There is little doubt a rich system of number marking must be reconstructed for West Chadic. Haus... more There is little doubt a rich system of number marking must be reconstructed for West Chadic. Hausa, the Ron languages and the North Bauchi languages all demonstrate this. Nonetheless, it has disappeared virtually without trace in some branches, notably the A3 languages, Ngas etc. and the South Bauchi languages. A few relics of number marking remain for nouns related to persons in these subgroups, but their lack of external cognacy suggests they are subsequent innovations.
The paper aims to summarise the systems of number marking in the subgroups of West Chadic and then to explore the mechanisms or trajectories by which these are lost in some families. There is little doubt of the generic influence of the Plateau languages with which these are in contact. Plateau languages have either no nominal marking or alternating prefixes, very different from the suffixing systems typical of Chadic. However, it is remarkable that the shortening process has led to the disappearance of even trace mo
Compared with Sub-Saharan Africa, ideophones in the languages of the Himalayas are little studied... more Compared with Sub-Saharan Africa, ideophones in the languages of the Himalayas are little studied. Although recorded extensively for languages such as Japanese and Khmer, dictionaries are a sparse resource and few journal publications deal with them. Despite this, they are extremely numerous in the languages of Arunachal Pradesh (and presumably in neighbouring regions). The paper looks in detail at the iconic expressions in two languages, Idu and Kman, which are claimed to be Trans-Himalayan, and extends the analysis to neighbouring languages where some documentation exists.
By the time external written records begin, settlement patterns and economic structures in Centra... more By the time external written records begin, settlement patterns and economic structures in Central Nigeria had been drastically altered by the incursions of Hausa slavers from the north. Minority peoples had been forced to settle montane regions, or to build complex defensive architecture. Patterns of trade and exchange had been disrupted and complex social and marital arrangements restructured to respond to these security challenges. The paper aims to explore how we can reconstruct society and economy in the period immediately before the ramping up of the slave trade, which was driven both by increased demand from North Africa and greater access to guns and horses. Apart from the excavations in and around Nok, there has been little or no reliable archaeology in this region. Oral traditions typically refer to settlement in the mountains and have little to say about the period prior to the movement there. So other types of evidence must be brought to bear.
The paper describes long-term research in the agro- and ethno-botany in Central Nigeria and strat... more The paper describes long-term research in the agro- and ethno-botany in Central Nigeria and strategies for delivering the outcomes in the community.
Developing the agro- and ethno-botany of minority communities requires a long-term iterative commitment to communities which almost directly opposed to the dogma-driven, short funding cycle approach which inevitably dominates large institutions. Indeed many typical methodologies actively spread misinformation.
The paper describes a two decades long project to document the ethnobotany of Central Nigeria and strategies to make the results available to the communities. The output combines botany, linguistics and anthropology. This involves collaboration with knowledgeable individuals over a long period, as well as an iterative produced involving the distribution of preliminary documents. The field material is entered in a database which can be regularly updated and export to an app for Android phones.
Mwaghavul, a West Chadic A3 language, has a multifunctional nasal particle which precedes both no... more Mwaghavul, a West Chadic A3 language, has a multifunctional nasal particle which precedes both nouns and verbs in a wide variety of contexts. In some cases it is homorganic, being realised as /n/, /m/ and /ŋ/ according to the following consonant. It bears a tone, invariably low, regardless of the tone of the stem following. It is written in the current orthographic system with a hyphen following to distinguish it from the stem, since Mwaghavul words can have initial ŋ-. The meanings so far listed for this particle include;
The morphology and syntax of related A3 languages is poorly known, although grammatical materials exist for Ngas and Goemai. The same functions for the nasal particle are attested in both these languages, at least for Irrealis/future, Locative, Dative and animal names, so it is suggested these uses can be reconstructed for the branch of West Chadic. A3 languages in partic
The Maban languages constitute one of the orphan groups of Nilo-Saharan; they are generally recog... more The Maban languages constitute one of the orphan groups of Nilo-Saharan; they are generally recognised as one of its branches, but their exact place remains to be determined. Data on Maban languages is extremely patchy; only one full-length grammar exists and no comprehensive dictionaries. The paper establishes the sources of data, and the internal structure of the Maban group as well as proposing a phonological inventory of proto-Maban. Maban languages mark number on nouns with suffixes and at least some nouns exhibit three-term plurality, as elsewhere in Nilo-Saharan. The paper puts forward a provisional reconstruction of the system of tripartite number marking on nominals. This is shown to be extremely similar to that occurring in the neighbouring East Sudanic family, especially Taman. This suggests the possibility that Maban is either the closest relative of Eastern Sudanic or indeed an unrecognised branch of Northeast Sudanic.
Highland Madagascar is well-known for its grassy biomes; their origin is however, highly controve... more Highland Madagascar is well-known for its grassy biomes; their origin is however, highly controversial Some researchers (e.g. Bond et al.) have argued that these are ‘natural’, i.e. they represent climax vegetation Alternatively, they were created by burning at the same period that megafaunal extinctions occur The exponents of the ‘natural’ view do not explain the data presented by Burney and others concerning the rise in carbon ca. 2400 BP. More recent papers, e.g. Godfrey et al. (2019) espouse an anthropic origin based on the faunal evidence This in turn relates to a crucial question. Exactly when was Madagascar first settled and by whom?
This is a preliminary phonology of TuGbiri, an East Kainji language spoken at Gure in Kaduna Stat... more This is a preliminary phonology of TuGbiri, an East Kainji language spoken at Gure in Kaduna State, Central Nigeria. The basic consonant inventory is similar to other regional languages, but TuGbiri has a complete set of long consonants, which is relatively unusual. There are ten vowels, consisting of 2 ±ATR sets, which show consistent harmony across the word from left to right. There are no phonemic nasalised vowels, although nasalisation is heard due to a post-consonantal release of the glottal. There are both long vowels and doubled vowels, marked by a change of tone. The underlying tonal system has two heights with a High-Low falling and Low-High rising as contour tones. Downstep is extensive and this can result in as many as four phonetic tone heights in a single word. Upstep is less common, but is attested in final syllables. The paper is written in IPA, since the current orthography merges the distinction between mid-vowels.
African language phyla exhibit some common roots which seem to cross family boundaries. These inc... more African language phyla exhibit some common roots which seem to cross family boundaries. These include words like 'crab', 'knee', 'come' etc. The paper provides documentary evidence for these Pan-African roots and considers possible explanations
A paradox is embedded in the approach of the Nigerian government to pastoralism. On the one hand,... more A paradox is embedded in the approach of the Nigerian government to pastoralism. On the one hand, as a major source of conflict situations, it often takes a security approach to resolving conflict. However, the economy requires there to be reliable sources of protein, generated internally. The era when cheap imports could make up shortfalls has now long gone. There has been a policy for decades to encourage nomadic pastoralists to ‘settle’, but this has had little or no impact because incentives to do so are lacking. One pathway commonly advocated is to make use of the system of stock routes and grazing reserves, although these are only present in some of the states where pastoralists migrate. Over the course of the twentieth century and very recently there have been proposals to create ‘ranches’, although again there is little evidence this could succeed. Ranches are typically a product of nation states with large land areas and low population densities. Solutions involving the rehabilitation of stock routes and grazing reserves is an important response in the immediate future. However it is only a stopgap, for several reasons. The political will to invest in the required infrastructure is only present in some states; particular states in the southern pastoral zone actively oppose such expenditure and reject the legal framework required to make it happen. The policy of handing over control of Grazing Reserves to the individual states, decades ago, now seems mistaken. They are a social good which transcends ephemeral political boundaries. Secondly, Nigerian demographic growth is relentless, and farmers in rural areas are constantly seeking new farmland. Politicians will come under increasing pressure to open up protected areas, grazing, forest and nature reserves. Apart from the demands of rural farmers, reserved land is increasingly being sold to businessmen and politicians for cash crop production or even just land banking. A long term sustainable solution therefore, would have to incorporate economic benefits for both farmers and herders. Farmers in particular must be made to see that working with pastoralists has advantages, in terms of access to manure for fertiliser, animal traction as well as meat and milk, since imports are unlikely to make up shortfalls in future. In the long term, this is best achieved by a version of agropastoralism, an enterprise where the pastoralist is settled with a herd of 15-25 cattle, moving them during the day when necessary, but no longer going on migration. These households would not be in grazing reserves, but scattered within rural communities, making it easier to deliver services, such veterinary drugs, and provide convenient access points for milk and dairy product sales, as well as the circulation of traction animals. This would have been unthinkable for many pastoralists only a few decades ago, and may not sit well with the older generation. However, many Pastoral Associations have now changed their views in the light of pressure on land and resources. They have begun to advocate ‘modernisation’ although their ideas about how this is to be achieved are vague. The aim of this paper it lay out how such solutions might work out in practice. Government policy in Nigeria is very typically top-down and not based on understanding of either the social or economic constraints which producers experience. It should be clear that the small enterprise agropastoral household is not what has been typically advocated in the last decade. However, there is scattered evidence that pastoralists are beginning to adopt the model in some states. A change to government policy could act to accelerate this trend.
This is an introduction to LiMoro, an East Kainji language of Central Nigeria. It should be read ... more This is an introduction to LiMoro, an East Kainji language of Central Nigeria. It should be read in conjunction with the dictionary posted at the same time
The Bantoid languages are a body of some 150-200 languages positioned geographically between Nige... more The Bantoid languages are a body of some 150-200 languages positioned geographically between Nigeria and Cameroun. They do not form a genetic group, but all are in some way related to Bantu. The most well-known branches are Dakoid, Mambiloid, Tivoid, Beboid, Grassfields, and Ekoid. Bendi, formerly Cross River, is probably Bantoid, while Jarawan may be Narrow Bantu. This chapter describes the tone systems recorded for the different branches of Bantoid. Mambiloid and Grassfields are only touched on briefly, since they are discussed in more detail in other chapters. Tone systems range from ultra-complex, in languages with strong erosion of morphology, to reduced, where morphology has been either retained or rebuilt. The paper refers briefly to the importance of speech surrogacy, i.e. ‘talking’ musical instruments, and the challenges of developing orthographies for complex tone languages.
Avant-garde traditions in music are broadly associated with the twentieth century. However, there... more Avant-garde traditions in music are broadly associated with the twentieth century. However, there is a plausible argument for similar developments from the early Middle Ages onwards, beginning with the act of writing down music in 12th century Paris. The paper reviews developments such as the fourteenth century ars subtilior, the idiosyncratic Italian composer Zacaro da Teramo, and the complexities of Flemish polyphony in the fifteenth century. It suggests these are reflected in 20th century compositional forms in areas such as indeterminacy and the use of rhythmic cells. An additional section compares the graphic scores of the fourteenth century with those pioneered in the twentieth century. The broader argument is that the way we now listen to large-scale compilations of music obscures patterns of innovation in earlier centuries.
This paper provides a preliminary introduction and analysis of the Dompo language, a highly threa... more This paper provides a preliminary introduction and analysis of the Dompo language, a highly threatened language spoken in Central Ghana. The data was collected in Dompofie village Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana, in April 1998. Dompo is hard to classify, although it has a superficial resemblance to Gonja, the most important regional language.
The paper provides a short wordlist of Bukwen [buz] a language spoken in SE Nigeria. Our only dat... more The paper provides a short wordlist of Bukwen [buz] a language spoken in SE Nigeria. Our only data on this language comes from a survey report by Robert Koops dating from 1971. An absence of analysis has left this language not clearly assigned. The data tables show clearly it is a Yemne-Kimbi [i.e. Bantoid] language, almost certainly affiliated to the Bu-Koshin-Mundabli subgroup and that the ancestors of the speakers must have migrated from Cameroun at some unknown period in the past.
This is the introduction to a preliminary dictionary of the Fɨran language [fir], posted separate... more This is the introduction to a preliminary dictionary of the Fɨran language [fir], posted separately, which is spoken in Kwakwi and surrounding hamlets in Ganawuri District, Riyom LGA, Plateau State, in central Nigeria. Fɨran is an Izeric language, one of the subgroups of Plateau and ultimately of Benue-Congo. Fɨran is a noun class language with alternating prefixes marking number. The system of alternations is described briefly.
This is the introduction to a dictionary of Sajolang (~Miji) [sjl], a language of Western Arunach... more This is the introduction to a dictionary of Sajolang (~Miji) [sjl], a language of Western Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. It has been prepared in co-operation with Mr. Rijin Deru and the Sajolang community. The dictionary can be downloaded separately in the folder marked 'Dictionaries'. The dialect represented here is that of Nafra, i.e. Western Sajolang. Eastern Sajolang, spoken in Lada circle, is sufficiently different as to be regarded as a separate language. Also related is Bangru, a poorly documented language spoken in Sarli circle. These languages are usually treated under Trans-Himalayan, although the evidence for this affiliation is weak. The introduction covers villages, social organisation, religious beliefs and subsistence, as well as providing a concise grammar sketch, including some sentence examples. It should be emphasised that this is a preliminary document; there are many unresolved questions.
The ‘North Assam’ languages of Arunachal Pradesh represent a major problem in the internal classi... more The ‘North Assam’ languages of Arunachal Pradesh represent a major problem in the internal classification of Trans-Himalayan [=Sino-Tibetan] languages. A paper by Blench & Post (2014) argued that we had at that time insufficient data to assign these to the phylum unequivocally. The last decade has seen a major expansion of documentation and the time is appropriate to reconsider the issue. The paper presents basic information about the most problematic languages, based on recent fieldwork, together some of the hypotheses concerning their genetic affiliation. It argues that if we apply the same standards as are used in other global areas of high diversity, such as the Amazonia and Australia, we would certainly classify these as either isolates or small phyla. It also suggests that strategies for reconstructing Tibeto-Burman are ill-adapted to ascertaining the position of these languages.
Recent decades in Nigeria have seen a dramatic escalation in herder/farmer conflict. This is typi... more Recent decades in Nigeria have seen a dramatic escalation in herder/farmer conflict. This is typically attributed to political and religious differences, exacerbated by the conflict in the Northeast of the country. However, these are almost certainly secondary reframings; the underlying causes are a catastrophic change in vegetation patterns, resulting from massive demographic expansion. Farmers open up more and more land, placing ever greater pressure on the open grazing of pastoralists. The result is overgrazing, which leads to replacement of digestible species by tougher grasses and woody species. This can be illustrated by the highly visible southward movement of particular tree species, such as the fan and dum palms. This in turn attracts pastoralists with livestock specialised in these species and consequently increased farm incursions. The paper argues that without an empirical scientific base to determine the causes of environmental change, no amount of reconciliation processes will make any difference to the incidence of conflict.
This is an introduction to the Labɨr [jku] or Jaku language, spoken in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Jak... more This is an introduction to the Labɨr [jku] or Jaku language, spoken in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Jaku is almost completely undocumented, with only short wordlists in the literature. Jaku is a Jarawan Bantu language, part of the branch of Bantu which migrated north and west. The paper presents a basic phonology, a brief grammar sketch. It includes recommendations for orthography. It should be used together with a lexicon of Jaku, presented separately.
A dictionary of Gura, a Jarawan Bantu language of Central Nigeria. To be used with the introducti... more A dictionary of Gura, a Jarawan Bantu language of Central Nigeria. To be used with the introduction to Gura, posted separately.
This paper provides a comparative dataset for the Ijoid numerals. Ijoid is spoken in the Niger De... more This paper provides a comparative dataset for the Ijoid numerals. Ijoid is spoken in the Niger Delta of Nigeria and is usually considered Niger-Congo. Preliminary reconstructions are presented. Higher numerals are usually composites and therefore are not independent of their components.
The broad association between the SE Asian Neolithic and the expansion of Austroasiatic is now un... more The broad association between the SE Asian Neolithic and the expansion of Austroasiatic is now uncontroversial. Reconstructions for Proto-Austroasiatic which depict a farming society with a continuing dependence on hunted and aquatic resources support this association. Material culture in mainland Southeast Asia is quite conservative and many forms remain widespread across the region up to the present.
The paper reviews the archaeological evidence for baskets and the distributional evidence from synchronic ethnography. The linguistic data focuses on the reconstruction of basket types. It then presents a series of quasi-reconstructions based on the comparative lexical evidence, and where possible ties these to particular types or basket. The reconstructions reflect close contact between core branches of Austroasiatic in the Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia area. Outlier branches, such as Munda and Nicobaric, virtually never show cognates, suggesting the process whereby they occupied their present territory was marked by a cultural bottleneck, which resulted in cultural loss.
The Nilo-Saharan phylum of African languages was introduced by Greenberg in 1963. Although widely... more The Nilo-Saharan phylum of African languages was introduced by Greenberg in 1963. Although widely accepted, recent decades have seen researchers both inside and outside the field, reject its coherence in whole or in part. The paper argues that at least twelve recognised branches do form a coherent phylum and provides some morphological and lexical evidence to support this claim. Three topics are examined in detail, three-term number marking, ATR vowel harmony and the use of t-, k- affixing. In addition, the evidence from personal pronouns is tabulated. The paper concludes with a new model of the internal configuration of Nilo-Saharan.
The chapter explores the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems of the peoples of Arunachal Pradesh, N... more The chapter explores the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems of the peoples of Arunachal Pradesh, NE India. Arunachal Pradesh is exceptional in the region both for its ethnic diversity and the relative conservation of the natural environment. The extremely mountainous topography has protected the region from the deforestation and poaching that has devastated similar environments elsewhere in the region. There are some fifty-two ethnolinguistic groups in Arunachal Pradesh with very little published about their language and culture. The cultural areas can be broadly divided into four, the Tibetan-influenced region in the west, the independent groups across the centre, and the Tai and Naga groups in the extreme east.
The major areas of Indigenous Knowledge which are relevant to this area are knowledge of plants and animals and concepts of disease. Arunachal Pradesh peoples are keen observers of the animals with which they share their environment and hunting remains a major source of protein for many populations. At the same time, specific animals are surrounded by ritual restrictions, in particular the tiger. Plants, which are hyper-diverse but still poorly explored botanically, serve as a source of food, medicine, craft and construction materials. However, they are also attributed spiritual natures, and their extraction and use a spiritual activity as well as resource exploitation. Diseases and epidemics, which were a major threat to the community prior to the advent of Western medicine, are typically conceptualised as the work of malevolent spirits, and are countered by characteristic ritual procedures.
The peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and their understanding of the natural environment capture many insights still unfamiliar to western science. However, the changing socio-economic context is allowing this knowledge to be lost without documentation. The paper concludes with a plea for greater in-depth documentation, based on more professional science-based approaches.
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The paper aims to summarise the systems of number marking in the subgroups of West Chadic and then to explore the mechanisms or trajectories by which these are lost in some families. There is little doubt of the generic influence of the Plateau languages with which these are in contact. Plateau languages have either no nominal marking or alternating prefixes, very different from the suffixing systems typical of Chadic. However, it is remarkable that the shortening process has led to the disappearance of even trace mo
Central Nigeria is a zone of
Developing the agro- and ethno-botany of minority communities requires a long-term iterative commitment to communities which almost directly opposed to the dogma-driven, short funding cycle approach which inevitably dominates large institutions. Indeed many typical methodologies actively spread misinformation.
The paper describes a two decades long project to document the ethnobotany of Central Nigeria and strategies to make the results available to the communities. The output combines botany, linguistics and anthropology. This involves collaboration with knowledgeable individuals over a long period, as well as an iterative produced involving the distribution of preliminary documents. The field material is entered in a database which can be regularly updated and export to an app for Android phones.
Nominal markers Evidentiality
Locative
Exclusion
Animal names
Dative
Verbal markers Future
The morphology and syntax of related A3 languages is poorly known, although grammatical materials exist for Ngas and Goemai. The same functions for the nasal particle are attested in both these languages, at least for Irrealis/future, Locative, Dative and animal names, so it is suggested these uses can be reconstructed for the branch of West Chadic. A3 languages in partic
Some researchers (e.g. Bond et al.) have argued that these are ‘natural’, i.e. they represent climax vegetation
Alternatively, they were created by burning at the same period that megafaunal extinctions occur
The exponents of the ‘natural’ view do not explain the data presented by Burney and others concerning the rise in carbon ca. 2400 BP.
More recent papers, e.g. Godfrey et al. (2019) espouse an anthropic origin based on the faunal evidence
This in turn relates to a crucial question. Exactly when was Madagascar first settled and by whom?
Papers by Roger Blench
Solutions involving the rehabilitation of stock routes and grazing reserves is an important response in the immediate future. However it is only a stopgap, for several reasons. The political will to invest in the required infrastructure is only present in some states; particular states in the southern pastoral zone actively oppose such expenditure and reject the legal framework required to make it happen. The policy of handing over control of Grazing Reserves to the individual states, decades ago, now seems mistaken. They are a social good which transcends ephemeral political boundaries. Secondly, Nigerian demographic growth is relentless, and farmers in rural areas are constantly seeking new farmland. Politicians will come under increasing pressure to open up protected areas, grazing, forest and nature reserves. Apart from the demands of rural farmers, reserved land is increasingly being sold to businessmen and politicians for cash crop production or even just land banking.
A long term sustainable solution therefore, would have to incorporate economic benefits for both farmers and herders. Farmers in particular must be made to see that working with pastoralists has advantages, in terms of access to manure for fertiliser, animal traction as well as meat and milk, since imports are unlikely to make up shortfalls in future. In the long term, this is best achieved by a version of agropastoralism, an enterprise where the pastoralist is settled with a herd of 15-25 cattle, moving them during the day when necessary, but no longer going on migration. These households would not be in grazing reserves, but scattered within rural communities, making it easier to deliver services, such veterinary drugs, and provide convenient access points for milk and dairy product sales, as well as the circulation of traction animals.
This would have been unthinkable for many pastoralists only a few decades ago, and may not sit well with the older generation. However, many Pastoral Associations have now changed their views in the light of pressure on land and resources. They have begun to advocate ‘modernisation’ although their ideas about how this is to be achieved are vague. The aim of this paper it lay out how such solutions might work out in practice. Government policy in Nigeria is very typically top-down and not based on understanding of either the social or economic constraints which producers experience. It should be clear that the small enterprise agropastoral household is not what has been typically advocated in the last decade. However, there is scattered evidence that pastoralists are beginning to adopt the model in some states. A change to government policy could act to accelerate this trend.
The paper reviews the archaeological evidence for baskets and the distributional evidence from synchronic ethnography. The linguistic data focuses on the reconstruction of basket types. It then presents a series of quasi-reconstructions based on the comparative lexical evidence, and where possible ties these to particular types or basket. The reconstructions reflect close contact between core branches of Austroasiatic in the Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia area. Outlier branches, such as Munda and Nicobaric, virtually never show cognates, suggesting the process whereby they occupied their present territory was marked by a cultural bottleneck, which resulted in cultural loss.
The major areas of Indigenous Knowledge which are relevant to this area are knowledge of plants and animals and concepts of disease. Arunachal Pradesh peoples are keen observers of the animals with which they share their environment and hunting remains a major source of protein for many populations. At the same time, specific animals are surrounded by ritual restrictions, in particular the tiger. Plants, which are hyper-diverse but still poorly explored botanically, serve as a source of food, medicine, craft and construction materials. However, they are also attributed spiritual natures, and their extraction and use a spiritual activity as well as resource exploitation. Diseases and epidemics, which were a major threat to the community prior to the advent of Western medicine, are typically conceptualised as the work of malevolent spirits, and are countered by characteristic ritual procedures.
The peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and their understanding of the natural environment capture many insights still unfamiliar to western science. However, the changing socio-economic context is allowing this knowledge to be lost without documentation. The paper concludes with a plea for greater in-depth documentation, based on more professional science-based approaches.