The fourth International Colloquium on Chadian Languages (Biennial Chadic) was held in Bayreuth (Germany) on October 30-31, 2007. Conferences on Chadian languages are held every two years. The organizing committee consists of: E. Wolf (University of Leipzig), A. Thurneau (Institute of Oriental Languages, Paris) and D. Ibrishimov (University of Bayreuth).

This time the conference was organized by the Department of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth. Over the course of two days, more than 20 reports were read, reflecting different stages of research on languages belonging to this large family (from reports on the beginning of field work with a specific language to reports on ongoing major projects). The conference was attended by more than 30 scientists from Europe and the USA. Since each report was given 40 minutes, there was enough time for discussion (which was often very heated).

page 184
Unfortunately, autumn is a time of intense field research and the height of the academic year at universities. Therefore, the conference was not as representative as usual (just compare the preliminary list of applications for participation in the conference and the actual list of speakers). Due to financial problems, scientists from African countries were also unable to participate in the conference. Unfortunately, there were almost no African studies students from the University of Bayreuth at the conference. In addition, it should be noted that the most famous specialists in Chadian languages (G. Jungritmire, P. Newman, N. Skinner) they have already crossed the 70-year milestone and do not always take part in such events. The influx of young people is low for two reasons-a reduction in funding for the humanities around the world and the deterioration of the situation in Nigeria (religious conflicts, domestic problems, etc.).

The authors of two reports spoke about the first steps in learning the language. The report of A. Heike (University of Frankfurt am Main) was devoted to the Western Chadian language Nyam, and the report of R. Blenn (Cambridge)-to the Central Chadian language Fali Kiria. Interestingly, earlier Chadian literature did not even mention Nyam. This is the third language of the Bolewa group discovered in Nigeria by scientists from the University of Frankfurt in the last 20 years (along with the pia and Vidal languages, materials on which Professor R. Leger has been collecting for several years). As for the Fali Kiria language, all previous materials were collected by non-professionals (for example, information about this language can be found in the classic work of the XIX century (C. Meek "Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria").

Several reports on various language issues of the Kotoko group were also based on the authors ' own field materials. In recent years, this group of languages (the most archaic in the Chadian family) has again become an object of research, but at a different scientific level than at the beginning of the last century, when these languages were first described. Two messages were devoted to the description of tonal systems: in the Makari language (A. Sin) and in the logon (N. Ruth). These scientists have been working on grants from the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Cameroon for several years. The report of the famous scientist from the Paris Institute of Oriental Studies A. Tourneau "Relative constructions in the languages of the Kotoko group" is based on the material of the entire Kotoko group.

As with any conference on Chadian languages, several presentations focused on the only written language of the Chadian family, Hausa. Most interesting was the report of scientists from the University of Leipzig (E. Wolf, D. Lohr) about the beginning of work on the project "Borrowing in Hausa". The authors develop a questionnaire, determine the criteria for borrowing, the range of languages from which the vocabulary of the Hausa language is most often borrowed.

T. Schuman (University of Hamburg) presented a report on the formation and functioning of Nomen Agentis in Chadian languages.

Historical morphology-report by E. Wolf "A new look at the "inner a" in plural forms". The author criticized such well-known scientists as P. Newman and G. Jungritmire for their inability to reconstruct proto-forms. According to E. Wolf, we should talk about specific vocalizations of words in plural parts (for example: a-i, a-a), and not just about replacing the vowel unit with "a".

The report of V. Blazhek (University of Brno) "All Chadic Lakes" contains all lexical reconstructions of nouns with the semantics "river", "lake", "pond", " sea " and a huge amount of material on individual languages. This semantic group of words on the Chadian material is analyzed for the first time. O. V. Stolbova (Russia) in her report "The plural of the name in Kirfi and the hidden plural in the Chadian languages "showed how materials from one language can be essential for lexical reconstruction based on the entire branch. V. Ya. Porkhomovsky (Russia) and D. Ibrishimov (Bayreuth) spoke about the work that has been going on since 2001. the project "Afrasian terms of kinship".

The report by W. Siebert (Un-t Giessen) "What the Internet can offer for Chadian language specialists"was very informative. The author gave an exhaustive list of all sites that post materials on Chadian languages (dictionaries, grammars, articles, etc.).

Such conferences are the only event that brings together specialists in languages belonging to the Chadian branch of the Afrasian family. This is a unique opportunity to share with colleagues the results of their research, discuss problems that arise in the course of work, and exchange publications. The conference demonstrated the high scientific level at which research on Chadian languages is conducted in combination with their broad subject matter.

Permanent link to this publication: