1999
XII, 372 pp.
1 map, numerous tables and charts
Text language: French
This study – which is derived from the author’s PhD thesis – focuses on various aspects of language contact between Minyanka and Bambara. The Minyanka language is spoken by the Minyanka people situated in the districts of Ségou and Sikasso in the south of Mali. Minyanka belongs to the group of Senufo languages, which in turn form a sub-group of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo languages.
Minyanka is influenced by various languages: by Bambara – spoken to the north and west of the Minyanka region – and by Dyula, the trade language spoken throughout the south of Mali. Bambara and Dyula both belong to the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages.
The present study concentrates on those borrowings and loan translation processes which occur within Minyanka as a result of the influence of Bambara in particular. The first chapter provides an introduction to the topic as well as an overview of relevant theoretical approaches to language contact and an account of the methodology adhered to in the study.
The following analysis is devided into six grammatically structured chapters and deals with the contact phenomena on the levels of phonology, the morphology of nominal classes and nominal stems as well as the syntax of genitival phrases, relative clauses and adverbials. An eighth chapter summarizes the types of borrowing from Bambara and their effects on Minyanka. A German summary of the analysis is appended to the volume.
Under these links you will find publications by the author, further volumes of our series Gur Monographs · Monographies Voltaïques and studies of language contact in Africa:
