Nigeria is the largest nation in sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately 25% of the population of ... more Nigeria is the largest nation in sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately 25% of the population of the subcontinent. At the time of writing, reliable census figures are not available; estimates of Nigeria's population range from 80 million to 120 million. Linguistically speaking, it is one of the most complex countries in the world, with approximately 440 languages (Crozier and Blench, 1993), comprising over 20% of Africa's 2000 plus languages. The most widely accepted classification of African languages (Greenberg, 1963, and subsequent modifications) postulates four major phyla for the continent: Niger–Congo, Afro–Asiatic, Nilo–Saharan, and Khoisan; all but the last of these are well represented in Nigeria. Nigeria's linguistic complexity is manifested first in the mere existence of such a large number of languages within one nation's borders, and second in the attendant situation of multilingualism, and its implications for development and education.
Page 1. Realizational Differences between Questions and Statements in Defaka Bruce Connell York U... more Page 1. Realizational Differences between Questions and Statements in Defaka Bruce Connell York University & University of Kent Akinbiyi Akinlabi, Will Bennett Rutgers University Inoma Essien, Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele, Ebitare Obikudo University of Port Harcourt Page 2. ...
The Mambiloid languages have for over half a century been considered to be Bantoid languages, how... more The Mambiloid languages have for over half a century been considered to be Bantoid languages, however little evidence has been offered to support this classification, or indeed for the internal integrity of the group. This chapter aims, first, to present background information about the putative Mambiloid group: its membership and their geographical setting, a brief discussion of the prehistory of the Mambiloid region, and of scholarship which has focussed on these languages, particularly with regard to their classification. Second, evidence is present to argue for their coherence as a group and for their status as a Bantoid language. A detailed classification based on lexical evidence is presented, using both Neighbor Joining and Neighbor Net algorithms; this constitutes the first attempt at classifying the Mambiloid languages using comparative evidence from virtually every known language of the putative group. Third, this classification is considered in light of more traditional evidence, in the form of sound correspondences and shared morphological characteristics. In so doing, while the historical comparative study of these language remains in its early stages, a foundation is set, and first steps taken, towards the reconstruction of Proto-Mambiloid.
East Benue-Congo: Reconstructions and Bantoid Classification. John R waters (Ed.) Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 4. Berlin: Language Science Press., 0
This chapter presents a substantially revised classification of the Cross River languages based o... more This chapter presents a substantially revised classification of the Cross River languages based on both lexical similarities and evidence from phonological innovations based in the comparative method. It begins with an overview of the traditionally accepted view of the putative Cross River languages. Central to the chapter is a presentation of the method used, its application and results. A later section is devoted to agreement systems and nominal classification, and an appendix comprises over 140 lexical reconstructions to proto-Cross River.
Affinities among the Cross River languages have been recognized since at least Greenberg (1963), in several cases much earlier, but to date little has been presented in the way of comparative-historical evidence to justify their status as a genealogical grouping, and the widely accepted subgrouping bifurcating Delta Cross and Bendi, and Delta Cross into four coordinate branches, viz, Central Delta, Ogoni, Lower Cross and Upper Cross. Several of the subgroups have been examined lexicostatisically and with the comparative method, but here, for the first time, the putative members of the group are subject to comparative-historical investigation as a group. A classification based on lexical evidence is presented using, not uncritically, a phylogenetic technique borrowed from evolutionary biology, now sometimes used in historical linguistics. The same data are subject to a network analysis. Evidence of phonological innovations is also adduced, resulting in the revised classification. This shows, in concert with certain earlier proposals, that Bendi is more closely affiliated with Bantoid than Cross River. The more drastic departure from earlier classifications is that Central Delta is not closely affiliated with Cross River, but that it separated from the parent Benue-Congo stock prior to the development of Bantoid-Cross. The situation of Ogoni is unclear, and while it is tentatively included as part of Cross River, further work is needed to solidify this view. Lower Cross and Upper Cross constitute two branches of Central Cross River.
Only French and English are acknowledged as official languages of Cameroon. However, there are a ... more Only French and English are acknowledged as official languages of Cameroon. However, there are a number of additional important languages of wider communication: Fula, or Fulfulde, spoken in the northern part of the country; Ewondo, the language of the capital, Yaounde, which serves as a lingua franca in the central region; and Duala, a lingua franca in the western region. Cameroon Pidgin English is spoken predominantly as a second language in the South West and North West provinces. Its use ranges far beyond these areas however, and in practice it is the most widely used lingua franca in Cameroon. In addition to widely used languages, Cameroon has a number of lesser used languages, and as many as 31 languages have fewer than 1000 speakers.
