International African Institute

Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen by Bernd HeineReview by: W. A. A. WilsonAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), pp. 95-96Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1157585 .

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS 95

developing nations sponsored by the Sociolinguistic Committee of the American Social Science Research Council, are a mixed bag reflecting the diverse academic commitments of their authors. The editors speak for sociology, political science, and linguistics, while disciplinary representation among contributors stretches to include a social psychologist and an anthropologist but linguists still form a slight majority.

The major plea a naive reviewer can make concerning this admittedly new and still undefined field would be for a clearer statement of the aims, methods, and perhaps even the content of sociolinguistics to facilitate an understanding of the contribution sociolinguistics can make to nation-building. Half-way through the volume some support of this nature is offered by the linguist, Neustupny, who begins to clear the air by making such fundamental distinctions as that between the descriptive and prescriptive approaches to language problems. It might be challenging to find out how many of these essays take account of this basic distinction.

Although the theoretical formulations of the Introduction and the Integrative Summary lack sufficient force to put a distinctively new stamp on problems which might almost be viewed as old chestnuts-linguistic heterogeneity, translation, lack of literature, ethnic chauvinism, and many more-there is sufficient material presented in the remaining sections to recommend the book to an Africanist.

Papers by Alexandre, Gallagher, Jermud, van den Berghe, and Polome offer useful descriptions of linguistic heterogeneity and literacy in territories of differing size as well as considering the problems posed for developing nations by these features. A clarification of the concepts tribe and nation emerges from van den Berghe's consideration of Afrikaner ethnicity and racism. The intriguing hypothesis that the one-party state and the gulf between the well-informed elite and the masses may be a consequence of the difficulties encountered in translating an essentially European political ideology into the lingua franca or a particular vernacular is put forward by Alexandre. From an analysis of literature Mazrui suggests that the old imperial culture, and the introduction of English and English literature, kindled the African political consciousness which has produced the new nations and their problems of language.

It is in the papers which consider the same language-those of Paden and Zima on Hausa and Whiteley and Harries on Swahili-that the lack of a firm editorial direction is clearest. Zima's linguistically oriented account of the effects upon written and spoken Hausa of the differing language policies of French and English colonial administrations is complemented and extended by Paden's functional analysis of the role of Hausa in regional and national integration. On the other hand Whiteley's comprehensive description of ideological and technical aspects of Tanzania's national language policy gains little from Harries's account of Swahili. The latter paper seems bent more on persuasion than on illumination but per- haps the battle to raise the status of an African national language calls for partisans. Arm- strong interestingly enough champions national languages, in the plural, for the support he believes this would furnish for raising the standard of instruction in English or French as languages of general communication. This hypothesis is one of many intriguing ideas about language in development somewhat lightly tossed out in this book. One can but await further developments in African sociolinguistics with great interest.

BARBARA B. LLOYD

Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen. By BERND HEINE. Kolner Beitrage zur Africanistik, Nr. i. Berlin: Reimer, I968. Pp. 311, 22 maps in text.

THIS compendious work studies in detail many aspects of a cluster of languages which has aroused curiosity since Christaller's day. The section titles give an idea of the scope of this

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 95

developing nations sponsored by the Sociolinguistic Committee of the American Social Science Research Council, are a mixed bag reflecting the diverse academic commitments of their authors. The editors speak for sociology, political science, and linguistics, while disciplinary representation among contributors stretches to include a social psychologist and an anthropologist but linguists still form a slight majority.

The major plea a naive reviewer can make concerning this admittedly new and still undefined field would be for a clearer statement of the aims, methods, and perhaps even the content of sociolinguistics to facilitate an understanding of the contribution sociolinguistics can make to nation-building. Half-way through the volume some support of this nature is offered by the linguist, Neustupny, who begins to clear the air by making such fundamental distinctions as that between the descriptive and prescriptive approaches to language problems. It might be challenging to find out how many of these essays take account of this basic distinction.

Although the theoretical formulations of the Introduction and the Integrative Summary lack sufficient force to put a distinctively new stamp on problems which might almost be viewed as old chestnuts-linguistic heterogeneity, translation, lack of literature, ethnic chauvinism, and many more-there is sufficient material presented in the remaining sections to recommend the book to an Africanist.

Papers by Alexandre, Gallagher, Jermud, van den Berghe, and Polome offer useful descriptions of linguistic heterogeneity and literacy in territories of differing size as well as considering the problems posed for developing nations by these features. A clarification of the concepts tribe and nation emerges from van den Berghe's consideration of Afrikaner ethnicity and racism. The intriguing hypothesis that the one-party state and the gulf between the well-informed elite and the masses may be a consequence of the difficulties encountered in translating an essentially European political ideology into the lingua franca or a particular vernacular is put forward by Alexandre. From an analysis of literature Mazrui suggests that the old imperial culture, and the introduction of English and English literature, kindled the African political consciousness which has produced the new nations and their problems of language.

It is in the papers which consider the same language-those of Paden and Zima on Hausa and Whiteley and Harries on Swahili-that the lack of a firm editorial direction is clearest. Zima's linguistically oriented account of the effects upon written and spoken Hausa of the differing language policies of French and English colonial administrations is complemented and extended by Paden's functional analysis of the role of Hausa in regional and national integration. On the other hand Whiteley's comprehensive description of ideological and technical aspects of Tanzania's national language policy gains little from Harries's account of Swahili. The latter paper seems bent more on persuasion than on illumination but per- haps the battle to raise the status of an African national language calls for partisans. Arm- strong interestingly enough champions national languages, in the plural, for the support he believes this would furnish for raising the standard of instruction in English or French as languages of general communication. This hypothesis is one of many intriguing ideas about language in development somewhat lightly tossed out in this book. One can but await further developments in African sociolinguistics with great interest.

BARBARA B. LLOYD

Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen. By BERND HEINE. Kolner Beitrage zur Africanistik, Nr. i. Berlin: Reimer, I968. Pp. 311, 22 maps in text.

THIS compendious work studies in detail many aspects of a cluster of languages which has aroused curiosity since Christaller's day. The section titles give an idea of the scope of this

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.179 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 20:13:52 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

book: Location and history of the tribes, with sketch maps; Phonology; Noun classes; Historical comparative study; Classification; Glottochronology; Typology; The 'Proto Togo-remnant' tribes; Relationships with surrounding languages.

One's only regret is that the full Swadesh diagnostic lists used are not cited for any sample, and that the manuscript was completed before Painter' and Swadesh2 produced their respective studies of Guang and Gur glottochronology, complete with the ' First-Ioo ' lists. No doubt Dr. Heine will now be able to bring us up to date on the last of his topics.

The fourteen languages of the group fall into two groups, between which there is a clear cleavage, lexically, phonologically, and in the class systems. The groups, labelled NA and KA, according to their respective stems for the word 'meat', are subclassified as follows: NA group: (Basila 4,700; Adele 8,ooo) [Logba 2,000 (Lelemi I5,ooo; Akpafu-Lolobi 5,300) (Santrokofi 3,200; Likpe 7,000)]; KA group: [(Avatime 7,000; Nyangbo-Tafi 3,300) (Bowili 3,300; Ahlo 3,ooo; Kposo 80,ooo)] (Kebu 17,200; Animere 250). Our bracketing indicates the subgroupings, and the figures show the totals of speakers.

The KA group shows a loss of certain class affixes, and a marked breakdown of concord, which has vanished in Ahlo, Animere, and Kposo. Application of Greenberg's synchronic typology yields disappointing results, but does indicate that Ahlo and Animere have the highest' isolating ' index, while Kposo, which has altogether lost its nominal affixes, shares, with Avatime, the highest 'inflexion' index, so that the breakdown of class cannot be attributed to one sole cause within the group.

The glottochronological count confirms the NA/KA split, also showing the KA members to be but loosely interrelated. In the whole table, though, only seven percentages are 57 or above, the rest being below 45. In the NA group, Lelemi/Akpafu/Santrokofi/Likpe cluster at about 6o per cent.; in the KA group only the two pairs as listed above yield any significant figures.

This first volume of a new series sets a high standard. If any syntactical studies that may be forthcoming maintain this level we shall be well served indeed.

W. A. A. WILSON

Esquissegrammaticale du lobiri. Par M. VAILLANT. (Documents Linguistiques N? io.) Univer- site de Dakar, 1967. Pp. 55.

Esquisse du systeme grammatical lobi. Par CHARLES LAMOTHE. (Recherches Voltaiques N? 4.) Paris: CNRS; Ouagadougou: CVRS, 1966. Pp. I62. IO NF; 500 CFA.

LA langue des Lobis est restee jusqu'ici presque inconnue. On ne pouvait donc que mal savoir ce qui rattachait cette langue au groupe voltaique, ou Westermann et Bryan la classent en lui donnant une parente (purement imaginaire!) avec le dogon.3 Voici donc deux cahiers qui, chacun a sa maniere, nous donnent enfin des precisions sur ce parler d'un coin peu frequente de la Haute Volta.

Mademoiselle Vaillant avait deja fourni pour l'etude de Swadesh2 une liste qui revelait que le vocabulaire lobi est isole dans le rameau voltaique, et n'a aucun rapport avec celui du dogon. Le present cahier nous fait voir que le lobi est grammaticalement bien voltaique.

L'introduction phonologique classe les dix timbres de voyelles en deux series, ouverte et fermee, qui permettent d'etudier le role de l'harmonie vocalique; celle-ci est quelque peu

I C. Painter: 'The distribution of Guang in chronologyofGurLanguages',JWAL 3, 966,27-56. Ghana and a statistical pre-testing on twenty-five 3 D'apres une recente communication personnelle idiolects ', JWAL 4, 1967, 25-78. du RP Prost, le dogon ne ressemblerait a rien de ce

2 M. Swadesh, et al.: ' A preliminary glotto- qui est connu des langues voltaiques.

book: Location and history of the tribes, with sketch maps; Phonology; Noun classes; Historical comparative study; Classification; Glottochronology; Typology; The 'Proto Togo-remnant' tribes; Relationships with surrounding languages.

One's only regret is that the full Swadesh diagnostic lists used are not cited for any sample, and that the manuscript was completed before Painter' and Swadesh2 produced their respective studies of Guang and Gur glottochronology, complete with the ' First-Ioo ' lists. No doubt Dr. Heine will now be able to bring us up to date on the last of his topics.

The fourteen languages of the group fall into two groups, between which there is a clear cleavage, lexically, phonologically, and in the class systems. The groups, labelled NA and KA, according to their respective stems for the word 'meat', are subclassified as follows: NA group: (Basila 4,700; Adele 8,ooo) [Logba 2,000 (Lelemi I5,ooo; Akpafu-Lolobi 5,300) (Santrokofi 3,200; Likpe 7,000)]; KA group: [(Avatime 7,000; Nyangbo-Tafi 3,300) (Bowili 3,300; Ahlo 3,ooo; Kposo 80,ooo)] (Kebu 17,200; Animere 250). Our bracketing indicates the subgroupings, and the figures show the totals of speakers.

The KA group shows a loss of certain class affixes, and a marked breakdown of concord, which has vanished in Ahlo, Animere, and Kposo. Application of Greenberg's synchronic typology yields disappointing results, but does indicate that Ahlo and Animere have the highest' isolating ' index, while Kposo, which has altogether lost its nominal affixes, shares, with Avatime, the highest 'inflexion' index, so that the breakdown of class cannot be attributed to one sole cause within the group.

The glottochronological count confirms the NA/KA split, also showing the KA members to be but loosely interrelated. In the whole table, though, only seven percentages are 57 or above, the rest being below 45. In the NA group, Lelemi/Akpafu/Santrokofi/Likpe cluster at about 6o per cent.; in the KA group only the two pairs as listed above yield any significant figures.

This first volume of a new series sets a high standard. If any syntactical studies that may be forthcoming maintain this level we shall be well served indeed.

W. A. A. WILSON

Esquissegrammaticale du lobiri. Par M. VAILLANT. (Documents Linguistiques N? io.) Univer- site de Dakar, 1967. Pp. 55.

Esquisse du systeme grammatical lobi. Par CHARLES LAMOTHE. (Recherches Voltaiques N? 4.) Paris: CNRS; Ouagadougou: CVRS, 1966. Pp. I62. IO NF; 500 CFA.

LA langue des Lobis est restee jusqu'ici presque inconnue. On ne pouvait donc que mal savoir ce qui rattachait cette langue au groupe voltaique, ou Westermann et Bryan la classent en lui donnant une parente (purement imaginaire!) avec le dogon.3 Voici donc deux cahiers qui, chacun a sa maniere, nous donnent enfin des precisions sur ce parler d'un coin peu frequente de la Haute Volta.

Mademoiselle Vaillant avait deja fourni pour l'etude de Swadesh2 une liste qui revelait que le vocabulaire lobi est isole dans le rameau voltaique, et n'a aucun rapport avec celui du dogon. Le present cahier nous fait voir que le lobi est grammaticalement bien voltaique.

L'introduction phonologique classe les dix timbres de voyelles en deux series, ouverte et fermee, qui permettent d'etudier le role de l'harmonie vocalique; celle-ci est quelque peu

I C. Painter: 'The distribution of Guang in chronologyofGurLanguages',JWAL 3, 966,27-56. Ghana and a statistical pre-testing on twenty-five 3 D'apres une recente communication personnelle idiolects ', JWAL 4, 1967, 25-78. du RP Prost, le dogon ne ressemblerait a rien de ce

2 M. Swadesh, et al.: ' A preliminary glotto- qui est connu des langues voltaiques.

96 96 REVIEWS OF BOOKS REVIEWS OF BOOKS

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.179 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 20:13:52 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions