Hausa language names and ethnonyms

Abstract

Abstract The Hausa word hárshèe means both ‘language’ and ‘tongue’. Language names (glossonyms) are formed with a suffix -áncíi. Names of peoples (ethnonyms) are formed with a prefix bà- in the singular and a suffix -áawáa in the plural. In this paper, we present an overview of functionally parallel expressions in other Chadic languages. We find that most Chadic languages use the word for ‘mouth’, not ‘tongue’, to mean ‘language’, and that language names are formed by a tightly-knit phrase or compound ‘mouth-of X’ rather than by means of a derivational suffix. We propose that the Hausa ethnonymic prefix bà- is a reflex of the widespread Chadic root for ‘mouth’ (*bV), having undergone a semantic development from ‘language-of X’ to ‘person-of X’. We note that the original root is still preserved in the Hausa word bàakíi ’mouth’, which contains an old West Chadic nominal suffix *-kV that would have been dropped in inalienable possession and compounds. We also propose that -áawáa, the modern-day suppletive plural of the ethnonymic prefix bà-, was originally a distinct derivational suffix indicating a community of people with common characteristics, and, further, that the -áncíi suffix now used to denote language names originally had a semantically broader meaning, connoting such qualities as style, mannerisms, and speech peculiarities.