ANGAS-SURA ETYMOLOGIES III

• Authors: Takacs G.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the paper is to present some etymologies of Angas-Sura The languages of the Angas-Sura (AS) group are spoken between the South-Eastern Plateau and the Benue river, Plateau State of Nigeria by about 200.000 people. The Angas-Sura languages represent the second group of the West Chadic subbranch. The Chadic, in turn represents part of the great Afro-Asiatic (Semito-Hamitic) language family, which can be divided in six equipotential cognate branches: Semitic. Hoffmann, who provided the most detailed inner classification of the Angas-Sura languages as well as so far the only annotated retrospective survey of the literature on the subject, assumed Gerka to have been the first member split off from the group. What remained is called by Hoffmann as Proto-Angas-Goemai, which falls into three subgroups: (1) Northern: Angas, (2) North-Eastern: Sura, Mupun, Chakfem-Mushere Chip, Jorto, Kofyar, (3) Southern: Kanam (Koenoem), Pyapun(g), Tal, Montol, Goemai. On the basis of author's own research on comparative AS phonology, the phonological isoglosses confirm the correctness of Hoffmann's inner classification. Henceforth, he uses the following (slightly modified) inner grouping: (1) Gerka, (2) Angas, (3) Suroid languages (falling further on in two clusters: 3.1. Sura-Mupun vs. 3.2. Kofyar-Mushere-Chip according to the isoglosses of the complex AS *fy-), (4) Goemaioid languages (Kanam/Koenoem, Pyapun/Pyapung, Tal, Montol, Goemai). The inner comparison of the Angas-Sura daughter languages has hitherto elaborated only in its minor segments and the papers of G. Greenberg, O.V. Stolbova and . C. Hoffmann are reviewed. In 2003, after five years' work, the first comparative lexicon of the Angas-Sura group has been completed by the authorf on the basis of all available sources. Now it is high time to systematically deal also with the external cognates of the reconstructed Angas-Sura roots. The series 'Angas-Sura Etymologies' has been started recently with the purpose of contributing to the Afro-Asiatic background of Angas-Sura lexical stock primarily with new lexical parallels.

Keywords

EN

ANGAS-SURA; CHADIC

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk
• Journal: Lingua Posnaniensis
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 48
• Pages: 121-138
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Takacs G.

• G. Takacs, Szekesfehervar 8000, Semmelweis u19, Hungary

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07PLAAAA01994236