Africa – serie

A Grammar of Mbembe is a description of a little studied Jukunoid language which is spoken in the borderland of Nigeria and Cameroon. Present-day structures of different dialects are described and discussed with respect to diachronic developments. It is based on extensive fieldwork, but also takes into consideration previous work on Mbembe and other Jukunoid languages. The main topics in the chapters on the noun phrase and the verb and simple sentence structures are nominal classification and number marking based on Ablaut phenomena and tone, argument structure, and serial verb constructions. The remaining chapters cover phonology, complex structures, information structure and requesting information, and other word classes. This is complemented by example texts and a word list in the appendix.

This is the first comprehensive description of Tutrugbu(Nyangbo-nyb), a Ghana Togo Mountain(gtm) language of the Kwa family. It is based on a documentary corpus of different genre of linguistic and cultural practices gathered during periods of immersion fieldwork. Tutrugbu speakers are almost all bilingual in Ewe, another Kwa language. The book presents innovative analyses of phenomena like Advanced Tongue Root and labial vowel harmony, noun classes, topological relational verbs, the two classes of adpositions, obligatory complement verbs, multi-verbs in a single clause, and information structure. This grammar is unparalleled in including a characterization of culturally defined activity types and their associated speech formulae and routine strategies. It should appeal to linguists interested in African languages, language documentation and typology.

A Grammar of Pévé is the first full description of the Pévé language, a member of the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Pévé is spoken in parts of the southwestern area of the Republic of Chad and the Northern province of the Republic of Cameroon. The grammar will add to information and analyses concerning Afro-Asiatic languages and will help Pévé speakers preserve their language, history, cultural activities, and intercultural relations. The goal of the volume is to document and preserve the language for the benefit of generations to come and to make characteristics of the language available for further research in linguistics, history, anthropology, sociology and related fields.

In A Grammar of Makary Kotoko, Sean Allison provides a thorough description and analysis of Makary Kotoko - a Central Chadic language of Cameroon, framing the discussion within R.M.W. Dixon’s (2010a, 2010b, 2012) Basic Linguistic Theory. Working with an extensive corpus of recorded texts supplemented by interactions with native speakers of the language, the author provides the first full grammar of a Kotoko language. The detailed analysis of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse features of Makary Kotoko is from a functional/typological perspective. Being based on a large number of oral texts, the analysis provides an example-rich description showing the range of variation of the constructions presented while giving insights into Kotoko culture.

In A Grammar of Lopit, Jonathan Moodie and Rosey Billington provide the first detailed description of Lopit, an Eastern Nilotic language traditionally spoken in the Lopit Mountains in South Sudan. Drawing on extensive primary data, the authors describe the phonology, morphology, and syntax of the Lopit language. Their analyses offer new insights into phenomena characteristic of Nilo-Saharan languages, such as ‘Advanced Tongue Root’ vowel distinctions, tripartitite number marking, and marked-nominative case systems, and they uncover patterns which are previously unattested within the Eastern Nilotic family, such as a three-way contrast in aspect, number marking with the ‘greater singular’, and two kinds of inclusory constructions. This book offers a significant contribution to the descriptive and typological literature on African languages.

This is the first broad, detailed grammar of the Giziga language, which belongs to the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. The language is spoken in parts of the Far North Region of the Republic of Cameroon and can be divided into two dialects, Giziga and Northern Giziga, with about 80,000 native speakers in total. This volume describes the Giziga dialect, occasionally referring to the Northern variety, and aims to provide new information about this and other Afro-Asiatic languages for further research in linguistics, history, anthropology, sociology and related fields. The book will also be a tool helping Giziga speakers preserve their language, history and culture for future generations.