‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’

Workshop « Language Isolates in Africa »

Lyon – Dec 2010

Guillaume Segerer

The ‘Atlantic’ languagesand the neighbouringlanguage families

Sapir 1971 : resemblance rates

Sapir, J. David (1971). West Atlantic: an inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternation. In Sebeok, T. A. (Ed), Current trends in linguistics, 7: linguistics in sub-Saharan Africa, The Hague & Paris : Mouton & Co., pp. 45-112.

Sapir 1971 : classificationI. Northern Branch

A. Sénégal Languages1. a. Fula b. Serer2. Wolof

B. Cangin Languages(Lehar, Safen, Non; Ndut, (Falor)C. Bak Languages (Lower Casamance)

1. Diola Group: Fogny, Huluf, (other Diola dialects); Gusilay; Karon; Kwaatay; (Bayot)

2. Manjaku; Papel; (Mankanya)3. Balanta; (Ganja)

D. Eastern Sénégal-Portuguese Guinea Languages1. a. Tenda Group: Tanda, Bassari, Bedik,

[Bapeŋ]b. Konyagi

2. Biafada; Pajade3. a. Kobiana; (Kasanga)

b. BanhumE. a. Nalu

b. [Mbulungish (otherwise known as Baga Fore)]

c. [Baga Mboteni]

II. Bijago (isolated)

III. Southern BranchA. SuaB. Mel Languages

1. Temne, Baga Koba, (Banta, Landuma, Tyapi, other Baga languages

(excluding ‘Fore’ and Mboteni))2. Sherbro, Mmani, (other Bullom dialects), Krim; Kisi3. Gola

C. Limba

Sapir 1971 > Wilson 1989

Wilson, W. A. A. (1989). Atlantic. In Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (Ed), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York & London : University Press of America, SIL., pp. 81-104.

Sapir 1971 Wilson 1989

1 tout all 26 feu fire 51 long long 76s’asseoir to sit 2cendre ashes 27poisson fish 52homme man 77peau skin 3écorce bark 28pou louse 53beaucoup many 78dormir to sleep 4ventre belly 29voler to fly 54viande meat 79 fumée smoke 5gros big 30 jambe foot 55 lune moon 80être debout to stand 6oiseau bird 31plein full 56colline mountain 81étoile star 7mordre to bite 32donner to give 57bouche mouth 82pierre stone 8noir black 33aller to go 58ongle nail 83soleil sun 9sang blood 34bon good 59nom name 84nager to swim 10os bone 35 terre ground 60cou neck 85queue tail 11sein breast 36cheveu hair 61nouveau new 86cela that 12brûler to burn 37bras hand 62nuit night 87ceci this 13nuage cloud 38 tête head 63NEG no 88 langue tongue 14 froid cold 39entendre to hear 64nez nose 89dent tooth 15venir to come 40coeur heart 65un one 90arbre tree 16mourir to die 41corne horn 66personne person 91deux two 17chien dog 42chaud hot 67pluie rain 92marcher to walk 18boire to drink 43moi I 68 rouge red 93eau water 19sec dry 44 tuer to kill 69chemin road 94nous we 20oreille ear 45genou knee 70 racine root 95quoi ? what 21manger to eat 46savoir to know 71 rond round 96blanc white 22oeuf egg 47 feuille leaf 72sable sand 97qui ? who 23oeil eye 48être couché to lie 73dire to say 98 femme woman 24graisse fat 49petit little 74voir to see 99 toi you sg 25plume feather 50 foie liver 75graine seed 100vous you pl

The Swadesh list

the 40 ASJP notions

The data1st inventory : 220 sources

Elimination of poorly documented sources (less than 75% Swadesh) >- 128 sources- 75 « languages »

baga-fore erame kobiana nyun-gunyamolo

baga-koba fulfulde konyagi nyun-gubaxer

baga-maduri gola krim nyun-gujaxer

baga-mboteni jaad landuma palor

baga-sitemu joola-banjal lehar pepel

balante-kentohe joola-bliss limba pulaar

balante-fca joola-ejamat manjaku-bok pular

bapen joola-fogny manjaku-tsam safen

basari joola-gusilay manjaku-ulund sereer-mar-loj

bayot joola-karon manjaku-bassarel sereer-sine

bedik joola-kasa manjaku-cur sherbro

biafada joola-kasa-esuulaalu manjaku-tsits sua

bijogo-kagbaaga joola-kerak mankanya tanda

bijogo-kajoko joola-kwaatay mmani temne

bijogo-kamona joola-mlomp nalu wolof

brame kasanga ndut

bullom kisi noon

The data : a sample

fu-kowbu

nɛ ji-cil

tête

oeil

Bijogo Joola Kasa

The data : cognacy judgments

The data : cognacy judgments (2)

Processing : the Splitstree program

First result

hard to read...

Detail

Simplification :

reduce the number of languages by singling out homogenousbranches

Balanta

42 ‘languages’

Results (2)

Results (2)

Results (3)

Unproblematic groups may be simplifiedin order to get a more synthetic picture

Final result

- 3 big clusters- northern 1- northern 2- southern

balantemanjaku, mankanya, pepeljoola centralkaron, mlompkwaataybayotbijogonyun, buywolofcangintendabiafada, jaadpeulsereernalu, baga mbotenibagatemnekisisherbro, krimsuagolalimba

- differences from Sapir :

- Wolof-Nyun-Buy- Bijogo together with Bak- Sua together with Mel

consonantmutation

implosivestops

Classsuffixes

Further arguments for the new classification

balantemanjaku, mankanya, pepeljoola centralkaron, mlompkwaataybayotbijogonyun, buywolofcangintendabiafada, jaadpeulsereernalu, baga mbotenibagatemnekisisherbro, krimsuagolalimba

Additional result

Insertion of outer languages:

• Mandinka (Mande)

• Kabiye (Gur)

• Ngomba (Bantoid)

• Godie (Kru)

Warnings about the use of phylogenetic softwares

‘southern’ group (swadesh list)

‘southern’ group + outer languages (swadesh list)

‘southern’ group + outer languages (ASJP list)

Alternate method

Back to Sapir’s use of distance matrix

Distance matrix for ‘Atlantic’ and beyond

balantemanjaku, mankanya, pepeljoola centralkaron, mlompkwaataybayotbijogonyun, buywolofcangintendabiafada, jaadpeulsereernalu, baga mbotenibagatemnekisisherbro, krimsuagolalimba

Phylogenetic tree and distance matrix

Singletons (Gola, Limba)

Gola Limba  Sg Pl

1 yaŋ min

2 yi ben

3 wun-de binde

  Sg Pl

1 mi e

2 mu ni

3 (w)o a

  Sg Pl

1 yá náá

2 nùm ɲá

3 ndú ndá

Kisi  Sg Pl

1 min sia

2 mun nia

3 kɔn ŋa

Temne

Comparison of personal pronouns with ‘nearest’ neighbours

Singletons (Gola, Limba)

Comparison of first numerals with ‘nearest’ neighbours

Gola Limba Temne Kisione gun kunte -in pilɛ�ɛ�two tīel bile -rəŋ -iŋ, -ɔ�ɔ�ŋthree táál bitat -sàs ŋàá, yàáfour tinâ binaŋ -aŋlɛ" hiɔ� ɔ� lu

New map of 'Atlantic'

Thank you