Îinkin Kaya 3.08

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INKIN KAYA

GRAMMAR TOPICS • Pronunciation: The two “r”-sounds of Hausa and assimilations involving “r” • Uses of the general and relative forms of the completive and the continuative • Practice with quality words • Impersonal subjects

CULTURAL THEMES • Traditional clothes • Getting clothes made by a tailor • Types of embroidery • Islamic behavior: contact between men and women INKIN KAYA: Maza 3.08a

KALMOMI

aun ‘measure’ kai ‘take, carry’ b ‘give’ k k (m) ‘sewing machine’ b bba r g (f)

‘large, flowing sleeveless man’s gown’

ku (m) ‘price’

biy ‘pay’ irg ‘count’ cik ‘complete, fill out’ lall ‘for sure’ c ka ‘be complete’ m nyan k y (m) ‘babbar riga (q.v.) with matching d w ‘come back’ shirt and pants’ dub ‘thousand’ rag w (f) ‘remainder’

r ‘hundred’ r n (f) ‘day (time period)’ ink ‘sew’ r t ye ‘hanging’ ink (m) ‘sewing’ s ‘cause’

f (m) ‘breadth, width’ samf (m) ‘sample’ g b aya ‘altogether’ sh íaw (f) ‘admiration, admiring’ gam ‘finish’ t l , t l l ‘tailor’ h l (m) ‘behavior’ tsaw (m) ‘height’ hann (m) ‘arm; hand; sleeve’ w nd (m) ‘pants’ ta ‘like, same as’ y d (m) ‘cloth, yardage; yard (unit of

inc (m) ‘inch’ measurement)’ ir ‘kind, type’ y da ‘agree’ k ft n (m) ‘long, collarless gown with long y u ‘today’ sleeves’ íya sh r (f) ‘hip length, sleeveless gown’ 1. n ak sh ga wann n l b ? Y y s nan wur n? 2. Su w n n suk nan?

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3. W c m gan gaskiy c ? a. M l m bd ll h y s yi y d n ink wurin t l . b. M l m bd ll h y c w t l y s yi y d n ink . c. M l m bd ll h y s yi y d n ink wani wur y k w . d. B yan M l m bd ll h y gay w t l m yak s , sai t l ya gay mas y d naw

zai s ya. 4. B yy n y d na duk n wa nn n: • íya sh r • m nyan k y • k ft n 5. H k w n ir n k yan d yaw n y d ns d kuma ku ins :

K y Y d Ku m nyan k y y d uk ß600 k ft n d w nd y d b ya ß400 íya sh r y d g m ß200

6. Ta y y M l m bd ll h ya yank sh wa g me d (decide about) b bba r g na

aik n hann k na k k ? 7. W nn ya fi yi mak /mik sh íaw ? 8. Naw n ink n k y g b aya? Naw n ink n m nyan k y ? 9. D m d m t l ya aun ? 10. K aun j n k ma yadd (in the way that) t l ya aun M l m bd ll h . 11. M l m bd ll h y b t l ku in ink duka? Don m ? 12. M c M l m bd ll h y z wurin t l r na T l t . Y ush z i d w don y k r i

ink ?

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INKIN KAYA: Mata 3.08b

KALMOMI

b yan ‘after’ m i zuw ‘next, the coming’ d guw ‘long, tall’ nag ri ‘good’ d b ‘look at’ r g (f) ‘gown’

an kw l (m) ‘scarf’ s t (m) ‘week’ gwad ‘measure’ s ‘want, like’ sa ‘be enough’ t sh ‘stand up’

iy ‘up to, as far as’ t f (m) ‘tape’ j w ‘pull down’ tsay ‘stop’ k m t ‘should’ yaw (m) ‘overabundance’ kw n (m) ‘day, 24 hour period’ y y (m) ‘fashion’ ky u (m) ‘beauty’ z (m) ‘choice’

as ‘low, downward’ 1. n n ak yi wann n z nc ? 2. What is the meaning of the following exchange? Ma nk : Kw n biyu. F d : w ll h . 3. M F d ta k w wurin ink ? n ta aj y ? 4. n samfu in ink suk ? 5. Don m Ma y m ta t sh ? M ta c w íyan m t n? 6. W c ir n r g F d ta z ? Don m ma nk ya c t yi z nag ri? 7. W c c ta aun F d ? Don m ma nk b i aun ta ba k ma yadd (in the way

that) ya yi d M l m bd ll h ? 8. Hannun r ga F d z i kai n ? Tsawon r g f ? 9. B yan kw na naw íyan m t suk c z s d w ? M ma nk ya fa mus ?

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1. Pronunciation: The Two “r” Sounds of Hausa

(see a demo movie at www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/hausabaka; follow the link to the “Manual” and scroll to 308 inkin Kaya)

“Standard” Hausa has two distinct “r” sounds. These are not distinguished in the

orthography used in printing Hausa books, but they are distinguished in the Hausar Baka materials:

• Retroflex flap (written in Hausar Baka materials with a plain r): This is pronounced by

curling the tongue back and flipping it forward such that it briefly touches the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind the upper front teeth).

• Tap or trill (written in Hausar Baka materials as r): This is the “r” sound familiar in many of the world’s languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, and many others. This “r” is pronounced by rapidly tapping the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue once or with a repeated “trilled” or “rolled” r.

This distinction proves difficult to hear and produce for those of us who have not

grown up making it, and indeed, many Hausa speakers do not make the distinction, using only the tap/trill. Nonetheless, a large proportion of the Hausa-speaking world does make the distinction, and speakers are completely consistent in which “r” they pronounce in any particular word. We can see this consistency by comparing the pronunciation of speakers of modern Hausa with the pronunciations indicated in Bargery’s dictionary (G.P. Bargery, A Hausa-English Dictionary and English-Hausa Vocabulary, Oxford University Press, 1934). Bargery marked the distinction, and the pronunciation of speakers today corresponds exactly to the pronuciation as Bargery marked it for particular words in the first half of the 20th century.

By and large, the retroflex flap is the “native” Hausa r-sound, i.e. the one that appears in most words native to Hausa, whereas borrowed words that contain an “r” sound, regardless of the source language, invariably have the tap/trill. Compare the following native words with similar borrowed words: rab ‘half’ R bi < Arabic woman’s name r sh ‘branch’ z < English ‘razor’ t r ‘a pile’ t h < Arabic ‘history’ g r sh ‘in his presence’ g j < English ‘garage’

Indeed, this correspondence of type of r to the source of words is so strong that linguists interested in the history of Hausa generally assume that words containing a tap/trill came into Hausa from some other language, even where the source language is not known, e.g. g‰ ‘kola nut’, ta ‘nine’, b g‰ ‘blanket’ are all assumed to be borrowed words.

There are, however, many apparently native words that have the tap/trill. Nearly all “emphatic” words, such as intensifying adverbs and ideophones and verbs indicating some kind of intensive action have the tap/trill, e.g. wa ai ‘very much so’, amas ideophone for ‘be dry’ (y b sh amas ‘it’s completely dried up’), abk ‘drub, flog’. Moreover, the retroflex flap cannot be pronounced in certain contexts, where only the tap/trill is possible, even in native words: • Before the sounds t, d, , n only the tap/trill is possible: tsa t ‘spit in a stream’,

ga dam ‘dispute’, mu ‘twist’, bi n ‘city’ • At the end of a word, only the tap/trill is possible: b ya ‘five’, d kya ‘(only) with

difficulty’

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Although the distinction between the two r’s tends to be difficult to hear for those of

us who are not accustomed to it, it becomes very clear when the r’s are doubled. The doubled retroflex flap is pronounced by holding the tongue in its curled back position, producing a sound almost like American English “r” as in bird. The tap/trill, when doubled, is always pronounced as a trill (a rapid series of tongue strikes). One can hear this in reduplicated verbs such as the following, which can be heard on the demo mentioned at the beginning of this section: y rarr b g‰ ‘he passed out kolas’ y a bk shi ‘he flogged him (repeatedly)’

In the video segment 3.08 Dinkin Kaya: Maza, both the male speakers make a clear distinction between the two r-sounds. This comes out in phrases where both r’s are close to each other. The following phrases from the video are included in the demo movie: Nai r shid ‘six-hundred Naira’ z n b k r g‰w r takw s ‘I will give you the remaining eight hundred’

2. Pronunciation: Gemination of the Feminine Linker ñ

In the preceding section on the two “r” sounds of Hausa, most examples involved the r’s before vowels. Both r’s can also come before consonants (though, as noted, only the tap/trill may come before t, d, , n). In the Hausar Baka materials, we write the feminine linker between nouns as the tap/trill , e.g. na yi mak sh aw wann n ‘I like the looks of that one on you’, and it can be pronounced as such, as in this illustrative phrase from the video 3.08a Dinkin Kaya: Maza. However, you may have noticed that even though the feminine linker is written this way in transcripts for the videos, the speakers often do not pronounce it as such. Instead, they more often than not pronounce ñ +C (C = any consonant) as a doubling of the C. Indeed, in 3.08b Farida’s friend says, “Gaskiy , n yi mik sh aw tt ,” a phrase almost identical to that above, but with double tt instead of t. Here are some more examples from videos: 3.08a yash sh r ‘sleeveless vest’ (literally: “daughter-of sweeping”) 1.14a bishiy ˘raw ‘locust-bean tree’ 1.14b J mi b B ya ‘Bayero University 1.14b tuk ba m i ts r = tuk bam m i ts r ëshikebab sellerís roasting moundí (pronunciations heard in consecutive phrases)

This “gemination” of a consonant (C) instead ñ +C extends to any tap/trill whenever it comes before a consonant in the same phrase, not just the feminine linker. Here are some examples of gemination of the tap/trill other than the feminine linker that appear in the videos: (3.08b) k k k j w‰! ‘don’t pull it down!’, (1.10b) hak kin ida ‘so you’ve even finished (praying)?’

We have generally written in the Hausar Baka video materials regardless of pronunciation, and the regular Hausa writing system likewise always writes “r” in these cases. The reason for this is to distinguish cases where a word has a “real” double consonant, such as s nnu ‘hello; sorry’, bukk ‘grass hut’, hamm ‘yawning’, from cases where there is an tap/trill that could potentially be pronounced as such.

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3. Pronunciation: Assimilation of n to following r, , l

When a word ends in –n, the n assimilates to a following consonant. An n always assimilates to become m when the next word begins with b, , or m, that is, bilabial sounds (sounds where the lips are together), for example, mun m nt pronounced [mum m nt ] ‘we forgot’, b yan B l pronounced [b yam B l ] ‘behind Bala’. An n also usually assimilates to following r, , l (the so-called liquid sounds), where it forms a double liquid. This can be heard in the demo movie referenced under section 1 above, where the final n of sun creates double r and . sun[r] rurr ‘they spoiled en masse’ sun[ ] u ub t w s ‘they wrote a letter’ This would also take place before l, for example, mun[l] l ra ‘we paid attention’.

4. Using General and Relative Forms of Completive and Continuative

Here are the dialogs from 3.08ab with some of the tense-marking pronouns omitted. Fill in the missing pronoun, MARKING TONE AND VOWEL LENGTH, and on the line below, fill in the name of the tense (GENERAL COMPLETIVE, RELATIVE COMPLETIVE, GENERAL

CONTINUATIVE, RELATIVE CONTINUATIVE) and the reason why that tense is appropriate. The second answer is filled in as an example. Typical reasons (not necessarily an exhaustive list) would be the following: • completed action • ongoing action • existing state • performative verb • follows a questioned word/emphasized word

INKIN KAYA: MAZA Abdullahi: G ink n k w . Ma inki: M z ink mak ? A: Wann n, z ink min íya sh r . M: Naí m. A: Wann n, m nyan k y . M: Naí m. A: Wann n kuma, k ft n . M: K ft n d w ndont , y d b ya . íYa

sh r , y d uk . M nyan k y y d g m . A: T , hak n . Sh ya s na k w y d g m sh takw s. Naw z n biy ku in ink

g b aya? M: G b aya z k biy Nai dub aya d r biyu. A: Nai dub aya d r biyu? M: Naí m. A: T˘ y da. Naw n ku in ink n m nyan k y ?

M: B bba r g , w c ir kak s ? Na hann k na k k ? Rel. Cont.: preceding question word requires relative, so ‘want’ is always cont.

A: a, kan d samf ? M: In d samf . G su nan ...

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A: n ? M: ... r t ye. A: T , s n nan? M: Naí m, s n . A: T . Y f r d ban k y . Datt : mm sun d ky u. A: wa ai k wa. ... Wann n, sh n na hann ? M: W nnan sh n na hann . A: T , wann n f ? M: W nnan na k k . D: mm yi mak sh íaw wann n. A: wa ai k wa. Y ding d b . Naw n ku in ink n wann n? M: W nnan, ink shi Nai r shidd . A: Nai r shid ? M: Nai r shid . A: T˘ b k m , [naí m] y yi ky u. [naí m] Naw n ku ink g b aya? M: G b aya, Nai dub aya d r biyu. A: í , ha wann n. Y n n samf n. Wann n, k c Nai dub aya (d ) r biyu,

ku in ink . M: Nai dub aya d r biyu. A: T , wann n kuma c Nai r shid . M: Wann n, r shid . G b aya ... A: T˘ naw n g b aya? M: ... dub aya d r takw s. A: Y uwa! T˘, z n b k Nai dub . In n d w , z n cik . M: T . B r n aun ka. A: T , m d ll . Y f r aw˘. M: F ink inc sh in. A: T , yi ky u. M: Tsawon hannunk inc sh in d hu u. [t ] Tsawonk inc h msin d biyu. A: T , m d ll . T˘ y yi ky u, k ? M: Naí m. d ll h y irg‰ ku . A: T˘ g Nai dub . In n d w , k m k gam , z n b k rag w r takw s. M: T , b ri n irg , k c ka? A: , sun c ka. Y irg . M: Hak . A: T y ush z n z ? M: In All h y kai m , r n ta y u. A: T˘ don All h, kad k yi m n ir n h l nk na t l l . M: In sh ll h , b z yi ba.

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A: Lalle lalle? M: In All h y y rda. A: T˘ g d .

INKIN KAYA: MATA

F d d J m l : S l m laik m. Ma nk : laik m s-s l m. F: n kw n ? M: L fiy . F: n g jiy ? M: B g jiy . F: k w ink n . M: ink k w ? F: . M: T , kw n biyu. F: w ll h . M: Naí m. M z ink muk . F: D guwa r g s d an kw l . M: D guwa r g d an kw l ? F: . M: Kaky! Y ush s ? F: Cikin s t m i zuw . M. S t m i zuw ? F: . M: K i! Aik k wa y yi m n yaw . kwai

aik d yaw . T , mm , w c ir kik s ? F: Kan d samf n ? M: in d samf . F: T M: G su can r t ye. F: T b ra m d b M: T . F d t d b k y n. F: K i, wann n tan d ky u. J m l : mm tan d ky u, wann n. T f r

j w w . Ma y m: A! Aía! K tsay , k tsay ! K k j w ! B ri n j w muk . F: T . Ma y m t z‰ wurin k y n. Ma y m: Wann n s ? F: . Ma y m t auk‰ r g . J m l : Gaskiy n yi mik sh íaw t . F d t kai wurin ma nk . F: Ir n wann n s . M: Ir n wann n? F: .

