleek (1856), that the Atlantic languages used prefixes just like many Southern African languages. Subsequent work of Bleek, and some decades later the comparative work of Meinhof, solidly established Bantu as a linguistic unit.
In many cases, wider classifications employed a blend of typological and racial criteria. Thus, Friedrich Müller, in his ambitious classification (1876-88), separated the 'Negro' and Bantu languages. Likewise, the Africanist Karl Richard Lepsius considered Bantu to be of African origin, and many 'Mixed Negro languages' as products of an encounter between Bantu and intruding Asiatic languages.
In this period a relation between Bantu and languages with Bantu-like (but less complete) noun class systems began to emerge. Some authors saw the latter as languages which had not yet completely evolved to full Bantu status, whereas others regarded them as languages which had partly lost original features still found in Bantu. The Bantuist Meinhof made a major distinction between Bantu and a 'Semi-Bantu' group which according to him was originally of the unrelated Sudanic stock.
Westermann, Greenberg and beyond
Westermann, a pupil of Meinhof, set out to establish the internal classification of the then Sudanic languages. In a 1911 work he established a basic division between 'East' and 'West'. A historical reconstruction of West Sudanic was published in 1927, and in his 1935 'Charakter und Einteilung der Sudansprachen' he conclusively established the relationship between Bantu and West Sudanic.
Joseph Greenberg took Westermann's work as a starting-point for his own classification. In a series of articles published between 1949 and 1954, he argued that Westermann's 'West Sudanic' and Bantu formed a single genetic family, which he named Niger-Congo; that Bantu constituted a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch; that Adamawa-Eastern, previously not considered to be related, was another member of this family; and that Fula belonged to the West Atlantic languages. Just before these articles were collected in final book form (The Languages of Africa) in 1963, he amended his classification by adding Kordofanian as a branch co-ordinate with Niger-Congo as a whole; consequently, he renamed the family Congo-Kordofanian, later Niger-Kordofanian. Greenberg's work on African languages, though initially greeted with scepticism, became the prevailing view among scholars.[27]
Bennet and Sterk (1977) presented an internal reclassification based on lexicostatistics that laid the foundation for the regrouping in Bendor-Samuel (1989). Kordofanian was presented as one of several primary branches rather than being coordinate to the family as a whole, prompting re-introduction of the term Niger-Congo, which is in current use among linguists. Many classifications continue to place Kordofanian as the most distant branch, but mainly due to negative evidence (fewer lexical correspondences), rather than positive evidence that the other languages form a valid genealogical group. Likewise, Mande is often assumed to be the second-most distant branch based on its lack of the noun-class system prototypical of the Niger-Congo family. Other branches lacking any trace of the noun-class system are Dogon and Ijaw, whereas the Talodi branch of Kordofanian does have cognate noun classes, suggesting that Kordofanian is also not a unitary group.
Glottolog (2013) accepts the core with noun-class systems, the Atlantic-Congo languages, apart from the recent inclusion of some of the Kordofanian groups, but not Niger-Congo as a whole. They list the following as separate families: Atlantic-Congo, Mande, Dogon, Ijoid, Lafofa, Katla-Tima, Heiban, Talodi, and Rashad.
Oxford Handbooks Online (2016) has indicated that the continuing reassessment of Niger-Congo's "internal structure is due largely to the preliminary nature of Greenberg’s classification, explicitly based as it was on a methodology that doesn’t produce proofs for genetic affiliations between languages but rather aims at identifying “likely candidates.”...The ongoing descriptive and documentary work on individual languages and their varieties, greatly expanding our knowledge on formerly little-known linguistic regions, is helping to identify clusters and units that allow for the application of the historical-comparative method. Only the reconstruction of lower-level units, instead of “big picture” contributions based on mass comparison, can help to verify (or disprove) our present concept of Niger-Congo as a genetic grouping consisting of Benue-Congo plus Volta-Niger, Kwa, Adamawa plus Gur, Kru, the so-called Kordofanian languages, and probably the language groups traditionally classified as Atlantic."[28]
The coherence of Niger-Congo as a language phylum is supported by Grollemund, et al. (2016), using computational phylogenetic methods.[29] The East/West Volta-Congo division, West/East Benue-Congo division, and North/South Bantoid division are not supported, whereas a Bantoid group consisting of Ekoid, Bendi, Dakoid, Jukunoid, Tivoid, Mambiloid, Beboid, Mamfe, Tikar, Grassfields, and Bantu is supported.
The Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP) also groups many Niger-Congo branches together.
Dimmendaal, Crevels, and Muysken (2020) stated: “Greenberg’s hypothesis of Niger-Congo phylum has sometimes been taken as an established fact rather than a hypothesis awaiting further proof, but there have also been attempts to look at his argumentation in more detail. Much of the discussion concerning Niger-Congo after Greenberg’s seminal contribution in fact centered around the inclusion or exclusion of specific languages or language groups.”[30]
Reconstruction
Proto-Niger-Congo (or Proto-Atlantic-Congo) has not been reconstructed, and few of the demonstrably coherent branches of it have been either. The major success has been several reconstructions of Proto-Bantu, which has consequently had an outsize influence on conceptions of what Proto-Niger-Congo may have been like. The only stage higher than Proto-Bantu that has been reconstructed is a pilot project by Stewart, who since the 1970s has reconstructed the common ancestor of the Potou-Tano and Bantu languages, without so far considering the hundreds of other languages which presumably descend from that same ancestor.[31] Konstantin Pozdniakov has reconstructed the numeral system.[32]
Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan
Over the years, several linguists have suggested a link between Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan, probably starting with Westermann's comparative work on the "Sudanic" family in which 'Eastern Sudanic' (now classified as Nilo-Saharan) and 'Western Sudanic' (now classified as Niger-Congo) were united. Gregersen (1972) proposed that Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan be united into a larger phylum, which he termed Kongo-Saharan. His evidence was mainly based on the uncertainty in the classification of Songhay, morphological resemblances, and lexical similarities. A more recent proponent was Roger Blench (1995), who puts forward phonological, morphological and lexical evidence for uniting Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan in a Niger-Saharan phylum, with special affinity between Niger-Congo and Central Sudanic. However, fifteen years later his views had changed, with Blench (2011) proposing instead that the noun-classifier system of Central Sudanic, commonly reflected in a tripartite general-singulative-plurative number system, triggered the development or elaboration of the noun-class system of the Atlantic-Congo languages, with tripartite number marking surviving in the Plateau and Gur languages of Niger-Congo, and the lexical similarities being due to loans.
Características comunes
Phonology
Niger-Congo languages have a clear preference for open syllables of the type CV (Consonant Vowel). The typical word structure of Proto-Niger-Congo (though it has not been reconstructed) is thought to have been CVCV, a structure still attested in, for example, Bantu, Mande and Ijoid - in many other branches this structure has been reduced through phonological change. Verbs are composed of a root followed by one or more extensional suffixes. Nouns consist of a root originally preceded by a noun class prefix of (C)V- shape which is often eroded by phonological change.
Consonants
Several branches of Niger-Congo have a regular phonological contrast between two classes of consonants. Pending more clarity as to the precise nature of this contrast, it is commonly characterized as a contrast between fortis and lenis consonants.
Vowels
Many Niger-Congo languages' vowel harmony is based on the [ATR] (advanced tongue root) feature. In this type of vowel harmony, the position of the root of the tongue in regards to backness is the phonetic basis for the distinction between two harmonizing sets of vowels. In its fullest form, this type involves two classes, each of five vowels:
[+ATR] | [−ATR] |
---|---|
[i] | [ɪ][33] |
[e] | [ɛ][33] |
[ə] | [a][33] |
[o] | [ɔ][33] |
[u] | [ʊ][33] |
The roots are then divided into [+ATR] and [−ATR] categories. This feature is lexically assigned to the roots because there is no determiner within a normal root that causes the [ATR] value.[34]
There are two types of [ATR] vowel harmony controllers in Niger-Congo. The first controller is the root. When a root contains a [+ATR] or [−ATR] vowel, then that value is applied to the rest of the word, which involves crossing morpheme boundaries.[35] For example, suffixes in Wolof assimilate to the [ATR] value of the root to which they attach. Some examples of these suffixes that alternate depending on the root are:
[+ATR] | [−ATR] | Purpose |
---|---|---|
-le | -lɛ | 'participant' [34] |
-o | -ɔ | 'nominalizing' [34] |
-əl | -al | 'benefactive' [34] |
Furthermore, the directionality of assimilation in [ATR] root-controlled vowel harmony need not be specified. The root features [+ATR] and [−ATR] spread left and/or right as needed, so that no vowel would lack a specification and be ill-formed.[36]
Unlike in the root-controlled harmony system, where the two [ATR] values behave symmetrically, a large number of Niger-Congo languages exhibit a pattern where the [+ATR] value is more active or dominant than the [−ATR] value.[37] This results in the second vowel harmony controller being the [+ATR] value. If there is even one vowel that is [+ATR] in the whole word, then the rest of the vowels harmonize with that feature. However, if there is no vowel that is [+ATR], the vowels appear in their underlying form.[35] This form of vowel harmony control is best exhibited in West African languages. For example, in Nawuri, the diminutive suffix /-bi/ will cause the underlying [−ATR] vowels in a word to become phonetically [+ATR].[37]
There are two types of vowels which affect the harmony process. These are known as neutral or opaque vowels. Neutral vowels do not harmonize to the [ATR] value of the word, and instead maintain their own [ATR] value. The vowels that follow them, however, will receive the [ATR] value of the root. Opaque vowels maintain their own [ATR] value as well, but they affect the harmony process behind them. All of the vowels following an opaque vowel will harmonize with the [ATR] value of the opaque vowel instead of the [ATR] vowel of the root.[34]
The vowel inventory listed above is a ten-vowel language. This is a language in which all of the vowels of the language participate in the harmony system, producing five harmonic pairs. Vowel inventories of this type are still found in some branches of Niger-Congo, for example in the Ghana Togo Mountain languages.[38] However, this is the rarer inventory as oftentimes there are one or more vowels that are not part of a harmonic pair. This has resulted in seven-and nine-vowel systems being the more popular systems. The majority of languages with [ATR] controlled vowel harmony have either seven- or nine-vowel phonemes, with the most common non-participatory vowel being /a/.[33] It has been asserted that this is because vowel quality differences in the mid-central region where /ə/, the counterpart of /a/, is found, are difficult to perceive. Another possible reason for the non-participatory status of /a/ is that there is articulatory difficulty in advancing the tongue root when the tongue body is low in order to produce a low [+ATR] vowel.[39] Therefore, the vowel inventory for nine-vowel languages is generally:
[+ATR] | [−ATR] |
---|---|
[i] | [ɪ] |
[e] | [ɛ] |
[a] | |
[o] | [ɔ] |
[u] | [ʊ] |
And seven-vowel languages have one of two inventories:
[+ATR] | [−ATR] |
---|---|
[i] | [ɪ] |
[ɛ] | |
[a] | |
[ɔ] | |
[u] | [ʊ] |
[+ATR] | [−ATR] |
---|---|
[i] | |
[e] | [ɛ] |
[a] | |
[o] | [ɔ] |
[u] |
Note that in the nine-vowel language, the missing vowel is, in fact, [ə], [a]'s counterpart, as would be expected.[40]
The fact that ten vowels have been reconstructed for proto-Ijoid has led to the hypothesis that the original vowel inventory of Niger-Congo was a full ten-vowel system.[41][42][43] On the other hand, Stewart, in recent comparative work, reconstructs a seven-vowel system for his proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu.[44]
Nasality
Several scholars have documented a contrast between oral and nasal vowels in Niger-Congo.[45] In his reconstruction of proto-Volta-Congo, Steward (1976) postulates that nasal consonants have originated under the influence of nasal vowels; this hypothesis is supported by the fact that there are several Niger-Congo languages that have been analysed as lacking nasal consonants altogether. Languages like this have nasal vowels accompanied with complementary distribution between oral and nasal consonants before oral and nasal vowels. Subsequent loss of the nasal/oral contrast in vowels may result in nasal consonants becoming part of the phoneme inventory. In all cases reported to date, the bilabial /m/ is the first nasal consonant to be phonologized. Niger-Congo thus invalidates two common assumptions about nasals:[46] that all languages have at least one primary nasal consonant, and that if a language has only one primary nasal consonant it is /n/.
Niger-Congo languages commonly show fewer nasalized than oral vowels. Kasem, a language with a ten-vowel system employing ATR vowel harmony, has seven nasalized vowels. Similarly, Yoruba has seven oral vowels and only five nasal ones. However, the language of Zialo has a nasal equivalent for each of its seven oral vowels.
Tone
The large majority of present-day Niger-Congo languages are tonal. A typical Niger-Congo tone system involves two or three contrastive level tones. Four-level systems are less widespread, and five-level systems are rare. Only a few Niger-Congo languages are non-tonal; Swahili is perhaps the best known, but within the Atlantic branch some others are found. Proto-Niger-Congo is thought to have been a tone language with two contrastive levels. Synchronic and comparative-historical studies of tone systems show that such a basic system can easily develop more tonal contrasts under the influence of depressor consonants or through the introduction of a downstep.[citation needed] Languages which have more tonal levels tend to use tone more for lexical and less for grammatical contrasts.
H, L | Dyula-Bambara, Maninka, Temne, Dogon, Dagbani, Gbaya, Efik, Lingala |
H, M, L | Yakuba, Nafaanra, Kasem, Banda, Yoruba, Jukun, Dangme, Yukuben, Akan, Anyi, Ewe, Igbo |
T, H, M, L | Gban, Wobe, Munzombo, Igede, Mambila, Fon |
T, H, M, L, B | Ashuku (Benue-Congo), Dan-Santa (Mande) |
PA/S | Mandinka (Senegambia), Fula, Wolof, Kimwani |
none | Swahili |
Abbreviations used: T top, H high, M mid, L low, B bottom, PA/S pitch-accent or stress Adapted from Williamson 1989:27 |
Morphosyntax
Noun classification
Niger-Congo languages are known for their system of noun classification, traces of which can be found in every branch of the family but Mande, Ijoid, Dogon, and the Katla and Rashad branches of Kordofanian. These noun-classification systems are somewhat analogous to grammatical gender in other languages, but there are often a fairly large number of classes (often 10 or more), and the classes may be male human/female human/animate/inanimate, or even completely gender-unrelated categories such as places, plants, abstracts, and groups of objects. For example, in Bantu, the Swahili language is called Kiswahili, while the Swahili people are Waswahili. Likewise, in Ubangian, the Zande language is called Pazande, while the Zande people are called Azande.
In the Bantu languages, where noun classification is particularly elaborate, it typically appears as prefixes, with verbs and adjectives marked according to the class of the noun they refer to. For example, in Swahili, watu wazuri wataenda is 'good (zuri) people (tu) will go (ta-enda)'.
Below are some Niger-Congo noun class markers (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:145,[47] from Schadeberg 1989:72[48]):
1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6a | 6a | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kordofanian | *gu- | humans | *gu- | *j- | ‘tree’ | *li- | *ŋu- | ‘egg’ | *ŋ- | liquids |
Atlantic | *gu- | humans | *gʊ- | *Ci- | ‘trees’ | *de- | *ga- | ‘head, name’ | *ma- | liquids |
Oti-Volta (Gur) | *-ʊ | humans | *-bʊ | *-Ci | ‘tree’ | *-ɖɪ | *-a | ‘egg, head’ | *-ma | liquids |
Ghana-Togo (Kwa) | *o- | humans | *o- | *i- | ‘firewood’ | *li- | *a- | ‘egg, head, name’ | *N- | liquids |
Benue-Congo | *u- | humans | *u- | *(t)i- | ‘tree’ | *li- | *a- | ‘egg, head, name’ | *ma- | liquids |
Bantu (noun) | *mu- | humans | *mu- | *mi- | ‘tree’ | *i̧- | *ma- | ‘egg, name’ | *ma- | liquids |
Bantu (pronoun) | *ju- | *gu- | *gi- | *di- | *ga- | *ga- |
Verbal extensions
The same Atlantic-Congo languages which have noun classes also have a set of verb applicatives and other verbal extensions, such as the reciprocal suffix -na (Swahili penda 'to love', pendana 'to love each other'; also applicative pendea 'to love for' and causative pendeza 'to please').
Below are some Proto-Niger-Congo, Proto-Bantu, and Proto-Atlantic verbal extensions (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:146,[47] from Hyman 2007:157[49]):
Proto-Niger-Congo | Proto-Bantu | Proto-Atlantic | |
---|---|---|---|
applicative | *-de | *-ɪd | *-ed |
causative | *-ci, -ti | *-ic-i | *-an |
passive | *-o | *-ɪb-ʊ | *-V[+back] |
reciprocal | *-na | *-an | *-ad |
reversive | *-to | *-ʊd | *-ɪt |
Word order
A subject-verb-object word order is quite widespread among today's Niger-Congo languages, but SOV is found in branches as divergent as Mande, Ijoid and Dogon. As a result, there has been quite some debate as to the basic word order of Niger-Congo.
Whereas Claudi (1993) argues for SVO on the basis of existing SVO > SOV grammaticalization paths, Gensler (1997) points out that the notion of 'basic word order' is problematic as it excludes structures with, for example, auxiliaries. However, the structure SC-OC-VbStem (Subject concord, Object concord, Verb stem) found in the "verbal complex" of the SVO Bantu languages suggests an earlier SOV pattern (where the subject and object were at least represented by pronouns).
Noun phrases in most Niger-Congo languages are characteristically noun-initial, with adjectives, numerals, demonstratives and genitives all coming after the noun. The major exceptions are found in the western[50] areas where verb-final word order predominates and genitives precede nouns, though other modifiers still come afterwards. Degree words almost always follow adjectives, and except in verb-final languages adpositions are prepositional.
The verb-final languages of the Mende region have two quite unusual word order characteristics. Although verbs follow their direct objects, oblique adpositional phrases (like "in the house", "with timber") typically come after the verb,[50] creating a SOVX word order. Also noteworthy in these languages is the prevalence of internally headed and correlative relative clauses, in both of which the head occurs inside the relative clause rather than the main clause.
Notas
Referencias
- ^ Good, Jeff (2020). "Niger-Congo, with a special focus on Benue-Congo". In Vossen, Rainer; Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 139–160. ISBN 9780191007378.
The term [Niger–Congo], as presently used, however, is not without its difficulties. On the one hand, it is employed as a referential label for a group of over 1,500 languages, putting it among the largest commonly cited language groups in the world. On the other hand, the term is also intended to embody a hypothesis of genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has not been proven (p.139)
- ^ a b Irene Thompson, “Niger-Congo Language Family”, ”aboutworldlanguages”, March 2015
- ^ Heine, Bernd; Nurse, Derek (2000-08-03). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780521666299.
- ^ Ammon, Ulrich (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society. Walter de Gruyter. p. 2036. ISBN 9783110184181.
- ^ Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twenty-first edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- ^ “Niger-Congo Languages”, ”The Language Gulper”, March 2015
- ^ Manning, Katie; Timpson, Adrian (2014). "The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara". Quaternary Science Reviews. 101: 28–35. Bibcode:2014QSRv..101...28M. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003.
- ^ Igor Kopytoff, The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (1989), 9–10 (cited afer Igbo Language Roots and (Pre)-History, A Mighty Tree, 2011).
- ^ a b Blench, Roger, The Benue-Congo languages: a proposed internal classification.[unreliable source?] "No comprehensive reconstruction has yet been done for the phylum as a whole, and it is sometimes suggested (e.g. by Dixon 1997) that Niger-Congo is merely a typological and not a genetic unity. This view is not held by any specialists in the phylum, and reasons for thinking Niger-Congo is a true genetic unity will be given in this chapter. It is, however, true that the subclassification of the phylum has been continuously modified in recent years and cannot be presented as an agreed scheme. The factors which have delayed reconstruction are the large number of languages, the inaccessibility of much of the data, and the paucity of able researchers committed to this field. Emphasis will be placed on three characteristics of Niger-Congo; noun-class systems, verbal extensions, and basic lexicon." See also: Bendor-Samuel, J. ed. 1989. The Niger–Congo Languages. Lanham: University Press of America.
- ^ Westermann, D. 1922a. Die Sprache der Guang. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
- ^ Greenberg, J.H. 1964. Historical inferences from linguistic research in sub-Saharan Africa. Boston University Papers in African History, 1:1–15.
- ^ Blench, Roger. "Unpublished Working Draft" (PDF). www.rogerblench.info.
- ^ Herman Bell. 1995. The Nuba Mountains: Who Spoke What in 1976?. (The published results from a major project of the Institute of African and Asian Studies: the Language Survey of the Nuba Mountains.)
- ^ Williamson, K. 1971. The Benue–Congo languages and Ijo. Current Trends in Linguistics, 7. ed. T. Sebeok 245–306. The Hague: Mouton.
- ^ Williamson, K. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. The early history of the Niger Delta, edited by E.J. Alagoa, F.N. Anozie and N. Nzewunwa. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
- ^ Williamson, K. 1989. Benue–Congo Overview. In The Niger–Congo Languages. J. Bendor-Samuel ed. Lanham: University Press of America.
- ^ De Wolf, P. 1971. The noun class system of Proto-Benue–Congo. The Hague: Mouton.
- ^ Blench, R.M. 1989. A proposed new classification of Benue–Congo languages. Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere, Köln, 17:115–147.
- ^ Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger–Congo', in Heine, Bernd & Nurse, Derek (eds.) African languages: an introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Gerrit Dimmendaal (2008) "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent", Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:841.
- ^ Martin H. Steinberg, Disorders of Hemoglobin: Genetics, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Management, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 717.
- ^ "Niger-Congo: an alternative view" (PDF). Rogerblench.info. Retrieved 2012-12-29."Roger Blench: Niger-Congo reconstruction". Rogerblench.info. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
- ^ "Glottolog 3.4 -". glottolog.org.
- ^ Hans G. Mukarovsky, A Study of Western Nigritic, 2 vols. (1976–1977). Blench (2004): "Almost simultaneously [with Greenberg (1963)], Mukarovsky (1976-7) published his analysis of 'Western Nigritic'. Mukarovsky's basic theme was the relationship between the reconstructions of Bantu of Guthrie and other writers and the languages of West Africa. Mukarovsky excluded Kordofanian, Mande, Ijo, Dogon, Adamawa-Ubangian and most Bantoid languages for unknown reasons, thus reconstructing an idiosyncratic grouping. Nonetheless, he buttressed his argument with an extremely valuable compilation of data, establishing the case for Bantu/Niger-Congo genetic link beyond reasonable doubt."
- ^ a b c Blench, Roger. 2012. Niger-Congo: an alternative view.
- ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Storch, Anne (2016-02-11). "Niger-Congo: A brief state of the art". Oxford Handbooks Online. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.3. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger (2000). "Niger-Congo". In Bernd Heine; Derek Nurse (eds.). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–12.
- ^ Storch, Anne; Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (11 February 2016). "Niger-Congo". doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.3 – via www.oxfordhandbooks.com. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^ Rebecca Grollemund, Simon Branford, Jean-Marie Hombert & Mark Pagel. 2016. Genetic unity of the Niger-Congo family. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: comparison and reconstruction (2nd International Congress)
- ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Crevels, Mily; Muysken, Pieter (2020). Patterns of dispersal and diversification in Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 201.
- ^ Tom Gueldemann (2018) Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa, p. 146.
- ^ Pozdniakov, Konstantin (2018). The numeral system of Proto-Niger-Congo: A step-by-step reconstruction (pdf). Niger-Congo Comparative Studies. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1311704. ISBN 978-3-96110-098-9.
- ^ a b c d e f Morton, Deborah. [ATR] Harmony in an Eleven Vowel Language. Ohio State University, 2012:70–71.
- ^ a b c d e Unseth, Carla (2009). "Vowel Harmony in Wolof" (PDF). Occasional Papers in Applied Linguistics. Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (2–3). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Bakovic, Eric (2000). Harmony, Dominance and Control (PDF) (PhD dissertation). Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. p. ii.
- ^ Clements, G. N. (1981). "Akan vowel harmony: A non-linear analysis". Harvard Studies in Phonology. 2: 108–177.
- ^ a b Casali, Roderic F. (2002). "Nawuri ATR Harmony in Typological Perspective" (PDF). Journal of West African Languages. Summer Institute of Linguistics. 29 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2014.
- ^ Anderson, C. G. (1999). "ATR vowel harmony in Akposso" (PDF). Studies in African Linguistics. 28 (2): 185–214.
- ^ Archangeli, Diana; Pulleyblank, Douglas (1994). Grounded Phonology. Current Studies in Linguistics. 25. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-01137-9.
- ^ Casali, Roderic F. (2008). "ATR Harmony in African Languages". Language and Linguistics Compass. 2 (3): 496–549. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00064.x.
- ^ Doneux, Jean L. (1975). "Hypothèses pour la comparative des langues atlantiques". Africana Linguistica. Tervuren: Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale. 6: 41–129. doi:10.3406/aflin.1975.892. (Re: proto-Atlantic)
- ^ Williamson, Kay (2000). "Towards reconstructing Proto-Niger-Congo". In Wolff, H. E.; Gensler, O. (eds.). Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of African Linguistics, Leipzig 1997. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 49–70. ISBN 3-89645-124-3. (Re: proto-Ijoid)
- ^ Stewart, John M. (1976). Towards Volta-Congo Reconstruction : Rede. Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden. ISBN 90-6021-307-6,Casali, Roderic F. (1995). "On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo". African Languages and Cultures. 8 (2): 109–121. doi:10.1080/09544169508717790. (Re: proto-Volta-Conga)
- ^ Stewart, John M. (2002). "The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 23 (2): 197–224. doi:10.1515/jall.2002.012.
