Hausa Language

Hausa is one of the major African languages. It is spoken as either a first or a second language by twenty-two million people. Hausa is primarily spoken in Nigeria, where it originated. Historical records indicate that it was spoken as early as 500 CE. The Hausa language is a Chadic language that is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Scholars consider it the most important language in the Chadic language branch.

The language has many geographic dialects, and they are mutually intelligible. Most have only minor differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. Hausa’s main dialects are Eastern Hausa and Western Hausa. Eastern subdialects include Kano Hausa, Zinder Hausa, Katagum Hausa, and Hadejiya Hausa. Western Hausa subdialects include Sokoto Hausa, Tahoua Hausa, Katsina Hausam, Gobirawa Hausa and Adarawa Hausa. The most common dialect is the Kano Hausa subdialect of Eastern Hausa.

History and Classification

There is no known definitive point of origin for the Hausa language. It was first spoken by the residents of a group of states in northern Africa between 500 and 700 CE. By 1200 CE, the Hausa people had control of much of northern Africa, and their language was predominant in that region, primarily in what is now Nigeria. However, after several religious wars, or jihads, the language became significantly less dominant. Hausa is classified as a Chadic language and is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family.

The Hausa language has two different writing systems, which reflect its history. The most commonly used is boko, which looks much like the Roman alphabet, mainly because it was imposed upon the Hausa language by British imperialists at the beginning of the twentieth century. Interestingly enough, the word "boko" comes from a Hausa word meaning "false" or "not authentic." The Hausa people gave the language this name in response to what they thought was unfair domination and alteration of their language and educational system by the British, who made great efforts to "westernize" the Nigerian culture when they colonialized Nigeria. After the boko alphabet was introduced, official documents, street signs, and other public texts were all written in boko rather than in ajami, the original Hausa written language.

The boko script has twenty-three consonants and five vowels. Vowels may be either long or short; generally, long vowels are shown as double letters as in aa or ee. Additionally, syllables within words always begin with a consonant. The script’s alphabet adheres to the appearance of the Roman alphabet with a few exceptions, including an accent mark used to show a glottal stop. The boko alphabet also contains five hooked symbols related to glottal pronunciations of k, b, and d. Structurally, the language is very simple; linguists refer to it as a "subject-verb-object" language, meaning that the structure of its sentences is very similar to that of English.

The original Hausa script is ajami, a system of symbols that looks much like Arabic. Ajami is used primarily in poems, religious documents, and the writing of people who were educated only in Africa. Ajami was originally used by Muslim teachers in the twelfth century CE who wished to spread the Islamic faith within Africa.

Many scholars view ajami as an historically crucial language because the texts written in ajami provide insights into African culture that simply cannot be found elsewhere. For example, some texts give valuable information about the largely unknown history of Timbuktu. Ajami became the language of the colonial resistance movement; many poems written in ajami urged rebellion—and the fact that they were written ajami rather than in boko was symbolic of people’s determination to preserve their heritage. During the nineteenth century, writers also used ajami in ornate religious poems.

Spelling is not uniform within ajami, so one writer’s spelling may significantly differ from another’s. This makes it especially difficult to decipher texts written in the language.

Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage

Hausa is spoken in Nigeria, primarily in its northern regions in cities such as Daura, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zaria. More than 18.5 million people within Nigeria speak Hausa. However, others outside of Nigeria also speak the language; about 5.5 million people who speak Hausa live in other areas such as Niger, Chad, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Eritrea, and Germany, among other countries. About 15 million people speak Hausa as a second language.

Boko is the Hausa language most commonly used in speech and writing in Nigeria; it is printed in newspapers, school textbooks, and magazines, and spoken on many radio stations. Those who speak boko as a second language do so primarily for trade or business purposes, given that their main commerce is with native Hausa speakers.

Ajami is certainly less common than boko, but it is printed in at least one newspaper and in some literary texts. However, ajami maintains an outlier status within Africa; its significance is a mix of historical and cultural reference, a harkening back to the days before British rule in Africa, which resulted in the eradication of many customs that indigenous Africans held dear.

Bibliography

"Hausa." Ethnologue. SIL International, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2015. <http://www.ethnologue.com/language/hau>.

"Hausa." LMP. UCLA Language Materials Project, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?menu=004&LangID=12>.

"Hausa." Omniglot. Simon Ager, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hausa.htm>.

"The Hausa Language." IAAW. Department of African Studies/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2015. <https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/en/africa/linguistik-und-sprachen/african- languages/hausa/standardpage>.

"Hausa Writing." Hausa. UCLA, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <http://aflang.humnet.ucla.edu/Hausa/Pronunciation/writing.html#anchor645951>.

Jahnke, Art. "Lost Language." Bostonia. Boston University, 2009. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/summer09/ajami/>.