Basic linguistic research in Adamawa languages of Northeast Nigeria

• Applicant: Dr. Ulrich Kleinewillinghöfer
• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282128451

The proposed research project aims at decisively boosting the state of documentation and knowledge regarding the Adamawa-(Gur) languages of Northeast Nigeria. The project focusses on the languages of the Nungura-Cluster (aka Longuda), the Yungur Group, the Bikwin-Jen Group and the Tula-Waja Group, and Baa (aka Kwa), which, both individually and as a whole, are barely documented and studied in even the most basic grammatical terms. They are spoken in a largely contiguous area north of the middle Benue, neighbouring to the region currently exposed to the terror of Boko Haram.In order to accomplish the research goal, the applicant, therefore, plans to initially reprocess notes, recordings and language materials which stem and profit from previous field trips, with the aim of making both the extensive empirical data and the results of initial analysis available to the academic audience, as well as to the speakers in situ. In order to effectively reach the targeted audiences, the materials will mainly be shared and posted on open access platforms. The major task of the projected research, however, focusses on the meticulous descriptive analysis of the available data. These materials offer a solid foundation for basic research and supports in particular synchronic and diachronic comparative studies of various aspects of the morpho-syntax, the structure and morphology of the verbal complex, formal characteristics of the tense-aspect-mode systems, as well as the structure of the noun phrase and, where applicable, the noun classification system. In terms of the wider perspective, the research will represent a vital contribution to the historical-comparative study of the Adamawa-Gur complex. The still hypothetical definition of the latter seriously requires robust morphological isoglosses.Fundamental to the proposed research and the choice of the languages are foremost three aspects. 1) Urgency. The particularly poor state of documentation, the dearth of descriptions, and the current threats and developments in their neighbourhood, put the Adamawa languages in NE Nigeria at the top of the list of languages for which linguistic studies ought to have highest priority. 2) Feasibility and gain in insight. The descriptive-linguistic analysis and documentation of the available data will significantly boost our knowledge of the linguistic structures of the languages in question, and will thus help to close a vast gap in the current state of research. 3) Sustainability. The materials intended to be processed and posted on open access platforms will in addition to their importance within this research project also serve as substantial contribution to the data basis of spin off studies in Adamawa languages of NE Nigeria. The accessibility of empirical data has become a crucial factor in this area, where the present state of insecurity critically obstructs field investigations; whilst at the same time linguistic research should have highest priority.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants