African Languages: An Introduction Authors:
Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse
Publisher: Cambridge University, 2000

This book introduces us to the four main groups of African languages, the Niger-Congo, the Nilo-Saharan, the Khoisan, and the Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic), their phonological, morphological and syntactical features. The book has twelve chapters.

* An introduction

* The Niger-Congo group.

* The Nilo-Saharan group.

* The Afro-Asiatic group.

* The Khoisan group.

* The Phonology.

* The Morphology.

* The Syntax.

* Classification.

* Comparative Linguistics.

* Language and history.

* Language and society.

At the very outset, in Chapter One, an introduction, the authors put the number of African languages at around 2035. This figure however is liable to change depending on the discovery of new languages or the demise of old ones; and depending also on linguists' perspectives. Linguists could be classified as either splitters or lumpers. Splitters tend to consider dialects as distinct languages, whereas lumpers do not.

The authors then embark on Chapter Two dealing with the Niger-Congo group. It is said to be the group with languages spoken by the greatest number of people not just in Africa but throughout the globe. It includes around 1436 language spoken by 400 million people. Of these, the most prominent, the Wolof, spoken in Senegal, the Fulani in West and central Africa, the Bambara in Mali, the Akan in Ghana, the Yoruba, and the Igbo in Nigeria, the Sango in the Central African Republic.

Attempts to classify the Niger-Congo group were first initiated in the 19th century. European scholars were interested in the Bantu. Among those was the leading German Africanist Carl Meinhof who classified the so-called Sudanic family. Sigismund Koelle, a missionary living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and German scholar Wilhelm Bleek discovered there were similarities existing between a number of West African languages and Bantu. Meinhof's disciple Dietrich Westermann further classified the Sudanic family into 6 sub-groups. Then came Joseph Greenberg, a United States linguists to make a strong impact with his revision of the African language groups and with the adjustments introduced to the Niger-Congo group. The Greenberg classification stood intact until the mid 1970s when a relatively new classification came into existence. Under the new classification, the Niger-Congo group is broken down into eight sub-groups, with each branching off into smaller sub-division including several languages. The sub-groups include:

* Kordofanian.

* Mande.

* Atlantic.

* Ijoid

* Dogon.

* North Volta-Congo (including Kru, Gur [Voltaic] Adamawa Ubangi).

* South Volta Congo (including Kwa and Bennue-Congo)

* A number of unclassified languages with features belonging the Niger-Congo group (Pre, Mpre, Laal)

Chapter Two also examines the criteria upon which a language is classified. Classifications are made according to:

* Phonology (vowels, consonants, inflexion).

* Affixes.

* Verb conjugation.

* Syntax.

* Vocabulary.

In the Chapter Three, the authors turn their attention to the second of the three groups of languages under study in this book, namely the Nilo-Saharan. Languages of this group are spoken in 15 African countries, in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Uganda, the Sudan, Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali as well as in parts of Algeria, Libya and the Cameroon.

The number of languages classified as belonging to this group is still undecided since no definitive criteria has been established to distinguish between language and dialect. A general estimate, however, would put the number at 108-195.

The Nilo-Saharan group is broken down into seven sub-groups:

* Songay.

* Saharan.

* Kuliak.

* A sub-group, the largest, which alone includes sub-divisions, namely Maban, Fur, Central Sudanic, Koman, Alberta and Kur.

* Koman.

* Gumuz

* Kadu or Kadugli Krongo

The authors then move on to discussing the history of the group since it was first classified, particularly Westermann's endeavours (1940), and Greenberg's 1955 and 1963 modified classification. Mention is also given to later Africanists and linguists. The book then examines the types of reliable classifications, namely those attempted according to location, heredity, politics, category, and region. The advantages and shortcomings of each are cited and applications made.

At this point the question arises of whether the Saharan group is an intact entity or a mere lumping of a number of unrelated sub-groups. In answer, the authors stress that the languages of the Nilo-Saharan group are indeed related, that they have as many common morphological and dictionary features as needed to prove that they are the descendants of the same parent group. They share a great number of pronouns, of copula, of verb negatives, of transitive and intransitive verb formations, of vocabulary and sounds.

Chapter Four deals with the Afro-Asiatic group. Before introducing the families of the group, the authors pause to note that this is the least controversial among African language group. Many of its sub-groups have been under study for a long time and some of its languages are not Africa-specific but are spoken in other parts of the world, mainly in Asia. Peoples speaking languages of the Afro-Asiatic group are known to have been the world's first civilisation builders; e.g. the ancient Egyptian, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Hebrews and the Arabs.

The authors then list the sub-groups:

* Berber.

