A DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR OF NOON, A CANGIN LANGUAGE OF SENEGAL
by
M aria Soukka
Thesis subm itted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
of the
University of London
January 1999
D e p a rtm en t of the Languages and Cultures of Africa
School of Oriental and African Studies
ProQuest Number: 10672968
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ABSTRACT
Noon is a W e st-A tla n tic language of the Cangin subgroup, spoken by 25 000 people in central Senegal, in and around the to w n of Thies. The aim o f this study is to provide a full gram m atical description o f Noon, since no such study has been done on the language. W e have not follow ed a specific linguistic m odel as fra m e w o rk, but rather tried to w o rk fro m the classical approach of presenting the structures in the gram m atical units o f the language, fro m m orphology to discourse. A ll analysis is presented w ith language exam ples fro m data collected in the Thies area over the years 1994-1998.
The study is divided into 11 chapters, follow ed by a short interlinearised te x t sample w ith a free translation. The firs t chapter presents a brief overview o f th e phonology and the m orphoph onological processes th a t take place in a ffixation. A n o th e r im portant feature described in this section is the restricted regressive vow el harm ony process, based on the ATR feature. In chapters 2-3, the nominal system is described, including the noun class system of 6 basic classes w ith w hich m ost nom inals are in agreement.
There is also a threefold locative distinction present in determ ined nom inals. This locative d istinction is fu rth e r elaborated in the dem onstratives. C hapter 4 treats prepositions and adverbs. In chapters 5-6, verbal m orpholog y and the verb phrase are presented. A m ajor feature o f the Noon verb is the derivational a ffixation w hich, apart fro m carrying aspectual inform ation, also has bearing on the valency o f the verb. The conjugational system is based on affixation, but also on the use o f auxiliaries and particles. Chapter 7 deals w ith conjunctions, particles and interjections, and chapter 8 treats clause structures: independent ones, both verbal and non-verbal, but also
dependent clauses. In chapter 9, different sim ple sentence types are described, fo llow ed by the com plex sentences, including serial and reduplicative types. Chapter 10 depicts som e im p o rta n t features th a t occur on the discourse level such as the w id e r use of spatial deixis in tem poral and textual references. Finally, in chapter 11 is presented a com parative vie w of some of the m ajor dialect differences in Noon.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS 11
MAPS 12
Map 1: The Cangin group 12
Map 2: The Noon language area 13
ABBREVIATIONS 14
0. INTRODUCTION 18
0.1 The Noon people 18
0.2. The Noon language 22
0.2.1. Classification and previous studies 22
0.2.2. Language dialects 26
0.2.3. A brief outline o f the language 27
0.3. M ethodology 28
0.3.1. Fieldwork 28
0.3.2. The Present S tudy 29
1. PHONOLOGY AND MORPHOPHONOLOGY 32
1.1. Segm ental phonology 33
1.1.1. Vowel charts 33
1.1.2. Vowel length 34
1.1.3. Phonemic distribution of vowels 36
1.1.4. Feature m atrix of vowels 37
1.1.5. Consonant charts 39
1.1.6. Consonant length 40
1.1.7. The im p lo s iv e s /6 /a n d /y 7 41
1.1.8. The glottal stop 41
1.1.9. Phonemic distribution of consonants 41
1.1.10. Feature m atrix of consonants 42
1.1.11. The syllable 45
1.2. Suprasegmental phonology 46
1.2.1. The phonological w ord 46
1.2.1.1. Stress 46
1.2.1.2. Pitch 47
1.2.1.3. Stress and pitch in suffixation 48 1.2.2. The phonological phrase. Intonation patterns 48
1.3. Morphophonology 51
1.3.1. A ffixa tio n patterns 51
1.3.2. Underlying and surface fo rm s of consonants 55
1.3.2.1. Voiced plosives 57
1.3.2.2. Nasals 58
1.3.2.3. Im plosives 59
1.3.2.4. The vibrant 60
1.3.3. Nasal insertion 61
1.3.4. Rules of the m orphophonological changes 63
1.3.5. Vowel deletion in suffixation 65
1.3.6. Vowel assim ilation in suffixation 67
1.3.7. Vowel harm ony 68
1.3.7.1, Vowel harm ony in the w o rd ro o t 68 1.3.7.2. Vowel harm ony in suffixation 70
1.4. Orthography 73
2. N O M INAL MORPHOLOGY 75
2.1 The noun class system 76
2.1.1. Noun classes 78
2.1.2. A greem ent 82
2.1.2.1. The noun class marker 82
2.1.2.2. The agreem ent marker 82
2.1.2.3. The locative distinction 85
2.2. Nouns 85
2.2.1. Nouns w ith a noun root 86
2.2.2. Nouns w ith a verb root 89
2.2.3. Com pound nouns 92
2.2.4. Derivational affixes 93
2.2.5. Inflectional affixes 96
2.2.5.1. The indefinite form 97
2.2.5.2. The definite fo rm 98
2.2.5.3. Irregular nouns 102
2.2.5.4. The possessive construction 105
2.2.5.5. The relational construction 107
2.2.5.6. The referential suffix 109
2.2.5.7. The vocative suffix 110
2.2.6. Schema o f the noun structure 110
2.3. Determiners 111
2.3.1. Dem onstratives 111
2.3.2. A djectives 115
2.3.2.1. Inflectional affixes 115
2.3.2.2. Root adjectives 117
2.3.2.2.1. True adjectives 117
2.3.2.2.2. A d je ctive s/sta tive verbs 118 2.3.2.2.3. Incremental adjectives 119 2.3.2.2.4. A lternative adjectives 120
2.3.2.3. Deverbal adjectives 121
2.3.2.4. Ordinal adjectives 123
2.3.3. Q uantifiers 124
2.3.3.1. Numeral quantifiers 125
2.3.3.1.1. Cardinal numerals 125
2.3.3.1.2. Ordinal and distributive numerals 127
2.3.3.2. Agreem ent 128
2.3.3.3. Non-numeral quantifiers 131
2.3.4. Interrogatives 135
2.4. Pronouns 137
2.4.1. A greem ent pronouns 137
2.4.1.1. S ubstitutive pronouns 137
2.4.1.2. A ppropriative pronouns 140
2.4.1.3. Determ ining pronouns 141
2.4.1.4. Emphatic pronouns 142
2.4.2. Non-agreement pronouns 144
2.4.2.1. A llocutive pronouns 144
2.4.2.2. Indefinite pronouns 146
2.4.2.3. Relative pronouns 150
2.4.2.4. Negative pronouns 153
2.4.2.5. Interrogative pronouns 155
2.4.3. Bound pronouns 161
3. THE NOUN PHRASE 165
3.1. The simple NP 166
3.2. NP post-modification 166
3.2.1. The genitive construction 168
3.2.1.1. Types of genitive 168
3.2.1.2. The head noun in the genitive construction 170 3.2.1.3. The genitive NP in the genitive co nstruction 172
3.2.1.4. Partitive genitive 175
3.2.2. Determ iners 176
3.2.2.1. Dem onstratives 177
3.2.2.2. A djectives and numerals 178
3.2.2.3. Gender and increm ental adjectives 179
3.2.2.4. Non-numeral quantifiers 180
3.2.2.5. Interrogatives 182
3.2.3. The relative clause in the NP 183
3.2.4. Em phatic pronouns and particles 184
3.3. The complex NP 185
3.3.1. The com plex NP w ith an appositive NP 185 3.3.2. The com plex NP w ith a co-ordinating expansion 187
4. PREPOSITIONS AND ADVERBS 190
4.1. Prepositions 190
4.1.1. The prepositions na and ga 191
4.1.1.1. Na ’w ith ' 191
4.1.1.2. G a 'a t, on, t o 1 195
4.1.2. Tem poral prepositions 197
4.1.3. Locative prepositions 199
4.1.4. The preposition fo d ii/fo d a a 'as' 201
4.1.5. The prepositional phrase 202
4.1.5.1. The sim ple PP 202
4.1.5.2. The com plex PP 204
4.2. Adverbs 205
4.2.1. Tem poral adverbs 206
4.2.1.1. Tem poral root adverbs 206
4.2.1.2. Tem poral denominal adverbs 208
4.2.1.3. M odifications of tem poral adverbs 210
4.2.2. Modal adverbs 212
4.2.2.1. M odal root adverbs 212
4.2.2.2. Modal adverbs form ed w ith the p re fix db 213
4.2.3. Intensifying adverbs 214
4.2.4. Ideophonic adverbs 215
4.2.5. Interrogative adverbs 216
5. VERBAL MORPHOLOGY 218
5.1. The verb root 220
5.1.1. Stative verbs 221
5.1.2. A ctio n verbs 222
5.1.2.1. Intransitive verbs 222
5.1.2.2. Transitive verbs 222
5.1.2.3. D itransitive verbs 223
5.2. Derivational suffixes 224
5.2.1. Reversive 4s 226
5.2.2. Transitive 4d" 227
5.2.3. Intensive 4s 229
5.2.4. Factitive 4ul< 229
5.2.5. Reflexive gjk 230
5.2.6. 232
5.2.6.1. Pluractional 232
5.2.6.1.1, Durative ^gh 233
5.2.6.1.2. Reciprocal ^oh 234
5.2.6.2. Instrum ental ^gh 236
5.2.6.3. Locative ^gh 236
5.2.7. A p p o rta tive -doh 238
5.2.8. Benefactive 4cf 239
5.2.9. Repetitive 4s and -aat 240
5.2.10. Distal -nee 242
5.3. Conjugational affixes and particles 244 5.3.1. A general outline of the conjugational system 244
5.3.1.1. Chart of conjugations 245
5.3.1.2. The voice/num be r distinction 246
5.3.1.3. Tense and aspect 246
5.3.2. Infinitive 247
5.3.2.1. V oice/num ber 248
5.3.2.2. Habitual 249
5.3.3. Indicative 249
5.3.3.1. V oice/num b er 249
5.3.3.2. Tense and aspect 251
5.3.3.2.1. Sim ple present 251
5.3.3.2.2. Progressive 1 252
5.3.3.2.3. Perfective 255
5.3.3.2.4. Habitual 257
5.3.3.2.5. Assertive future 258
5.3.3.2.6. Narrative 259
5.3.3.2.7. Past 260
5.3.3.2.8. Pluperfective 262
5.3.3.3. Negation m odifications 262
5.3.3.3.1. The present negative 263
5.3.3.3.2. The aspect negative 263
5.3.3.3.3. The past negative 266
5.3.4. Im perative/op tative 266
5.3.4.1. im perative 267
5 .3 4 .2 . O ptative 269
5.4. O bject pronoun suffixes 270
5.5. Auxiliaries 272
5.5.1. Transitivity 273
5.5.2. Tense/aspect 274
5.5.3. Negation 275
6. THE VERB PHRASE 277
6.1. The non-verbal VP 279
6.2. The simple VP 281
6.2.1. Intransitive VP 283
6.2.2. Transitive VP 284
6.2.2.1. The NP com plem ent as patient o b je ct 286 6.2.2.2. The NP com plem ent as locative o b je ct 286
6.2.2.3. The PP com plem ent 289
6.2.2.3.1. The PP com plem ent
fo llow ing a partitive verb 290 6.2.2.3.2. The PP com plem ent
fo llow ing a phrasal verb 291
6.2.2.4. The clause com plem ent 294
6.2.3. D itransitive VP 296
6.2.3.1. P atient/dative objects 296
6.2.3.2. P atient/locative objects 298
6.3. VP w ith an auxiliary expansion 300
6.3.1. The structure of the VP w ith an auxiliary expansion 300 6.3.2. The fun ctio n of the auxiliary expansion 304
6.3.2.1. Tem poral auxiliaries 304
6.3.2.2. Volitional auxiliaries 305
6.3.2.3. M odal auxiliaries 306
6.3.3. Tw o phrasal auxiliaries 307
6.4. The comparative VP 312
6.5. VP w ith reduplication 316
7. C O N JU N C TIO N S , PARTICLES, INTERJECTIONS 318
7.1. Conjunctions 318
7.1.1. Co-ordinate conjunctions 319
7.1.2. Subordinate conjunctions 321
7.1.3. Discourse conjunctions 327
7.2. Particles 328
7.2.1. C onjugational particles 328
7.2.2. The presentative particle 328
7.2.3. The negative existential particle 329
7.2.4. Em phatic particles 330
7.2.5. Sentence m odifying particles 333
7.3. Interjections 335
8. THE CLAUSE 338
8.1. Clause types 339
8.1.1. Intransitive and transitive clauses 340
8.1.1.1. W eather-predicates 340
8.1.1.2. Stative cognition verbs 341
8.1.2. Existential clauses 342 8.1.2.1. Existential clauses
w ith a non-verbal predicate 342
8.1.2.2. Existential clauses w ith a verbal predicate 344
8.1.3. Equative clauses 347
8.1.3.1. Equative clauses w ith a non-verbal predicate 348 8.1.3.2. Equative clauses w ith the copular verb en 350
8.1.4. The presentative clause 351
8.2. Dependent clauses 352
8.2.1. The relative clause 352
8.2.1.1, The basic relative clause structure 353 8.2.1.1.1. The head noun in the relative clause 353 8.2.1.1.2. The relative pronoun
in the relative clause 355
8.2.1.2, Relative clauses w ith different structures 360 8.2.1.2.1. The relative clause fo llo w e d by
other nominal determ iners in the NP 360 8.2.1.2.2. Restrictive relative clauses
in post-m atrix position 360
8.2.1.2.3. The expression w e e 'ta a ga Cii w ith the relative clause 361
8.2.2. The subordinate clause 363
8.2.2.1, The structure of the subordinate clause 363 8.2.2.2. Verb fo rm w ith in the subordinate clause 365
8.3. Clause elements 366
8.3.1. The subject 366
8.3.2. The predicate 367
8.3.3. The adverbial 368
8.3.3.1. Adverbs 368
8.3.3.2. Prepositional phrases 369
8.3.3.3. S ubordinate clauses 369
8.3.4. Concord between clause elements 370
9. THE SENTENCE 371
9.1. The simple sentence 372
9.1.1. Declarative sentences 372
9.1.2. Interrogative sentences 374
9.1.2.1. Yes-no questions 374
9.1.2.2, A lternative 'or'-questions 375
9.1.2.3, Q uestion-w ord questions 376
9.1.2.4. Q uestions w ith the particle maa 380
9.1.3. Im p erative/op tative sentences 380
9.1.3.1. The im perative 380
9.1.3.2. The optative 381
9.1.3.3. Im perative/op tative w ith the particle jaa 382
9.1.4. Exclam atory sentences 383
9.1.5. The vocative 384
9.1.6. Form ulaic utterances 385
9.1.6.1. A ph o ristic sentences 385
9.1.6.2. C om m unicative form ulaic sentences 387
9.2. The complex sentence 388
9.2.1. Co-ordination of clauses 388
9.2.1.1. C o-ordination w ith ee 'and, b u t' 389 9.2.1.2. C o-ordination w ith ^oo and w ala 'o r ' 390
9.2.2. Serial sentences 390
9.2.3. Reduplicative clauses 393
9.2.4. Subordination o f clauses 394
9.2.4.1. The subordinate clause as su b je ct 394 9.2.4.2. The subordinate clause as com plem ent 395 9.2.4.3. The subordinate clause as adverbial 397 9.2.4.3.1. Tem poral subordination 399
9.2.4.3.1.1. Sim ple fu tu re
subordination 399
9.2.4.3.1.2. Past subordination 400 9.2.4.3.1.3. Tem porally differentiatin g
subordination 402
9.2.4.3.2. Non-tem poral realis subordination 405 9.2.4.3.2.1. Concessive subordination 405 9.2.4.3.2.2. Causal subordination 407 9.2.4.3.3. Non-tem poral irrealis subordination 408 9.2.4.3.3.1. Conditional subordination 408 9.2.4.3.3.2. C ounterfactual sub
ordination 409
9.2.4.3.3.3. Purposive subordination 410
10. SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES 414
10.1. Cohesion 415
10.1.1. Discourse conjunctions 415
10.1.2. The referential suffix -ma 416
10.1.3. The em phatic pro-form 418
10.1.4. Epic repetition 420
10.2. Participant reference 421
10.2.1. Participant introduction and reintroduction 421 10.2.1.1. The existential clause as in tro d u cto ry device 422 10.2.1.2. A substitutive pronoun as re in tro d u cto ry
device 423
10.2.2. Continuous participant reference 423
10.3. Spatial, temporal and textual deixis 426
10.3.1. Spatial deixis 427
10.3.2. Tem poral deixis 428
10.3.3. Textual deixis 429
10.3.3.1. A napho ric/cataphoric reference 429 10.3.3.2. M ore than one anaphoric antecedent 430 10.3.4. 10.3.4. The use of the deictic suffix -u m 431
10.4. Them e, focus, emotive emphasis 433
10.4.1. Them e 434
10.4.2. Focus 437
10.4.2.1. S ubject focus 438
10.4.2.2. O bject focus 439
10.4.2.3. A dverbial focus 440
10.4.2.4. Verb focus 442
10.4.3. Emotive em phasis 444
10.5. Foregrounding, backgrounding 446
10.5.1. General devices fo r foregrounding and backgrounding 446 10.5.2. The use o f tense in foregroun ding/background ing 447 10.5.3. The use o f the adverbial restrictor hen 449
10.5.3.1. In narrative te x t 450
10.5.3.2. In non-narrative te x t 451
10.5.4. The use of the circum stantial adverb ]ak 453
10.6. Speech forms 454
10.6.1. W ith speech verb and the com plem entiser cm 455 10.6.2. W ith the com plem entiser an only 456
11. SOME DIALECT DIFFERENCES 459
11.1. Overview of dialects 459
11.2. Dialect differences indicating a simplifying development 461 11.2.1. C ontractions of m orphem es and w o rd s 461
11.2.2. Centralisation of short vowels 464
11.2.3. The loss of distinctions in the deictic system 468
11.3. Other dialect differences 470
11.3.1. The phonemes /h / and h i 470
11.3.2. Prenasalised plosives 472
11.3.3. Realisation of voiceless consonants 473
11.3.4. G em ination 475
11.3.5. Noun classes 478
11.3.6. Derivational affixes 479
11.3.7. Numeral contractions and ordinals 481
11.3.8. The NP genitive construction and the adjective
determ iner 481
11.3.9. The non-verbal clause 484
11.3.10. Lexical differences 485
TEXT SAMPLE 487
REFERENCES 491
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First o f ail, I w o u ld like to thank my friends among the Noon people, w h o have all contributed in one w ay or another to m y w ork. I also w ant to express my appreciation fo r their w illingness to help and to teach, receiving us as part o f th e ir fam ilies and, in the
end, treating us as true Noons. In particular, I w ould like to thank A n to in e Diop and Marcel Tine w h o showed such patience in m y early days in th e language, Pierre Malik Diop, the village chief of Jinjiroh, fo r receiving us and fo r the m any w o rd s o f true w isd o m th a t he has shared w ith us, and Frangois Bagne Ndione, our colleague in language w o rk am ong the Noons, fo r m any fru itfu l and exciting discussions.
I am also grateful to my supervisor. Dr. Philip Jaggar, fo r his insightful and perceptive help in the w ritin g o f this thesis. I have been much enriched by his com m ents and advice th a t have always been concise and w ell to the point. It has been an encouragem ent fo r me to w o rk w ith him and to share his knowledge and experience.
Much of m y training and practical experience in language research has been done through S um m er Institute of Linguistics, and I have very m uch enjoyed and valued the friendship, advice, support and encouragem ent that I have received fro m my colleagues in SIL, especially those in the Senegal branch.
I w ould also like to express m y deep gratitude to my parents, Karin and Eivind W istrom , w h o , fro m my early childhood, passed on to me their love fo r and interest in languages and language analysis, and w ho have always continued to su p p o rt and encourage me.
Finally, I w a n t to thank m y fam ily: M y children, Erik and Sofia, fo r p utting up w ith mum all to o often being fa r lost in though ts about Noon, or discussing it w ith dad at the dinner table; my husband, friend, and colleague, Heikki, fo r his invaluable help and support, fo r his m any hours reading through my work, giving his input and sharing his know ledge both in general linguistic m atters and in the specifics o f the Noon language, fo r rescuing me in tim es o f com puter problem s, fo r keeping on encouraging me th ro u g h o u t good and bad days. I could not have done any o f th is w ith o u t you.