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M: Naí m. Kak! An y yint k y nzu. yi z nag ri. F: T . M: Naí m. F: Z gwad ni? M: , y k m t . Z aun ki. F: T . M: Ma y m, [n am] t shi aun ta, k ? Ma y m: T . ... B ri n auk t f. M: Naí m. T t sh t k w‰ t f. Ma y m: D guwa r g s , k ? F: , d guw c . T f r aw˘. Ma y m: Iy n n k as . F: í , d guw dai. Ma y m: Hak d g nan? F: . Ma y m: sa? F: . Ma y m: T˘ tsawonk inc b íin d ta . F: T . Ma y m: Sai f . T aun . F ink inc

g m sh ta . F: T . Ma y m: Hann n f ? Y z n n? F: í , k man dai zuw n n. Ma y m: Zuw n n? F: . Ma y m: T˘ inc g m sh takw s. F: T . Ma nk : Naí m. Y yi.

6. Using Words Indicating Qualities In the 3.08 videos, expressions of the following types, containing quality words, appear: • Adjective+Linker + Noun: d‰guwa r g • Noun + Adjective: z nag ri • ‘have’ + Quality Noun: sun d ky u

• yi + Quality Noun ‘be very (quality), be too (quality)’: aik k wa y yi min yaw • Quality Noun used as a noun: f ink Use these types of expressions and the quality words from the 3.08 videos to translate the following sentences. 1. I want a long dress with long sleeves.

2. The caftan is too long.

3. He has good character (h l ).

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4, The length of the wrapper is two yards and its width is one yard.

5. That tailor’s work is very nice.

6. Q: Do you want a big needle ( ll )?

A: Give me two big ones.

7. The pants are too expansive.

7. The Impersonal Subject an, akà, an , ak , z , etc. The 3.08 inkin Kaya videos contain several examples of the impersonal subject a- (plus tense-marking suffix and/or tone), as in the following exchanges. (1) A: G ink n k w . ‘Here’s some sewing I’ve brought.’

M: M z ink mak ? ‘What will one sew for you?’

(“What would you like me to sew for you?”)

A: Wann n, z ink min íya sh r . ‘This one, one will sew me a work vest.’ (“This one, (I’d like) you to sew me a work vest.”)

(2) A: ... Naw n ku in ink n wann n? ‘How much is the price for sewing this one?’

M: W nnan, an ink shi Nai r shidd .

‘This one, one sews it (for) 600 Naira.’ (“This one, I sew it/we sew it for 600 Naira.”)

(3) F: Mun k w ink n . ‘We have brought some sewing.’

M: ink kuk k w ? ‘You’ve brought SEWING?’

F: . ‘Yes.’

M: ...M z ink muk . ‘What will one sew for you?’

(“What would you like me to sew for you?”)

F: D guwa r g nak s d an kw l . ‘A long dress (is what) I’d like and a head scarf.’

(4) F: Ir n wann n nak s . ... ‘It’s this kind that I would like.’

M: Naí m. Kak! An y yint k y nzu. Kin yi z nag ri.

‘Right. Hey! One is sporting it now. You’ve made a good choice.’ (“... It’s in style now/It’s being worn a lot now. ...”)

(5) F: Z gwad ni? ‘Will one measure me?’

(“Am I going to be measured.”)

M: , y k m t . Z aun ki. ‘Yes, that’s right. One should measure you.’

(“... You should be measured.”)

F: T . ‘OK.’

(6) M: Ma y m, t shi aun ta, k ? ‘Maryam, get up and have one measure her, OK?’ (“Maryam, get up and measure her, OK?”)

Ma y m: T . ... B ri n auk t f. ‘OK. ... Let me get a tape.’

The impersonal subject can sometimes be translated as English “one” or “they”, for

example an c Hausa b ta d w y ‘one says/they say Hausa is not difficult’. A more

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idiomatic translation will often be a passive sentence in English, for example, an r t y samf k n igiy ‘the samples have been hung on a cord’. Note that an is serving as an unnamed agent of the action, and like “agentless passives” in English, sentences with an impersonal subject in Hausa will often be used when the agent of an action is unknown or one wishes to avoid stating who the agent is—an yi kuskur ‘mistakes have been made’!! (Hausa has no way to directly translate an English sentence with an expressed agent, such as ‘the samples were hung on the cord by the tailor’—Hausa would have to express this using a regular active sentence ma nk y r t y samf k n igiy .)

Hausa uses sentences with impersonal subjects far more than English uses either passive sentences of sentences with ‘one/they’ as subject. The example sentences from the 3.08 dialogs show that often impersonal subjects are used when the context shows that the subject is specific and known, as in (1), where the tailor is obviously referring to himself and the customer is likewise referring to the tailor, though both use z ‘one will...’. The same comment applies in (3). In (2), the tailor could be referring to himself or to the price that is generally charged. In (6), t shi is an imperative addressed to Maryam but aun is expressed impersonally. The examples in (4) and (5) are more like English agentless passives in the sense that the agent of the action is vague or unknown.

In short, sentences with impersonal subjects are very common in Hausa, sometimes, but not always corresponding to English sentences where the subject is vague or unknown, most typically expressed as English agentless passives or sentences with ‘one/they’ as subject, but often, English would probably use a specific personal pronoun like ‘I’, ‘we’, etc. where Hausa uses an impersonal subject.

Translate the following sentences using impersonal subjects. 1. We have come to greet you.

2. They’re repairing the street in front of my house.

3. A traffic signal (danj ) has been placed at the intersection (mararrab ).

4. How much money were you given?

5. One does not tend (k w˘ ‘tend(ing)’) cattle in Alaska.

6. Do not enter!

7. What kind of clothes do they wear in Nigeria?

8. Why has your car been towed away (j ny )?

9. You can’t get tuwo and miya in Moscow.

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CULTURE: TAILORS AND CLOTHES Getting Clothes Made by a Tailor Traditionally, you would not find ready-to-wear clothes off the rack in most of the Hausa world. You would buy the cloth you like from a cloth merchant and take it to a tailor, who would make clothes specifically for you. Thus, in the 3.08 videos, we see the customers bring their own cloth and the tailor measures them to fit.

Men and Women in Islamic Culture In an Islamic culture like that of the Hausas, it is inappropriate for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not married. In the video we see an example of this, where the tailor himself measures a male customer but calls his female colleage in the shop to measure a female customer.

Hausa Conservatism in Clothes The Hausas are very conservative in what they view as appropriate ways to dress. Although changes in style take place, these usually involve things like new designs for women’s print cloth or new styles of embroidery on men’s gowns. Both men’s and women’s clothes are expected to be modest in style as well as subdued in color and decoration. the reading on the next page expresses a typical Hausa attitude toward radical changes in clothing styles. This was written in the 1970’s referring to bell-bottom pants and miniskirts popular at the time, but similar attitudes about modern fashions continue to the present.

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TUFAFIN ’YAN ZAMANI

from Robert Botne, Hausa Reading Kit, Indiana University—used with permssion (An MP3 file of this text, read by Rabi’u Zarru , is available on the Hausar Baka site.)

Tuf f n d yan z m n suk sak w b ir n na k k d k k nn ba n . S , mut nen

d , tufaf ns sh n b bba r g d jamf m i f d w nd , s nnan kuma d h l d

raw n . Wa nn n s n tuf f n B haush ne ga g jiy . M t kuma sun aur zan d

r g d ankw l d kuma may f sassh .

mm yan z m n b hak tuf f ns yak ba. S dai s m r sun sak wani ir n

w nd ts kakk fam! S nnan d g as y yi f . Sun t fiy , w nd n yan sh ra t t .

R ga s kuma wata ir c d bam. kwai wata d ak yi mat hann k ma fik fik .

Yamm t k wa kullum r ga s sai da ang l w sam tak y . Sun aur wani s k t

daidai gw w wand dan sun zaun , sai k ga sun jany n n, sun t sh c n, sun mats

af s don kad ga tsiraic ns .

Kalmomi

ang l (sam ) ‘shrink (upward)’

fik fik ‘wings’

mut nen d ‘people of earlier times’

tsiraic ënakeness, exposing oneselfí ts kakk (fam) ‘skin-tight’ (literally, ‘drawn tight fam’)

yan z m n ‘people of modern times’