1. The Atlantic languages: state of the art
Guillaume Segerer - CNRS - LLACAN, France
The Atlantic languages: state of the art
Berlin, Feb. 2010

2. Contents 1. Location, Classification data : quantity & quality
Phonology
- consonant mutation
- vowel harmony
- Tone
morphology
- noun classes
- verbal derivation
2. Subgrouping
3. Problems and (hard-to-find) solutions
4. Expected progress
5. Examples
6. Proposals
7. Conclusion
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3. The Atlantic languages 1. Location
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4. The Atlantic languages 1. Location
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5. The Atlantic languages 1. Location
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6. The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Sapir, J. David (1971). West Atlantic: an inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternation. In Sebeok, T. A. (Ed), Current trends in linguistics, 7: linguistics in sub-Saharan Africa, The Hague & Paris : Mouton & Co., pp
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
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7. The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Fula-Sereer-Wolof
Cangin
BAK
Tenda-Nyun
MEL
isolates:
Nalu
Bijogo
Sua
Limba
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
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8. The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Wilson, W. A. A. (1989). Atlantic. In Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (Ed), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York & London : University Press of America, SIL., pp
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
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9. The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Comparative work
Dalby (1965)
MEL languages
Doneux (1975)
Northern Branch noun classes
Pozdniakov (1993)
All Atlantic
Reconstruction
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Doneux (1975)
Manjaku lexicon
Pozdniakov (1988)
Fula-Sereer noun classes
Drolc (2006)
CANGIN phonology & lexicon
Pozdniakov/Segerer (1988)
CANGIN pronouns
Barry (1987)
Joola phonology
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10. The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Fula
Sereer
Nyun-Buy
Tenda
Biafada
Jaad
Wolof
Cangin
Bayot
Joola
Manjaku
Balanta
Nalu
Bijogo
Temne
Baga
Landuma
Kisi
Bullom
Gola
Limba
Sua
Baga Fore
Tenda-Nyun
Bak
Fula-Sereer
Mel
South
ATLANTIC ???
North
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
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11. Status of ‘Atlantic isolates’
Bijogo:
- Always considered an isolate within Atlantic
- A typical Niger-Congo language
- Recent findings could put it close to BAK
Nalu & Sua:
- Endangered languages
- No grammatical description
- Unpublished wordlists (< 500 words)
- Dialectal variation probably important
The Atlantic languages 2. Subgrouping
Limba:
- No grammatical description
- Big dictionary (4500 wds), but old (Clarke 1922)
Bayot:
- Today a Joola language
- But *Bayot possibly an isolate
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12. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Data: 1. lexicon
Not enough
Nyun, Buy, Sua, Nalu, Tanda, Bapen, Baga, Bom, Krim, Lehar, Safen, Ndut, Noon, Biafada...
only short wordlists
Correct data
Wolof, Fula, Sereer, Temne, Kisi, Limba, Gola, Jaad, Bijogo, Bedik,
Basari, Konyagi...
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Too much !
Joola - Bayot
7 languages
+80 sources
+40,000 words
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13. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Data: 2. grammatical descriptions
None
Sua, Nalu, Basari, Bedik, Tanda, Bapen, Baga, Bom, Krim, Safen,
Lehar, Limba, Landuma, Kasanga...
Poor
Nyun, Kobiana, Manjaku, Biafada, Balanta, Sherbro, Jaad
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Minimal
Bijogo, Joola, Temne, Konyagi, Noon, Palor, Ndut, Gola, Bayot, Sereer
Good
Wolof, Fula, Kisi
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14. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Phonology : consonant mutation
Full
Fula
Stem-initial consonant
Class-initial consonant
~ Stem-final consonant
Initial
Tenda, Sereer, Nyun, Buy, Biafada,
Jaad
Stem-initial consonant
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Traces
Manjaku, Bijogo, Wolof
Bijogo : -pir ‘to make a trap’ / ka-mpir-ak-o ‘a trap’
Wolof : bon ‘to be bad’ / mbon ‘naughtiness’
Augments (Doneux 1975) : -a-, -N-
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15. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Phonology : vowel harmony
Complete, ATR based
Joola, Bayot, Cangin
10 vowel systems
+ATR is marked
Direction : generally root > affixes
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
BUT some +ATR affixes trigger +ATR roots
Hard to establish root vowels
Partial, height-based
Bijogo
7 vowel system
Direction : root > affixes
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16. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Phonology : tone
No tone
Fula, Wolof, Sereer, Joola, Manjaku, Bijogo, Cangin,
Sua, Nalu
Most Northern branch
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Tone
Tenda, Biafada, Temne, Kisi, Gola, Baga
Unclear
Nyun, Buy, Balanta, Jaad, Limba
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17. The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Morphology: Noun classes
Prefixes
Suffixes
Wolof, Cangin, Bak, Bijogo, Sua, Nalu, Tenda, Temne...
Fula, Kisi
Both
Sereer, Nyun, Gola, Bullom
The Atlantic languages 3. Problems
Wolof: b-, m-, k-, g-, l-, s-, w-, j-
Basari: a-, ɛ-, i-, ɔ-, Ø-
Prefixes (sg.) V- C-
Multiple prefixation
Konyagi : xæ̀-tə́x / wæ̀-xæ̀tə́x ‘hole’
Frozen prefixes
Bijogo : ɛ-pa-duma ‘fly’ < *dum ‘bite’
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18. The Atlantic languages 4. Progress
Expected progress
Work out sound correspondances
The Atlantic languages 4. Progress
Considerable data available in digital format
Computer-assisted cognate search now possible
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19. The Atlantic languages 5. Examples
Sound correspondances
Bijogo
Joola Kasa
The Atlantic languages 5. Examples
head bu
fu-kow
eye nɛ
ji-cil
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20. The Atlantic languages 5. Examples
PROTO-BAK
*bu-gof head
*di-gɛs eye
Bijogo
Joola
*g > ŋ, *d > n
*bu-ŋof
*bu-kof
*g > k
The Atlantic languages 5. Examples
*nɛ-ŋɛs
*di-kis
*C[fric, vls] > Ø / -#
*bu-ŋo
*bu-kow
*C[fric, vls] > glide / -#
*nɛ-ŋɛ
*di-kil
*V1ŋV2 > V1V2 > V1 bu nɛ
ji-cil
*C > C[pal] / -V[frt]
(u-)bu
fu-kow
class change (optional) nɛ
ji-cil
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21. The Atlantic languages 6. Proposals
North-Atlantic
Mel
Isolates
The Atlantic languages 6. Proposals
Tenda-Nyun
Temne
Limba
Fula-Serer
Baga
Nalu
Cangin ?
Gola
Sua
Bak
Kisi
Wolof
Bijogo
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22. The Atlantic languages 6. Proposals
Fula
Sereer
Nyun-Buy
Tenda
Biafada
Jaad
Wolof
Cangin
Bayot
Joola
Manjaku
Balanta
Bijogo
Temne
Baga
Landuma
Kisi
Bullom
Gola
Nalu
Limba
Sua
Baga Fore
Fula-Sereer
Tenda-Nyun
ATLANTIC
Bak
The Atlantic languages 6. Proposals
MEL
????
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23. The Atlantic languages 7. Conclusion
1. The burden of the proof is on lumpers
2. Splitting may stimulate comparative work
3. More surprises may arise (cf. Cangin)
The Atlantic languages 7. Conclusion
4. My intuition is that Atlantic is still valid
But let’s prove it !
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G. Segerer

24. References Dec-18 G. Segerer
Barry, Abdoulaye (1987). The Joola languages: subgrouping and reconstruction. London: SOAS, University of London (PhD thesis).
Carlton, Elizabeth M. & Sharon R. Rand (1993). Enquête sociolinguistique sur les langues Diolas de basse Casamance. Dakar : Société Internationale de Linguistique (SIL).
Clarke, Mary Lane (1922). A Limba-English dictionary, or: Tampen ta ka talun ta ka hulimba in huinkilisi ha. New York : Houghton.
Dalby, David (1965). The Mel languages: a reclassification of southern ‘West Atlantic’. African language studies 6., pp
Doneux, Jean Léonce (1969). La langue manjaku et lʼalternance consonantique initiale. African Language Review 8., pp
Doneux, Jean Léonce (1975). Hypothèses pour la comparative des langues atlantiques. In , Africana linguistica VI, Tervuren ., pp
Doneux, Jean Léonce (1975). Lexique manjaku. Dakar : CLAD.
Drolc, Ursula (2006). L'évolution du système consonantique des langues cangin. Afrikanistik online.
Pozdniakov, Konstantin (1988). Proto-Fula-Serer noun class system. In Brauner, S. & E. Wolff (Ed), Progressive traditions in African and Oriental studies, Berlin : Akademie-Verlag, pp
Pozdniakov, Konstantin Igorevich (1993). Sravnitel’naja grammatika atlanticeskix jazykov: imennye klassy i fono-morfologija [A comparative grammar of the Atlantic languages: noun classes and morphophonology]. Moskva : Nauka.
Pozdniakov, Konstantin & Guillaume Segerer (2004). Reconstruction des pronoms personnels du proto-Cangin. In Ibriszimow, D. and G. Segerer, Systèmes de marques personnelles en Afrique, Louvain, Paris : Peeters (Afrique et Langage 8)., pp
Sapir, J. David (1971). West Atlantic: an inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternation. In Sebeok, T. A. (Ed), Current trends in linguistics, 7: linguistics in sub-Saharan Africa, The Hague & Paris : Mouton & Co., pp
Tastevin, R. P. Constant F. (1936). Vocabulaires inédits de 7 dialectes sénégalais dont 6 de Casamance. Journal de la Société des Africanistes 6-1., pp
Wilson, William André Auquier (1989). Atlantic. In Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (Ed), The Niger-Congo languages: a classification and description of Africa’s largest language family, Lanham MD, New York & London : University Press of America, by arrangement with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)., pp
Wilson, William André Auquier (2007). Guinea Languages of the Atlantic Group. Frankfurt : Peter Lang.
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