34.698, Review: Historical Linguistics: Wolff (2021)

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Subject: 34.698, Review: Historical Linguistics: Wolff (2021)

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Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2023 18:01:12
From: Troy Spier [troy.spier at famu.edu]
Subject: A History of African Linguistics

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-3261.html

EDITOR: H. Ekkehard  Wolff
TITLE: A History of African Linguistics
SERIES TITLE: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/african-and-caribbean-language-and-linguistics/history-african-linguistics?format=PB
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2021

REVIEWER: Troy E Spier

SUMMARY

Chapter 1, by the editor of the volume, begins with an attempt to define the
relevant nomenclature by suggesting that “African linguistics” actually
invokes three distinct meanings, viz. the study of African languages, language
in Africa, and applied dimensions of linguistics in Africa. Next, this chapter
reiterates Greenberg’s (1964) quadfurcated grouping into Niger-Congo,
Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan, before turning to an in-depth
consideration of the early developments of rigorous investigations into
African languages through German academic institutions—and even earlier
documentation arriving from those with an interest in proselytization and, at
least in the case of colonial efforts, pacification of indigenous populations.
Most important, however, is the more socioemotional argument made in favor of
studies on African languages by analogizing the case in Europe: If Europe has
a comparable number of languages with comparatively few speakers (e.g.
Romansch or Swiss German) but people still pay attention to and care about
these languages, then the same argument should apply to the case of African
languages.

Chapter 2, by Roland Kießling, offers a diachronic account of British, French,
German, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish colonialism, and the
ways in which this colonialism interacted with linguistic studies, invoking
names like Ludwig Krapf, Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle, Alice Werner, Ida C. Ward,
Carl Meinhof, Diedrich Westermann, Malcolm Guthrie, Wilfred Howell Whiteley,
etc. In addition to offering a case-by-case study of these nations, this
chapter also notes that involvement in colonial projects was often
overshadowed by “racist conceptions about the inferiority of African cultures
and languages” (p. 27). The chapter concludes by relating more recent
scholarship and reiterating that colonial language projects were far more
pragmatic than initially assumed, resulting, for instance, in the development
of academic institutions focused on the linguistic varieties spoken in
colonial territories.

Chapter 3, by Roland Kießling et al., focuses on the contributions to African
linguistics from scholars in Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, and the
erstwhile Czechoslovakia), Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia), and Northern
Europe (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland). The earliest records from this
period that focus on Africa come from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries;
in particular, the publication of the “Comparative Dictionary of All Languages
and Dialects” (1790/91) even contained data from thirty-three languages of the
continent. Other published sources often arrived in the form of ethnographic
notes and maps from travelers. Compared to their counterparts in Western
Europe, this “interest in Africa […] was not directly transferred to the
institutional level by providing a basis for studies on languages” (p. 50).
One commonality among these nations, however, is the early initial emphasis
upon the Semitic languages, likely a result of the establishment of academic
departments focusing on so-called Oriental Studies. This chapter ultimately
concludes that, while research investigations began in Central and Eastern
Europe in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, such scholarly
interest in Northern Europe has been a far more recent development.

Chapter 4, by Abderrahman el Aissati and Yamina el Kirat el Allame, presents a
case-by-case study of the advances in linguistics in North Africa (Egypt,
Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), with emphasis upon Berber and
linguistic varieties of Arabic. Compared to the other regions presented in
this volume, this chapter begins by acknowledging that the Egyptians’ interest
in and work on language as an object of scientific study “would take us back
about 4,000 years to the time when the Egyptians invented hieroglyphs to
render speech in writing” (p. 74). The subsequent interest in linguistics was
spurred at least in part by religion—through the Coptic Church in Egypt and
accompanying grammars, through the spread of Arabic through Islam and, in
particular, Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), etc. Conversely, research on
Nilo-Saharan, Cushitic, and Berber languages from the region has received far
less attention until recently. One of the greatest contributions of this
chapter is the inclusion of sample titles and important passages from journal
articles on important thematic topics in African linguistics from the region.

Chapter 5, by Maria Bulakh et al., begins with a detailed, separate discussion
of the historical developments in studies of Ge’ez, beginning by acknowledging
the connection between the Vatican and the Santo Stefano dei Mori, leading
ultimately to interest in Johannes Potken’s publication of the “Ethiopic
Psalter” (1513), which contained liturgy, a grammatical sketch, and a
discussion of pronunciation. Next, the chapter shifts to a country-by-country
examination of the former British, French, and Italian colonies in the Horn of
Africa–Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan–by
offering broad overviews that describe the creation of academic institutions
and departments—and, in some cases, academic journals, doctoral projects, and
the broader connection to SIL International.

Chapter 6, by Sonja E. Bosch and Inge M. Kosch, centers upon five nations in
southeastern Africa—Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and
Swaziland—and starts, after identifying Bantu and Khoisan languages as the
most widespread, by qualifying the latter and the uncertainty surrounding the
subsumed languages as a linguistic stock. Next, the authors imply that
linguistic studies (and perhaps language usage more broadly) in this part of
the Global South are closely linked to and/or influenced by sociopolitical
circumstances, e.g. Apartheid. Unlike many of the other chapters in this
volume, this chapter progresses chronologically in three periods defined as
the pre-scientific, the post-colonial, and the modern. However, the most
compelling part of this chapter arrives through three dicta. First, early
language documentation “superimposed the grammar” of the researchers’ native
languages (cf. Ziervogel 1956:1). Second, although there was early
acknowledgment of tonal phonology in the languages of southeastern Africa,
there still remains quite limited research in this area. Finally, following
Brock-Utne (2003:42), Africa should “[…] develop its own courses, research,
and publications more directly suited to situations in Africa.”

Chapter 7, by Amani Lusekelo, foregrounds twelve nations in Eastern Africa. It
does so through the exemplification of three distinct phases, including the
early missionary-led language documentation projects, the formal contributions
made through the establishment of colonial language centers and academic
institutions, and the shift toward a more theoretical, emic-focused approach
to native languages of the continent. In pursuit of this goal, this chapter is
perhaps more interdisciplinary than the others, as it engages with the
extensive history of colonialism in each of these nations and the ways in
which both colonialism and religion impacted literacy, interest in language
usage, etc. However, each of these nations approached the challenges of
independence and language projects differently, e.g., while some focused
primarily on more equitable language inclusion in education, others
established formal committees to “govern” the language–specifically through
the creation of reference materials and the standardization of orthography.
Finally, this chapter contains graphics to illustrate the salience of
particular types of publications and both their content and authorship.

Chapter 8, by Bruce Connell and Akinbiyi Akinlabi, acknowledges the
contributions to African linguistics originating from Anglophone West Africa,
albeit almost exclusively in Nigeria and Ghana. The chapter begins by noting
that, although a written record of Kwa appeared in 1523 in Portuguese, “[...]
for almost two centuries little more was done outside the collection of brief
word lists” (p. 153). The authors state that the Church Missionary Society was
responsible for much of the early scholarship from this region, but they also
recognize that significantly more attention has been paid to Yorùbá, offering
for the reader an academic biography of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who they
identify as “the first Yoruba linguist” (p. 155). Next, the chapter cycles
through the colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary periods, discussing
important figures (e.g. Ida C. Ward), publications (e.g. “The Phonetic and
Tonal Structure of Efik”), journals (e.g. the “Journal of West African
Languages”), projects (e.g. the “West African Languages Survey”), etc.

Chapter 9, by Philip Ngessimo Mathe Mutaka, emphasizes the role of Francophone
(West and Central) Africa in the development of African linguistics as a
field. The chapter starts by disambiguating two different approaches to the
study of languages on the continent: while the curricular and scholarly topics
of interest are often informed by Western understandings and the long-lasting
impact of colonialism, a more autochthonous form of African linguistics has
not yet developed, i.e., “African linguistics” differs from “African African
linguistics.” As an example, the author remarks that Western scholars have
historically retained a preoccupation with written texts, which has hindered
quite insightful work like that of Baluba Shankadi, who has analyzed the
so-called “drum languages” that “work on the intuitive knowledge of the people
about the existence of different pitch levels, whose combinations in drumming
sequences are reflections of words in their languages” (p. 179). While the
initial societal influence was felt by Christian and Muslim missionaries after
independence from France and Belgium, most contemporary scholarship arrives
through descriptive grammars submitted as graduate-level theses and
dissertations, through more theoretical research in each of the subdomains of
linguistics, and through linguistic atlases, such as in Cameroon and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.

Chapter 10, by Anne-Maria Fehn, recognizes the historical influences
contributing to African nations where Portuguese and/or Spanish have been
declared an official language, presenting a methodical case-by-case analysis
of the colonial and post-colonial contexts of Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé e
Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde, and Equatorial Guinea. Interestingly, the
author notes that the aforementioned nations witnessed only small numbers of
European settlers until the Berlin Conference (1884/85), which resulted, in
the case of at least a few of these nations, in the demarcation of people into
the ‘assimilados’ and the ‘indígenas.’ The two largest of these—Mozambique and
Angola—receive the most attention and offer markedly different timelines.
While scholarship on local languages in the former truly began in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resulting in the publication of
texts like “Arte da Lingua de Cafre” and “Elementos de Gramática Landina
(Shironga)”, scholarship in the latter began with sixteenth and
seventeenth-century catechisms (cf. Gaspar da Conceição, 1555; and Mateus
Cardoso, 1624), a late seventeenth-century grammar (“Arte da língua de
Angola”), and the much later, three-volume “Etnografia do Sudoeste de Angola”
(1956, 1961a, 1961b) by Karl ‘Carlos’ Estermann, a German missionary.

Chapter 11 describes the contributions to African linguistics in North America
and Latin America. It begins with a somber remark that North American
scholarship on African languages “has never achieved the same intensity and
breadth of research found in Europe” (p. 205). The first author, G. Tucker
Childs, suggests that this was the direct result of a concomitant lack of
African colonies and a renewed interest in indigenous languages. Despite this,
considerable linguistic fieldwork has been undertaken by SIL International;
despite their goal of proselytization and the translation of the Gospel, their
most noteworthy contribution is the publication of the “Ethnologue”, which has
“served as the standard reference for languages of the world for the past 60
years” (p. 208). Before presenting a “snapshot” of some pivotal scholars in
the region, this chapter delineates North American efforts into missionaries,
(non-)governmental entities, national resource centers, governmentally-funded
or affiliated institutions (e.g. the Peace Corps and the National Science
Foundation), academic conferences (e.g. ACAL), and peer-reviewed journals
(“Studies in African Linguistics”). On the other hand, the second author,
Margarida Petter, offers a smaller but more detailed account of the
contributions from Latin America, beginning with a grammar of Kimbundu
entitled “Arte da lingua de Angola” (1697) and an account of a linguistic
variety from Benin described in the “Obra Nova da Lingua Geral de Mina”
(1741). The chapter concludes by considering more contemporary approaches to
the African influence in Latin America, e.g., by examining Afro-Hispanic and
Afro-Brazilian speeches.

Chapter 12, by Shigeki Kaji et al., is perhaps the most exciting chapter of
this volume: Given the distance between Africa and both Asia and Australia,
one might not expect to read about the vast contributions from Japan, China,
South Korea, and Australia to studies of African languages. To this end, the
authors explain that the University of Delhi offers certification in
Kiswahili, the Japan Association for African Studies has approximately
nine-hundred members, the School of Asian and African Studies (BFSU) offers
training in at least seven African languages, an expansive Swahili-Korean
Dictionary (cf. Kim and Kwon 1999) was published with naturally-occurring
exemplars, the world-renowned Research Centre for Linguistic Typology and the
Language and Culture Research Centre have hosted dozens of Africanist
scholars, etc.

EVALUATION

Envisioned as a companion to Wolff’s (2019) earlier text entitled “The
Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics”, the present volume (2021) has
thoroughly and successfully reached its objective. The twenty-six authors
found in this volume, who come from every inhabited continent on the planet,
should be recognized for their valuable contribution to the broader field of
African linguistics, as the reader now has access to a richer understanding of
the synchronic and diachronic “big picture” as it concerns language usage and
the study of language usage on the African continent. Additionally, this
volume is organized principally by region, concerning itself with the
developments from each respective part of the world to our broader knowledge
of African linguistics. Furthermore, this volume is pedagogically sound, as it
contains a significant number of ancillary materials to aid the reader in his
or her comprehension, including a five-page overview of all abbreviations and
acronyms used in the chapters and four separate indices to enable the reader
easily to locate information by language, country, keyword, or person.
 However, there are a couple of areas where this volume could have been
improved. First, although the volume is certainly intended for specialists, it
remains unclear whether it is meant to serve as a reference text intended for
consultation or as a general introduction–in the form of a textbook–to the
contributions to African linguistics from different parts of the world. In
both cases, more standardization in the way the information is presented in
the chapters would have offered a greater benefit to the reader, as some
chapters focus broadly on the region; some, through a country-by-country
examination; others, through a chronologically-based selection of scholars
and/or delineation into different author-selected periods; and finally others,
through engagement with the major contributions from academic and non-academic
organizations. Second, although this volume offers a clear introduction for
the reader, a conclusion is nowhere to be found. This could have helped
contextualize and/or speculate on the future, addressing questions such as:
Where does African linguistics go now? Are there any exciting, novel
contributions being made more broadly that are not restricted to a single
country or region? What is the current role of international conferences like
the “Annual Conference on African Linguistics” and the “World Congress of
African Linguistics”? What about the rise of African online indices for
academic journals, such as “African Journals Online” (AJOL), or the expansion
of open-access journals on African languages, such as the “Arusha Working
Papers in African Linguistics”? Finally, there are only a few minor
misspellings and/or inconsistencies in spelling in the text, and these do not
detract from the readerly experience in any overly noticeable way.

REFERENCES

Brock-Utne, Birgit. 2003. “Formulating Higher Education Policies in Africa:
The Pressure from External Forces and the Neoliberal Agenda.” Journal of
Higher Education in Africa, 1(1): 24-56.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1955. Studies in African Linguistic Classification. New
Haven, CT: Compass Publishing Co.

———. 1963. The Languages of Africa. Indiana University Research Center in
Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics, Publication No. 25. International
Journal of American Linguistics, 29.1, part 2.

Kim, Y.J. and M.S. Kwon (eds). 1999. A Swahili-Korean Dictionary. Seoul, South
Korea: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Press.

Welmers, William E. 1973. African Language Structures. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.

Westermann, Diedrich H. 1952. “African Linguistic Classification.” Africa, 22:
250-256.

Westermann, Diedrich H. and Ida C. Ward. 1933. Practical Phonetics for
Students of African Languages. London, UK: Oxford University Press for the
International African Institute.

Wolff, H. Ekkehard. 2019. The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Ziervogel, D. 1956. Linguistic and Literary Achievement in the Bantu Languages
of South Africa. Unpublished Inaugural Lecture, University of South Africa.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Troy E. Spier is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at Florida A&M
University He earned his MA and Ph.D. in Linguistics at Tulane University, his
B.S.Ed. in English/Secondary Education at Kutztown University, and a graduate
certificate in Islamic Studies at Dallas International University. His
research interests include language documentation and description, discourse
analysis, corpus linguistics, and linguistic landscapes.





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