Download ALBA IULIA DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES

Introduction to the Hausa Language
Gill Kimber
Bedford College, London University
During the 1970s and 80s I and my husband lived in Northern Nigeria for 10 years, where we
learned to speak Hausa. Finding myself here today amongst such language experts, scholars and
linguists, my hope is that you will find this interesting and different.
Introduction to the Hausa people
The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West African regions of northern
Nigeria and southeastern Niger. There are also significant numbers found in northern regions of
Benin, Ghana, Niger, Cameroon and in smaller communities in West Africa. They speak the Hausa
language which belongs to the Chadic language group, a sub-group of the larger Afro-Asiatic
language family . They are famous traders. Kano is considered the center of Hausa trade and
culture. Islamic Shari’a law is loosely the law of the Hausa states land and is understood by any full
time practitioner of Islam, known as a Malam.
Between 500 AD and 700 AD the Hausa people, who had been slowly moving west from
Nubia, established a number of strong states in what is now Northern and Central Nigeria and
Eastern Niger, and were able to emerge as the new power in the region. Closely linked with the
Kanuri people of Kanem-Bornu (Lake Chad), the Hausa aristocracy adopted Islam in the 11th
century AD. By the 12th century AD the Hausa began to become one of Africa's major powers.
By 1500 AD the Hausa utilized the Arabic script to write their own language. This script,
called ajami, was largely used for centuries and is still in use today. However, under British rule in
the 1930s a Romanised script was adopted called Boko.
The Hausa have compiled several written histories, the most popular being the Kano
Chronicles. They have also written poetry and stories. The language is full of idioms and proverbs
which are in common use, such that in any conversation one person will illustrate his point with the
first half of the proverb, which his listener will finish. Idioms function as useful shorthand, giving
insight into a people’s culture, attitudes, insights, values and assumptions.
Examples of Hausa proverbs:
ungula ba ta sauka banza
the vulture does not descend without a reason
lafiyar jiki arziki ne
the health of the body is wealth
giwa wani gari zomo new
an elephant in one city is a rabbit in another
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The Hausa remain in primary control over Niger and Northern Nigeria. Their impact in
Nigeria is paramount to the state of the nation. They remain one of the largest and most historically
-grounded civilizations in West Africa.
Religion
The Hausa have an ancient culture that had an extensive coverage area, and long ties to the
Arabs and other Islamized peoples in West Africa. Islam has been present in Hausaland since the
14th century but it was largely restricted to the region's rulers and their courts. After the formation
of the Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century Islam became firmly entrenched in rural areas. The
Hausa people have been an important vector for the spread of Islam in West Africa through
economic contact, diaspora trading communities, and jihads.
Introduction to the Hausa language
Geographic distribution
Native speakers of Hausa are mostly to be found in the African country of Niger and in the
north of Nigeria, but the language is widely used as a lingua franca (similar to Swahili in East
Africa) in a much larger swathe of West Africa, particularly amongst Muslims.
Dialects
There are different Hausa dialects, but the Kano dialect is the 'standard' variety. The BBC
offers a Hausa Service on its international news web site.
Phonology: Consonants
Hausa has between 23 and 25 consonant phonemes depending on the speaker.
Glottalic Consonants
Hausa has glottalic consonants (implosives and ejectives) at four or five places of
articulation (depending on the dialect). They are written with modified versions of Latin letters.
They can also be denoted with an apostrophe, either before or after depending on the letter:
b' / ɓ, an implosive consonant,
d' / ɗ, an implosive
ts', an ejective consonant,
k' / ƙ, an ejective
'y is a glottalized y, found in only a small number of high frequency words.
Vowels
Hausa has 5 phonemic vowel sounds and 2 lengths, giving a total of 10 vowel phonemes.
Tones
Hausa is a tone language. Each of its five vowels a, e, i, o and u may have low tone, high
tone and falling tone.
For representing tones the French accented vowels may be used:
à è ì ò ù (low tone)
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á é í ó ú (high tone)
â ê î ô û (falling tone)
It is essential to pronounce tones accurately as failure to do so will result in your talking
about something you did not intend! For example, the very common word ‚wuya’ (low-high tones)
in the expression ‚yana da wuya’ means ‚it’s difficult’. However, yana da wuya (high-low tones)
means ‚he has a neck’.
In standard written Hausa, tone is not marked. However it is needed for disambiguation and
thus it is marked in dictionaries and other scientific works.
There are also the two "r's" of Hausa


A "tapped r" or "trilled r"
The "retroflex flap".
However, not all Hausa speakers distinguish these 2 sounds, especially those for whom Hausa is
a second language.
The pronunciation of f
The Hausa sound written "f" is not pronounced like the "f" typical of European languages
such as English or French. In Hausa, "f" is a bilabial sound. The lips are brought near each other
and air is blown between them. For some Hausa speakers, the constriction of the lips is so tight that
"f" sounds very much like English "p".
The sounds f and h are also closely related in Hausa. For example, the common word ‚hat’
which is written ‚hula’ can also be pronounced ‚fula’.
Geminate or "Doubled" Consonants
Hausa has many words which contain geminate or "doubled" consonants. This is also true
of Latinate languages. In Hausa, the doubling of the consonant does however create a different
word:
daba: parade c/w dabba: animal
Gender of nouns
Every Hausa noun is either masculine or feminine.


Feminine nouns usually end in -a, e.g. yarinya 'girl', hula 'cap'.
Masculine nouns usually end in sounds other than -a, e.g. yaro 'boy', zobe 'ring'.
but there are always exceptions.
Plurals of nouns
Most Hausa nouns have a plural form. Unfortunately for those learning Hausa, there are no
simple rules for knowing what the plural of a noun will be. Here are some commonly used nouns
and their plurals.
Singular
mutum
yaro
yarinya
Plural
mutane
yara
'yan mata
'person; people'
'boy; boys or children'
'girl; girls
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mace
namiji
mata
maza
'woman; wome or wives'
'man; men or husbands'
Nouns Modified by Nouns Expressing Qualities
Sometimes, Hausa uses nouns to modify other nouns, e.g.,
Singular
Plural
yaro mai wayo
"boy of strength"
yara masu wayo
"children of strength"
Numbers follow nouns, e.g., saniya d'aya "cow one."
Hausa expresses most concepts involving "qualities" using nouns rather than adjectives,
although adjectives do exist and are used.
To use a quality noun as a modifier of another noun, the words are linked using mai
'possessor of...' for singular nouns (both masculine and feminine) and masu 'possessors of...' for
plural nouns. Example:
yaro mai wayo ‚clever boy’ – literally, boy possessor of cleverness: 2 nouns.
A few expressions using quality nouns may take the form Noun-linker Quality noun. These
are essentially fixed expressions, not a method of modification which can be used with just any
noun. Example:
‚ruwan zafi’ – water (in its possessive form) followed by ‚heat’ ie literally, ‚the water of hotness’.
And again, the tones are of paramount importance – people do not understand if one uses the right
words with the wrong tones.
Hausa Verbs
Hausa verb tenses are quite different from those of Indo-European languages in which the
tense form of the verb tells about the basic time of the event. For example, English marks tense by
changes in the verb form (enter/entered/ entering) and/or addition of auxiliary verbs. In Hausa, for
the most part, the verb itself does not change to mark tense differences.
Instead different sets of subject pronouns are used, sometimes with the pronoun combined
with some additional particle, such as preceding za, which marks future. Here are some examples
English
Hausa
Past
Yesterday by 3:00
Jiya da 3:00 (uku) sun shiga.
(past context)
they had entered.
Tomorrow at 3:00
Past
they
will
have Gobe da 3:00 sun shiga.
(future context)
entered.
Yesterday at 3:00
Future
they were about to Jiya da 3:00 za su shiga.
