Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages

440 Pages·2011·3.27 MB·English

by  Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study
of African Languages

Historical Linguistics
and the Comparative Study
of African Languages
Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
University of Cologne
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
8
National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dimmendaal, Gerrit Jan.
Historical linguistics and the comparative study of African languages / Gerrit J. Dimmendaal.
       p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.  African languages--Grammar, Comparative. 2.  Historical linguistics.  I. Title.
PL8008.D56 2011
496--dc22 2011002759
isbn 978 90 272 1178 1 (Hb; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 1179 8 (Pb; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 8722 9 (Eb)
© 2011 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other
means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company • P.O. Box 36224 • 1020 me Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O. Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
Table of contents
Preface ix
Figures xiii
Maps xv
Tables xvii
Part I. The comparative method 1
chapter 1
Explaining similarities 3
1.1 Th e introduction of historical-comparative linguistics
in an African context 4
1.2 Sound correspondences and reconstructions 9
1.3 Additional methodological considerations 14
chapter 2
Explaining sound change 23
2.1 Some common types of segmental changes 23
2.2 Tonal changes 35
2.3 Sound change and its link with syllable structure and word structure 39
2.4 Structural consequences of sound change 43
2.5 What does it mean to explain sound changes? 50
2.6 Explaining exceptions 54
chapter 3
Classification and subclassification techniques 59
3.1 Shared innovations 60
3.2 Lexicostatistics 71
3.3 Mass comparison 74
3.4 The comparative study of African language families: A brief summary 81
chapter 4
Morphosyntactic changes 93
4.1 Morphological innovations and subclassification 93
4.2 More on analogy 101
4.3 Other types of morphological reinterpretations 109
4.4 Syntactic reconstruction 111
vi Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages
chapter 5
Semantic change 115
5.1 Stating the problem 115
5.2 Metaphors and metonymy 118
5.3 Grammaticalisation theories 122
5.4 Semantic change and cultural experience 132
5.5 The role played by cognition 135
chapter 6
Internal reconstruction 141
6.1 The historical relevance of synchronic morphophonemic alternations 141
6.2 Why today’s morphology is not necessarily yesterday’s syntax 149
chapter 7
Language-internal variation 153
7.1 Establishing dialect zones 153
7.2 Dialectometrical studies 164
7.3 The transition problem 167
7.4 Resolving the Neogrammarian controversy 174
Part II. The linguistic manifestation of contact 177
chapter 8
Borrowing 179
8.1 Lexical and grammatical borrowing 179
8.2 Structural borrowing 188
8.3 Codeswitching 199
8.4 Linguistic areas on the African continent 203
chapter 9
Pidginisation and creolisation 213
9.1 Pidginised and creolised languages 213
9.2 Bickerton’s bio-program 218
9.3 The role of substrate languages 223
9.4 Pidginisation and creolisation rather than pidgins and creoles 230
chapter 10
Syncretic languages 237
10.1 On so-called mixed languages 238
10.2 The emblematic role of syncretic languages 245
10.3 Special-purpose languages 248
Table of contents vii
chapter 11
Language contraction and language shift 253
11.1 Language contraction 253
11.2 Language shift and social identity 261
chapter 12
Language contact phenomena and genetic classification 265
12.1 History repeats itself 266
12.2 On so-called non-genetic and multi-genetic developments 267
12.3 Cladistic versus rhizotic models 276
Part III. Studying language change in a wider context 281
chapter 13
Language typology and reconstruction 283
13.1 Phonological typology as a heuristic and controlling device 283
13.2 Morphological typology and reconstruction 290
13.3 Syntactic typology and reconstruction 298
chapter 14
Remote relationships and genetic diversity on the African continent 307
14.1 On so-called long range comparisons 308
14.2 Afroasiatic 309
14.3 Nilo-Saharan 312
14.4 Niger-Congo 318
14.5 Additional language families and linguistic isolates 324
14.6 A note on stable and unstable features in languages 329
chapter 15
Language and history 333
15.1 The words-and-things method 334
15.2 The spreading of language families and population movement 336
15.3 Interpreting borrowing in a cultural-historical perspective 344
chapter 16
Some ecological properties of language development 347
16.1 Biological evolution and language evolution 348
16.2 Punctuation and equilibrium periods 352
16.3 A potential linguistic parallel of the species-area effect 355
16.4 Self-organising principles 365
16.5 Some final remarks 370
viii Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages
References 373
Appendix 407
Language and language family index 409
Subject index 419
Preface
Although the comparative method has been applied to a range of African language
families, these have received little coverage in general textbooks. The present mono-
graph was written firstly in order to make the literature on African language families
available to a wider public, and to give these languages the proper place they deserve
in the comparative study of human language. Unfortunately, many students in African
countries do not have access to more recent developments in historical-comparative
linguistics or to the literature published on language families in their home countries,
due to the sometimes deplorable financial situations at the institutions where they are
studying. Furthermore, students interested in the historical comparison of African
languages and the comparative method often have to use textbooks focusing on other
parts of the world. Although this is useful in itself, these African languages also have
their own story to tell, because of specific genetic and areal properties. This constitutes
the second raison d’être for the present monograph. If the historical-comparative study
of African languages were not to reveal certain novelties, one might still question the
usefulness of another textbook on the comparative method.
An attempt has been made here to present a critical assessment of some current
views in historical linguistics and to formulate a kind of research agenda which spells
out the specific needs, as seen by the present author, concerning the future investiga-
tion of (African) languages. Readers no doubt at times will disagree with the position
taken by the present author on certain matters. The interpretation of so-called “mixed
languages”, “creoles” or aspects of current grammaticalisation theories is no doubt con-
troversial and, to some extent, runs against the (apparent) communis opinio. By explic-
itly stating my own position and by forwarding arguments for and against alternative
positions, the reader should be able to take a stance especially on such controversial
matters. Hopefully, these explicit statements in the current volume will also help to
stimulate (rather than to kill) the academic debate.
Some readers may observe (or complain) that there is a particularly strong focus
on Eastern and Central Africa in this textbook. This is due above all to the primary
research experience of the author. Although an attempt has been made to include as
many interesting phenomena from other parts of Africa as possible, it is not feasible
to give detailed information about each and every language family on the African
continent in a study of this size.