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Dictionary of the Kanuri Language PDF

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Dictionary of the Kanuri Language Publications in African Languages and Linguistics The aim of this series is to offer, at regular intervals, carefully worked out studies or collections of papers in African linguistics. In this way, it is hoped that important work can be brought to the attention of a wider linguistic audience including scholars who are not primarily concerned with African linguistics but who wish to keep abreast of recent advances in the fields of historical linguistics, theoretical phonology and linguistic typology, all of which, incidentally, tend to rely rather heavily on African language data. At the same time, the editors intend to include occasional volumes which offer general accounts of major language groups, hoping that such surveys will be of assistance not only to linguists working on African languages but also to those who specialize in other areas. Throughout the series an attempt will be made to strike a healthy balance between theory oriented and data oriented research. Editors: Advisory board: George N. Clements John Goldsmith (Chicago) Didier L. Goyvaerts Claire Grégoire (Tervuren) Frank Heny (Middlebury, Vermont) Larry M. Hyman (Berkeley) William R. Leben (Stanford) Thilo C. Schadeberg (Leiden) Other books in this series: 1. Ivan R. Dihoff(ed ). Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 1) 2. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal. The Turkana Language 3. G.N. Clements and J. Goldsmith (eds). Autosegmentai Studies in Bantu Tone 4. Koen Bogers, Harry van der Hulst and Maarten Mous (eds). The Phonological Representation of Suprasegmentals 5. Jonathan Kaye, Hilda Koopman, Dominique Sportiche and André Dugas (eds). Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 2) 6. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (ed ). Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 3) 7. David Odden (ed.). Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 4) 8. Paul Newman and Robert D. Botne. Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 5) 9. Isabelle Haik and Laurice Tuller (eds). Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 6) 10. Mary M. Clark. The Tonal System of Igbo 11. John P. Hutchison and Victor Manfredi. Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol. 7) 12. Paul Newman. Nominal and Verbal Plurality in Chadic Norbert Cyffer and John Hutchison (eds) ii^k. ¥ 1990 1990 FORIS PUBLICATIONS UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI Dordrecht - Holland/Providence Rl - U.S.A. Nigeria Published by: Foris Publications Holland P.O. Box 509 3300 AM Dordrecht, The Netherlands Distributor for the U.S.A. and Canada: Foris Publications USA Inc. P.O. Box 5904 Providence R.I. 02903 U.S.A. CIP-DATA KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Kanuri-English Dictionary of the Kanuri Language / Norbert Cyffer and John Hutchison (eds). - Dordrecht [etc.] : Foris ; Maiduguri : University of Maiduguri. - (Publications in African Languages and linguistics ; 13) ISBN 90-6765-412-4 SISO afri 831 UDC (038) =966 =20 Subject heading: Kanuri language ; dictionaries. Published in Co-operation with The University of Maiduguri, Nigeria ISBN 90 6765 412 4 (Paper) © 1990 Foris Publications - Dordrecht No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands by ICG Printing, Dordrecht. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present dictionary represents the culmination of the efforts of many people. The project was initially supported morally and administratively by the Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages under the direction of Professor Paul Newman, and later under Dr. Abdulkadir Dandatti. Subsequent support was provided by the University of Maiduguri and by the Chair of the Department of Languages and Linguistics, Professor C.M.B. Brann. The advice and assistance of Shettima Bukar Abba and Tijani El-Miskin had a profound impact on the make-up of the dictionary, as did the incredible resources and knowledge of Wakkil Modu, who was the primary Kanuri language consultant throughout the project. Those working on the project were most enthusiastically supported by the Kanuri people of Maiduguri, without whose help the project would have been unrealizable. Their indefatigable patience under our relentless questioning brought many new words for the dictionary. Daily visits to our offices in the Borno Local Authority compound yielded an endless supply of new information. We greatly benefited from the support of the Borno Local Authority in the person of the Shehu of Borno. The then Waziri of Borno, the late Abba Sadiq, was most encoraging to us at all stages of our work. The Kanuri Language Board, under the chairmanship of Alhaji Idrissa Kadi, provided an official sounding board for the Kanuri language research that was carried out in Maiduguri during the 1970s. We are extremely grateful to Foris Publications for making it possible for this publication to finally see the light of day. John P. Hutchison (Tijani Gamboru) and Norbert Cyffer (Ali Gamboru) vii INTRODUCTION 1. HISTORY OF THE DICTIONARY OF THE KANURI LANGUAGE. The preparation of this dictionary was begun in 1974 and finally published in 1988. It was one of the first Kanuri research projects initiated by the Kanuri Research Unit of the Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages. The Centre was then on Abdullahi Bayero College campus, and was part of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The Centre hired the two principal authors of this work in 1974, and they established its branch in Maiduguri for the purpose of carrying out research on Kanuri. As Research Fellows employed by the Centre, they chose as one of their first priority projects, that of developing a dictionary of the Kanuri language. At the time, Maiduguri (Yerwa) was already the capital of the North-Eastern State, and had become established as the major city of the Kanuri world in Nigeria, historically and synchronically. The dictionary project was later continued and completed under the auspices of the Department of Languages and Linguistics of the University of Maiduguri. The project followed immediately on the heels of the project establishing the Standard Kanuri Orthography (SKO). While this represents the first major attempt at producing a dictionary, there do exist some significant vocabularies such as that of S.W. Koelle which appeared in his Africant Native Literature or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, and Historical Fragments in the Kanuri or Bornu Language (1854), and that of J. Lukas in his A Study of the Kanuri Language: Grammar and Vocabulary (1937). These very significant works have certainly influenced the present dictionary. 2. THE STANDARD KANURI ORTHOGRAPHY. As recorded in this dictionary, written Kanuri is represented according to the the spelling rules and conventions which were established by the Standard Kanuri Orthography (SKO). This orthography was developed by the Kanuri Research Unit and the Kanuri Language Board, and officially adopted by the latter in 1975. The elaboration of the Standard Kanuri Orthography was carried out by the Orthography Committee of the Kanuri Language Board, under the Chairmanship of the late Waziri of Borno, Abba Sadiq. This dictionary will therefore not only serve as the first major bilingual dictionary of the language, but will also function as a reference book for the correct writing and spelling of the Kanuri language. The orthography is rooted in the Kanuri dialect of Maiduguri (Yerwa), which for many DICTIONARY OF THE KANURI LANGUAGE Vili reasons has emerged as the widely recognized standard form of Kanuri in Nigeria. In order to avoid ambiguity in meaning and to provide the correct pronunciation for the non-Kanuri speaker, tone marks have been added to the basic SKO representation of the words in this dictionary. The are not normally included in the SKO. 2.1. THE ALPHABET. Words for which there is a significant discrepancy between the orthographic (SKO) representation and the phonetic pronunciation are indicated first in the SKO, and second with a phonetic transcription. The phonetic symbols used in presenting the letters of the alphabet of the SKO are the following: B voiceless bilabial fricative / voiceless alveolar palatal fricative d voiced alveolar palatal affricate i retroflex lateral y voiced velar fricative i] velar nasal n palatalized nasal 3 mid-central vowel A lowered central vowel [ ] phonetic transcription vowel length nasalization I glottal stop 2.1.1. THE VOWELS. phonetic transcription: [a] [A] [e] [a] [i] [o] [u] SKO: a a e s 1 o u 2.1.2. THE CONSONANTS. SKO phonetic SKO word meaning [¿] ^¿indimi] kan'lndimi the second 2none [¿] [¿Indi] Indi two b [b] [bara] bara hunt cc [£] [¿firn] cam milk dd [d] [dà] da meat ff [f] [fi to] fato house f [<|>] [<J>iI4>u] fufu lungs DICTIONARY OF THE KANURI LANGUAGE IX g [g] [gdro] goro kola nut g [y] [Ciya] clga fly h [h] [hawfir] hawar news J W M Je rope k [k] [kS] ka stick 1 [1] [ldmbo] lambo leaf 1 [1] [kali] kali wet m [m] [miisko] musko hand n In] [ni] na place ny [n] [ni] nyi you (sing.) P [p] [lApsfii] lapsal they load r [r] IT6] r 0 life s [s] [si] s a time t [t] [f ¿to] fato house w [w] [rrfwa] rawa uncle y [yl [yfkin] yikln I give 1 in medial position 2 in word-initial position 2.2. THE SKO AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE KANURI SOUND SYSTEM. In developing the Standard Kanuri Orthography, special attention had to be given to a number of linguistic features and processes which have a great influence on phonetic realizations in the Kanuri language. These features and processes which had an important impact on the rules and conventions of the SKO are the following: 1. With regard to morphological typology, Kanuri is an agglutinative language, i.e. most meaningful grammatical units occur as bound morphemes applied to roots through affixation. 2. A general process of consonant weakening is ongoing throughout the language, and is conditioned by morphophonemic, phonemic and phonetic contexts. 3. Apart from normal dialect variation, there also exists the problem of idiolects causing phonetic variation within the target Maiduguri (Yerwa) dialect. The following are examples of sound alternations due to prefixation and suffixation: DICTIONARY OF THE KANURI LANGUAGE x phonemic phonetic SKO meaning ns+s+d+kdr+na [nzdwdrina] nzoworana they have asked you kazia+Ki+Ka [kaza:da] kazaawaa having spears Consonant weakening is characterized by several stages which can be demonstrated through the application of rules capturing common phonological processes. Consonant weakening occurs most frequently in intervocalic position, as represented in the following examples: a) degemination: kaKKé [kakê] mine b) voicing: ¿Ta [¿da] this c) fricativization: ssKarfn [sa"yarfn] he or she carves d) voicing: zdBln [ziwin] they eat e) deletion: saKarfn [saarfn] they carve 2.3. IDIOLECTAL VARIATION IN THE MAIDUGURI (YERWA) DIALECT. For a significant number of basic lexical items there is considerable idiolectal variation in the target dialect. The SKO, and also this dictionary, propose standardized forms for such items represented in the following selection of examples: base form idiolectal variations SKO meaning miisko [mdsko, miikko, miiko] musko hand krfrGe [kärye, kärye, kirre, k3re] kirge region kiilGii [külwü, küllü, külü:] kulwu gown lenSKfn [leqîn, leyîn, lêfîn, lein] lengln I go 2.4. SKO CONVENTIONS FOR WRITING INTERVOCALIC g AND k. The underlying phonemes g and k are not realized as g and k in all environments. This can of course be explained by the ongoing process of consonant weakening. The following table shows the major changes which were taken into account in the development of the SKO, and the orthographic representations which were adopted:

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