(past context)
enter.
Future
Tomorrow at 3:00
Gobe da 3:00 za su shiga.
(future context)
they will enter.
Present
Yesterday at 3:00
Jiya da 3:00 suna shiga.
(past context)
they were entering.
Present
Tomorrow at 3:00 Gobe da 3:00 suna shiga.
(future context)
they will be entering.
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In other words, shiga does not change. What changes is the form of the pronoun and the
expression of time.
To BE and to HAVE
Another very interesting aspect of Hausa is that it does not really possess either the verb ‘to
be’ or the verb ‘to have’.
Basic Identificational Sentences: NE and CE
Hausa sentences that express identification of a person or thing use a word ce for a feminine
singular and a word ne for both masculine singular and both plurals. In a simple statement, ne or ce
is at the end of the sentence. (Although one might translate ne or ce as 'is', 'are', and so on, these
words are NOT verbs – they don’t conjugate).
Masculine noun Bala d'alibi ne.
'Bala is a student.'
Feminine nouns Maria d'aliba ce.
Maria is a student.'
Plural nouns
Bala da Maria d'alibai ne.
'Bala and
students.'
Maria
are
Whether ‚ne’ is masculine singular or a plural is determined by the form of the noun.
Identificational Sentences with Pronouns Subject
If the subject of an identificational sentence is a pronoun, the independent pronoun is used.
So here are the independent pronouns: ni, kai, ke, shi, ita,mu, ku, su
Examples:
Ni d'alibi ne.
Ni d'aliba ce.
'I am a (male) student.'
'I am a (female)
student.'
Kai shugaba ne. 'You (m) are the
leader.'
Ke malama ce. 'You (f) are a teacher.'
Shi sarki ne.
'He is the chief.'
Ita sarauniya ce 'she is the queen.
.
Mu d'alibai ne. 'We are students.'
Ku malamai ne. 'You (pl) are teachers.'
Su sarakuna ne. 'They are chiefs.'
It's ...': Identificational Sentences with No Expressed Subject
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A noun or pronoun can be used alone with ne or ce to mean 'its ...' or 'they're ...'.
Ni ne.
Kai ne.
Shi ne.
'
'It's me.' (male speaking)
'It's you.' (speaking to a male)
'It's him.'
Ni ce.
Ke ce.
Ita ce.
'It's me.' (female speaking)
'It's you.' (speaking to a female)
'It's her.'
Mu ne.
Ku ne.
Su ne.
'It's us.'
'It's you.' (speaking to a group)
'It's them.'
'What Is It?', 'Who Is It?': Identificational Questions
Basic identificational questions work like this:
Menene wannan? What is it?
Wacece wancan? Who (f) is that?
Menene wadannan? What are these?
If the name of the person or thing asked about is expressed, it usually follows the
expressions above unless it is a pronoun, in which case it usually precedes.
Negative Identificational Sentences
To make the negative, ba with long vowel and low tone precedes the negated part and ba
with high tone and short vowel follows it. Ne or ce follow the second ba. The ba...ba can surround
just a noun or pronoun to mean 'it's not ...', 'he's not ...', 'she's not ..
Example: Bala ba d’alibi ba ne – Bala is not a student.
To HAVE
Basic 'have' sentences use the continuative subject pronouns followed by da 'with' and the
thing possessed. Example:
‚Ina da kudi’ – I have money.
Literally: ‚I am with money’.
Use of ‘With’ to Express Qualities
As with ‚mai’, possessor of, the use of da usually links nouns where European languages use
adjectives:
Maria tana da kyau: Maria is beautiful: lit. Maria is (continuative form) with beauty.
HE LORD’S PRAYER IN HAUSA
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Concluding remarks
You may be wondering, why are we hearing about the Hausa language at a conference
dedicated to European languages? It’s a good question, and I would like to make some
observations.
English arguably is becoming the lingua franca of Europe, for all sorts of reasons.
Worldwide it has exploded as a subject. English teachers are in demand as never before. There is
no way of knowing how, or even whether, this trend will continue. For example, the rise of the
giant China and its increasing influence on Europe and the west may well change the face of
language- learning in the foreseeable future.
Hausa, like English, is also a lingua franca. It is spoken as a second language by numerous
tribes in the north of Nigeria. Each tribe has its own language, and tribes living only two or three
kilometers from each other may not necessarily understand each other. Hausa, before the advent of
the British, was the language of education, culture, government and trade. It was also the language
associated with slavery, for the Hausa enslaved other tribes.
It is still very much the language of trade in northern Nigeria, and without it people would
be poorer and more ignorant. It is a Muslim language and the means of spreading Islam and Islamic
education and culture. The British built many excellent schools, but they did not supersede the
Muslim Koranic schools where children sit on the ground and learn the Koran by heart, chanting
and swaying as they do so. It is also associated with Islamic law. Some of the Hausa states in
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Northern Nigeria have imported Shari’a law, alongside the more westernised Nigerian legal system
inherited from the British.
The Hausa Muslim culture is very influential. Even Christians in the north will wear Hausatype clothing – the long robe over the trousers, with a hat set at an angle on the head. Christians
imported many aspects of Hausa Muslim culture. So a woman may not look a man in the eye – it’s
considered unacceptable. A woman will curtsey to a man, especially if he has some kind of rank,
such as a priest. It is imperative that you give and receive things with your right hand – the left is
considered dirty. Never sit with your legs crossed, and especially do not show the sole of your foot.
There are many such Hausa customs that are taken for granted by the different tribes who have
absorbed them uncritically.
In the same way, cultures all over the world are having to ask themselves how the English
language, associated with English culture and ways of thinking, has affected them. This is
particularly true of religion. The British Empire can sometimes be resented in West Africa, like
Communism in Eastern Europe. Although overall it was not harsh, and brought education,
medicine and democracy, African academics and theologians are now discarding what they
perceive to be the British cultural mindset, and working on more appropriately-African ways of
thinking.
What is very interesting is that, although a lingua franca exists along with its attendant
powerful cultural influences, and although it may bring benefits in terms of education, finance and
opportunity, and although it may be the language of government and even of slavemasters, it does
not seem able to obliterate sub-cultures. Very often these smaller sub-cultures prove unexpectedly
resistant. I believe that this is important in a world where the culture of globalisation gives the
impression that it is only a matter of time before we all lose our cultural identities and start thinking,
talking, looking and acting the same.
For me, diversity is very important. Not only important, but vital. It enriches our lives. It is
one of the reasons I enjoy living in other cultures. I learn so much. I am challenged in my views
and opinions. I am changed – I hope, for the better. I become more tolerant, more able to see
another person’s point of view.
So the fact that sub-cultures are resistant to the dominant influence of the lingua franca and
its culture is, for me, good news. The tribes of N Nigeria continue to speak their own language and,
with the growth in confidence of Nigerian academia, their cultures are increasingly subjects of
study and preservation.
It’s consequently very interesting for me to observe a similar phenomenon in Romania.
There were 50 years of near-slavery by Communism, with the imposition of the Russian language,
the re-writing of history, and the suppression of culture and religion. And what is one of the first
aspects of Romanian reaction to this, after the revolution? A renaissance of interest and pride in the
Romanian cultural heritage, the teaching of traditional songs and dances to children in schools,
national competitions to encourage excellence. A nation of poets, writers, musicians, linguists and
philosophers. Take pride in your rich culture. Don’t lose it, like we English have almost lost ours,
in the mistaken view that the lingua franca represents a better culture.
A lingua franca has its uses. But it must be used as a tool, in the conscious knowledge of its
limitations. In my opinion, a lingua franca, whether it is English, Hausa, French or Chinese, makes
a good servant but a bad master.
(copyright Gill Kimber
to be used with permission
[email protected])
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