A Study of Quantity in Hausa

The work on which this article is based was done during my visit to the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, 1948–9. Selected material was studied, as spoken by Hausas, first in Zaria, then in Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Daura, and Damagaram (Zinder). In Zaria I made certain statements from my observation of the utterances, which permitted me to classify the words according to the behaviour of their final syllables. Although there were dialectal differences, my observation of the utterances in other areas gave me no reason to alter my classification. The study of the final open syllable in Hausa has already interested others; in America, J. H. Greenberg and C. T. Hodge, and in this country, Dr. G. P. Bargery and Major R. C. Abraham. In this article I shall consider the final open syllable of the nominal only, by which I understand that class of word in Hausa which can be followed in close syntactical relationship by one of the enclitics, ne or ce .