Map 1: The Cangin group
z
^
--- *■-<(Map 2: The Noon language area
T1VAOUANE
n
Ouango
Dioung Le oh
Diassane Lam Lam Tiafathie Koudiadiene Tiaoun Ndiobene Lalane
Keur Ndiokune Diassap
Pognene Thiapong Thionah Petit Thialy
Grand Thialy Nguenth (Serere) Thies None
FANDENE 0 " Diayane
— Mbayane V ) C — ’ Fouth
^ Cousoun
Keur Ndiour Keur Liga Ndiam Dioroh Keur Daouda Peykouk
Ngoumsane
Ndoufak
Silmang
ABBREVIATIONS
A animate
ADB adverbial prefix (dj-)
AD J adjectiviser
A d v adverbial
AGENT agent (-oh)
AN anaphoric
APP apportative (-doh)
APPR appropriative pronoun
ASP.NEG aspect negation (-cii)
ATR advanced tongue root
ATTR a ttributive (prefix)
(AUX) auxiliary
BEN benefactive (-icf)
C noun class
CIRC circum stantial flak)
COM com m unal aspect (ki-)
COMP com parative verb (wen)
COMPL com plem entiser (an)
CONJ conjunction
DEF definite suffix
DEM dem onstrative
DEM.LOC locative dem onstrative (djj, daa)
DIM dim inutive (ku-)
DIST distal (-nee)
D.OBJ direct object
DUR durative (-oh)
EXCL exclusive
FACT fa ctitive (-luk)
FUT assertive future (-an)
GEN genitive
HAB habitual (h)
IA inanim ate
1DE0 ideophonic adverbs
IMP im perative (-aa)
IMP(pl) plural im perative (-at)
INCL inclusive
INF infinitive
INSTR instrum ental (-oh)
INT intensive derivational suffix (-is)
INTENS intensive participle suffix (-al)
I.OBJ indirect object
LOC locativising suffix (-oh)
LOC.OBJ locative object
N nasal insertion
NARR narrative (-ra)
NEG.EXIST negative existential particle (qaa)
NP noun phrase
0 o bject
OBJ object pronoun
OPT optative (-at)
OPT.NEG optative negative (hanat)
ORD ordinal prefix
P.EMPH em phatic pronoun
P.I indefinite pronoun
P.REL relative pronoun
PART partitive preposition (ga)
PASS passive (-us, aj)
PASS.PERF perfective passive (-uunun)
PAST past tense (-ee)
PAST.NEG negative past (-eeni)
PERF perfective (-in)
PERF(pl) plural perfective (-uunun)
(PD plural
PLUR plural verbal suffix (-us, aj)
POSS possessive pronoun
PP prepositional phrase
PPIoc locative prepositional phrase
PPtemp tem poral prepositional phrase
Pred predicat
PRES presentative particle
PRES.NEG present negation (-0 0)
PROG progressive particle (Cii/Cum/Caa)
PROH prohibitive particle (kaa)
PTC particle
PTC.EMPH em phatic particle
PTC.Q question introducer particle (maa)
PO position
PO.1 firs t position (T near speaker)
PO.2 second position (-um near addressee)
PO.3 third position (^aa distant)
PO.4 fo u rth position (-uu very distant)
PQ polar question m arker/ yes-no question m arker (-e)
PUNCT punctual
REC reciprocal (-oh)
REF referential (-ma)
REFL reflexive (-uk)
REL relational pronoun
REL.M relative m arker (-da)
REV reversive (ds)
REP repetitive (ds, -aat)
S subject
(sg) singular
SP spatial
SUB irrealis subordinator (-aa)
SUGG suggestion introducer, particle (laa) TRANS transitivising suffix (dd )
V verb
VH vow el harm ony
VOC vocative (-00)
VP verb phrase
0. IN TR O D U CTIO N
0.1 The Noon people 0.2. The Noon language
0.2.1. Classification and previous studies 0.2.2. Language dialects
0.2.3. A brief outline of the language 0.3. Methodology
0.3.1. Fieldwork
0.3.2. The Present Study
0.1. The Noon people1
Geographical situation
A m ong th e W est A tla n tic languages in Senegal, the Cangin group is found in and around the region o f Thies, a to w n of 120 000 inhabitants at 70km east o f Dakar. The Cangin group consists o f 5 languages spoken by an approxim ate to ta l o f 100 000 people. The five languages are Saafi-saafi, spoken in an area south of o f Thies, to w a rd s the coast; Palor, along the national road between Dakar and Thies; Ndut, north-w est o f Thies; Noon, in and around the to w n o f Thies itself; Lehar, north of Thies, in the area w e st o f Tivaouane (see Map 1, p. 12, w hich is a m odification of Carte 1 in WILLIAMS et al. 1987:11 ). The Saafi2 is the biggest group w ith around 40 000 speakers, Ndut and Noon both have around 25 000 speakers, and the Lehar and Palor only a fe w thousand each.
Thus, it is in and around the to w n of Thies th a t the Noon-speakers are to be found. The Noon-people used to fo rm the core of the to w n 's population, but as m ore and more foreigners came to settle in Thies, the Noon started to m ove out fro m the centre of the to w n . Thus, the Noon villages are to be found adjacent to the to w n , or as quarters inside
1M ost o f the inform ation on the Noon people is based on a local level study done by a Noon co-w orker, Frangois Bagne Ndione fro m Fandene, w ho has received m ost figures fro m local village elders or teachers, fro m research done by CCF (Christian C hildren's Fund) and in som e cases fro m the regional and local adm inistration in Thies. Many observations have also been made or verified by our own team .
2Saafi-saafi is the name of the language spoken by the people o f Saafi
its borders, b u t clearly separated fro m the areas of other people groups. However, as Thies is grow ing, m ore and more villages are being merged w ith th e to w n . There are approxim ate ly 30 Noon villages of w hich the biggest is Fandene w ith its 3000 inhabitants.
Fandene is located at 7km east of the to w n of Thies, and is thus am ong the Noon villages th a t are fu rth e s t away fro m the national roads. Furthest away fro m Thies are villages along the road to Tivaouane, such as Lamlam, bordering w ith the Lehar language.
Across th e land o f the Noon there is a river th a t runs fro m the hills w e s t o f Thies tow ards the east, and past the village of Fandene. During the rainy season, w hich stretches from July to O ctober, this river makes large parts of the country rather inaccessible by road. In the dry season, the river makes irrigation projects possible. The Noon area is a "green zone", i.e. w here th e main vegetation elements are palm -trees - " roniers" -, the baobab and the kad trees. The area has been hit by desertification during th e last tw e n ty years, although in recent years rains have been more sufficient.
Dem ography
Of the 25 000 Noon-speakers, the m a jo rity still live in their original areas and villages.
A round 15% have left the area fo r reasons of w ork, to live in other places in Senegal, m ainly in Dakar, or abroad. However, m ost of these people still keep very close ties w ith their hom e village and fam ily. A round 45-50% of the population are younger than 15 years old, a num ber th a t is higher in the villages than in the to w n itself.
Econom y
The Noon are both an agricultural and urban people. A griculture in the villages consists of cultivation of m illet, beans, peanuts, vegetables and fruits. O ther sources of income are fro m small com m erce, carpentry or crafts. A speciality of the Noon is the w eaving of baskets and production o f lig h tw e ig h t furniture - all products fro m the palm -tree. The urban population have different types of occupations: m any young girls w ork as dom estic helpers; other adults are fo r exam ple in teaching, in the clergy or in the adm inistration.
Education
A lm o s t every Noon village has a prim ary school3, public ones in m ost cases but Catholic in tw o villages. In the to w n o f Thies there are several Catholic schools w here many Noon send th e ir children. The language of education is French, or in a fe w cases Arabic. For higher education, students have to m ove in to tow n (Thies) w here schools are available up to the level o f "baccalaureat" . Today, a very large portion of children start school, but the drop-out num ber is very high, mainly due to financial reasons. Especially girls are often taken o u t of school after one or a couple o f years, and put to w o rk at home or as dom estic helpers.
The average rate o f illiteracy is around 50%, but in addition to th a t som e 20% are sem i
literate, having done only a fe w years o f school. Looking at the age division of illiterate persons, the num bers are m uch higher am ong adults: around 95% o f the population above the age o f 30 are illiterate.
In m any o f the Noon villages literacy projects have begun during the last couple of years by several NGOs4, but it is still only done in W olof, the biggest national language of Senegal and the trade language of the area. A very large p roportion o f the Noon are bilingual in W olof, and these literacy classes are aimed mainly to w a rd s w om en w ho have not had the p ossibility to reach an adequate level of French in the educational system . A t the m om ent, literacy m aterials in Noon are being produced, as w ell as transition m aterials from French, and w ith in a fe w years literacy classes should be running in Noon in the Noon villages. On the national level, the aim of the m inistry o f education is to w ork to w a rd s and prepare the prim ary education system to make a tra n sitio n into local languages fo r the firs t year(s) o f prim ary school. This aim is also present in the w ork am ong people and organisations in the Noon area.
3i.e. an "ecole p rim a ire " w ith a m inim um of 6 years (or 6 classes) 4non-governm ental organisations
Religion
A lth o u g h 95% o f S enegal's population is M uslim , the IMoon people show a different picture. Over half of the Noon are Roman Catholic, w ith the other, lesser part, being M uslim . The C atholic m ission came to the Noon people in the early 1800's, and today the Noon are greatly represented am ong the Catholics and also th e clergy. The division between the religions lies m ainly between villages, m ost being either one or the other.
However, there is no social division between M uslim s and C atholics w ith in the people group, and interm arriages between M uslim s and Catholics are quite acceptable. The reason is probably th a t m ost tra d itio n s and practices, th a t are to d a y linked to a religious feast or occasion, have often merged w ith previous anim istic tra d itio n s w hich are still existing below the surface, in the beliefs o f m ost people.
S ociolinguistic situation
A lth o u g h the Noon live in rather hom ogenous villages or quarters in to w n , they are very m uch living in a cultural m ixture o f people fro m different ethnic groups and languages.
This is m ore accentuated in to w n itself, but even in the m ore rem ote villages there are other ethnic groups present th a t live in adjacent villages or as nom ads in the area. In the villages it is m ainly the W o lo f and the PeuI th a t are found, som etim es Bambara, w hile in to w n these and several others are living next to the Noon (Serere-Sine, Diola etc.). The result o f this cultural m ixture is th a t all contacts outside of the fa m ily and people group are conducted in W o lo f or French, depending on the type of situation: W o lo f fo r m ost contacts w ith other Senegalese except in m atters concerning adm inistration , education or anything related to w ritte n language; French fo r all contacts w ith foreigners. The people living in Thies itse lf are naturally m ore exposed to , mainly, W o lo f than those outside to w n . A s a result of this fact, a difference can be seen in the language acquisition of children: In to w n (in the Cangin dialect) the children tend to learn W o lo f in parallel w ith Noon, w hile in the villages the children do not learn W o lo f until they sta rt school at the age o f 6. In m ixed marriages, w here one partner originates fro m another group than the
Noon, the com m on language in the household is norm ally W olof, even if neither of them has W o lo f as his/her m other tongue.
In spite o f this w id e use o f W o lo f am ong the Noon, there is a certain reluctance tow ards the language w hich is perceived as the language of com m erce, e xploitatio n and,
som etim es, corruption. This a ttitude m ost likely derives fro m the conflicts between the W o lo f and Noon th a t date back to long before independence. On the other hand, the French language is by m ost people seen as a necessary and beneficial asset, since it gives the speaker a higher status in society.
0.2. The Noon language
0.2.1. C lassification and previous studies
The ethnic group and language Noon has been referred to several tim e s in the literature during the past century. One o f the firs t w ritte n references to the people as Serer-non was m ade in 1913 by M igeod in "The Languages of W est A fric a ." Delafosse refers to
Noon in a chapter on "Langues du Soudan et de la Guinee"5 (1952 ), w here he
distinguishes betw een the languages Serere, called «serere-sine» and the None called
«serere-none». In 1931, A ujas w ro te on the Sereres:
"Les Sereres se d ivise n t en deux fractions: les Sereres Nones q u i h a b ita n t le cercfe actuef de Thies, e t les Sereres Sine q u i o n t p o u r h a b ita t geographique fe pays du Sine e t une fra ctio n de celui du S aloum ." (A U JA S 1931:298)
This view o f the Noon as a dialect of Serere prevailed in linguistic classification fo r a long period o f tim e:
5This is a study which was written in 1924 but published in 1952 in "Les Langues du Monde."
- In 1953, Lavergne de Tressan includes Noon in his "Inventaire linguistique de I'A friqu e occidentale frangaise et du T ogo." Here, he divides the group senegalo-guineen into four groups, o f whieh group A contains 1) W o lo f 2) Serer 3) Dyola. The Serer group is described as fo llo w s:
"T a n t du p o in t de vue ethnique que du p o in t de vue linguistique, les Serer ne constituen t pas un to u t. H sem ble qu 'on doive d istingue r deux groupes de dia/ectes; c 'est ce q u i avait incite Delafosse a classer d 'u n e p a rt le Serer, qui, p o u r lui, e ta it represente p a r le dialecte N dyegem ou Kegeni, de I'a u tre le Non, Je distingue done ce que j'a p p e lle ra it les vrais dia/ectes Serer e t les faux dia/ectes." (1953:150)
The Noon is described as being part of the second group of "fa u x dia/ectes", togethe r w ith the Safensafen and the Ndut,
- On the same line, W esterm ann and Bryan classify Serer Non also called Dyoba as one of tw o Serer dialects, the other being Serer Sin (1952:18).
- In 1966, Greenberg classifies the Serer-Sin and the Serer-Non as m em bers of the northern subgroup o f the W est-A tlantic language group.
It was not until in 1966 th a t Noon was classified as belonging to a group separate from the Serere. This w as done by the A ustrian linguist W alter Pichl w h o w ro te an article titled
"The Cangin group - A Language Group in Northern Senegal". Here, Pichl gave the label
"Cangin group" to the languages spoken in the Thies region, since he found th a t
"C angin"6 w as the name o f the to w n of Thies in these languages. Pichl stated th a t this group was clearly separate fro m Serere, and therefore he "propose(d) not to quote these languages as SEREFTSin and SERER-Non or SERER-Ndut, but sim ply as SERER and CANGIN" (PICHL 1966:12). The languages Pichl included under the label "C angin" were the None, the Safen, the N d u t, the Palor or Fator, and the Lehar. In the same article, Pichl also docum ents a brief sketch of the Cangin languages, particularly in view of com parison
6ln Noon, today, the w o rd cangin or cagin is used fo r the Noon people living in the to w n o f Thies and th e ir dialect, not the to w n itself w hich is called Caahaak. In the other "Cangin languages" how ever (Saafi-saafi, Ndut etc), the w ord "C angin" designates the tow n.
to Serer-Sin. He describes some phone tic/phonem ic structures as w ell as some m orphological features concerning, fo r example, noun classes and agreem ent.
On the basis o f P ichl1 s study, the Cangin languages fo rm a separate subgroup in the northern branch of the W est A tla n tic languages in the classification o f Sapir (1971), and the same grouping is fo u n d in later classifications, such as in W ils o n 's chapter "A tla n tic "
(1989).
In 1987, SIL (Sum m er Institute of Linguistics) undertook a sociolingu istic study of the five languages in the Cangin group, to state the relation between the languages. This was done th ro u g h lexical and phonological statistics as well as gram m atical com parison, and by evaluation o f attitu d e s to w a rd s and usage of the language. The in te llig ib ility w ith Serer-Sine and the degree of bilingualism in W o lo f were also taken into account. The
results show ed th a t "le groupe cangin se com pose de cinq langues fondam en talem ent ininte/ligibles: le n d u t, le palor, le lehar, le none, e t le safen" (W illiam s et al. 1987:8). The
study also show ed th a t frequently, it was m ore com m on fo r people to use W o lo f when addressing speakers o f another Cangin language, than fo r them to use their own related languages. In spite of the strong position of W olof, it was concluded th a t "rien ne p erm et de penser que, dans le dom aine de la fam ille e t des relations interpersonnelles privees, on puisse assister a un g lissem ent vers I'u tilis a tio n du w o lo f (p. 8).
In sum m ary, although Noon has long been known and docum ented as an ethnic group, it w as fo r a long tim e grouped w ith the Serere languages, until the 1960s w hen it was classified linguistically as belonging to a separate group, called the Cangin group.
However, although it has been clearly shown th a t there is no close linguistic link between the Cangin languages and the Serere-Sine, these people groups still consider them selves as being part o f the Serere culture, w hich is then taken as a cover name fo r a w hole range of ethnic groups and languages. In popular speech, the Cangin languages are called "les sereres de Thies", and the languages are still referred to as " serere-noon, serere-ndut etc.
During the last 20 years, the Cangin languages have been the objects o f several studies, resulting in a grow ing awareness o f and knowledge about this group:
- The phonology and m orphology o f Saafi-Saafi has been the o b je ct o f the doctoral thesis of M b o d j (1983) and a m ore recent contribution to the phonology has been m ade in a m aftrise by Dia (1997).
- The phonetics and phonology of Ndut have been explored in several studies (including m aftrise and these de doctorat) by Gueye (1980, 1984 and 1986), and in 1996, Morgan
presented an overview o f its gram m atical structures in an M A thesis.
- In 1987, d 'A lto n , in her these de d o c to ra t gives an phonological and gram m atical sketch of the language Palor.
- The hitherto m ajor contribution tow ards an understanding o f Noon has been provided by a doctoral thesis by Jeanne Lopis, done at the University of Sorbonne, Paris:
"Phonologie et m orphologie nom inale du noon, parler de N gente" (Lopis 1981), but so far, a full description o f its gram m ar has not existed.
The w hole group of Cangin languages has been the object o f som e studies, such as the m aitrise by Diop (1989), the com parison of the relative clause in the Cangin languages by Lopis-Sylla (1985) or the article on inte llig ib ility and language boundaries w ith in the group (W illiams 1994).
0.2,2. Language dialects
Noon is divided in three main dialects w ith the fo llow ing names, used by their own speakers: Padee, th a t is spoken in the greater village o f Fandene, east o f Thies; Saawii,7 spoken in the northern villages fro m Lalane-Diassap to Koudiadiene; C angin, spoken in the
v o
to w n of Thies itself (see Map 2, w hich is a result of our own local level studies). The fo llo w in g is a list o f the Noon villages, grouped according to dialect:
The Noon villages:
in French in Noon
Padee dialect FANDENE:
Keur Ndiour Keur Daouda Keur Liga
Ndiam Dioroh Cousoun Fouth Diayane
Cangin dialect Leloh
Peykouk Ngoum sane Ndoufak Silmang Dioung Ouango Thies None Nguenth (Serere) Grand Thialy Petit Thialy Thionah Thiapong Pognene
Saawii dialect Diassap
Keur Ndiokune Lalane
PADEE:
Ce'aa N ju u 1 KiTokkinaa
1. KiTagoh 2. Ce'aa Kujun Jinjiroh
Kusun FiV
Ce'aa Waal
Leeloo Kuuk
Qgumee / Qgumisaa Kundook
Sflmai] / Sflmeg Coonaa Yuug W aggoo Sapkoo
Qgente / Qgenti Caalii Luufaa Calaw
Coonaa Capog Pofiin
Caap / Caasap Kuyuq
Laalaa
7The name o f the Noon dialect, Saawii or Saafii, is not to be confounded w ith the name of the related language in the Cangin group, Saafi-saafi (where the people are called Saafi and their country Safen.
8lt can be added th a t to the Noon, the Lehar is often regarded as a dialect o f Noon, although this th o u g h t is not shared by the Lehar speakers.
Ndiobene Tiaoun
Saawii, Saafii
1. Cawuu Jooraa 2. Cawuu Luufaa Koudiadiene Kujiji, Kujajen
Cafac Lam Lam Jaasaa Tiafathie
Lam Lam Diassane
There is, up to now , no full description o f any of the Noon dialects. However, as m entioned above, a description o f the phonology and the nom inal m orpholog y of the Cangin dialect of Noon (subdialect of Ngente), has been done by Jeanne Lopis in 1981.
The differences th a t exist between the dialects are both lexical and phonological. The lexical ones are quite fe w , and in the m ajo rity of cases the dialectal w o rd s are known and recognised by m ost people. The phonological differences are in m o st cases of consistent and predictable type, such as in the exam ple of plosives: A ll voiced plosives that occur in Padee and Saafi are represented by prenasalised voiced plosives in Cangin.
A linguistic com parison between the dialects, based on our own w o rk and th a t of Lopis w ill be presented in chapter 11.
0.2.3. A brief outline of the language
Noon is a non-tonal language, w ith the basic constituent order of SVO. It is agglutinative, w ith suffixes as the m ost com m on fo rm o f affix, although several prefixes occur. The basic syllable patterns are CVC and CV, and the vast m ajo rity o f the verbal roots are form ed as CVC. The nom inal system contains 8 noun classes (6 singular and 2 plural),
and there is concord between the noun and its determ inants and referring pronouns w ith respect to noun class, size, animateness. The definite suffix marks the nominal fo r both noun class and position. A m ong the personal pronouns, the firs t person plural shows a distinction betw een the inclusive and exclusive pronoun. The verb ro o t can occur in a range o f derivations, and it is not uncom m on to find up to three derivational suffixes. The
stem is conjugated according to both aspect and tense. In order to express m odality, the use o f auxiliary verbs is w id e ly spread. The verbal system contains a set of stative verbs w hich, in addition to their verbal quality, also assume m ost of the adjectival functions.
There is, how ever, a handful of "tru e " adjectives as well. The numeral system is based on the num ber five.
As fo r the phonology, IMoon has 27 consonants w ith contrast betw een the labial, alveolar, palatal and velar articulations. The consonants include, am ong others, voiced
prenasalised plosives, im plosives and a phonem ic glottal. A t m orphem e boundaries, there are extensive consonantal changes taking place, one of w hich is consonant gem ination.
There are 20 vow els in Noon w here each o f the 5 basic qualities has a long and a short fo rm , in addition to a [-ATR] and a [+ A T R ] form . There is a restricted vow el harm ony w ith respect to the ATR feature.
0.3. Methodology
0.3.1. Fieldwork
In January 1994, I and m y husband, Heikki, arrived in the area as a language team of S um m er In stitu te o f Linguistics (SIL), in order to study the language and the culture of Noon. W e started language learning in Jinjiro, one of the small villages th a t make up the bigger co m m u n ity of Fandene. For the firs t year, our main inform ants w ere A ntoine Diop and Marcel Tine, both farm ers in this village. Later during the firs t year, we started w orking w ith Frangois Bagne Ndione, w ith w hom we have since had an ongoing
collaboration in projects of language developm ent in the Noon area. Frangois comes from a different part of Fandene ( Kusun) but has also had university training in philosophy and modern languages at the University of Dakar.
As part o f our w o rk, during the firs t tw o years we spent in the language area, we started to analyse the phonology, m orphology and syntax of the Padee dialect o f the language.
W e also collected te x t m aterial such as fo lk stories, other stories, songs, proverbs, inform ative te xts. M any of these te xts were transcribed fro m recordings o f the oral fo rm , and all te x ts w ere checked by another native speaker of the language, regarding the naturalness of the language. These collected texts and notes w ere the base of my research w hen I started to w o rk on this thesis in 1996. In the academ ic year of 1997-1998, I returned to Senegal to fu rth e r investigate some m atters and to ve rify certain
hypotheses.
In addition to the studies in phonology, m orphology and syntax m entioned above, we have also w orked on, am ong other things, a number of language learning lessons, an anthropological paper on the w orld view o f the Noon, and an article on consonantal changes in Noon (Bull et al., m anuscript). W e have also tried to prioritise the w ork on our own language ability in Noon, and by now w e have reached a fluency w hich allows us to w o rk only in the language itself. On the basis of our own studies and analyses, w e have subm itted an orthography proposal to the M inistry of education, and w e have started to see this orthograp hy com e into use. During our tim e in the language area, w e have seen the start o f a literacy m ovem ent in the m other tongue, and also o f transition classes from French into Noon fo r educated m other-tongue Noon speakers. In the w id e r use of the w ritte n language, it has also been possible fo r me to verify the accuracy of my research am ong a w id e r group o f people.
0.3.2. The present study
The overall aim o f this study has been to present a descriptive gram m ar o f a language w hich has not previously been docum ented, more than partially, and w hich is, in spite of its relative sm allness, a living language in a dynamic, culturally aware people group. We have not fo llo w e d a specific linguistic theory as a fram ew ork, but rather tried to find a
w ay to depict the language in the clearest and m ost concise fo rm w hich still accounts fo r the characteristics o f this language. Naturally, the study has been done w ith a continuous com parison to other languages; A frican in general and W est A tla n tic in specific. It is a rather classical or traditional approach th a t has been used in this description, going from the sm aller to the larger units of the language, presenting the general features, follow ed by the m ore specific ones as well as the exceptions to general rules. W hen possible, generic rules have been set up to account fo r the gram m atical structures th a t occur, and fo r the changes, specifically on the m orphophonologicai level, th a t take place. A t all levels have w e tried to provide accurate and central data in Noon to exem plify the feature being described.
The study is divided into 11 chapters, fo llow ed by a short interlinearised te x t sample w ith a free translation.
- The firs t chapter presents a brief overview of the phonology, both segm ental and suprasegm ental, and the m orphophonology of Noon.
- The nom inal system is presented in chapters 2 and 3: the m orpholog y (ch. 2), w here the noun classes are described as w ell as the noun w ord - the root, derivational and
inflectional affixes determ iners and pronouns; the noun phrase (ch. 3), w hich may be sim ple or com plex, and its post-m odification
- Prepositions and adverbs are treated in chapter 4.
- In chapters 5 and 6, w e have treated verbal m orphology and the verb phrase. The m orpholog y (ch. 5} presents the verb root, derivational and conjuga tional affixes and particles, o b je ct pronoun suffixes and auxiliaries. The description o f conjugational affixes and particles also contains a short presentation of the uses of the d iffe re n t tenses and aspects. The verb phrase (ch. 6) is interpreted here as equalling the predicate, and therefore it w ill contain the verb w ith al! the obligatory elem ents th a t occur w ith it.
A n o th e r type of verb phrase th a t is treated is the non-verbal one, w here the predicate does not contain a verb but only a predicate particle representing the verb.
- In chapter 7, w e deal w ith conjunctions, particles and interjections w hich are som etim es part o f the nom inal or verbal phrases but w hich also fun ctio n on higher levels in the language.
- Chapter 8 presents clause structures: independent ones but also dependent clauses such as the relative and the subordinate clause. There is also a sum m ary of the different clause elem ents th a t can occur.
- In chapter 9, d iffe re n t sim ple sentence types are described, defined by specific
structures and sem antic fu nction. Further on, com plex sentences are presented, both of co-ordinative and subordinative type. A m ong the co-ordinative sentences, we also find the serial sentence and the reduplicative clauses.
- In chapter 10, w e have tried to depict som e features th a t occur on the discourse level;
cohesion w ith in a paragraph; participant reference, specifically in narration; the w ider use of spatial deixis; them e, focus and em otive emphasis; different devices fo r foregrounding and backgrounding; speech form s. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the features th a t do occur on discourse level in the language, but since this study tries to provide a full gram m atical description of the language, there is not enough room fo r a fuller account in this dom ain. H owever, these features th a t are brought up are all central and general, and they are im p o rta n t exam ples of the characteristics of Noon.
- Finally, in chapter 11, w e give a com parative view on som e o f the m a jo r dialect
differences, m ainly based on a com parison between our study on the Padee dialect, and th a t o f Dr Jeanne Lopis on the Cangin dialect (Nguente). The differences presented are basically restricted to phonological and gram m atical ones, not lexical, and they have also generally been observed by us in our language w ork w ith in the Noon com m unity.
The aim has thus been to give as full a picture as possible of the gram m ar o f the language, given the restrictions of it being treated in one single study. Naturally, some areas w o u ld need to be objects o f more investigation and study, but w e hope th a t this presentation w ould provide a contribution to the docum entation of Noon.
1. PHO NO LO G Y AND M ORPHOPHONOLO GY
1.1. Segm ental phonology 1.1.1. Vowel charts 1.1.2. Vowel length
1.1.3. Phonem ic distribution of vow els 1.1.4. Feature m atrix o f vowels 1.1.5. Consonant charts 1.1.6. Consonant length
1.1.7. The im plosives f b f and /y7 1.1.8. The glottal stop
1.1.9. Phonemic distribution of consonants 1.1.10. Feature m a trix of consonants 1.1.11. The syllable
1.2. Suprasegmental phonology 1.2.1. The phonological w ord
1.2.1.1. Stress 1.2.1.2. Pitch
1.2.1.3. Stress and pitch in suffixation 1.2.2. The phonological phrase. Intonation patterns 1.3. Morphophonology
1.3.1. A ffix a tio n patterns
1.3.2. Underlying and surface form s of consonants 1.3.2.1. Voiced plosives
1.3.2.2. Nasals 1.3.2.3. Im plosives 1.3.2.4. The vibrant 1.3.3. Nasal insertion
1.3.4. Rules of the m orphophonological changes 1.3.5. Vowel deletion in suffixation
1.3.6. Vowel assim ilation in suffixation 1.3.7. Vowel harm ony
1.3.7.1. Vowel harm ony in the w ord root 1.3.7.2. Vowel harm ony in suffixation 1.4. Orthography
The fo llo w in g presentation w ill give a brief overview o f the phonological system of Noon, fo llo w e d by a description of the general m orphophonological changes that take place in the language. The purpose o f this chapter is not to present an in-depth
phonological study, but to outline the necessary foundation fo r the syntactic description.
1.1. Segmental phonology
1.1.1. Vow el charts
The vow el system in Noon is based on 5 vow els th a t appear in a [ + ATR] and a [-ATR]
fo rm , and both sets o f vow els show a short-long contrast. There are no diphthongs in the language. This gives a to ta l o f 20 vow el phonemes, as presented in the diagram:
short vow el phonemes
fro n t central, back
-ATR + A T R -ATR + A T R
close i i u u
m id-open e e o o
open a e
long vow el phonemes
fro n t central, back
-ATR + ATR -ATR + ATR
close i: i: u: u:
m id-open e: e: o: o:
open a: e:
The sym bols used here fo r the vow el phonemes correspond to the fo llo w in g IPA symbols:
f ['] i [i]
u [u ] u [u]
e [e ] e [e]
1.1.2. Vowel length
In Noon, vow el length is contrastive, as seen in the examples:
1. / e : / /se :k/ 'harvest season'
2. /e / /s e k / 'w a it'
3. /f:/ /k k m / 'p ra y ' 4. /[/ /k im / 'm o rn in g '
The long vow el
The long vow el is realised by tw o allophones in com plem entary distribution. In an open syllable, th e long vow el surfaces in its full length, thus in its underlying fo rm . In a closed syllable, how ever, the vow el is shortened to half its length, as in exam ple 5 where the definite article seen in ex. 6 is absent to the noun:
/e :/
5. /se :k/ [s e ’ k] 'harvest season'
6. / se:k-h/ [s s :k i:] 'th e harvest season' harvest.season-DEF
as opposed to the short vow el phoneme w here there is no such difference when the im perative su ffix is added to the verb:
/e /
7. /se k/ [ssk] ‘w a it'
8. /sek-a:/ [seka:] ’w a it! 1 w ait-IM P
Since there are no univalent sequences of vowels, the long vow el is interpreted as one phoneme.
The short vow el
As seen, the short vow el is opposed to the long one in identical environm ents. However, in a prepausal position, the short vow el is norm ally follo w e d by a non-phonem ic glottal stop, w hich disappears in other positions, and which does not occur w ith long,
prepausal vow els.
9. /6e ti/ [b e ti? ] ‘a w o m a n1
w om an
10. /b e ti na ya :l-ci/ [b e ti na Jadci?] ‘ a w om an and her husban d’
w om an w ith husband-REL(3sg)
This non-phonem ic glottal stop can be com pared w ith the phonem ic one w hich remains unchanged in non-prepausal positions. A phonem ic glottal stop is found w o rd finally in the fo llo w in g example:
11. /6o ‘ / [ 60?] ’ people’
12. /6 o ’ na ju :7 [6 o ? n a jU ’ ?] ’ people and a nim als1 people w ith animal(s)
1.1.3, Phonem ic d istribution of vow els
All vow els appear in the nucleus of both CVC and CV patterns, w ith the exception of CV syllables in w ord-final positions, w here the fo llo w in g vow els are attested:
i ii u uu
i ii u uu
e ee oo
a aa
Thus, the [-high, + A T R ] vow els and the short / o / do not occur in this position. It needs to be said th a t w ord-final short /e / is very rare. In our data it only occurs tw ice. It is possible th a t the short t o t has existed, but th a t it has developed into /o h / or lo\f.
However, it is clear th a t the three other vow els, [-high, + ATR ], have a status that set them apart fro m other vow els in the system . The phonemes [ + ATR] /e, o, e/ and their long counterpa rts are only attested in tw o positions:
- as a result o f regressive vow el harm ony (examples 1 and 2), induced by a follow ing [ + ATR] vow el, both in roots and in derivations (see 1.3.9.)
- in loan w o rd s w here a sound is perceived as th a t of a [ + ATR] vow el (examples 3-6):
1./p o k / + /-is / /p o k is / 'd e ta ch '
attach REV
2. /n e b / 4- /-VI -» /n e w t1/ 'g o o d1
be.good ADJ
French:
3. sceur 'siste r' /s o :ri/ 'nu n'
W olof:
4. seen 'see, perceive1- * /se :n / 'perceive' 5. w o o r 'be s u re1 - * /w e :'/ or /w o :'/'b e sure'
6. gen 'be preferable1 -» /g e n / 'be p referable1
Since these vow els do not occur in m onosyllabic roots, other than loan w ords, they can be interpreted as original allophones of their [-ATR] counterparts. But as a result of their increasing appearance in loan w ords, they m ust at present be regarded as separate phonemes. Thus, the original vow el system probably contained seven vow el phonemes, w ith three allophones produced by vow el harmony:
i ii u uu
i ii u uu
e ee o 00
a aa
1.1.4. Feature m a trix o f vow els
The vow els m ay thus be distinguished by the follo w in g opposition features:
- vertical position:
close [ -h high]
m id-open [-high, -low ]
open [ + low ]
- horizontal position:
fro n t [-back]
back and central [ + back]
- duration:
short [-long]
long [ -h long]
- tongue root position:
unm arked position [-ATR]
advanced tongue root [ + ATR]
The features can be diagram m ed as follow s
high low
i 4-
i: 4-
i +
i: +
e e:
e - -
e:
a +
a: - 4-
e - 4-
e: - +
o o:
o
o: -
u 4-
u: +
u +
u : 4"
back long ATR
"I"
+
4* ~h
+
+
+ +
+
+ +
+ - +
+ + +
+
+ +
+ 4*
4 - 4 - 4 *
4-
4- 4-
4- - +
4* 4* +
1.1.5. Consonant charts
The consonant system in Noon consists o f 27 phonemes, presented in the diagram:
labial alveolar palatal post plosives:
voiceless P t c k
voiced b d i g
prenasalised mb nd nj ng
glottalised 6 cf / i
fricatives: f s h
approxim ants:
nasals m n h n
vibrants r
liquids I
glides w y
The fo llo w in g consonant phonemes deviate fro m the IPA sym bols:
C onsonant phonem e IPA sym bol
/ ’ / [7]
/J7 [f]
I n f [P]
/ / / [f]
/y / [j]
/m b / [ mb]
/n d / [ nd]
/ n j/ [pf]
/g g / [°g]
1.1.6. C onsonant length
Consonant length is distinctive in Noon, but rarely on m orphem e level. The long consonants norm ally occur w hen a m orphem e is added to a root, requiring a
lengthening of the final consonant of the root (see A ffix a tio n patterns 1.3.1.). There are certain restrictions on w hich consonants may occur in this position. Consonants which do not gem inate into a long consonant are described in 1.3.2. Thus, the long consonant norm ally appears in a syllable boundary, w ith the boundary betw een the consonants of the gem ination. The long consonant is consequently interpreted as 2 phonemes.
1. / h o t / [h o t] 'see' /h o t-ti:/ [ h o t:i:] 'have not seen1 see- ASP.NEG
In a restricted num ber of w ords and loan w ords, there are long consonants w ith in the root itself.
2. /ro c c i/ 'new palm w in e ' 3. /p u c c u / 'ceilin g'
In certain ideophones, a phonetic lengthening of the final consonant adds to the intensity of the speech:
4. een-da /c e l/ [c e ll] 'it w as perfectly calm ' be.calm-NARR IDEO
5. yaanaaw-in /d u r/ [ d u r:] 'it was dazzling w h ite ' be.white-PERF IDEO
1.1.7. The im plosives 6 and /
The phonem es b and / are realised by tw o allophones, respectively, th a t appear in com plem enta ry distrib u tio n . Thus, /6/ is realised by [b ] and [w ? ], and /y7 as [J] and [j? ].
In the syllable onset, they both appear as im plosives, as in:
1. /b o f/ [b o f] 'bark'
2. / / a h / [Jah] 'g o '
but in the syllable coda - w ord-finally and w ord-internally - they surface as a glottalised approxim ant:
3. /Ifib / [ Ii:w ? ] ’ be d irty ' 4. /m a /- ti:/ [m a j'? ti:] 'has not suck' suck-ASP.NEG
These phonemes, and the im plosive /cf/ w ill be further dealt w ith in M orphophonology (1.3.2.3.).
1.1.8. The g lo tta l stop
The glottal stop phoneme functions as other plosives, w ith lengthening across the m orphem e boundaries. It occurs in the syllable onset and coda, but as the initial phonem e of a w o rd , it does not stand in contrast w ith a w ord -in itia l vow el since there are no vow el-initial w o rd s (see 1.4. O rthography). As m entioned, a non-phonem ic glottal stop also fo llo w s short vow els in prepausal position (see 1.1.2. Vowel length).
1.1.9. Phonem ic distribution of consonants
A ll consonants may appear in the syllable onset position of CVC and CV, but there are certain restrictions on the syllable coda position of the CVC pattern, concerning the fo llo w in g phonemes:
