Hausa language

Hausa(/ˈhaʊsə/;Harshen/Halshen Hausalisten;Ajami:هَرْشٜىٰن هَوْسَا) is aChadic languagethat is spoken by theHausa peoplein the northern parts ofNigeria,Ghana,Cameroon,BeninandTogo, and the southern parts ofNiger, andChad, with significant minorities inIvory Coast. A small number of speakers also exist inSudan.
Hausa is a member of theAfroasiatic language familyand is the most widely spoken language within theChadicbranch of that family. Despite originating from a non-tonal language family, Hausa utilizes differences in pitch to distinguish words and grammar.Ethnologueestimated that it was spoken as a first language by some 54 million people and as asecond languageby another 34 million, bringing the total number of Hausa speakers to an estimated 88 million.
In Nigeria, the Hausa film industry is known asKannywood.
Hausa belongs to theWest Chadic languagessubgroup of theChadic languagesgroup, which in turn is part of theAfroasiatic languagefamily.
Native speakers of Hausa, theHausa people, are mostly found in southernNigerand northernNigeria.The language is used as alingua francaby non-native speakers in most of northernNigeria, southernNiger, northernCameroon, northernGhana, northernBenin, northernTogo, southernChadand parts ofSudan.
In Nigeria, Hausa is dominant throughout thenorth, but not dominant in the states ofKwara,KogiandBenue. States (or cities) in which Hausa is spoken predominantly includeKano,Kaduna, Katsina,Daura, Gobir,Zaria, Sokoto,Birnin Kebbi,Gusau,Dutse,Hadejia, Bauchi,Misau,Zamfara, Gombe,Nafada, Maiduguri,Yobe,Yola,Jalingo,Jos,Lafia,Nasarawa, Minna,Kontagora,Keffiand Abuja.
In Niger, Hausa is spoken by up to 53% of the population.It is very popular in the cities ofMaradi,Diffa,Tahoua,Zinder,Tillaberi,Dosso, andAgadez.
In Cameroon, Hausa is spoken in the north, including the cities ofNgaoundere,Garoua, andMaroua.
In Ghana, Hausa is the lingua franca of theZongo communitiesacross the country.
In Benin, Hausa is spoken in the north. Cities where it is spoken includeParakou,Kandi,Natitingou, andDjougou.
In Togo, Hausa is spoken in the north. Cities where it is spoken includeSokode,Kara, andDapaong.
In Chad, Hausa is spoken in the south. Cities where it is spoken includeN'Djamena.
In Sudan, Hausa is spoken in almost all the states ofJazirah,Blue Nile, andKordofan, Darfur States, Gadaref State, Red Sea State, White Nile State, River Nile
Hausa presents a wide uniformity wherever it is spoken.However, linguists have identified dialect areas with a cluster of features characteristic of each one.
Eastern HausadialectsincludeDauranciinDaura,KananciinKano,BausanciinBauchi,GudduranciinKatagumMisauand part ofBorno, andHadejanciinHadejiya.
Western Hausa dialects includeSakkwatanciinSokoto,KatsinanciinKatsina,ArewanciinGobir,Adar,Kebbi, and Zanhwaranci inZamfara, andKurhwayanciinKurfeyin Niger.Katsinais transitional between Eastern and Western dialects.Sokotois used in a variety of classicalHausa literature, and is often known asClassical Hausa.
Northern Hausa dialects includeArewa(meaning 'North') andArewaci.
ZazzaganciinZazzauis the major Southern dialect.
The Daura (Dauranchi) and Kano (Kananci) dialects are the standard.  TheBBC,Deutsche Welle,Radio France InternationaleandVoice of Americaoffer Hausa services on their international news web sites using Dauranci and Kananci. In recent language development Zazzaganci took over the innovation of writing and speaking the current Hausa language use.
The western to eastern Hausa dialects ofKurhwayanci, DamagaramandAdarawa, represent the traditional northernmost limit of native Hausa communities.These are spoken in the northernmostsaheland mid-Saharanregions in west and centralNigerin theTillaberi,Tahoua,Dosso,Maradi,AgadezandZinderregions.While mutually comprehensible with other dialects (especiallySakkwatanci, and to a lesser extentGaananci), the northernmost dialects have slight grammatical and lexical differences owing to frequent contact with theZarma,Fula, andTuareggroups and cultural changes owing to the geographical differences between the grassland and desert zones. These dialects also have the quality of bordering on non-tonalpitch accentdialects.
This link between non-tonality and geographic location is not limited to Hausa alone, but is exhibited in other northern dialects of neighbouring languages; example includes differences within theSonghay language(between the non-tonal northernmost dialects ofKoyra ChiiniinTimbuktuandKoyraboro SenniinGao; and the tonal southernZarmadialect, spoken from westernNigerto northernGhana), and within theSoninke language(between the non-tonal northernmost dialects ofImraguenandNemadispoken in east-centralMauritania; and the tonal southern dialects ofSenegal,Maliand theSahel).
TheGhanaianHausa dialect (Gaananci), spoken inGhanaandTogo, is a distinct western native Hausa dialect-bloc with adequate linguistic and media resources available. Separate smaller Hausa dialects are spoken by an unknown number of Hausa further west in parts ofBurkina Faso, and in theHaoussa Foulane, Badji Haoussa, Guezou Haoussa, andAnsongodistricts of northeasternMali(where it is designated as a minority language by the Malian government), but there are very little linguistic resources and research done on these particular dialects at this time.
Gaananci forms a separate group from other Western Hausa dialects, as it now falls outside the contiguous Hausa-dominant area, and is usually identified by the use ofcforky, andjforgy. This is attributed to the fact that Ghana's Hausa population descend fromHausa-Fulanitraders settled in thezongodistricts of major trade-towns up and down the previousAsante,GonjaandDagombakingdoms stretching from thesahelto coastal regions, in particular the cities ofAccra(Sabon Zango,Nima),TakoradiandCape Coast
Gaananci exhibits noted inflected influences fromZarma,Gur,Jula-Bambara,Akan, andSoninke, as Ghana is the westernmost area in which the Hausa language is a major lingua-franca among sahelian/Muslim West Africans, including both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaianzangomigrants primarily from the northern regions, orMaliandBurkina Faso. Ghana also marks the westernmost boundary in which theHausa peopleinhabit in any considerable number. Immediately west and north of Ghana (inCôte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso), Hausa is abruptly replaced withDioula–Bambaraas the main sahelian/Muslim lingua-franca of what become predominantlyMandingareas, and native Hausa-speakers plummet to a very small urban minority.
Because of this, and the presence of surroundingAkan,Gbe,GurandMande languages, Gaananci was historically isolated from the other Hausa dialects.Despite this difference, grammatical similarities betweenSakkwatanciand Ghanaian Hausa determine that the dialect, and the origin of the Ghanaian Hausa people themselves, are derived from the northwestern Hausa area surrounding Sokoto.
Hausa is also widely spoken by non-nativeGur, andMandéGhanaian Muslims, but differs from Gaananci, and rather has features consistent with non-native Hausa dialects.
Hausa is also spoken in various parts of Cameroon and Chad, which combined the mixed dialects ofNorthern Nigeriaand Niger. In addition, Arabic has had a great influence in the way Hausa is spoken by the native Hausa speakers in these areas.
InWest Africa, Hausa's use as alingua francahas given rise to a non-native pronunciation that differs vastly from native pronunciation by way of key omissions ofimplosiveandejectiveconsonants present in native Hausa dialects, such asɗ,ɓandkʼ/ƙ, which are pronounced by non-native speakers asd,bandkrespectively.This creates confusion among non-native and native Hausa speakers, as non-native pronunciation does not distinguish words likedaidai("correct") andɗaiɗai("one-by-one"). Another difference between native and non-native Hausa is the omission ofvowel lengthin words and change in the standardtoneof native Hausa dialects (ranging from nativeFulaniandTuaregHausa-speakers omitting tone altogether, to Hausa speakers withGurorYorubamother tonguesusing additional tonal structures similar to those used in their native languages). Use of masculine and femininegendernouns and sentence structure are usually omitted or interchanged, and many native Hausa nouns and verbs are substituted with non-native terms from local languages.
Non-native speakers of Hausa numbered more than 25 million and, in some areas, live close to native Hausa. It has replaced many other languages especially in the north-central and north-eastern part of Nigeria and continues to gain popularity in other parts of Africa as a result of Hausa movies and music which spread out throughout the region.
There are severalpidginforms of Hausa.Barikanchiwas formerly used in thecolonial armyof Nigeria. Gibanawa is currently in widespread use inJegain northwestern Nigeria, south of the native Hausa area.
The Hausa language has a long history of borrowing words from other languages, usually from the  languages being spoken around and nearHausaland.
Hausa has between 23 and 25 consonant phonemes depending on the speaker.
The three-way contrast betweenpalatals/cɟcʼ/, plain velars/kɡkʼ/, and labialized velars/kʷɡʷkʷʼ/is found only before long and short/a/, e.g./cʼaːɽa/('grass'),/kʼaːɽaː/('to increase'),/kʷʼaːɽaː/('shea-nuts'). Before front vowels, only palatals and labialized velars occur, e.g./ciːʃiː/('jealousy') vs./kʷiːɓiː/('side of body'). Before rounded vowels, only labialized velars occur, e.g./kʷoːɽaː/('ringworm').
Hausa hasglottalic consonants(implosives and ejectives) at four or fiveplaces of articulation(depending on the dialect). They require movement of the glottis duringpronunciationand have astaccatosound.
They are written with modified versions of Latin letters. They can also be denoted with anapostrophe, either before or after depending on the letter, as shown below:
Hausa vowels occur in five different vowel qualities, all of which can be short or long, totaling 10monophthongs. In addition, there are fourdiphthongs, giving a total number of 14 vocalic phonemes.
In comparison with the long vowels, the short/i,u/can be similar in quality to the long vowels,mid-centralizedto[ɪ,ʊ]or centralized to[ɨ,ʉ].
Medial/i,u/can be neutralized to[ɨ~ʉ], with the rounding depending on the environment.
Medial/e,o/are neutralized with/a/.
The short/a/can be either similar in quality to the long/aː/, or it can be as high as[ə], with possible intermediate pronunciations ([ɐ~ɜ]).
The 4 diphthongs in Hausa are/ai,au,iu,ui/.
Hausa is atonal language. Each of its fivevowelsmay have low tone, high tone or falling tone. In standard written Hausa, tone is not marked. In recent linguistic and pedagogical materials, tone is marked by means of diacritics.
Anacute accent(´) may be used for high tone, but the usual practice is to leave high tone unmarked.
Except for theZariaandBauchidialects spoken south ofKano, Hausa distinguishes between masculine and feminine genders.
Hausa, like the rest of theChadic languagesin particular andAfro-Asiatic languagesin general, is known for its complex, irregular pluralization of nouns. Noun plurals in Hausa are derived using a variety of morphological processes, such as suffixation, infixation, reduplication, or a combination of any of these processes. There are 20 plural classes proposed by Newman (2000).
Hausa marks tense differences by different sets of subject pronouns, sometimes with the pronoun combined with some additional particle. For this reason, a subject pronoun must accompany every verb in Hausa, regardless of whether the subject is known from previous context or is expressed by a noun subject.
Hausaverbsare classified into 7 grades and are inflected based on whether they are followed by an object.
Hausa's modern officialorthographyis aLatin-based alphabetcalledboko, which was introduced in the 1930s by the British colonial administration.
The letterƴ(y with a right hook) is used only inNiger; inNigeriait is writtenʼy.
Tone and vowel length are not marked in writing. So, for example,/dàɡà/"from" and/dáːɡáː/"battle" are both writtendaga. The distinction between/r/and/ɽ/(which does not exist for all speakers) is not marked in orthography, but may be indicated with R̃ r̃ for the trill in linguistic transcription.
Hausa has also been written inajami, anArabic alphabet, since the early 17th century. The first known work to be written in Hausa is Riwayar Nabi Musa by Abdullahi Suka in the 17th century.There is no standard system of usingajami, and different writers may use letters with different values. Short vowels are written regularly with the help ofvowel marks, which are seldom used in Arabic texts other than the Quran. Many medieval Hausa manuscripts inajami, similar to theTimbuktu Manuscripts, have been discovered recently; some of them even describeconstellationsandcalendars.
AsHausa Ajamiscript was never recognized and regulated officially, there has never been a top down imposition of a unified convention. Standardization of letters in Ajami has happened over time and in various stages, in synch with neighbouring Ajami traditions, as well as external factors.
InNigerandNigeria, there exists two general orthographic traditions, each derived from two Quranic orthographic practices.One of these is based on the Quran recitation and inscription of the 8th century religious scholarHafs ibn Sulayman, the other based on the Quran recitation and inscription of another 8th Century scholar,Warsh.Hafstradition is the most popular across theMuslim world, and especially inEgypt, theLevant, and theArabian Peninsula.Warshtradition is the second most popular tradition across theMuslim world, and has been especially popular inNorth Africa,West Africa, andAndalusia.
For example, vowels in Hausa Ajami script, including representation of vowel [e], and differentiation of short versus long vowels, were one of the first aspects to be unified and standardized. Consonants on the other hand, especially consonant letters for representing sounds that don't exist in Arabic, took longer to become standardized. Some new letters were even coined in the late 19th and early 20th century, and because of the direct influence of theBoko alphabet(Latin alphabet). For example, whereas previously in writing, sounds [b] and [ɓ] may have usually been written with a singe letterba'ب‎', it was the innovation of introducing the separate letter in Latin alphabet that created an impetus for scholars writing in Ajami script, to innovate and introduce a separate Ajami letter for the distinct sound as well.
Below is the list of letters of Hausa Ajami, in bothWarshandHafstraditions. Beige highlight marks letters that are only used for writing of loan words of Arabic or European origin. Green highlight marks letters that are innovations of Hausa orthography and are not used inArabic language.
Hausa is one of three indigenous languages of Nigeria that have been rendered inbraille.
At least three other writing systems for Hausa have been proposed or "discovered". None of these are in active use beyond perhaps some individuals.
In 1905, George Charleton Merrick (a British army officer and Hausa interpreter)publishedHausa Proverbs,a collection of over 400 proverbs in Hausa (Roman script) with English translations.Here are some of those proverbs:
Charles Henry Robinson'sHausa Grammar, also published in 1905, contains a selection of proverbs in Hausa (Roman script) with English translations; here are a few of those proverbs:
A collection of over 100 Hausa proverbs in both Hausa and English translation appears in Volume 2 ofR. S. Rattray'sHausa Folklore, Customs, Proverbs, etc. by Malam Shaihu.The Hausa text is printed both in Arabic script as provided by Malam Shaihu, aKano-born Hausa teacher,and in Roman transliteration provided by Rattray. Here are some of those proverbs:
Rattray also includes 30 stories told in Hausa by Malam Shaihu: 21 stories with human characters in volume 1,and 9 animal stories in volume 2,featuring a cycle of stories about Gizo, thetrickster spider of Hausa tradition.
There are several other collections of traditional Hausa tales available in both Hausa and English translation.J.F. Schon'sMagana Hausaof 1885 includes the Hausa text of 83 tales with an English translation available in some, but not all, editions.In 1914,A.J.N. Tremearnepublished the Hausa texts of over 170 Hausa stories inHausa Folktales,which features Gizo the trickster spider on its cover, with English translations having appeared earlier in Tremearne'sHausa Superstitions and Customsand other publications. More recently, Neil Skinner'sHausa Tales and Traditionsprovides English translations of the stories that first appeared in 1924 in Frank Edgar’sTatsuniyoyi na Hausa.