| Language name: | HAUSA |
| UPSID number: | 4366 |
| Alternate name(s): | |
| Classification: | Afro-Asiatic, Chadic |
| This language has | 38 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.348348699 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | b b< kW kJ k gW gJ g kW' kJ' k' tS dZ P S m l r ? h "e a "o j* j w i u au ai t d d< s z s* n r.[ |
| Comment: | Hausa has two level tones which may combine to form a falling tone. Vowels may occur long or short. For many speakers the diphthong /ai/ is pronounced /e:/ in most positions. Palatalized velars do not contrast with plain velars before front vowels /i,e/ nor do labialized velars contrast before back vowels /u,o/. |
| Source(s): | Abraham, R.C. 1934. The Principles of Hausa vol. 1. Government Printer, Kaduna. Abraham, R.C. 1959. The Language of the Hausa People. University of London Press Ltd., London. Abraham, R.C. Hausa Literature and the Hausa Sound System. University of London Press, London. Brauner, S. and Ashiwajn, M. 1966. Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache. Max Hueben Verlag, Munich. Greenberg, T.H. 1941. Some problems in Hausa phonology. Language 17: 316-323. Hodge, C.T. 1947. An Outline of Hausa Grammar (Language Dissertation 41). Linguistic Society of America, Baltimore. Hodge, C.T. and Umaru, I. 1963. Hausa Basic Course. Foreign Service Institute, Washington D.C. Kraft, C.H. 1963. A Study of Hausa Syntax, Vol.I., Structure. Department of Linguistics, The Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Connecticut. Kraft, C.H. and Kirk-Greene, A.H.M. 1973. Hausa. Teach Yourself Books, London. Kraft, C.H. and Kraft, M.G. 1973. Introductory Hausa. University of California Press, Berkeley. Taylor, F.W. 1959. A Practical Hausa Grammar. Clarendon Press, Oxford. |