This edited volume consisting of nineteen chapters explores both the documentation and theoretical analysis of endangered languages in Africa. Chapters are authored by both experienced and early career linguists from across North America. The chapters are grouped by subject matter: two introductory chapters are followed by four devoted to work on an endangered Tanzanian language, and two documenting approaches to fieldwork; the final two-thirds of the book are devoted to theoretical work on the morpho-syntax, phonology and phonetics of endangered African languages.
In Chapter 1, ‘Africa’s endangered languages: An overview’, editors Jason Kandybowicz & Harold Torrence provide a brief introduction to the volume. The authors describe how, since the 1980s, studies such as those by Brenzinger (Reference Brenzinger1992) or Simons & Lewis (Reference Simons, Lewis, Mihas, Perley, Rei-Doval and Wheatley2013) have downplayed or denied language endangerment in Africa. They go on to outline several studies, such as those by Brenzinger (Reference Brenzinger2007) and Connell (Reference Connell and Brenzinger2007), which have attempted to assess the level to which African languages are under threat and have shown that endangerment is actually widespread across many regions and language families. The authors also outline the aims of the book, namely to highlight the urgent need for more documentary work in Africa and to encourage co-operation between documentary and theoretical linguists (2).
In Chapter 2, ‘The challenge of documenting Africa’s least-known languages’, Bonny Sands examines factors relating to the classification and documentation of endangered languages. Sands provides an overview of the challenges involved in classifying languages as endangered or threatened, particularly in the case of marginalised groups whose languages may be under threat due to urbanisation or displacement. This chapter also discusses the danger of basing funding decisions on existing classification systems such as those by UNESCO (Moseley Reference Moseley2010) and Ethnologue (Simons & Fennig Reference Simons and Fennig2017), which, it is argued, are often inaccurate and based on out-of-date information. Examining current data, Sands concludes that the number of languages requiring urgent documentation in Africa is at least double the 346 languages listed as ‘at risk’ in Ethnologue 17 (Lewis, Simons & Fennig Reference Lewis, Simons and Fennig2014) (11).
The next four chapters deal with Nata, a critically endangered Bantu language of Tanzania and Kenya. Chapter 3, ‘The Nata Documentation Project’, by Joash J. Gambarage and colleagues, introduces the Nata Working Group, a collaborative research group based at the University of British Colombia, whose work is detailed in Chapters 4–6. The authors describe their data collection methodology and provide sketches of the morpho-syntax and tone of Nata verbs and nouns (39).
Chapter 4, ‘Tongue root harmony in Nata: An allomorphy-based account’, by Joash J. Gambarage & Douglas Pulleyblank, offers a descriptive and theoretical account of vowel harmony in Nata. Nata nouns have a typologically rare dual-pattern system of tongue root harmony. Gambarage & Pulleyblank employ an emergent approach to account for the system, in which the variation is viewed as resulting from a choice at the surface level, noting that Optimality Theory cannot provide a convincing explanation for the patterns observed in Nata (57).
Chapter 5, ‘Nominal and verbal tone in Nata’, by Andrei Anghelescu, Joash J. Gambarage, Zoe Wai-Man Lam & Douglas Pulleyblank, describes three nominal and verbal tone patterns identified in Nata, together with the theory they have developed to account for these features. The authors argue that the tonal variation can be explained by assuming the existence of a nominal ‘macrostem’, which is not usually considered a feature of nouns. This assumption means that variation can be shown to result from a single set of defaults, applicable to both verbs and nouns, allowing a unified account of Nata tone patterns (87).
Chapter 6, ‘Nata deverbal nominalizations’, by Rose-Marie Déchaine, Dayanqi Si & Joash J. Gambarage, examines deverbal nouns in Nata. Nata verbs and deverbal nouns are both followed by a final vowel and can be differentiated by the presence or absence of a noun class prefix. Examining the final vowel, the authors determine that it is used to mark a ‘PROTO-ROLE’ when following deverbal nouns, and marks valency features such as passive and applicative in verbs. They conclude that verbal roots are in fact better described as ‘type-flexible formatives’, which may be verbal, nominal or predicative (125).
The next two chapters focus on fieldwork. Chapter 7, ‘Busy intersections: A framework for revitalization’, by G. Tucker Childs, outlines a project aimed at promoting literacy in Mani, an endangered Mel language of the Niger-Congo family spoken in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Using both a ‘busy intersection’ approach, which integrates community practices into learning, and more traditional, Western teaching methods, the researchers had some success in increasing computer literacy among school children, but failed to achieve other literacy aims. Tucker Childs attributes this to the timeframe involved, a lack of long-term planning, and not enough community consultation (145).
In Chapter 8, ‘Documenting Ekegussii: How empowering research fulfils community and academic goals’, Carlos M. Nash describes a documentation and revitalisation project on Ekegussii, a Benue-Congo language of Kenya. This project worked with the community from the outset. This ongoing collaboration has resulted in a dictionary incorporating cultural knowledge which might otherwise have been lost, and produced phonological data for further descriptive and theoretical work. The success of this project highlights the value of long-term planning and the incorporation of community goals into documentation projects (165).
Chapters 9–13 present theoretical work on the morpho-syntax of endangered African languages. Chapter 9, ‘The role of theory in documentation: Intervention effects and missing gaps in The Krachi Documentary Record’, by Jason Kandybowicz & Harold Torrence, argues for the importance of including constraints in language description. The authors investigate intervention effects (constraints placed upon the grammaticality of clauses containing in-situ wh-expressions) in Krachi, an endangered Kwa language of Ghana. Their findings – that Krachi uses atypical interveners, such as modals – allows the authors to expand the typology of intervention effects (187).
Chapter 10, ‘Documenting raising and control in Moro’, by Peter Jenks & Sharon Rose, examines control and raising predicates in Moro, a Niger-Congo language of the Republic of Sudan. The authors test three theoretical claims: that raising and control involve distinct mechanisms, that control complements are typically complementiser phrases, and that raising complements vary in size. Using elicited data from three US-based Moro speakers, they find evidence to support each of these claims. The authors conclude by emphasising that endangered African languages can provide overt morphological evidence for theories based primarily on European languages (207).
Chapter 11, ‘The linker in the Khoisan languages’, by Chris Collins, uses the Principles and Parameters framework to compare linkers across a range of highly endangered non-central Khoisan languages, spoken in southern and eastern Africa, concluding by highlighting the need for theoretical linguists to undertake documentary fieldwork. Collins argues that endangered languages are valuable resources which can expand and inform theoretical work in significant ways and that this work needs to be undertaken before we lose the opportunity for documentation (237).
Chapter 12, ‘Theory and description: Understanding the syntax of Eegimaa verb stem morphology’, by Mamadou Bassene & Ken Safir, argues for the importance of analysing endangered languages in the same manner as any other. Using a minimalist framework, they attempt to account for non-harmonic morphology in the verb stem structure of Eegimaa, an endangered Niger-Congo language of Senegal. The authors emphasise the need for language analysis to be consistent regardless of language status, although crucially with more urgency in the case of endangerment (267).
In Chapter 13, ‘On (ir)realis in Seenku (Mande, Burkina Faso)’, Laura McPherson illustrates what she describes as ‘The cyclic interplay of documentation and theory’ (297) using Seenku, a Mande language of Burkina Faso. This cycle starts with description; interesting results may then be analysed within a theoretical framework, in turn informing further data collection. McPherson illustrates the cycle using Seenku verbs which, documentation shows, have two allomorphic forms. Analysis suggests variation between verb stems is based on an (ir)realis distinction, this is confirmed with further fieldwork. McPherson argues that this cycle prevents theories from stagnating (297).
The final six chapters examine phonological and phonetic features of several endangered African languages. Chapter 14, ‘Contributions of micro-comparative research to language documentation: Two Bantu case studies’, by Michael R. Marlo, argues for micro-typological comparison in documentation. Marlo argues that this provides context for documentary research which might otherwise be missed or misinterpreted. He illustrates this with case studies on tone and object marking in Mozambican Yao, and on reduplication in Tanzanian Kuria. In each case, comparison with other Bantu languages provides new insights, which Marlo suggests might have been missed with a broader typological approach (321).
Chapter 15, ‘Sebirwa in contact with Setswana: A natural experiment in learning an unnatural alternation’, by Elizabeth C. Zsiga & One Tlale Boyer, compares a phonological feature in two Botswanan Bantu languages: Setswana, the national language, and the highly endangered Sebirwa. The authors find that devoicing of post-nasal stops, an ‘unnatural’ phonological feature of Setswana, has been borrowed into Sebirwa, suggesting that frequency can override naturalness. This chapter provides an example of theoretical enquiry facilitating documentation – the researchers’ primary goal was phonological comparison. Finding only a small, aging population of Sebirwa speakers they felt responsibility to additionally record natural speech for future documentation (343).
In Chapter 16, ‘Three analyses of underlying plosives in Caning, a Nilo-Saharan language of Sudan’, Timothy M. Stirtz emphasises the symbiotic relationship between theory and documentation. Stirtz presents three competing accounts of underlying plosive forms. Because of ongoing conflict in Sudan, the data for this chapter comes from a training workshop conducted in a refugee camp. Stirtz cannot find definitive evidence for any of the three analyses, demonstrating a need for further data collection and illustrating the difficulties that face linguists documenting languages endangered by conflict (367).
Chapter 17, ‘Exceptions to hiatus resolution in Mushunguli (Somali Chizigula)’, by Katherine Hout, examines the phonology of Mushunguli, an endangered Bantu language of Somalia. Hout’s work on Mushunguli began as a documentation project, but over time description led to theoretical work. Here she uses rule ordering to account for verb stems which block fusion when starting with a high vowel, illustrating how documentation work can provide a stepping off point for linguistic theory (411).
Chapter 18, ‘Acoustic and aerodynamic data on Somali Chizigula stops’, by Michal Temkin Martinez & Vanessa Rosenbaum, examines prenasalised stops in Chizigula (Mushunguli). Chizigula is a Bantu language which developed from Tanzanian Kizigua during the 19th century when slaves brought to Somalia escaped and settled. Aerodynamic analysis of Chizigula, measuring nasal and oral airflow, provides non-acoustic evidence for pre-nasalised voiceless stops, which are present in Kizigua. This experimental methodology demonstrates that nasal airflow is present prior to articulation of the stop in Chizigula, contributing to the study of Bantu segmental phonology (427).
Chapter 19, ‘Unmasking the Bantu orthographic vowels: The challenge for language documentation and description’, by Joash J. Gambarage, examines the role of orthography in studies of Bantu. Using evidence from several endangered languages, Gambarage ‘unmasks’ Swahili, showing that, rather than the orthographic five-vowel system, Swahili has seven distinct vowel phonemes. He argues that phonological descriptions of endangered languages may help to elaborate the systems of previously described Bantu languages, providing more accurate descriptions of phenomena such as vowel harmony (449).
This book makes a convincing case for the view that theoretical and documentary work can and should complement and inform one another. Although by no means a ‘how-to’ manual, it also provides some insight into methodological considerations of fieldwork. By providing a snapshot of the types of documentary and theoretical work being done on endangered African languages, the volume also demonstrates the urgent need for more documentation in Africa, whether theoretically motivated or not. The volume also highlights the need for a more up-to-date, consistent method of assessing language endangerment in Africa. The chapters of this volume present recent work carried out on endangered African languages by academics based in North America; inclusion of work being carried out elsewhere, particularly by academics based in Africa, might have provided a broader understanding of current research in an otherwise excellent book. The editors aim to encourage co-operation between theoretical and documentary linguists, and this book serves to illustrate the extent to which it is possible and beneficial to be both.
