Jeffrey Heath Livres

The series builds an extensive collection of high quality descriptions of languages around the world. Each volume offers a comprehensive grammatical description of a single language together with fully analyzed sample texts and, if appropriate, a word list and other relevant information which is available on the language in question. There are no restrictions as to language family or area, and although special attention is paid to hitherto undescribed languages, new and valuable treatments of better known languages are also included. No theoretical model is imposed on the authors; the only criterion is a high standard of scientific quality. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert.

The book offers an in-depth analysis of the diverse dialect networks of both Jewish and Muslim communities in Morocco, examining twenty-two Muslim and approximately thirty Jewish dialects of Moroccan Arabic. It explores the linguistic variations and cultural significance within these dialects, highlighting the rich tapestry of language and identity in the region's traditional boundaries.

The comprehensive grammar of Jamsay, the most populous Dogon language in Mali, highlights its unique verb-final structure and intricate tonology. It features morphosyntactically triggered tone-contour overlays affecting nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Each stem possesses a distinct lexical tone contour, with specific rules for tone dropping in Perfective verbs and noun-adjective constructions. Additionally, relative clauses employ participial verbs that agree with the head noun in humanness and number, while intonation plays a grammatical role, notably in NP conjunctions.

The book, first published in 1990, is part of the Routledge imprint of Taylor & Francis, known for its scholarly contributions. It explores significant themes and concepts relevant to its field, providing readers with valuable insights and in-depth analysis. The publication reflects the academic rigor and quality associated with its publisher, making it a noteworthy addition to any collection focused on its subject matter.

Spoken only in a cul-de-sac valley in Dogon country in east-central Mali, Bangime is the most enigmatic language isolate in the whole of interior West Africa. It is apparently a Basque-like survival of a formerly widespread language family, now boxed into this small valley by the expansion of Niger-Congo languages (Dogon, Bozo, Mande) on all sides. This book brings out the full glory of its grammar, especially its 3-level tone system.

Die 25 Texte des vorliegenden Bandes sind mit zahlreichen Anmerkungen und der jeweiligen englischen Übersetzung versehen. Die Texte 1-21 entstammen einem einzigen Dialog zwischen zwei Männern unterschiedlicher Clans des wichtigen Kal Ansar-Bündnisses in der Timbuktu-Region (Abkürzung T-ka), aufgenommen im Jahre 2000. Die Texte 22-25 unterscheiden sich grundsätzlich von den vorhergehenden Texten. Die Sprecher sind Frauen aus der Stadt, die den Kidal-Dialekt (K) sprechen und innerhalb Malis von Kidal nach Gao umgesiedelt sind. Die Texte sind frech und ironisch. Die Frauen scheinen zuweilen in ein Rollenspiel zu verfallen. Während die T-ka-Texte eher vergilischer Natur sind, enthalten die Kidal-Texte Hinweise auf Aristophanes. Tuareg-Texte aus anderen Regionen finden sich bei Aghali-Zakara & Drouin (1979), Chaker et al. eds. (1984), Khamidoun (1976) und Louali-Raynal et al. (1997). Das Tamashek-Projekt wurde unterstützt von der US-amerikanischen „National Science Foundation“ und der „National Endowment for the Humanities“. Die Feldforschung fand hauptsächlich zwischen 1999 und 2002 statt. Vom selben Verfasser liegen zwei Textsammlungen über Songhrai-Texte aus Mali vor: „Texts in Koyra Chiini (Songhay of Timbuktu, Mali)“, ISBN 978-3-89645-260-3. „Texts in Koroboro Senni (Songhay of Gao, Mali)“, ISBN 978-3-89645-261-0.

This is a comprehensive description of Tamashek Tuareg spoken in Mali. The varieties covered in this volume are those of Tamashek in the narrow sense, excluding Tawellemett but including the other Malian varieties (Goundam, Timbuktu, Gao, Ansongo, Kidal, and the Gourma area south of the Niger River including Gosi and the outskirts of Hombori).

Koyraboro Senni, oft als Koroboro bezeichnet, wird in Gao, Mali, gesprochen und gehört zu den Songhay-Sprachen der Nilo-Saharanischen Sprachfamilie. Der Begriff „koyra-boro senn-i“ bedeutet „die Sprache der Stadtbewohner“ und hebt die sesshaften Städter in Gao von Nomaden und anderen nicht-sesshaften Ethnien ab. Diese Sprache hat sich überregional ausgebreitet, insbesondere zu den Fulbe an der malisch-nigrischen Grenze und zu den Bozo. Die erste Kapitel bietet eine Einführung in Koyraboro Senni, die Geschichte seiner Sprecher und eine geographische Beschreibung der Region. Kapitel 2 behandelt das grammatikalische System, gefolgt von detaillierten Erklärungen zur Phonologie (Kapitel 3), dem Nominalsystem und der Nominalableitung (Kapitel 4), der Nominalflektion und Syntax von Nominalphrasen (Kapitel 5), den Genera des Verbs und der Verbalderivation (Kapitel 6) sowie der Struktur von Verbalphrasen (Kapitel 7). Kapitel 8 thematisiert die diskurs-funktionalen Elemente, während Kapitel 9 syntaktisch-semantische Aspekte untersucht. Das abschließende Kapitel behandelt anaphorische und logophorische Elemente. Drei Anhänge beschreiben die Dialekte des Koyraboro Senni sowie den Fulan Kirya Dialekt von Gourma, einer Region im Süden Gaos, die von Songhay-sprechenden Fulbe bewohnt wird. Diese Grammatik ergänzt den bereits veröffentlichten Band „Texts in Koroboro Senni (Songhay of Gao, Mali)“.

Hassaniya is the Arabic spoken in Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Sahara. It reflects the speech of the Arabian beduin tribes (Banu Hisan and Ma‘qil) who arrived in the Maghreb via Egypt in the 11th century. Hassaniya is completely different from mainstream Maghrebi Arabic, especially that of Morocco and western Algeria, which took shape after the original Arab invasion of the 7 th century. In Mali (unlike Mauritania), Hassaniya is a minority vernacular with little exposure to the literary language. It is as „pure“ a beduin Arabic as one can find in the Arab world today. This dictionary, and the volume Hassaniya Arabic (Mali): Poetic and Ethnographic Texts* in the same series, document Hassaniya as spoken in sahelian and desert areas near Timbuktu and the Medieval imperial city Gao on the Niger River. They are based primarily on recordings and lexicographic study made in the late 1980’s. The dictionary functions in part as a glossary for the texts, and lexical entries include many page-line references to textual occurrences. Glosses are given in French as well as English to maximize the dictionary’s usefulness to multiple audiences.

In most countries of the Maghreb, the local Arabic vernaculars are increasingly inundated by vocabulary, grammatical forms, and even syntax from literary Arabic (used in mosques, schools, and media), and oral poetry is receding except for popular song genres. The Arabs of the TimbuktuGao region, by contrast, are a peripheral linguistic minority with little exposure to literary Arabic. They continue to speak a relatively pure beduin Arabic, closely related to varieties spoken in Mauritania and southern Algeria. These texts, recorded in 1986–1989 and presented here in transcription along with facing English translations, document this language, as well as the remarkable verbal culture of these people. The ethnographic texts cover such topics as the annual salt caravans from Timbuktu to Taoudenni, the perils of the pastoral life, and adjustments to city life. The “poetic” texts include recitations of locally familiar poems, typically integrated into narratives or otherwise contextualized. The poems, consisting of quatrains (gaf) and more extended poems (tal’a), are often satirical or even bawdy in nature. Jeffrey Heath is Professor of Linguistics and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many fieldworkbased works, including grammars, dictionaries, and text collections on languages of Australia and on Songhay languages of West Africa.