An English-Hausa Dictionary

An English-Hausa Dictionary
Author: Roxana Ma Newman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 327
Release: 1990
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780300047028

"Hausa students and Hausaphiles now have an English-Hausa dictionary that is readily available, attractively produced and quite attractively priced, and more comprehensive than any English-based dictionary for an African language...A magnificent accomplishment that promises to serve a wide variety of purposes. It establishes both precedent and an excellent model that one hopes will be followed for other less commonly taught languages." -William R. Leben, Modern Language Journal This is a modern comprehensive dictionary designed specifically for English-speaking users who wish to acquire communicative fluency in Hausa, West Africa's most important and most widely spoken language.The dictionary contains a broad selection of words that the average person is likely to need in speaking and writing Hausa for everyday use. Included are common technical terms drawn from a range of fields, as well as generally accepted borrowings from English and French. The entries are divided into meaning groups and grammatical categories, marked clearly by semantic and usage indicators to help the user distinguish between the various meanings. Numerous phrases, sentences, and common idiomatic expressions illustrate conversational usage and provide culturally informative contexts. The easy to read typography marks lexical and grammatical distinctions of tone and vowel length for every Hausa word in the dictionary. The introduction provides concise information on various points of Hausa grammar. Useful appendixes include pronoun paradigms, pronunciation guides to Hausa place names and personal names, an index of Nigerian and international organizations, and a description of the currencies of Nigeria and Niger. An English-Hausa Dictionary will be an invaluable guide for students, research scholars, translators, and people with educational business, or governmental ties in West Africa who are interested in learning the language and culture of one of that area's most dynamic societies. It will be equally useful to non-Hausa speaking Africans who want to learn Hausa. In general, the innovative design features of this book will set a new standard for pedagogically oriented reference works of African languages. "A valuable resource for scholars and students of linguistic and African languages and literature...It is highly recommended for use in academic and research libraries. Newman and her editorial staff deserve to be congratulated." -Felix Eme Unaeze, American Reference Books Annual

A Hausa-English Dictionary

A Hausa-English Dictionary
Author: Paul Newman
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0300122462

This up-to-date volume, the first Hausa-English dictionary published in a quarter of a century, is written with language learners and practical users in mind. With over 10,000 entries, it primarily covers Standard Nigerian Hausa but also includes numerous forms from Niger and other dialect areas of Nigeria. The dictionary includes new Hausa terminology for products, events, and activities of the modern world. Its definitions show the use of Hausa words in context, and particular attention is paid to idioms, figurative meanings, and special usages. As a guide to pronunciation, headwords and illustrative sentences are fully marked for tone and vowel length. The book adopts a unique approach to the presentation of verb forms that clarifies lexical relationships and their correct usage.

A grammar of Moloko

A grammar of Moloko
Author: Dianne Friesen
Publisher: Language Science Press
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: African languages
ISBN: 3946234631

This grammar provides the first comprehensive grammatical description of Moloko, a Chadic language spoken by about 10,000 speakers in northern Cameroon. The grammar was developed from hours and years that the authors spent at friends’ houses hearing and recording stories, hours spent listening to the tapes and transcribing the stories, then translating them and studying the language through them. Time was spent together and with others speaking the language and talking about it, translating resources and talking to Moloko people about them. Grammar and phonology discoveries were made in the office, in the fields while working, and at gatherings. In the process, the four authors have become more and more passionate about the Moloko language and are eager to share their knowledge about it with others. Intriguing phonological aspects of Moloko include the fact that words have a consonantal skeleton and only one underlying vowel (but with ten phonetic variants). The simplicity of the vowel system contrasts with the complexity of the verb word, which can include information (in addition to the verbal idea) about subject, direct object (semantic Theme), indirect object (recipient or beneficiary), direction, location, aspect (Imperfective and Perfective), mood (indicative, irrealis, iterative), and Perfect aspect. Some of the fascinating aspects about the grammar of Moloko include transitivity issues, question formation, presupposition, and the absence of simple adjectives as a grammatical class. Most verbs are not inherently transitive or intransitive, but rather the semantics is tied to the number and type of core grammatical relations in a clause. Morphologically, two types of verb pronominals indicate two kinds of direct object; both are found in ditransitive clauses. Noun incorporation of special ‘body-part’ nouns in some verbs adds another grammatical argument and changes the lexical characteristics of the verb. Clauses of zero transitivity can occur in main clauses due to the use of dependent verb forms and ideophones. Question formation is interesting in that the interrogative pronoun is clause-final for most constructions. The clause will sometimes be reconfigured so that the interrogative pronoun can be clause-final. Expectation is a foundational pillar for Moloko grammar. Three types of irrealis mood relate to speaker’s expectation concerning the accomplishment of an event. Clauses are organised around the concept of presupposition, through the use of the na-construction. Known or expected elements are marked with the na particle. There are no simple adjectives in Moloko; all adjectives are derived from nouns. The authors invite others to further explore the intricacies of the phonology and grammar of this intriguing language.

Introductory Hausa

Introductory Hausa
Author: Charles H. Kraft
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2024-07-26
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0520377915

Hausa is the first language of over twenty-five million ethnic Hausa people and an important trade language throughout West Africa. This title is an introduction to Hausa and was created to provide instruction to expatriates both in Nigeria and in the United States. Dialogues, conversations, and drills are among the tools used to teach pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Each lesson centers on a situation—such as a visit to the market, home, or doctor—typical of life in northern Nigeria and southern Niger in the early 1970s. Fireside tales and proverbs provide additional insights into the cultural world and social reality of the Hausa people. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1973.

Recurrent Gestures of Hausa Speakers

Recurrent Gestures of Hausa Speakers
Author: Izabela Will
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9004449795

This book presents a repertoire of conventionalized co-speech gestures used by Hausa speakers from northern Nigeria.

Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar

Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar
Author: M.A.K. Halliday
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1060
Release: 2013-09-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1135983488

Fully updated and revised, this fourth edition of Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar explains the principles of systemic functional grammar, enabling the reader to understand and apply them in any context. Halliday's innovative approach of engaging with grammar through discourse has become a worldwide phenomenon in linguistics. Updates to the new edition include: Recent uses of systemic functional linguistics to provide further guidance for students, scholars and researchers More on the ecology of grammar, illustrating how each major system serves to realise a semantic system A systematic indexing and classification of examples More from corpora, thus allowing for easy access to data Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar, Fourth Edition, is the standard reference text for systemic functional linguistics and an ideal introduction for students and scholars interested in the relation between grammar, meaning and discourse.