The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages Guillaume Segerer - LLACAN (CNRS – INALCO – USPC) - Paris, Sept. 2, 2016

The Joola languages form an homogenous cluster, yet their basic vocabulary shows low cognacy percentages WHY? Is ‘basic’ vocabulary not universally basic? Other reasons, specific to the Joola case? Consequences for Proto-Joola reconstruction Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages A cluster of languages spoken in Lower Casamance, Senegal - ~ 600,000 speakers Dialectal variation is important; mutual understanding is often difficult, sometimes impossible Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

Phonology and morphology show few differences Same vowel inventories, same vowel harmony Very similar consonant inventories Very similar paradigms of noun class markers Very similar paradigms of personal pronouns Very similar paradigms of verb extensions Similar verbal systems The Joola languages: a homogenous cluster Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages: sources for the present study More than 70 distinct sources: -mostly wordlists of 40 to 300 words -a few lexicons in published grammars (~1000 words) -a few important dictionaries (2500 to 4800 words) -my own fieldwork on Keeraak (~3000 words) Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages: sources for the present study From previous work: identification of 8 main dialectal zones. Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

8 dialectal zones Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages: sources for the present study sources (the best available source for each dialectal zone): Fonyi: Sapir words Banjal: Bassène words Kasa: Wintz words Keeraak: Segerer words Ejamat: Barry 1987, Efok variety197 words Mlomp: Barry words Karon: Sambou words Kwaatay: Payne 1992, words Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages: cognates counts Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The Joola languages: cognates counts Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The most stable meanings Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The most stable meanings Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages Starostin 2007 Holmann et al. 2008

The most unstable meanings Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

The most unstable meanings Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages Starostin 2007 Holmann et al. 2008

Stable vs unstable meanings Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages Starostin 2007 Holmann et al. 2008

Word ‘loss’ -dramatic sound change (not applicable to Joola) -semantic shift, specialisation -taboo Word replacement -‘synonym’ strategy : different root with related meaning -morphological strategy : word creation from a different root -borrowing strategy Lexical replacement strategies Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

Word loss: semantic shift, specialisation *JOOLA *-ŋar ‘to take’ Karon -ŋal ‘to graze cattle’ (r/l is a regular correspondance) Karon replacement word: -cɔɔp ( = ‘to embark’) *JOOLA *-lɔb ‘to speak’Keeraak ɛ-lɔb-ay ‘story; problem’ Keeraak replacement word : -sankɛn (cf. Fonyi, Kasa, Keeraak -sanken ‘speech; language’) *JOOLA *-di ‘to eat’Keeraak mʊ-rɩaay-am ‘food’ Keeraak replacement word : -ɲɔɔfɔ (cf. Kasa ‘to devour’) Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

Word loss: taboo Tendeng (2007: 6): « (...) chez les joola, avec la mort, l'individu rentre dans l'oubli total. On ne dit plus son nom et tous ceux qui portent le même prénom que lui doivent automatiquement changer de prénom. Peu à peu, tout ce qui a fait sa personne rentre également dans l'oubli total. » “... among the Joolas, with death, a person falls into complete oblivion. One cannot say their name, and all those who wear the same name have to change it. Gradually, everything that has built his personality also falls into complete oblivion.” Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

Word replacement: ‘synonymy’ *JOOLA *-ŋar ‘to take’ Karon: -cɔɔp ( = ‘to embark’) *JOOLA *-lɔb ‘to speak’Keeraak : -sankɛn (cf. Fonyi, Kasa, Keeraak -sanken ‘speech; language’) *JOOLA *-lʊb ‘rain’Fonyi, Keeraak ɛ-mɩt (= ‘sky; God; year’) *JOOLA *-ar ‘belly’Mlomp -nɔw (= ‘guts’) ‘water’ : 2 main roots: -mɛl (Fonyi, Kasa, Keeraak), -al (Banjal, Mlomp, Karon) Ejamat -ij (cf. Kasa, Banjal ‘to draw water’) Kwaatay -huj (cf. Keeraak -hɔj ‘brine’) Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

Word replacement: morphology Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages *JOOLA *-kil ‘eye’ - Keeraak ɛ-jʊk-ay from -jʊk ‘to see’ *JOOLA *-juul ‘knee’ - Keeraak hu-tiijenum-əh, INSTR from -tiijen ‘to kneel’ *JOOLA *-ɲend ‘nose’ - Keeraak e-juɬum-əy, INSTR from -juɬ ‘to blow one’s nose’

Word replacement: borrowing Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages *JOOLA *-tɔf ‘fat’ - Banjal -fat from Baynunk (not Joola) - some Fonyi varieties have -fɛl, from Karon ‘dog’: two main roots: -yɛn (Fonyi, Karon, Mlomp), -jɔba (Banjal, Kasa) - Keeraak -jagʊm < Manding ɲankuma ‘cat’ ? - Ejamat -jaŋgi < Manding ɲankuma ‘cat’ ? - Kwaatay -kʊrʊk < ???

Word replacement: unknown Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages *JOOLA *-kɛt ‘to die’, widely attested in all zones only Keeraak -raag-ɔ < ??? *JOOLA -iɲ ‘liver’, widely attested in all zones (a solid *ATL root) 4 distant villages have -bɩrɩk: Djinaki, Kanyobone (Fonyi zone, center/north) Diogué (Kasa zone, center/west) Efok (Ejamat zone, extreme south)

Word replacement: unknown Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages *JOOLA *-rʊm ‘to bite’ (a very nice NC retention) Kasa -ɲaŋ, related to *NC -ɲaam ? Kwaatay -tak < ??? *JOOLA *-tum ‘mouth’ (attested everywhere) Ejamat -ɲum < ???

‘heart’: the whole picture Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages

REFERENCES Barry, Abdoulaye (1987). The Joola languages: subgrouping and reconstruction. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (PhD thesis). Bassène, Alain-Christian (2007). Morphosyntaxe du jóola banjal ; Langue atlantique du Sénégal. Köln : Rüdiger Köppe. XVI pp. Dyen, Isidore, Joseph B. Kruskal & Paul Black (1992). An Indoeuropean Classification: A Lexicostatistical Experiment. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, Vol. 82, No. 5, pp. iii-132 Holman, Eric W., Soren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, Andre Muller & Dik Bakker (2008). Explorations in automated language classification. Folia Linguistica. Vol. 42 Issue 2, p Kennedy, Alistair M. (1961). Dialectes de diola : listes de mots. (ms.) Payne, Stephen (2000). Kaadiksiyoneer - lexique kwatay-français. Dakar: SIL. Sambou, Pierre (2007). Morphosyntaxe du joola karon. Dakar : Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Thèse de doctorat de 3e cycle). Sambou, Pierre-Marie (1979). Diola kasa esuulaalur : phonologie, morphophonologie et morphologie. Thèse de doctorat de troisième cycle. Dakar : Université de Dakar. Sapir, J. David (1993 [1970]). Dictionnaire Jóola Kujamutay. Online at Segerer Guillaume & Sébastien Flavier ( ). RefLex: Reference Lexicon of Africa, Version 1.1. Paris, Lyon. Starostin 2007a — Sergei STAROSTIN. Opredelenije ustojčivosti bazisnoj leksiki [Defining the Stability of Basic Lexicon] // S. STAROSTIN. Trudy po jazykoznaniju [Works in Linguistics]. Moscow, Jazyki slav’anskix kul’tur, pp. 825–839. Tendeng, Odile (2007). Le Gusiilay: Un essai de systématisation – une contribution à l’étude du jóola. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Weiss, [P.] Henri (1939). Grammaire et lexique diola du Fogny (Casamance). Bulletin de l’IFAN (Institut Français de l’Afrique Noire) 1-2/3., pp Wintz, [R.P.] Ed. (1909 [reprint 1968]). Dictionnaire français-dyola et dyola-français, précédé dʼun essai de grammaire. Elinkine (Sénégal) : Mission catholique Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages Thank you !

Assumptions behind the notion of ‘basic’ vocabulary ‘Basic’ vocabulary is more resistant to borrowing ‘Basic’ vocabulary is more resistant to replacement in general > Shared ‘basic’ vocabulary is a good marker of common ancestry Guillaume Segerer – NC 2016, Paris - The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages