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"With over 60 million speakers across Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon, Hausa is one of the most widely spoken African languages, and is known for its rich phonology and complex morphological and verbal systems. Written by Paul Newman, the world's leading expert on Hausa, this ground-breaking book is a synthesis of his life's work, and provides a lucid and comprehensive history of the language. It describes Hausa as it existed in former times and sets out subsequent changes in phonology, including tonology, morphology, grammar, and lexicon. It also contains a large loanword inventory, which highlights the history of Hausa's interaction with other languages and peoples. It offers new insights not only on Hausa in the past, but also on the Hausa language as spoken today. It is an invaluable resource for specialists in Hausa, Chadic, Afroasiatic, and other African languages as well as general historical linguists and typologists"--
List of contents
Preface; 1. The hausa language; 2. Phonology; 3. Morphology; 4. Syntax-grammar; 5. Loanwords; 6. Lexicon and etymologies; 7. Conclusion.
About the author
Paul Newman is the world's foremost authority on the Hausa language. He is also an attorney with special interest in the intersection of language and law. He was a member of the first Peace Corps group to go to Nigeria back in 1961. He has held academic positions at Yale, Bayero University Kano, University of Leiden, and Indiana University. He has published over 20 books and was the founding editor of the Journal of African Languages.
Summary
Written by the world's leading expert on Hausa, this book provides a lucid and comprehensive linguistic history of the language, highlighting changes in phonology, tonology, morphology, grammar, and lexicon. It is an invaluable resource for specialists in African and Afroasiatic languages, as well as general historical linguists and typologists.