- ^ le Saout (1973) for an early overview, Stewart (1976) for a diachronic, Volta–Congo wide analysis, Capo (1981) for a synchronic analysis of nasality in Gbe (see Gbe languages: nasality), and Bole-Richard (1984, 1985) as cited in Williamson (1989) for similar reports on several Mande, Gur, Kru, Kwa, and Ubangi languages.
- ^ As noted by Williamson (1989:24). The assumptions are from Ferguson's (1963) 'Assumptions about nasals' in Greenberg (ed.) Universals of Language, pp 50–60 as cited in Williamson art.cit.
- ^ a b Vossen, Rainer and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). 2020. The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Schadeberg, Thilo C. (1989). ‘Kordofanian’, in J. Bendor-Samuel (ed.). The Niger-Congo Languages: A classification and description of Africa's largest language family, 66-80. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
- ^ Hyman, L. M. (2007). ‘Niger-Congo verb extensions: overview and discussion’, in D. L. Payne and J. Pena (eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla, 149-63.
- ^ a b Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, Matthew S.; Gil, David and Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures; pp 346–385. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-925591-1
Otras lecturas
- Vic Webb (2001) African Voices: An Introduction to the Languages and Linguistics of Africa
- Bendor-Samuel, John & Rhonda L. Hartell (eds.) (1989) The Niger-Congo Languages - A classification and description of Africa's largest language family. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
- Bennett, Patrick R. & Sterk, Jan P. (1977) 'South Central Niger-Congo: A reclassification'. Studies in African Linguistics, 8, 241-273.
- Blench, Roger (1995) 'Is Niger-Congo simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan?'[1] In Proceedings: Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Nice, 1992, ed. R. Nicolai and F. Rottland, 83-130. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
- —— (2011) "Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes?",[2] CALL 41, Leiden
- —— (2011) "Should Kordofanian be split up?"[3], Nuba Hills Conference, Leiden
- Capo, Hounkpati B.C. (1981) 'Nasality in Gbe: A Synchronic Interpretation' Studies in African Linguistics, 12, 1, 1-43.
- Casali, Roderic F. (1995) 'On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo', African Languages and Cultures, 8, 2, December, 109-121.
- Dimmendaal, Gerrit (2008). "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent". Language and Linguistics Compass. 2 (5): 840–858. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00085.x.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. (1963) The Languages of Africa. Indiana University Press.
- Gregersen, Edgar A. (1972) 'Kongo-Saharan'. Journal of African Languages, 4, 46-56.
- Nurse, D., Rose, S. & Hewson, J. (2016) Tense and Aspect in Niger-Congo, Documents on Social Sciences and Humanities, Royal Museum for Central Africa
- Olson, Kenneth S. (2006) 'On Niger-Congo classification'. In The Bill question, ed. H. Aronson, D. Dyer, V. Friedman, D. Hristova and J. Sadock, 153-190. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.
- Saout, J. le (1973) 'Languages sans consonnes nasales', Annales de l Université d'Abidjan, H, 6, 1, 179-205.
- Segerer G., Flavier S., 2011-2018. RefLex: Reference Lexicon of Africa, Version 1.1. Paris, Lyon.
- Stewart, John M. (1976) Towards Volta-Congo reconstruction: a comparative study of some languages of Black-Africa. (Inaugural speech, Leiden University) Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
- Stewart, John M. (2002) 'The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated', in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 23, 197-224.
- Williamson, Kay (1989) 'Niger-Congo overview', in Bendor-Samuel & Hartell (eds.) The Niger-Congo Languages, 3-45.
- Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger-Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages - An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11-42.
enlaces externos
Media related to Niger-Congo languages at Wikimedia Commons
- An Evaluation of Niger-Congo Classification, Kenneth Olson
- Tense and Aspect in Niger-Congo, Derek Nurse, Sarah Rose & John Hewson
- Preliminary Niger-Congo classification (Guillaume Segerer 2005, LLACAN)
- Swadesh lists of African proto-language reconstructions (Guillaume Segerer 2005, LLACAN)
- Phonologies and orthographies of African languages (LLACAN)
- Journals
- Linguistique et Langues Africaines (LLA)
- Journal Mandenkan (introduction)
- Nordic Journal of African Studies (archives)
- Journal of West African languages
- Journal of African Languages and Linguistics