The subclassification of Songhay and its historical implications

Abstract

International audienceThis paper seeks to establish the first cladistic subgrouping of Songhay explicitly based on shared arbitrary innovations, a prerequisite both for distinguishing recent loans from valid extra-Songhay comparanda and for determining how Songhay spread. The results indicate that the Northern Songhay languages of the Sahara form a valid subfamily, even though no known historical records link Tabelbala to the others, and that Northern Songhay and Western Songhay (spoken around Timbuktu and Djenné) together form a valid subfamily, Northwestern Songhay. The speakers of Proto-Northern Songhay practised cultivation and permanent architecture, but were unfamiliar with date palms. Proto-Northwestern Songhay was already in contact with Berber and probably (perhaps indirectly) with Arabic, and was spoken along the Niger River. Proto-Songhay itself appears likely to have been in contact with Gur languages, confirming its relatively southerly location. This result is compatible with two scenarios for the northerly spread of Songhay. On Hypothesis A, Northern Songhay spread out from an oasis northeast of Gao, probably Tadmakkat or Takedda, and Northwestern Songhay had been spoken in areas west of Gao which now speak Eastern Songhay. On Hypothesis B, Northern Songhay spread out from the Timbuktu region, and Western Songhay derives from heavy " de-creolising " influence by Eastern Songhay on an originally Northern Songhay language. To choose between these hypotheses, further fieldwork will be required

The Linguistic Prehistory of the Sahara

“…Fortunately, much new good quality data has become available on Songhay lects (e.g. Heath 1998aHeath ,b, 1999Souag 2012) and it is now possible to provide a brief account of the evolution of the language family.…”

“…At the same time proto-Songhay was diverging, it must also have been in contact with Berber influence, to judge by a small number of Berber borrowings in early or proto-Songhay (Souag 2010). Songhay is traditionally divided into two primary subgroups, Northern and Southern; a revised classification is proposed by Souag (2012). According to this hypothesis, the first split within the family was between Eastern Songhay, probably spoken around Gao, and Northwestern Songhay, somewhere further north; it was followed by a more prominent split between Western and Northern Songhay.…”

Non-Tuareg Berber and the genesis of nomadic Northern Songhay

“…If both linguistics and oral history suggest that the Idaksahak originally spoke Western Berber, why would they have shifted to Northern Songhay? It must be emphasised that their target was the Northern Songhay still spoken at In-Gall and formerly at Agades and Teguidda, all oases surrounded by desert, not the far more populous varieties currently spoken along the river such as Gao Songhay or Zarma, as indicated by many shared innovations (Souag 2012). To make sense of this shift, we need to examine a topic on which written sources cast more light than oral tradition: the emergence of a regional caste of Islamic scholars.…”

How to make a comitative preposition agree it-with its external argument: Songhay and the typology of conjunction and agreement

“…It has two principal branches: Eastern Songhay (with relatively few shared innovations) to which most Songhay speakers and languages belong, and Northwestern Songhay (with many clear shared innovations), itself sharply divided into two distinct subgroups, Northern Brought to you by | New York University Bobst Library Technical Services Authenticated Download Date | 5/26/15 6:34 PM Songhay (to which Kwarandzyey belongs) and Western Songhay (Souag 2012). It has two principal branches: Eastern Songhay (with relatively few shared innovations) to which most Songhay speakers and languages belong, and Northwestern Songhay (with many clear shared innovations), itself sharply divided into two distinct subgroups, Northern Brought to you by | New York University Bobst Library Technical Services Authenticated Download Date | 5/26/15 6:34 PM Songhay (to which Kwarandzyey belongs) and Western Songhay (Souag 2012).…”