Goemai | |
---|---|
Gamai | |
Pronunciation | [gə̀mâi] |
Native to | Nigeria |
Region | Great Muri Plains, Plateau State |
Ethnicity | Goemai people |
Native speakers | 380,000 (2020) [1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Dialects |
|
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ank |
Glottolog | goem1240 |
Goemai (also Ankwe) is an Afro-Asiatic (Chadic, West Chadic A) language spoken in the Great Muri Plains region of Plateau State in central Nigeria, between the Jos Plateau and Benue River. Goemai is also the name of the ethnic group of speakers of the Goemai language. The name 'Ankwe' has been used to refer to the people, especially in older literature and to outsiders. [2] : 1 As of 2020, it is estimated that there are around 380,000 Goemai speakers. [1]
Goemai is a predominantly isolating language with the subject–verb–object constituent order.
The language is considered threatened, [1] which means that its adoption is declining, especially among children. [2] : 6 Many are learning Hausa as a first language instead, which is used extensively in official and educational settings. [2] : 6
The spelling Goemai originates from the 1930s. Orthographic oe stands for the mid-central vowel ə, a practice that had been adopted by missionaries working among the Goemai in Shendam during the 1930s, such as Father E. Sirlinger. [3] [4] [5]
Genetically, Goemai has been consistently classified as a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family in the West Chadic A language sub-family. [2] : 1 [3] [6] There have been attempts to apply more specific genetic classifications to Goemai beyond its membership in the West Chadic A language family, but these attempts have not reached a consensus. Hellwig posits that Goemai is further included in the Angas-Gerka, Angas-Goemai, and Southern Angas-Goemai subfamilies, [2] whereas Blench instead classifies Goemai as a member of the Bole-Angas and Angas subfamilies. [3] Glottolog categorizes Goemai as a member of the West Chadic A.3, Goemaic, and Goemai-Chakato subfamilies. [6]
Goemai has four main dialects: Duut, East Ankwe, Dorok, and K'wo, all of which are in common use and are mutually intelligible [2] : 3 [3]
Goemai has eleven vowel phonemes which can be grouped by length; four short vowels and seven long vowels. Orthographically, long vowels are represented by doubling the vowel symbol. [2] : 18 Goemai also contains several vowel sounds which are non-phonemic, but occur allophonically, shown enclosed in square brackets in the table. In the table, sounds are represented on the left in IPA, and the right using Goemai orthography. Vowels are never syllable-initial in Goemai. While syllable-final vowels are generally short, there is no contrast between vowel lengths in this position.
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High | /i/ | i | [ ʉ ] | u̲ | /u/ | u |
Mid | [ e ] | e | /ə/ | e, [a] oe [b] | [ o ], [ ɔ ] | o |
Low | /a/ | a |
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High | /iː/ | ii | /ʉʉ/ | uu | /uu/ | uu |
High-Mid | /eː/ | ee | /oo/ | oo | ||
Low-Mid | /ɔɔ/ | o̲o̲ | ||||
Low | /aː/ | aa |
Vowel length is contrastive, but only in the middle of syllables, as in pairs such as kúr "tortoise" versus kúːr "burn", and ʃʰɔ̀m "hyrax" versus ʃʰɔ́ːm "guineafowl". [2] : 35
There are also several diphthongs in Goemai, which are not believed to be phonemic. Instead, they likely arise as a result of phonological processes, including labialization and height assimilation. The diphthongs attested in Goemai include [ʉ͡a], [ʉ͡ə], [a͡u], [o͡u], [a͡i], [e͡i], and [o͡ːi]. [2] : 39
Goemai has the consonants shown in the chart below, with symbols on the left indicating the IPA transcription, and symbols on the right denoting the orthography used by Hellwig. [2] : 17 Symbols enclosed in square brackets are non-phonemic. All of the consonants in the table may appear at in syllable-initial positions, but some are restricted from appearing in syllable-final position. [2] : 54–55 Those phonemes that are attested in syllable-final position are annotated in the table below, while unannotated phonemes appear only at the beginning of a syllable. Goemai has a four-way contrast in its plosive inventory and a three-way contrast in its fricative inventory. Of note is Goemai's contrast between aspirated and unaspirated fricative sounds, which is rare among languages in general. [2] : 19
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | plain | /p/ [c] | p' | /t/ [c] | t' | /k/ [c] | k' | [ ʔ ] | ' | ||
aspirated | /pʰ/ | p | /tʰ/ | t | /kʰ/ | k | |||||
voiced | /b/ | b | /d/ | d | /g/ | g | |||||
implosive | /ɓ/ | b' | /ɗ/ | d' | |||||||
Fricative | plain | /f/ | f' | /s/ [c] | s' | /ʃ/ | sh' | /h/ | h | ||
aspirated | /fʰ/ | f | /sʰ/ | s | /ʃʰ/ | sh | |||||
voiced | /v/ | v | /z/ | z | /ʒ/ | j | |||||
Nasal | /m/ [c] | m | /n/ [c] | n | /ŋ/ [c] | ngh, [a] ng [b] | |||||
Liquids | Lateral | /l/ [c] | l | ||||||||
Trill | /r/ [c] | r | |||||||||
Glides | /w/ [c] | w, [a] u [b] | /j/ [c] | y, [a] i [b] |
Goemai is a tonal language, making use of several distinctive tones. The exact number and pitch of these tones is disputed. It has been suggested that Goemai has three level tones high (é), mid (ē), and low (è) along with two contour tones: falling (ê) and rising (ě). [2] : 42 Tone can be the only contrastive feature between words in Goemai, as shown in the following minimal pairs: ɓák "here" (adv.) versus ɓàk "disregard" (v.), and ʃé "foot/leg" (n.) versus ʃè "learn/teach" (v.). [2] : 43
The level mid tone is not a basic tone of Goemai, and only appears as a result of assimilation or other phonological processes, including downdrift and downstep. [2] : 42 Although there are words that are posited to have an underlying rising tone, this tone cannot appear on a single syllable. Instead, it is always spread out across multiple syllables. The following example sentence demonstrates the underlying rising tone of the verb /nǎ/ "see" being spread to the following noun, /mà:r/ "farm". The underlying low tone of the noun then passes to the definite determiner clitic =hɔk, which lacks an underlying tone.
The rising tone is alternatively realized as a level high tone if it is not possible for it to spread. [2] : 42–43
There are four syllabic forms in Goemai, as illustrated in the words below, with the relevant syllable(s) bolded.
Template | Instantiation | Translation |
---|---|---|
CV | s'óe [2] : 555 | 'food' |
CVC | tàl [2] : 558 | 'ask/greet' |
CVVC | líít [2] : 542 | 'lion' |
N | ǹ.d'ùùn [2] : 547 | 'inside' |
In syllables of the form CVVC, the VV represents a single long vowel sound. Syllables of the form N can occur when prenasalization of a sound manifests as a syllabic nasal. This is most common with the prenasalizing prefix /ⁿ-/, which acts as an adverbializer when affixed to verbs [2] : 279 and as a locative when affixed to nouns. [2] : 287
Goemai is classified as a mostly isolating language. [2] : 310 The large majority of morphemes consist of a single syllable and the large majority of words consist of a single morpheme. [2] : 56 Though infrequent, polymorphemic words are attested in Goemai and can be formed via a number of regular processes. Affixation is sometimes used to form words, although many affixes are found only in non-productive plural forms, and cliticization is more common. Goemai also uses reduplication and compounding to form words. Polysyllabic words are also less frequent than monosyllabic words, but are attested. Most commonly, polysyllabic words are of the form CV.CVC, where the first consonant may be subjected to secondary articulation, including prenasalization, labialization, or palatalization. [2] : 56
There are three open word classes in Goemai: nouns, verbs, and adverbs. [2] : 9
Nouns in Goemai generally lack morphological marking for case, number, gender, and noun class. [2] : 67 There are several exceptions to this general trend. For example, several words relating to people and body parts are marked for number, as are most loanwords from the Hausa language. [2] : 71 Nouns can be differentiated from other parts of speech based on their syntactic role in a sentence, and the types of modifiers they accept. [2] : 67
In Goemai, verbs are a basic form that can never be derived from other parts of speech. There are therefore no verbalizing morphemes. Moreover, it is quite rare for verbs to join with any other morphemes, be they derivational or inflectional. [2] : 168 While individual verbs are generally single morphemes, entire verb phrases can be marked for tense, aspect, or modality.
In Goemai, some adverbs are underived base forms, whereas others are derived from verbs via affixation or cliticization with an adverbializer, [2] : 279 as in the following example sentence:
Underived adverbs can be further modified by nominal modifiers, but this is not possible for derived adverbs. [2] : 279
Affixes are uncommon in Goemai, and those that exist are predominantly prefixes, which must take the form CV, unless they consist of just a lone nasal. [2] : 57 Two of the most common affixes are the affixes gòe-, which is used as a nominalizer, and N- (a single nasal matching the place of the following consonant), which is used as an adverbializer. [2] : 314
While a handful of suffixes and infixes do exist in the language, they are almost always used nonproductively as plural markers. Around 10% of the verbs of Goemai mark number in this way, [2] : 173 while most other verbs in the language are completely unmarked. [2] : 172
Goemai has a large inventory of clitics, which are used for word formation in broader distribution than affixes. [2] : 310 Like prefixes, the majority of clitics take the form CV. [2] : 57 Goemai has both proclitics and enclitics, although in Goemai, any clitic can also stand alone as a word on its own. [2] : 310
Most of the clitics in Goemai are phrasal, including the very common clitics =hòe "exactly", and kò= "every/each; any". [2] : 310
Modifiers such as là=, the diminutive singular, and =hok, the definite determiner, can attach to noun phrases as clitics. Question particles typically manifest as enclitics at the end of a clause. [2] : 310
In Goemai, reduplication is typically partial, though full reduplication exists in certain situations. Reduplication confers different meanings depending on the word being modified. Sometimes, quantifiers or adverbs are reduplicated to indicate increased intensity, [2] : 263 as in the case of zòk ("generous") being fully reduplicated as zòkzòk ("very very generous"). [2] : 281 Numerals can be reduplicated to indicate that the number is divided over a period of time, or distributed across several entities or groups, as in k'ún ("three") being reduplicated as k'ún k'ún ("three each"). [2] : 268 Partial reduplication is also a common technique for adverbializing verbs, as in pyá "become white" (v.) versus pòe-pyá "white" (adv.). [2] : 280
In certain situations, such as when modifying words relating to location or distance, reduplicated forms do not differ in meaning from the base form, as in séng ("far") being partially reduplicated to soè-séng ("far"). [2] : 263 In such cases, there is a distinction between partial reduplication, which results in the same meaning as the base form, and full reduplication, which intensifies the meaning. Instead of full reduplication of a word, entire phrases can be reduplicated for a similar intensifying effect. [2] : 273
Polysyllabic words are sometimes formed by combining two existing words via compounding, as in the two-syllable word hàːm.ʃíŋ ("gruel"), which is formed from the two single syllable words hàːm ("water"), and ʃíŋ ("mix"). [2] : 59
Certain verbs of Goemai can be modified by a special class of approximately 80 ideophones. [2] : 281 Each modifies only a single other verb in the language, and can modify no other verb. The effect of this modification is to emphasize the result of the verb, as in the following example (ideophone in bold):
The basic word order of Goemai is strictly subject-verb-object in transitive clauses, [2] : 375 as shown in the following example sentences.
In intransitive sentences, there is a strict SV basic word order, [2] : 374 as shown below:
Hèn=lùùt
1SG.S=be.afraid(SG)
"I was scared." [2] : 374
In cases where arguments are redundant, or can be inferred from the surrounding context, they are usually omitted. In particular, the subject may be omitted entirely if it is third person singular, so long as it is clear which entity is being referenced. In addition, direct objects may be omitted, but only if they refer to inanimate objects or lower animals. [2] : 375
In the following example, the subject "rabbit" is omitted after being introduced once:
Fuán
rabbit
mán
know
án.
mind
Sái
then/only
rú
enter(SG)
kúút
just
t'ó
lie(SG)
ǹd'ùùn
INSIDE:GEN
là=báng.
DIM(SG):GEN=calabash
"The rabbit knew a trick. Then (he) just entered (and) lay inside a little calabash." [2] : 375
Mbula is an Austronesian language spoken by around 2,500 people on Umboi Island and Sakar Island in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. Its basic word order is subject–verb–object; it has a nominative–accusative case-marking strategy.
The Muscogee language, previously referred to by its exonym, Creek, is a Muskogean language spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida. Along with Mikasuki, when it is spoken by the Seminole, it is known as Seminole.
The Tonkawa language was spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico by the Tonkawa people. A language isolate, with no known related languages, Tonkawa has not had L1 speakers since the mid 20th centiury. Most Tonkawa people now only speak English, but revitalization is underway.
The Arapaho (Arapahoe) language is one of the Plains Algonquian languages, closely related to Gros Ventre and other Arapahoan languages. It is spoken by the Arapaho of Wyoming and Oklahoma. Speakers of Arapaho primarily live on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, though some have affiliation with the Cheyenne living in western Oklahoma.
The Wariʼ language is the sole remaining vibrant language of the Chapacuran language family of the Brazilian–Bolivian border region of the Amazon. It has about 2,700 speakers, also called Wariʼ, who live along tributaries of the Pacaas Novos river in Western Brazil. The word wariʼ means "we!" in the Wariʼ language and is the term given to the language and tribe by its speakers.
Wintu is a Wintu language which was spoken by the Wintu people of Northern California. It was the northernmost member of the Wintun family of languages. The Wintun family of languages was spoken in the Shasta County, Trinity County, Sacramento River Valley and in adjacent areas up to the Carquinez Strait of San Francisco Bay. Wintun is a branch of the hypothetical Penutian language phylum or stock of languages of western North America, more closely related to four other families of Penutian languages spoken in California: Maiduan, Miwokan, Yokuts, and Costanoan.
Seediq, also known as Sediq, Taroko, is an Atayalic language spoken in the mountains of Northern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko people.
The Yimas language is spoken by the Yimas people, who populate the Sepik River Basin region of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken primarily in Yimas village, Karawari Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. It is a member of the Lower-Sepik language family. All 250-300 speakers of Yimas live in two villages along the lower reaches of the Arafundi River, which stems from a tributary of the Sepik River known as the Karawari River.
Bangime is a language isolate spoken by 3,500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali, who call themselves the bàŋɡá–ndɛ̀. Bangande is the name of the ethnicity of this community and their population grows at a rate of 2.5% per year. The Bangande consider themselves to be Dogon, but other Dogon people insist they are not. Bangime is an endangered language classified as 6a - Vigorous by Ethnologue. Long known to be highly divergent from the (other) Dogon languages, it was first proposed as a possible isolate by Blench (2005). Heath and Hantgan have hypothesized that the cliffs surrounding the Bangande valley provided isolation of the language as well as safety for Bangande people. Even though Bangime is not closely related to Dogon languages, the Bangande still consider their language to be Dogon. Hantgan and List report that Bangime speakers seem unaware that it is not mutually intelligible with any Dogon language.
The Nukak language is a language of uncertain classification, perhaps part of the macrofamily Puinave-Maku. It is very closely related to Kakwa.
Tundra Nenets is a Uralic language spoken in European Russia and North-Western Siberia. It is the largest and best-preserved language in the Samoyedic group.
Maia is a Papuan language spoken in the Madang Province of Papua New Guinea, and is a member of the Trans-New Guinea language family. It has a language endangerment status of 6a, which means that it is a vigorous and sustainable language spoken by all generations. According to a 2000 census, there are approximately 4,500 living speakers of the language, who are split between twenty-two villages in the Almani district of the Bogia sub-district.
Qaqet, or Baining, is a non-Austronesian language from the Baining family spoken in East New Britain Province on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
Foodo is a Guang language spoken in and around the town of Sèmèrè in the north of Benin. There are approximately 37,000 speakers. A large proportion of the population live beyond the homeland in other parts of Benin, as well as in neighboring Togo, Nigeria, and Ghana. There may be as many as 1,000 living in Ghana.
Tommo So is a language spoken in the eastern part of Mali's Mopti Region. It is placed under the Dogon language family, a subfamily of the Niger-Congo language family.
Akuntsu is a Tupian language of Brazil. Peaceful contact with the Akuntsu people was only made in 1995; they had been massacred by cattle ranchers in the 1980s.
Avá-Canoeiro, known as Avá or Canoe, is a minor Tupi–Guaraní language of the state of Goiás, in Brazil. It can be further divided into two dialects: Tocantins Avá-Canoeiro and Araguaia Avá-Canoeiro. All speakers of the language are monolingual.
Pendau, or Umalasa, is a Celebic language of Sulawesi in Indonesia spoken by the approximately 4000 Pendau people who live in Central Sulawesi. Classified as an endangered language, Pendau is primarily spoken inside of Pendau villages whereas Indonesian is used to speak with neighboring communities and is the language of children's education and outside officials. The highest concentration of speakers is in and around Kecamatan Balaesang. There are no known dialects within the Pendau region, although speakers from the mainland can identify whether a speaker is from the Balaesang peninsula through their 'rhythm' or intonation pattern. In recent years, some Pendau leaders have worked with local government to preserve their language alongside Indonesian.
Nuaulu is a language indigenous to the island of Seram Island in Indonesia, and it is spoken by the Nuaulu people. The language is split into two dialects, a northern and a southern dialect, between which there a communication barrier. The dialect of Nuaulu referred to on this page is the southern dialect, as described in Bolton 1991.
Longgu (Logu) is a Southeast Solomonic language of Guadalcanal, but originally from Malaita.