* Chadic.

* Ancient Egyptian.

* Semitic.

* Cushitic.

* Omotic.

It is to be noted here that while the belonging to the Afro-Asiatic group of the ancient Egyptian, the Chadic, the Berber and the Semitic languages has been confirmed, that of the Cushitic and the Omotic is still under controversy.

The authors then move to discussing the circumstances leading to the evolution of the term Afro-Asiatic (previously called Hamito-Semitic). A review is made of the studies conducted on the Afro-Asiatic languages, and their various classifications.

The similarities and common features are then examined which prove that Afro-Asiatic languages do have the same parent:

* Personal pronouns.

* Parsing.

* Pluralisation.

* Subject-verb consistency.

* Verb conjugation.

* Vocabulary and phonology.

The authors then attempt to establish the origin of the Afro-Asiatic languages. They submit the arguments of two different groups of scholars. The first believe that these languages originate in Asia from where they spread into Africa. The second believe it is the other way round.

Chapter Five discusses the Khoisan group, earlier known as the Bushman-Hottentot group. The smallest of African language groups, it now comprises 30 languages out of an original 100. Most Khoisan languages are either extinct or on their way to extinction. Languages still spoken are used in Namibia, and Botswana, as well as in small parts of Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Special attention is given to Greenberg's attempts to classify the Khoisan languages, attempts based on comparing context and meaning, and syntax and morphology. Later attempts by other scholars, linguists and Africanists are also reviewed.

The group breaks down into five sub-groups:

* Non-Khoe.

* Khoe

* Sandawe.

* Kwadi.

* Hadza.

In this part of the book, the authors review the bulk of studies conducted in relation to the group, and assess their quality, determining if they are in-depth studies or mere simple treatments. Then, they move on to estimating the number Africans speaking Khoisan languages. The authors put it at just around 200 thousand. This shows that languages of the group face a real danger, particular now with pressure being exerted to implement economic and political changes.

The sound patterns common between the various languages of the Khoisan group, especially the clucking sounds and the compounding of phonemes are then examined. Also discussed in this section are the syntactical and morphological features of the group as well similarities of vocabulary.

Chapter Six deals with phonology. Here a number of phonological concepts are given which the authors attempt to apply to African languages in general:

* Phoneme-building schemes.

* Consonants.

* Vowel harmony.

* Syllables.

* Consonant clustering.

* Prosody.

In Chapter Seven, the authors deal with the morphological aspects of African languages:

* Language classifications.

* Morpheme analysis units.

* Construction.

* Conjugation and derivatives.

* Morphological patterns.

* Phonological and grammatical units.

* Phraseology.

Other issues dealt with in this chapter include:

* Syntactical patterns.

* Iconisation.

* Morphology vs. phonology.

* Noun classifications.

* Patterns of phraseology.

Chapter discusses Syntax. It deals first with the simple sentence with special emphasis given to:

* Basic units.

* Sentence order.

* Nominal sentences, and noun consistency.

* Imperative and interrogation modes.

* Negation.

* The passive mode.

* Emphasis

Then the authors move to discussing compound and complex sentence-making focusing on:

As a general rule, it is safe to conclude that the verb occupies a central position in most African languages. Simple sentences follow the patterns, verb-subject-object (VSO), subject-object-verb (SOV) or subject-verb-object. Chapter Nine discusses the question of patternisation as a means to language classification. At first a historical review is given which explains how patterns were, and are still used to differentiate between languages. The criteria are then given:

* Subject and object.

* Verb.

* Nominal sentence structuring.

* Sentence ordering.

* Non-verbal structures.

* Compound structures.

At the outset of Chapter Ten, which deals with the science of comparative linguistics, a brief introduction is given explaining its object as providing information about the history of a number or a group of languages. The authors underline the fact that, in the case of African languages, although have already been registered, some have yet to be.

The Chapter discusses four principal issues:

* Grouping and sub-grouping.

* Restructuring.

* Phonology rules

* Word borrowing.

Chapter Eleven examines language in a historical context. Five main issues are discussed here:

* History of language and humanity.

* Linguistic scheme build-up (the Nilo-Saharan model)

* Ancient societies (Examples from the history of the Nilo-Saharan families).

* History of the Khoisan, Afro-Asiatic and Niger-Congo-speaking peoples.

* History-writing based on linguistic evidence.

Chapter Twelve deals with language and society, and attempts to answer question like who speaks a language, to whom does he address himself, what does he want to say, and where and when.

Several concepts are discussed:

* Linguistic variations.

* The socio-cultural dimensions leading to linguistic changes.

* The multi-language speaker phenomenon.

* Linguistic planning