Classification of Abesabesi
Agoyi, Taiwo Opeyemi
International Journal of Languages and Literatures, 1(1), 37-51.

Abstract

Àbèsàbèsì is the name of the language known in literature as Akpes. The language is spoken in nine communities. The communities are: Ìbaràm(ù), Ìyànì, Èkiròmì (Ìkáràm(ù), Àsẹ, Àkpès, Gèdègédé, Èṣùkù, Dája, Ìlúdọtun. Àbèsàbèsì linguistic communities are bilingual. Agoyi 2008 says Àbèsàbèsì has four dialects: Èkiròmì (spoken in Ìkáràmù and Àsẹ), Akpes (spoken in Àkùnù and Ìlúdọtun in Àjọwá), Ìluẹnì (spoken in Ìbaràm(ù), Ìyànì, Gèdègédé) and Èṣùkù spoken in Èṣùkù, Dája). Akpes is classified as a separate branch of the Niger-Congo family. Agoyi (1998, 2001) argues that Akpes (Ekiromi) be reclassified as Edoid. The reasons for her proposal are based on the inflection for number, as well as Lexico-statistics of word lists of about 66 basic items. Agoyi (2008) shows that Akpes and Èkiròmì, two Àbèsàbèsì languages, attest {ATR+ROUND] harmony which is not a common linguistic feature in Africa; nonetheless, there is a striking similarity in the [ATR] and [LOW] vowel harmony that Ilueni one of the Abesabèsi language lects, attests with the [ATR], [LOW] harmony found in Okpe (Pulleyblank (1986)). It is argued that [ATR+ROUND] drives [LOW] vowel Harmony in Ọṣùgù, another Abèsàbèsì lect. The phenomenon can be traced to the [LOW] vowel feature inherent in the proto Language. Gerunds in all Àbèsàbèsì lects manifests down step which is similar to Degema tone system (Elugbe 2011:11),

The lects also attests the loss of lexical tone on the verbs. Elugbe 2011:12 refers to such phenomenon as an Edoid innovation.

Work plan
Earlier Attempts on Àbèsàbèsìⁱⁱ (Akpes) Classification
Àbèsàbèsì Sound System
Lexico-statistics
Morphological Evidence
    Inflection for number
    Prefix and Suffix for forming gerund
Vowel Harmony
    Èkiròmì
    Akpes
    Ìluẹnì
    Ọṣùgù
    Okpe Pulleyblank (1986)
Tone System
Down step Lexicon & Gerunds
    Earlier Attempts on Àbèsàbèsì1 (Akpes) Classification

Hansford et al. (1976:38), the first research to light on (Àbèsàbèsì) Akpes, sees the language as ‘Unclassified Kwa’. Wiilliamson (1987:16) was the first to classify Akpes as aseparate branch of Benue- Congo. Williamson (1989) in Bendor-Samuel (1989:267) reclassifies Akpes -Ukaan ‘as a co-ordinate group of single node (New) Benue –Congo, a sub-family of Volta-Congo’. Agoyi 2001 suggests that Akpes (Àbèsàbèsì) should be subsumed into Edoid.

Elugbe (2011) has incorporated and modified the sugestion of Agoyi 2001. Elugbe’s recent proposal is that Àbèsàbèsì, Ukaan and Edoid should form an Akedoid phylum. We will examine the proposal and make suggestions in this paper.

Àbèsàbèsì Sound System

Sounds:

Table 1 Àbèsàbèsì Consonant Phonemes

In this table of consonants only the significant sounds are considered. The language attests Labialization of some consonants which I am convinced are induced by a following round vowel, which fused with the consonant. Examples are [ bw , kw ,hw, ʧw] [in [ɛbwi] ‘goat’ [ikwi] ‘pen knife’,[ ihwi] ‘urine’, [iʧwe] ‘guinea corn’] are proposed to be written as /ɛbui, ikui, ihui, iʧui/ underlyingly.

Table 1 Àbèsàbèsì Consonant Phonemes

A table of cognates analysed contains eighty-four lexical items. 20 Edoid languages are compared with Àbèsàbèsì words for the lexical items. At the end the similar lexical items of each of the languages with Àbèsàbèsì show high % similarity as reflected on the following table.

Table 1 Àbèsàbèsì Consonant Phonemes

The table shows significant resemblance of cognates in all the linguistic communities. It is possible that argue the lexical items are borrowed. However considering the distance of the location of the Edoid language speech communities from Àbèsàbèsì, we feel borrowing is not a plausible explanation. Degema is hundreds of kilometers from the Àbèsàbèsì speaking communities. In addition the similar lexical items are wide. It is also possible to argue that Àbèsàbèsì borrowed lexical items from Ukaan since Ukaan is a neighbouring language; this phenomenon will be discussed in the next section. The chance that Àbèsàbèsì will borrow many lexical items from Edoid is also very slim. It also possible to argue that the resemblance is by chance, but the number involved is too large for the chance theory. The only plausible account of the phenomenon, to our understanding is that Àbèsàbèsì and Edoid are sister languages from a proto language family PAE (Elugbe 2011:13.

Morphological Evidence

Àbèsàbèsì attests inflection for number that is similar to the Edoid group of Languages. In all the lects, a- is plural marker for [+ human] nouns while i- marks [–human] nouns (Agoyi 1998, 2008). The phenomenon is represented in 1 thus

Ukaan and Edoid feature inflection for number. However, Ukaan inflection is both ATR harmony and noun class driven. This is unlike the phenomenon in Àbèsàbèsì which is restricted to [+ human] and [– human] nouns makers which implies that the language behaves more like the Edoid language. If the inflection is a borrowed feature from Ukaan which is a neighboring language, we expect the language to feature the type of noun class distinction present in Ukaan. The only similarity we observed in Ukaan and Àbèsàbèsì is the inflection for number.

The phenomenon is closer to the one most Edoid languages attest (see Elugbe 1986:132-255) than it is to Ukaan.

Another Morphological feature is seen in the suffixes used for the formation of Gerunds. In my Àbèsàbèsì research, I have been curious to find that the language attests prefixation and suffixation which is not a common feature in all the neighbouring languages. However placing the Àbèsàbèsì and the Edoid languages (especially Degema see Elugbe 2011:10) gerunds side by side I perceive strong related root.

Vowel Harmony

In Agoyi 2008, I grouped Àbèsàbèsì dialects into 4. My criteria for grouping are the behaviour of vowels within syntactic structure that feature Aspectual Markers

.

The findings are summarized as follows:

Akpes: [ATR + ROUND] . Verb roots /u, o/ with [+ATR+ROUND] choose aspectual element with vowel /o/ which has [+ATR+ROUND] features.

Vowels /i, e,/ that have [+ATR –ROUND] choose /e/ that is a [+ATR –
ROUND] vowel. The vowels that have [-ATR] feature choose /a/ a [-ATR]
Vowel. Gerund morpheme and pronoun verb object or noun qualifier
alternates /ɔ/ and /a/. Agoyi 2008 presume the phenomenon to be the manifestation of low vowel harmony in which all [-LOW] choose /ɔ/ and [+LOW] vowel choose /a/. Ekiromi: [ATR+ROUND] In which the i) [+HIGH +ROUND] vowel /u/ choose /o/

ii) [+ATR] vowels /i, e/ choose /e/
Ìluẹnì: [+ATR] vowels /i,e,o,u,/ choose /e/ while [-ATR] vowels /ɛ,ɔ,a/ choose /a/
Ìluẹnì: The pronoun qualifier and objects attests a loss of the harmony in Ìluẹnì

Ọṣùgù: This dialect manifests a gradual loss of the vowel harmony feature. The vowel harmony feature in pronoun qualifier/object and Gerund suffix are similar to Akpes. At the syntactic level all [+ATR] vowels /i,e,o,u/ choose /ɔ/ that has [-ATR -LOW +ROUND] features.

The only feature the vowels have in common is the [-LOW] feature. Agoyi argues that the inherent [+ROUND] vowel harmony constraint in the language drives the choice of the [+ROUND] vowel at the stage of the gradual loss of the [ATR +ROUND] harmony found in the language.

All the [-ATR] vowels choose /a/.

Note that Ìluẹnì disallows the [+ROUND] feature in its constraint ranking. In Ìluẹnì lexical items that features vowel disharmony the language chooses the front [-LOW] vowel /ɛ/

Elugbe (2002) argues that Akpes (Àbèsàbèsì) manifests ‘a classic two tones plus down step. Considering the context of the discuss Elugbe (2011) is right. However after thorough examination of Àbèsàbèsì lexical items in isolation it is observed that the language attests three level tones in addition to down step.

Àbèsàbèsì tones are evident in lexical items in isolation such as:

At intial stage in my study of Àbèsàbèsì I thought the mid tone is a down step tone. Thorough investigation reveals that the three level tones are contrastive and can occur in word initial, media and final positions. I feel it is not possible for any human language to feature down step tone at word initial position. If we assume that the mid tone is down step, we will not be able to give a theoretical account of how it becomes a down step.

There two possible account of the tones. We can argue that they manifest down step Mid (M) tone or that they manifest Mid (M) and Low (L) tones in isolation. The second claim is more plausible with a careful examination. Analysis of the lexical items in syntactic domain does not support the Down Step hypothesis. Analysis of the following data in 5 will unveil the pause.

In column B observe that the tone on the last syllable of each lexical item changed from Mid (M) to High (H). But the lexical items in 4 arouse our curiosity.

While the last syllable gives the impression of a Down Step Mid (M) tone, the actual tone on the lexical items are Mid (M) and Low (L) tone. The behavior of the lexical items syntactic domain confirms that they actually manifest Mid (M) and Low (L) tones in Isolation. Examples are as in 6:

Note that all the lexical items in 5a manifest Mid (M) tone on the last syllable. The items feature High (H) tone in construction with pronoun qualifier in 5b. The implication is that the language features a floating High (H) tone. The tone automatically shows up on the last syllable of the noun head in the construction. The question we need to answer is what happens to the Low tone on the lexical items in 4? We need to consider the lexical items in 5a with noun qualifiers. We find examples such as:

In 7 the tone on the last syllable of the noun head in each phrase does not change see examples in 5a. The implication is that the lexical items in example 4 above delete the last vowel with its tone in syntactic construction. The Mid tone on the remaining vowel is deleted in constructions that feature floating High (H) tone. We can argue that there is a vowel that initially anchored the tone but the current study has not been able to trace the shape of the vowel. Note that most of the qualifiers in 5 are pronouns. The language also features MID tone on the last syllable of the lexical items in 6b. Also note that the qualifier in each phrase is noun

The Gerund in Àbèsàbèsì

Elugbe 2011 reports the feature of ‘gerund/ verbal noun in AIKA and Edo’ as ‘morphological evidence’ for proposing an Akedoid branch of Edoid language family. Data from Agoyi 2008 as well as recent data collected on Àbèsàbèsì gerund/verbal nouns support Agoyi 2001 and Elugbe’s argument for classifying Àbèsàbèsì and UKAAN as a branch of Proto Akedoid. The gerund suffix morpheme in Proto Edoid as shown in Elugbe 2011:10 is similar to the one identified in Agoyi 2008:73-77, in the data, underlying form and alternant are:

Elugbe 2011 reports the feature of ‘gerund/ verbal noun in AIKA and Edo’ as ‘morphological evidence’ for proposing an Akedoid branch of Edoid language family. Data from Agoyi 2008 as well as recent data collected on Àbèsàbèsì gerund/verbal nouns support Agoyi 2001 and Elugbe’s argument for classifying Àbèsàbèsì and UKAAN as a branch of Proto Akedoid. The gerund suffix morpheme in Proto Edoid as shown in Elugbe 2011:10 is similar to the one identified in Agoyi 2008:73-77, in the data, underlying form and alternant are:

The gerund morpheme in the data above especially the Ìluẹnì data is similar to Degema Gerund morpheme (-m/am) in the examples below:

9. DE Degema hir ùhírm ‘surrounding’ tɛv ́tɛv́ am descending (Elugbe 2011:10-11).

Although in the examples in 8, the Gerund morpheme manifests VCV syllable structure, we noticed that Àbèsàbèsì always deletes the last vowel in fast speech, but in slow speech the vowel surfaces. Note that Degema features -m in [+ATR] environment and –am in [_ATR] environment. The phenomenon is similar to Ìluẹnì that also features –en(i) in [+ATR] environment and an(i) in (-ATR] environment. Observe that the consonant of the Gerund Morpheme in the two languages are nasal. While Degema uses bilabial nasal, Àbèsàbèsì uses alveolar nasal. The fact that Àbèsàbèsì features prefixes and suffixes in Gerund that are vowel harmony controlled which is alien to languages within the immediate environment of Àbèsàbèsì speakers, but present in Edoid, underscores the fact that Àbèsàbèsì and Edoid originate from a close proto language family. It is possible to claim that the above morphological feature is an innovation/borrowed feature by the Àbèsàbèsì speakers. But this point loses its force if one considers the distance between Degema speakers and Àbèsàbèsì communities. The feature is alien to Yoruba, the second language widely spoken in the communities. Tone on Gerund

Considering the Gerund in Àbèsàbèsì, Elugbe’s suggestion that Àbèsàbèsì Gerunds feature down step tone is right. However Àbèsàbèsì shows that most of the root verbal lexical items feature Mid (M) tone. One interesting feature of the Gerund is the automatic appearance of Low tone on the derived lexical item. It is possible to assume that the tone is an underlying tone on the lexical item, but lexical items like ʧé ‘to lay egg’ and sɛmὲ ‘to greet’ feature HIGH (H) and MID (M) tone respective in the underlying representation. Why could these items not retain the tonal feature in the root morpheme when the gerunds are formed? I am of the opinion that the principle of Gerund formation has an automatic down step constraint which it must obey; it is ranked higher than any other constraint in such a morphological process.

Elugbe 2011 observed such down step as a feature in Degema’s Gerunds. The implication of the forgoing is that down step tone is possibly a feature of proto-Akedoid which might have been lost in many of the sister languages or are still there but only used by elders who are the custodians of the proto language. Note that most of the languages are highly endangered because the younger generation is not interested in the local languages.

Conclusion

This paper undertakes a mass comparison of Àbèsàbèsì and the Edoid. All the findings point to the close genetic relation between the languages. We suggest that the features the languages have in common are enough to classify them as one language family.

Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Appendix 1