Previous studies have highlighted how African genomes have been shaped by a complex series of his... more Previous studies have highlighted how African genomes have been shaped by a complex series of historical events. Despite this, genome-wide data have only been obtained from a small proportion of present-day ethnolinguistic groups. By analyzing new autosomal genetic variation data of 1333 individuals from over 150 ethnic groups from Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sudan, we demonstrate a previously underappreciated fine-scale level of genetic structure within these countries, for example, correlating with historical polities in western Cameroon. By comparing genetic variation patterns among populations, we infer that many northern Cameroonian and Sudanese groups share genetic links with multiple geographically disparate populations, likely resulting from long-distance migrations. In Ghana and Nigeria, we infer signatures of intermixing dated to over 2000 years ago, corresponding to reports of environmental transformations possibly related to climate change. We also infer recent intermixing signals in multiple African populations, including Congolese, that likely relate to the expansions of Bantu language–speaking peoples.
The claim that there is a hierarchy governing the attrition of nasals according to place of artic... more The claim that there is a hierarchy governing the attrition of nasals according to place of articulation is put to test in this paper by examination of cross linguistic data from two language groups which are unrelated genetically and geographically: the Romance dialects of Northern Italy and the Lower Cross group of South-Eastern Nigeria. Results of this new survey provide interesting food for thought: developments in the Northern Italian dialects support, to a large extent, predictions that follow from phonetic considerations. However, the Lower Cross languages at first appear to contradict expectations. This suggests that other factors may need to be taken account of, before a true universal tendency, if one exists, can be established.August 19-24, 199
Over past two decades, interest in the state of the world’s linguistic heritage has increased dra... more Over past two decades, interest in the state of the world’s linguistic heritage has increased dramatically, such that there is now a considerably greater effort being put towards language development in situations where such development is a viable proposition. In cases where development or stabilization is no longer feasible, for example due to reduced numbers of speakers, documentation of such languages is still nonetheless desirable, as means of preserving both the unique linguistics structures that might exist in these languages, as well as the cultural and other forms of knowledge embodied in them. Accordingly. research programmes have been established by existing funding agencies, such as the DOBES programme of the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany), or the Documentation of Endangered Languages program set up by the National Science Foundation in the USA. Other organizations, such as the EMELD consortium have also come into existence with the aim of coordinating efforts towards u...
The study of sound change has been an important area of study in Linguistics throughout the moder... more The study of sound change has been an important area of study in Linguistics throughout the modern era of the discipline. The approach taken to its examination, however, has varied considerably over the years, and it is only recently that phonetics has begun to fit seriously again into the equation. In this dissertation, an exploration of certain consonantal sound changes observed in the Lower Cross languages of South-Eastern Nigeria is presented, taking as basic the assumption that a detailed knowledge of the phonetic characteristics of the languages in question and of general phonetic theory are essential in coming to grips with the phenomena of sound change. In order to achieve the desired aim of the dissertation it has been necessary first to provide an adequate phonetic description, since the Lower Cross languages are for the most part previously undescribed. This is done placing primary, but by no means exclusive, emphasis on Ibibio, the largest language of the group. A variet...
Nigeria is the largest nation in sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately 25% of the population of ... more Nigeria is the largest nation in sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately 25% of the population of the subcontinent. At the time of writing, reliable census figures are not available; estimates of Nigeria's population range from 80 million to 120 million. Linguistically speaking, it is one of the most complex countries in the world, with approximately 440 languages (Crozier and Blench, 1993), comprising over 20% of Africa's 2000 plus languages. The most widely accepted classification of African languages (Greenberg, 1963, and subsequent modifications) postulates four major phyla for the continent: Niger–Congo, Afro–Asiatic, Nilo–Saharan, and Khoisan; all but the last of these are well represented in Nigeria. Nigeria's linguistic complexity is manifested first in the mere existence of such a large number of languages within one nation's borders, and second in the attendant situation of multilingualism, and its implications for development and education.
Page 1. Realizational Differences between Questions and Statements in Defaka Bruce Connell York U... more Page 1. Realizational Differences between Questions and Statements in Defaka Bruce Connell York University & University of Kent Akinbiyi Akinlabi, Will Bennett Rutgers University Inoma Essien, Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele, Ebitare Obikudo University of Port Harcourt Page 2. ...
The Mambiloid languages have for over half a century been considered to be Bantoid languages, how... more The Mambiloid languages have for over half a century been considered to be Bantoid languages, however little evidence has been offered to support this classification, or indeed for the internal integrity of the group. This chapter aims, first, to present background information about the putative Mambiloid group: its membership and their geographical setting, a brief discussion of the prehistory of the Mambiloid region, and of scholarship which has focussed on these languages, particularly with regard to their classification. Second, evidence is present to argue for their coherence as a group and for their status as a Bantoid language. A detailed classification based on lexical evidence is presented, using both Neighbor Joining and Neighbor Net algorithms; this constitutes the first attempt at classifying the Mambiloid languages using comparative evidence from virtually every known language of the putative group. Third, this classification is considered in light of more traditional evidence, in the form of sound correspondences and shared morphological characteristics. In so doing, while the historical comparative study of these language remains in its early stages, a foundation is set, and first steps taken, towards the reconstruction of Proto-Mambiloid.
East Benue-Congo: Reconstructions and Bantoid Classification. John R waters (Ed.) Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 4. Berlin: Language Science Press., 0
This chapter presents a substantially revised classification of the Cross River languages based o... more This chapter presents a substantially revised classification of the Cross River languages based on both lexical similarities and evidence from phonological innovations based in the comparative method. It begins with an overview of the traditionally accepted view of the putative Cross River languages. Central to the chapter is a presentation of the method used, its application and results. A later section is devoted to agreement systems and nominal classification, and an appendix comprises over 140 lexical reconstructions to proto-Cross River.
Affinities among the Cross River languages have been recognized since at least Greenberg (1963), in several cases much earlier, but to date little has been presented in the way of comparative-historical evidence to justify their status as a genealogical grouping, and the widely accepted subgrouping bifurcating Delta Cross and Bendi, and Delta Cross into four coordinate branches, viz, Central Delta, Ogoni, Lower Cross and Upper Cross. Several of the subgroups have been examined lexicostatisically and with the comparative method, but here, for the first time, the putative members of the group are subject to comparative-historical investigation as a group. A classification based on lexical evidence is presented using, not uncritically, a phylogenetic technique borrowed from evolutionary biology, now sometimes used in historical linguistics. The same data are subject to a network analysis. Evidence of phonological innovations is also adduced, resulting in the revised classification. This shows, in concert with certain earlier proposals, that Bendi is more closely affiliated with Bantoid than Cross River. The more drastic departure from earlier classifications is that Central Delta is not closely affiliated with Cross River, but that it separated from the parent Benue-Congo stock prior to the development of Bantoid-Cross. The situation of Ogoni is unclear, and while it is tentatively included as part of Cross River, further work is needed to solidify this view. Lower Cross and Upper Cross constitute two branches of Central Cross River.
Only French and English are acknowledged as official languages of Cameroon. However, there are a ... more Only French and English are acknowledged as official languages of Cameroon. However, there are a number of additional important languages of wider communication: Fula, or Fulfulde, spoken in the northern part of the country; Ewondo, the language of the capital, Yaounde, which serves as a lingua franca in the central region; and Duala, a lingua franca in the western region. Cameroon Pidgin English is spoken predominantly as a second language in the South West and North West provinces. Its use ranges far beyond these areas however, and in practice it is the most widely used lingua franca in Cameroon. In addition to widely used languages, Cameroon has a number of lesser used languages, and as many as 31 languages have fewer than 1000 speakers.
Previous studies have highlighted how African genomes have been shaped by a complex series of his... more Previous studies have highlighted how African genomes have been shaped by a complex series of historical events. Despite this, genome-wide data have only been obtained from a small proportion of present-day ethnolinguistic groups. By analyzing new autosomal genetic variation data of 1333 individuals from over 150 ethnic groups from Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sudan, we demonstrate a previously underappreciated fine-scale level of genetic structure within these countries, for example, correlating with historical polities in western Cameroon. By comparing genetic variation patterns among populations, we infer that many northern Cameroonian and Sudanese groups share genetic links with multiple geographically disparate populations, likely resulting from long-distance migrations. In Ghana and Nigeria, we infer signatures of intermixing dated to over 2000 years ago, corresponding to reports of environmental transformations possibly related to climate change. We also infer recent intermixing signals in multiple African populations, including Congolese, that likely relate to the expansions of Bantu language–speaking peoples.
The claim that there is a hierarchy governing the attrition of nasals according to place of artic... more The claim that there is a hierarchy governing the attrition of nasals according to place of articulation is put to test in this paper by examination of cross linguistic data from two language groups which are unrelated genetically and geographically: the Romance dialects of Northern Italy and the Lower Cross group of South-Eastern Nigeria. Results of this new survey provide interesting food for thought: developments in the Northern Italian dialects support, to a large extent, predictions that follow from phonetic considerations. However, the Lower Cross languages at first appear to contradict expectations. This suggests that other factors may need to be taken account of, before a true universal tendency, if one exists, can be established.August 19-24, 199
Over past two decades, interest in the state of the world’s linguistic heritage has increased dra... more Over past two decades, interest in the state of the world’s linguistic heritage has increased dramatically, such that there is now a considerably greater effort being put towards language development in situations where such development is a viable proposition. In cases where development or stabilization is no longer feasible, for example due to reduced numbers of speakers, documentation of such languages is still nonetheless desirable, as means of preserving both the unique linguistics structures that might exist in these languages, as well as the cultural and other forms of knowledge embodied in them. Accordingly. research programmes have been established by existing funding agencies, such as the DOBES programme of the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany), or the Documentation of Endangered Languages program set up by the National Science Foundation in the USA. Other organizations, such as the EMELD consortium have also come into existence with the aim of coordinating efforts towards u...
The study of sound change has been an important area of study in Linguistics throughout the moder... more The study of sound change has been an important area of study in Linguistics throughout the modern era of the discipline. The approach taken to its examination, however, has varied considerably over the years, and it is only recently that phonetics has begun to fit seriously again into the equation. In this dissertation, an exploration of certain consonantal sound changes observed in the Lower Cross languages of South-Eastern Nigeria is presented, taking as basic the assumption that a detailed knowledge of the phonetic characteristics of the languages in question and of general phonetic theory are essential in coming to grips with the phenomena of sound change. In order to achieve the desired aim of the dissertation it has been necessary first to provide an adequate phonetic description, since the Lower Cross languages are for the most part previously undescribed. This is done placing primary, but by no means exclusive, emphasis on Ibibio, the largest language of the group. A variet...
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Papers by Bruce Connell
Affinities among the Cross River languages have been recognized since at least Greenberg (1963), in several cases much earlier, but to date little has been presented in the way of comparative-historical evidence to justify their status as a genealogical grouping, and the widely accepted subgrouping bifurcating Delta Cross and Bendi, and Delta Cross into four coordinate branches, viz, Central Delta, Ogoni, Lower Cross and Upper Cross. Several of the subgroups have been examined lexicostatisically and with the comparative method, but here, for the first time, the putative members of the group are subject to comparative-historical investigation as a group. A classification based on lexical evidence is presented using, not uncritically, a phylogenetic technique borrowed from evolutionary biology, now sometimes used in historical linguistics. The same data are subject to a network analysis. Evidence of phonological innovations is also adduced, resulting in the revised classification. This shows, in concert with certain earlier proposals, that Bendi is more closely affiliated with Bantoid than Cross River. The more drastic departure from earlier classifications is that Central Delta is not closely affiliated with Cross River, but that it separated from the parent Benue-Congo stock prior to the development of Bantoid-Cross. The situation of Ogoni is unclear, and while it is tentatively included as part of Cross River, further work is needed to solidify this view. Lower Cross and Upper Cross constitute two branches of Central Cross River.
Affinities among the Cross River languages have been recognized since at least Greenberg (1963), in several cases much earlier, but to date little has been presented in the way of comparative-historical evidence to justify their status as a genealogical grouping, and the widely accepted subgrouping bifurcating Delta Cross and Bendi, and Delta Cross into four coordinate branches, viz, Central Delta, Ogoni, Lower Cross and Upper Cross. Several of the subgroups have been examined lexicostatisically and with the comparative method, but here, for the first time, the putative members of the group are subject to comparative-historical investigation as a group. A classification based on lexical evidence is presented using, not uncritically, a phylogenetic technique borrowed from evolutionary biology, now sometimes used in historical linguistics. The same data are subject to a network analysis. Evidence of phonological innovations is also adduced, resulting in the revised classification. This shows, in concert with certain earlier proposals, that Bendi is more closely affiliated with Bantoid than Cross River. The more drastic departure from earlier classifications is that Central Delta is not closely affiliated with Cross River, but that it separated from the parent Benue-Congo stock prior to the development of Bantoid-Cross. The situation of Ogoni is unclear, and while it is tentatively included as part of Cross River, further work is needed to solidify this view. Lower Cross and Upper Cross constitute two branches of Central Cross River.