USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY SOKOTO

FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
COURSE CODE: LIN 415
COURSE TITLE: HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS
ACTIVITY: CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
LECTURER-IN-CHARGE: PROF. H.A. AMFANI

QUESTION:
AFRICAN LANGUAGES GENERALLY DO NOT HAVE WRITTEN
RECORDS.THIS BEING THE CASE, WHAT EVIDENCE CAN WE SHOW
(FOR ANY INDIGENOUS AFRUCAN LANGUAGE) TO JUSTIFY THE
CLAIM THAT LANGUAGE DOES CHANGE DURING THE COURSE OF
TIME?

GROUP MEMBERS

1. AKANDE KOREDE JOHNSON 1810109007

2. DURODOLA TITILOPE AISHA 1810109014
3. IKECHI DURU SLYVIA 1810109010
4. SULAIMAN MUBARAQ OLAYINKA 1810109012

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 A significant number of African languages have been traditionally
transmitted through oral means, without a system of writing to record their
linguistic heritage. These languages have been passed down through generations
via storytelling, songs, proverbs, and other oral traditions. As a result, they lack the
extensive written documentation found in many other parts of the world.
The absence of written records poses unique challenges and opportunities
for linguists, anthropologists, and historians seeking to study these languages. On
one hand, the lack of written materials means that researchers must rely heavily on
oral sources, making documentation and preservation efforts critical to
safeguarding linguistic diversity. On the other hand, the reliance on oral
transmission has allowed for a rich and vibrant oral tradition that has preserved
ancient wisdom, cultural knowledge, and historical narratives.
Despite the lack of written records, evidence of language change and
evolution can still be found through various methods. Comparative linguistics,
which involves comparing related languages to identify commonalities and
changes, is a crucial tool in understanding linguistic history. Lexical evolution,
phonological shifts, grammatical changes, and language contact can also provide
valuable insights into how these languages have evolved over time.
Yoruba is a major West African language spoken primarily in Nigeria,
Benin, and Togo. It belongs to the Niger-Congo language family, specifically the
Yoruboid branch, which is part of the larger Volta-Niger subfamily. As one of the
largest and most influential languages in Africa, Yoruba holds significant cultural,
historical, and linguistic importance.
Yoruba has a complex phonological system with seven vowel sounds, which
can be short or long. Vowels can carry tone, which is crucial for distinguishing
word meanings. Consonant sounds in Yoruba include both oral and nasal stops,
fricatives, and approximants.
Yoruba traditionally did not have a written script. However, in the 19th
century, missionaries and scholars developed various writing systems based on
Latin characters to transcribe the language. Modern Yoruba is usually written
using the Latin alphabet with some diacritical marks to indicate tone. Its grammar
is agglutinative, where affixes are added to root words to indicate tense, aspect,
mood, and other grammatical features. Word order is generally subject-verb-object
(SVO), but Yoruba allows some flexibility in sentence structure. Noun classes are

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a prominent feature of Yoruba grammar, dividing nouns into different categories
with corresponding agreement markers. Yoruba is a tonal language, which means
that the pitch or tone of a word can change its meaning. Different tones can create
distinctions between words that would otherwise sound the same.

One issue that has continued to be a matter of concern in the theories of

language change and language variation is how diachronic changes in linguistic
forms are to be modeled in generative linguistic theories. Should historical changes
be a concern of linguistic theories? What explanation should linguistic theories
proffer to language change? These and others are questions addressed in Holt
(2003) who traces the application of generative theories to historical changes from
the works of Postal (1968) and McMahon (1994).
Some of the earliest works in the application of Optimality Theory to
language change include Jacobs (1995) and Holt (1997). The use of generative
syntax to account for diachronic syntactic changes is also well established in the
literature. Since Langacker (1977) and later Robert (1993), syntactic changes have
been expressed in terms of changes in parameters. Kroch (2001), Roberts (2007)
and Kemenade and Vincent (1997), in particular, have shown that the same
analytical devices that have been used to describe variation among the synchronic
grammars of different languages can be used to describe the diachronic grammars
of a given language
Morpho-syntactic changes
The first morpho-syntactic change examined here involves analogical
leveling of second and third-person plural pronouns with respect to their syntactic
cases. An example of this has been introduced already, According to Crowther
(1852a:12) and Bowen (1858:18), the third person nominative plural pronoun has
two forms. These are àwọn and nwọ́n. Its accusative and genitive counterpart is
given as wọ́n in Crowther (1852a). In the same fashion, the second person
nominative plural pronoun is given as ẹnyin while its accusative and genitive
counterparts are given as nyín by both authors
Person Nominati Accusativ Genitive
ve e
Second ẹ̀nyin Nyín nyín

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Third àwọn/ wọn wọn
nwọ́n

From Bowen’s description, àwọn had a wider distribution than wọn, nwọ́n was
already losing domains at the time these two grammars were written.
Pre-Yoruba forms for the lexical items
Stage 1 (Pre-Yoruba): Nominative
Accusative/Genitive (AG)
*Ẹ̀ ǹyin *ǹyin
*Àǹwọn *ǹwọn

Stage 2 (Pre-Yoruba): *Ẹ̀ ǹyin *ǹyin

*Àǹwọn/ǹwọn *ǹwọn
Stage 3 (Crowther Yoruba) : Ẹ̀ ǹyin ǹyin
Àwọn/nwọ́n wọn
Stage 4 (Contemporary Yoruba): Ẹ̀ yin yin
Àwọn/wọn wọn
The first stage assumes a point in time in the history of Yoruba where the
two pronouns exhibited the same paradigm, having an alveolar nasal immediately
after the first vowel in the nominative and beginning the word in the AG. The
second stage assumes a subsequent point in time where the AG form of the third
person plural pronoun was used interchangeably with the nominative form. This
continued to the third stage, the stage recorded by Crowther and Bowen. At this
stage, however, the nasal segment in some of the forms has been lost. The fourth
stage, the contemporary Yoruba grammar, is where analogical leveling has taken
place and all the forms no longer have nasals3. It has to be noted, however, that
despite the fact that the majority of speakers of standard Yoruba no longer use any
of the nasal forms, some old people can still be heard using the nominative nwọn.
Also due to its preservation in the early Yoruba Bibles, Christian sermons
occasionally use nwọn as well, especially when discussing verses where this is
used. This scenario is similar to the use of English thou and thy in the
contemporary time.

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Diachronic changes refer to changes that occur in a language over an extended
period of time. In the case of the Yoruba language, which is a Niger-Congo
language spoken in West Africa, there have been several diachronic changes that
have shaped its development. Here are some examples of diachronic changes in
Yoruba:

Diachronic changes refer to changes that occur in a language over an

extended period of time. In the case of the Yoruba language, which is a Niger-
Congo language spoken in West Africa, there have been several diachronic
changes that have shaped its development. Here are some examples of diachronic
changes in Yoruba:

1. Vowel Harmony:
In older forms of Yoruba, there was a more extensive system of vowel
harmony, where vowels within a word had to harmonize based on their class.
However, in modern Yoruba, the vowel harmony system has become less strict,
and some harmony patterns have been simplified. For example:
Old Yoruba: ilé (house), bàtà (shoe)
Modern Yoruba: ile, bata
In older forms of Yoruba, there was a more complex system of vowel
harmony, where vowels in a word had to harmonize based on their class. There
were two main vowel classes, known as the "I" class and the "E" class. For
example:
- "I" class: i, e, ẹ, o, ọ
- "E" class: ɛ, a, ọ,̣ u
Old Yoruba: ọjọ́ (day) - Both vowels (ọ and ó) belong to the "I" class
Modern Yoruba: ọkọ (husband) - In this word, the vowels "ọ" and "ọ"̣
belong to different classes, but they coexist within the word.

2. Loss of Final Consonants:

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 In older Yoruba, final consonants were more prevalent. Over time, many of
these final consonants have been lost, leading to simpler word-final structures.
The loss of final consonants in Yoruba is a common diachronic change that has
occurred over time. Here are some examples of words in which final consonants
have been lost or simplified in modern Yoruba compared to their older forms:
1. Old Yoruba: ilẹ̀ (land, country)
Modern Yoruba: ile
2. Old Yoruba: agbọ̀ (cloth)
Modern Yoruba: agbọ
3. Old Yoruba: ọjọ́ (day)
Modern Yoruba: ọjọ
4. Old Yoruba: ìlú (town, city)
Modern Yoruba: ilu
5. Old Yoruba: ìròyìn (newspaper)
Modern Yoruba: ìròyin

3. Reduction of Consonant Clusters:

Yoruba has undergone changes in its consonant clusters, simplifying them in
many cases. In older Yoruba, certain consonant clusters were more common, but
they have been reduced or simplified in modern Yoruba. For example:
Old Yoruba: ẹ̀tún (right), òkùnrin (man)
Modern Yoruba: ẹtun, ọkùnrin

4. Grammatical Changes:
Yoruba has experienced some changes in its grammatical structures over
time. For instance, certain verb inflections and noun declensions have become less
complex or have merged with other forms. Additionally, there have been changes
in the usage of certain grammatical particles.

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Here are some examples of grammatical changes in Yoruba that have evolved over
time:
1. Definite Articles:
Old Yoruba used to have a distinct set of definite articles for different noun
classes. However, in modern Yoruba, these definite articles have largely merged
into a single form, "ti." For example:
Old Yoruba:
- ọkọ omo (the man, where "ọkọ" is the definite article for singular human nouns)
- ọ̀tá ọ̀kọ (the town, where "ọ̀tá" is the definite article for singular inanimate nouns)
Modern Yoruba:
- ọkọ ti omo
- ọtá ti ọkọ

2. Plural Marker:
In older Yoruba, the plural marker for nouns was "awọn." Over time, this
plural marker has been replaced by a more general plural marker "ọkàn" or
"àwọn." For example:

Old Yoruba: awọn ọkọ (men)

Modern Yoruba: ọkàn ọkọ or àwọn ọkọ

3. Verb Inflections:
Old Yoruba had a more complex system of verb inflections, particularly for
tense and aspect. However, in modern Yoruba, the inflectional system has been
simplified, with a reduced number of tense markers. For example:
Old Yoruba:
- o n kú (he/she died)

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- o ti ku (he/she has died)
Modern Yoruba:
- o kú
- o ti ku

4. Gender Agreement:
Old Yoruba had gender agreement between nouns and modifiers. For
example, adjectives and pronouns used to agree with the gender of the noun they
modify. However, in modern Yoruba, gender agreement has become less strict or
has disappeared in some cases. For example:
Old Yoruba: ọkọ oníìtà (male teacher), ọkọ oníbò (female teacher)
Modern Yoruba: ọkọ oníìtà or ọkọ oníbò (both for a teacher irrespective of
gender)
These examples illustrate how Yoruba has undergone grammatical changes
over time, with certain inflections, articles, and gender agreements becoming
simplified or merged. As with any language, these changes are influenced by
linguistic, social, and cultural factors and reflect the natural evolution of the
language.

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 CONCLUSION

The assertion that African languages generally lack written records is a well-
established fact, particularly for many indigenous African languages. This absence
of written documentation poses unique challenges when studying the historical
evolution of these languages. However, despite the lack of written records, there is
substantial evidence to support the claim that languages in Africa, just like any
other languages in the world, undergo significant changes over time.
One of the primary pieces of evidence for language change in indigenous African
languages is the process of oral tradition. African societies have a rich tradition of
passing down knowledge, history, and cultural practices through oral means.
Through generations of storytelling, songs, and proverbs, linguistic elements
evolve, adapt, and transform over time. Linguists and anthropologists have
extensively studied these oral traditions, which provide invaluable insights into the
diachronic changes that have occurred within African languages.
Furthermore, linguistic research in African communities has revealed how
languages experience shifts in phonetics, phonology, grammar, and lexicon over
time. Linguists have conducted extensive fieldwork, documenting linguistic
variations and comparing them with historical accounts and other language
families to trace patterns of language change. These studies demonstrate that
linguistic alterations are an inherent aspect of language development and that
African languages are no exception.
Additionally, written records for many indigenous African languages may be
scarce, evidence from oral traditions, linguistic research, language contact, and
historical interactions unequivocally justifies the claim that African languages
undergo changes during the course of time. Understanding the diachronic evolution
of African languages is crucial not only for linguistic scholarship but also for
appreciating the cultural heritage and diversity that these languages embody. As
we continue to explore and document these linguistic transformations, we gain a
deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of languages and their integral role in
shaping the vibrant tapestry of African heritage and identity.

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