Description grammaticale du nateni (Bénin): Système verbal, classification nominale, phrases complexes, textes By Lukas Neukom (review)

BOOK NOTICES Ngiti: A Central-Sudanic language of Zaire. By Constance Kutsch Lojenga. (Nilo-Saharan: Linguistic analyses and documentation, 9.) Köln: Rüdiger Koppe Verlag, 1994. Pp. xiv, 517. In appearance, presentation, and breadth of description , this book continues the high standards set by previous publications in this series on the description ofvarious Nilo-Saharan languages. Ch. 1, 'Introduction ' (1-27), provides detailed discussion of the social context and linguistic relationship of Ngiti to other languages, most notably arguing that Ngiti is a distinct language (called Ndruna by its speakers) rather than a Southern dialect of Lendu, a branch of Eastern Central Sudanic spoken in Northeastern Zaire (and adjacent Uganda). As such, Ngiti is a previously undescribed language. Appendix B (428-44) presents a 190-word list showing that Ngiti is the most deviant of six compared Lendu varieties. Chs. 2-9 discuss Ngiti's phonology and morphosyntax, often with appropriate suggestions about the historical origins of particular processes. Ch. 2, 'Phonological structure' (28-61), presents a detailed account of Ngiti segmental phonology, including acoustic measurements of some interesting consonantal contrasts. Ch. 3, 'Phonological processes' (62-91), primarily addresses vocalic processes, particularly Ngiti's variety of Sudanic vowel harmony based on tongue root position. Ch. 4, 'Tone' (92-117), discusses tone and tonal processes. Tonal processes are also discussed in subsequent chapters where they occur in particular grammatical constructions. Ch. 5, 'Nouns' (1 18-89), deals with nominal morphology and basic syntax; Ch. 6, 'Pronouns and verb agreement' (190-216), with pronouns and personal inflection of verbs. Ch. 7, 'Verbs and verbal morphology' (217-301), extensively treats verb structure, including tense-aspectmood inflection and derivational processes. Ch. 8, 'Postpositions' (302-34), attends to Ngiti's postpositional nature, including its nominalized postpositional phrases (locative phrases functioning as subjects/objects). Ch. 9, 'Other word classes' (335-400), discusses nominal and verbal modifiers, demonstratives, question words, particles, and conjunctions . The nine grammatical chapters all make appropriate observations on word order, which is ofparticular interest because Eastern Central Sudanic is distinctive in the degree to which word order is obligatorily conditioned by grammatical processes (in contrast, forexample, to Western Central Sudanic). Following the chapters, a sample of texts (401-25) includes an interlinear word analysis into constituent morphemes , a separate line of morpheme glosses in English , and a more idiomatic English translation of each sentence. Finally, there are five appendices (426-511) and a set of bibliographies (512-17). Appendix C (446-49) exemplifies dialect variation within Ngiti. Appendix E (453-511) is the most extensive , presenting full paradigms for the Ngiti verb classes. The absence of an index is compensated for by the table of contents (v-x) which lists the deeply organized subsectioning of the chapters, e.g. '9.7.2.2.1. Complementisers' (x). The book is clearly a major addition to the descriptions of Nilo-Saharan languages, and its degree of detail is also useful to general research on linguistic typology. [Benji Wald] Description grammaticale du nateni (Bénin): Système verbal, classification nominale, phrases complexes, textes. By Lukas Neukom. (ASAS, 14.) Zürich : Universität Zürich, 1995. Pp. 250. Nateni is spoken by approximately 45,000 members of the Natemba ethnic group of Northern Bénin, principally in the province ofAtakora. It is classified by Tony Naden ('Gur' in John Bendor-Samuel. 1989. The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 140-68) as a member of the Oti-Volta branch of the Gur subbranch of the NigerCongo family. Some of the other members of this branch include More, Dagara, Warna, and Bieri. This is the only comprehensive description to date of Nateni. Previous work includes an article on a dialectal variant by R. P. André Prost ('Les langues de l'Atakora. II. Le tayari' , BIFAN 34, B.3: 617-82, 1972) and a ten page sketch of the language by Brigitte Reineke (1985. 'Zueinigen Charakteristika der grammatischen Struktur der Gur-Sprachen, dargestellt am Beispiel des Nateni'. ZSPK 38, 2: 166-74). This work was Lukas Neukom' s doctoral dissertation at the University of Zürich and was based on six months of fieldwork in Bénin. N states that the choice of French as...