Investigative Kanuri: Receding Fortunes of a Rich Language & Culture
By Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim
Kanempress
31st May 2023
Nigeria, as one unified nation, was formed because of the amalgamation of southern and northern protectorates of the British colony in 1914. This was achieved during the administration of the then Nigerian Governor, Lord Frederick. Nigeria today is said to have over 400 languages. Speakers of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba alone form about 30% of the country’s population. According to recent estimates by the National Population Commission and National Bureau of Statistics in 2016, about 200 million people reside in the country. The complex linguistic nature of Nigeria resulted in the selection of English as its official language after independence in 1960.
Nigerian languages are chiefly found in the country’s 36 states and FCT, while the three aforementioned major languages have more than 20 million speakers each. Other 10 languages have speakers ranging from one to 10 million. Hausa is said to be the most dominant language in the country dominating the whole of northern Nigeria.
Out of the entire Nigerian population, a Professor in Kanuri Linguistics at University of Maiduguri, Prof. Umara Shettima Bulakarima and Dr. U. M. Gombe at University of York’s Language and Linguistic Science Department, United Kingdom at University of York’s Language and Linguistic Science Department, United Kingdom, provide the proportions of major Nigerian languages below.
The four Nigerian languages and the proportion of their speakers’ out of the about 200 million population is as follows:
Hausa language, which is mainly spoken in northern Nigeria, comprises 29.5% of Nigeria’s population.
Igbo language, which is mainly spoken in south-eastern Nigeria, comprises 16.6% of Nigeria’s population.
Kanuri language, which is mainly spoken in north-eastern Nigeria comprises 4.1% of Nigeria’s population; and
Yoruba language, which is mainly spoken in south-western Nigeria comprises 20.3% of Nigeria’s population.
Pic: Map of Nigeria showing major languages and tribes
According to Prof. U. S. Bulakarima, Kanuri is estimated to have over 3 million native speakers (representing 4.1% of the total Nigerian population) who are predominantly found in the north-eastern part of the country. The language comprises speakers from several ethnic groups, which developed because of its geographical diversity and political influences. It has six major dialects as follows Yerwa, Bulakarima and Shettima, Bilma, Mowar, Suwurti and Manga.
Dr. U. M. Gombe noted that Kanuri language and culture developed because of the emergence of the Magumi ethnic group as rulers of Kanem-Borno. The Magumi ethnic group started the process of unification and absorption of other small ethnic groups living in the region. Kanuri language speakers currently live in the four countries surrounding the Lake Chad region; they are Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
A large proportion of Kanuri speakers are found in Borno and Yobe States of the north-eastern geopolitical region of Nigeria
To understand the level of Kanuri language spread and challenges regarding the popularity of Hausa and English languages in Maiduguri (Borno State) and Damaturu (Yobe State), a survey was carried out with 82 participants (37 from Damaturu and 45 from Maiduguri).
Pic: Kanuri equestrians during an Eid durbar horse riding.
Kanuri language is the language of the majority ethnic groups in Borno State. However, with the widespread use of English as official language, Pidgin English as ‘language of necessity’ (in lieu of standard English) and Hausa as lingua franca in most parts of northern Nigeria including Borno and Yobe State, Kanuri language is facing tough linguistic challenges.
While on one hand, English and Pidgin English are spoken as official and casual language, and Hausa is increasingly gaining users from other ethnic nationalities, on the other hand, the use of Kanuri language in everyday conversation let alone in writing is dwindling.
Pic: ‘Shehuri’ is the Palace of the Paramount Ruler of Borno, that is, the Shehu of Borno in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Because the actual reasons Kanuri language is giving way to other Nigerian languages (specifically Hausa) may not have been ‘evidently’ determined, KanemPress carried out a ‘quick survey’ some with 37 Kanuri-speaking people in Damaturu and 45 Kanuri-speaking people in Maiduguri. In Damaturu, the survey was conducted in communities where Kanuri is dominantly spoken namely Ajari, Lawanti, Alajiri, Gwange, Pompommari, Bulaburin and Maisandari. In Maiduguri, the survey was conducted in Shehuri North, Shehuri South, Buddum, Pompommari, Damboa Road and Bolori. Together with Bulabulin and Pole Wire Biyu, these are the Kanuri dominant communities in Maiduguri.
Currently, many people in the Kanuri-speaking communities in Damaturu and Maiduguri speak both Hausa and Kanuri as native language, or mother tongue. Despite Kanuri being the language spoken by the majority ethnic groups in Maiduguri and Damaturu, Hausa is rapidly spreading throughout those cities. Nonetheless, Kanuri is still dominant in some of the communities. Many Kanuri people in many of the communities still maintain the language as their first language (mother tongue).
Data collected from English-speaking Kanuri people in those two cities painted a picture of a representation of English spoken by Kanuri speakers who indicated that Kanuri is their mother tongue. Many of the Kanuri participants speak English, Kanuri and Hausa fluently. However, their Kanuri markers are evident in their Hausa conversations. This shows how strong the Kanuri accent stuck to their tongues.
For example, Geidam and Bama are Kanuri-majority towns in Yobe and Borno States respectively, where Kanuri remains the only dominant language (in Geidam town, the Manga version of Kanuri is spoken). The inhabitants of Geidam and Bama only learn English at schools. Thus, any external linguistic influence on English is presumed to be from Kanuri (or Manga with regard to Geidam) as mother tongue.
Although most people of Bama town are currently living in Maiduguri having forced from their hometown years ago by Boko Haram terrorists, Geidam’s people are largely living in the town despite severally having fled Boko Haram attacks in the past.
The result of the survey shows that a vast majority (83%) of the participants had been to school. While all of the participants (100%) speak Hausa at different levels of proficiency, only 21% of them said they speak English fluently; 29% rated themselves as intermediate in English language proficiency; only 27% of them said they speak some form of Pidgin English; while 23% of them said they did not speak any English, whether Pidgin or standard.
Pic: The Emir of Damaturu is a descendant of one of the Shehus of Borno. Seated in the centre, Alhaji Shehu Hashimi II Ibn Umar El-Kanemy is seen granting audience in his palace in Damaturu to the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Explaining the consonants of Kanuri language while discussing Kanuri phonology, to top-class Kanuri linguist, Prof. U. S. Bulakarima said there are 18 contrastive consonant phonemes in Kanuri as follows: b, k, g, t, d, s, z, n, r, l, m, h, j, ʤ, ŋ, ʧ, w, ꭍ, f/ [p]. In addition, a voiceless bilabial stop [p] and a voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] exist as variants of the voiced bilabial stop /b/ and the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/.
Kanuri has six vowels: /ɪ, e, ә, a, u, o/, and all of them are short monophthongs. In addition, the /a/ vowel has one more variant [ᴧ].
Kanuri tones
Kanuri is also a tone language. It possesses high and low underlying tones. Falling and rising tones are formed from these two underlying tones in Kanuri syllables. Mid-tone is also evident in rare cases. Below are some examples of Kanuri tones:
High tone: Kóró = ‘donkey’
Low tone: kòrò = ‘question’
Rising tone: kaǐwù = ‘coward’
Falling tone: fə̂r = ‘horse’
Mid-tone: āmūsū = ‘cold’
While discussing Kanuri syllable structure, Prof. Bulakarima further observed that Kanuri has two distinct kinds of syllable: Consonant-Vowel, or CV and Consonant-Vowel-Consonant, or CVC. The language does not permit consonant clusters at all. Its words also do not begin with a vowel, but they can end with either a vowel or a consonant. Long vowels and diphthongs are not evident in the language. Any word beginning with a vowel is realised with an initial glottal stop.
Pic: One of the monumental gateways in Maiduguri named ‘Kofa Biyu’ in Hausa language.
Kanuri syllable pattern has four distinct structures: monosyllabic (one-syllabic) words, disyllabic (two-syllabic) pattern, trisyllabic (three-syllabic) pattern and quadrisyllabic (four-syllabic) pattern. The maximum number of syllables in Kanuri words is four. Such a pattern may take a combination of both open and closed syllables. Some examples are listed out below:
Monosyllabic words: for example, de = empty; ka = stick; fər = horse
Disyllabic words: for example, koro = donkey; bərin = new; ngodo = begging
Trisyllabic words: for example, kəndondi = illness; kasuwu = market; kawudi = perfume
Quadrisyllabic words: for example, lenəm-are = movement to and from; matafəram = local medicine for good luck; kərməsələm = Islam
Pic: Kanuri women dancing to ‘ganga kura’ traditional Kanuri music. Regard the women’s attire and hairdo; regard the flutist’s bellowing gown; and regard the traditional musical instruments: ‘arita’ (flute) and ‘ganga kura’ (big drum).
Regarding Kanuri phonological processes, there are six principal phonological processes in Kanuri according to Prof. Bulakarima and Dr. U. M. Gombe, namely (1) assimilation, (2) palatalisation, (3) sonorisation, (4) deletion, (5) voiced stop spirantisation and (6) compensatory lengthening. Each of these is concisely explained below.
Assimilation: Both Kanuri consonants and vowels are influenced to sound like a neighbouring sound, but consonants are frequently affected. Regressive assimilation is frequently observed in Kanuri, while the vowel assimilation is considered as consonant weakening. Some examples are: /musko/ → [mukko] = hand; /biska/ → [bikka] = yesterday; /katkadə/ → [kakkadə] = book; /fəska/ → [fəkka] = face.
Sonorisation: This is the second type of consonant weakening constantly used in Kanuri. It is called sonorisation due to the alteration of some consonants to only a bilabial approximant /w/, which also belongs to [sonorant] distinctive feature. Consonants such as /b/, /k/, /g/, /f/ are realised as [w] constantly in intervocalic environments or after liquid consonants /l/, /r/ and before a vowel. Some examples are: /katibu/ → [katiwu] = scribe; /kurgun/ → [kurwun] = medicine; /kulgu/ → [kulwu] = gown; /kəlbu/ → [kəlwu] = potash
Deletion: Consonants are frequently elided in Kanuri. Both voiceless and voiced velar stop /k/ and /g/ occurring between two identical vowels are normally elided in Kanuri words. Some examples are: /karaga/ → [karaa] = bush; /mogoram/ → [mooram] = a traditional royal title for a lady; /dogoma/ → [dooma] = a traditional royal title for a lady); /kalgi/ → [karii] = thorn.
Voicing: a voiceless alveolar stop /t/ becomes voiced intervocalically. Some examples are: /fato/ → [fado] = house; /atə/ → [adə] = this; /watə/ → [wadə] = promise; /butu/ → [budu] = cheap; /letə/ → [ledə] = to walk.
However, both the voiceless /t/ and voiced /d/ are used by Kanuri native speakers. Sometimes, variation in the use of /t/ or /d/ indicates a dialectal variation, but both phonemes are sometimes interchangeably used within the same dialect of Kanuri.
Spirantisation: Some non-fricative consonants metamorphose to fricatives in Kanuri. This process affects a voiced velar stop /g/ where it becomes a voiced velar fricative [ɣ] when it precedes a mid-central vowel /ə/, or occurs in between mid-central vowels. Some examples are: /karəgə/ → [karəɣə] = heart; /dagəra/ → [daɣəra] = a Kanuri ethnic group; /ʧigə/ → [ʧiɣə] = housefly; /magə/ → [maɣə] = week.
Compensatory lengthening: This is a process of consonant weakening whereby elision of some phonemes necessitates their replacement by lengthening a neighbouring sound. Some examples are: /kulwu/ → [kullu] → [kuluu] = gown; /kurwum/ → [kurrum] → [kuruum] = yellowish.
Furthermore, when compared with English language, Prof. Bulakarima and Dr. U. M. Gombe indicated that Kanuri language shares 18 similar phonological consonants with English language, and they are as follows: b, k, g, t, d, s, z, n, r, l, m, h, j, ʤ, ŋ, ʧ, w, ꭍ, f/ [p]. In addition, Kanuri has two phonological consonants that are different from English language as follows: /ɳ, ʔ. Kanuri has five similar phonological vowels with English language as follows: i, e, a, u, o/. Kanuri has two different phonological vowels with English language as follows: /ә/ [ᴧ].
Pic: A roundabout on the on the Kano-Maiduguri Road in Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria.
Despite being one of the dominant languages in the ancient Kanem-Borno Empire and the language of the ethnic majority in the present-day Borno and Yobe States, survey data have shown that Kanuri is facing threat of ‘obscurity’ if not extinction. Kanuri may be one of the major Nigerian languages that is largely a spoken language only – in contrast with both spoken and written languages.
Speakers of Kanuri language may be in their millions but how many Kanuri writers are there?; how many books in Kanuri could one lay their hands on in our libraries nowadays?; how many Kanuri digital citizens communicate on social media in Kanuri?; how many Kanuri-speaking people are able to carry out complete conversations on mobile phones (including both phone calls and/or text messaging) without using/switching to other languages? How many Kanuri newspapers and magazines can you find?; how many signboards or signposts printed in Kanuri language can you find in the Kanuri cities and towns?
Even in Maiduguri, which is still considered the headquarters of the Kanuri-speaking world hardly could you find signboards or road signposts printed in Kanuri language.
Many of the monuments, roads, streets and public buildings are named in other languages, specifically Hausa. For example, in Maiduguri, Shehuri is the Palace and the Official Residence of His Eminence the Shehu of Borno; it is also the name of the community/neighbourhood surrounding the Shehu’s Palace. The name is purely in Kanuri – is a combination of two words: ‘shehu + ri’; ‘shehu’ is the title of the Paramount Ruler of Borno Shehudom while the syllable ‘ri’ means ‘the place of’, ‘the residence of’; hence, Shehuri = the place of the Shehu, or the residence of the Shehu. However, in a quite staggering contrast, Shehuri South and Shehuri North are two communities/neighbourhoods that are close the Shehu’s Palace, as the names suggest, located from South and North’s sides of the Palace respectively. You do not need to be told that the names of these Kanuri dominant communities/neighbourhoods are influenced by English language, the official language of Nigeria. Like me, I believe you too would wonder why the names of those communities/neighbourhoods are not in Kanuri. For instance, why not ‘Hute Shehuribe’ (Shehuri South) and ‘Yala Shehuri be’ (Shehuri North)?
There are two other Kanuri dominated communities/neighbourhoods in Maiduguri whose names are in a non-Kanuri language, this time around, in Hausa. Although the name of the community ‘Pol Waya Biyu’ (or Pole Wire Biyu) was derived from English ‘pole wire’, the phrase/word has been Hausanised for long. In Hausa, pole waya means electrical poles that carry electrical supply cables while ‘Biyu’ means ‘two’, or ‘double’. So, the name ‘Pol Waya Biyu’ (Pole Wire Biyu) means ‘Two Electrical Poles’, or ‘Twin Electrical Poles’. The presence of a landmark two electrical high-tension poles there must have given birth to the name of the area. The other community/neighbourhood is ‘Kofa Biyu’ also in Hausa; and it means ‘Two Doors’, or ‘Two Gateways’. In Hausa, ‘kofa’ means ‘a door’ or ‘a gate’ while ‘biyu’ means ‘two’. The name was inspired by the presence of a monumental two-lane gateway there, signifying the location of an ancient city gate.
Pic: Popularly called ‘Welcome to Maiduguri’, this monument, which is named in English, is one of the famous monuments in Maiduguri city, Borno State, Nigeria. It used to be the City Gate of Maiduguri. But for many years now, the place has become a centre of the city.
There are numerous other similar examples in Maiduguri and other Kanuri towns in Borno and Yobe States. Aside the scenario in Maiduguri, in story is not different in Damaturu. Although Damaturu may not boast of being the centre of the Kanuri-speaking world as Maiduguri does, Kanuri is dominant language there although highly subdued by Hausa. ‘Ganya Uku’ is a community that is dominated by Kanuri-speaking people in Damaturu town but named in Hausa language. The word ‘ganya’ in Kanuri means ‘neem tree’ while ‘uku’ means ‘three’. There used three huge neem trees there; that inspired the name. Even though the Kanuri word ‘ganya’ was borrowed from the Hausa word ‘ganye’, which means ‘a leaf’, it has been Kanurirised. Hence, we consider it as a Kanuri word. Another feature that both cities share is the near absolute absence of any signboard, road signpost or billboard with printed Kanuri texts.
While other Nigerian languages are busy blowing their own trumpets in the soil of the Kanuri dominated towns and cities, Kanuri is coiling away into its cocoon, or shell – thus admitting defeat. Stakeholders must understand that spoken languages never last as languages that are spoken and written.
One critical weakness of Kanuri language highlighted in this research is that Kanuri is largely a spoken-only language; it is not a written language. Kanuri literature is quite scanty. I could remember when we were in primary schools in the 1980s; we were taught a Kanuri language using the only-that-I-have-known-so-far Kanuri textbook ‘Bintu’a Dala’a’. KanemPress can confidently say that it has been quite long since that Kanuri language textbook has gone into extinction, and quite unfortunately, it did not have any replacement yet. Where are Kanuri educationist writers? This challenge is to you as well as the government and traditional institutions (Shehus, Emirs, District Heads, Village Heads and Ward Heads).
In a century when Hausa language is re-expanding by emerging in another genre popularly known in youngsters’ parlance as ‘Ingausa’ (a combination of Hausa and English), Kanuri should be celebrating having Kanuri-only websites, social media platforms, e-magazines and e-newspapers. At a time when Pidgin English is conquering some indigenous languages in the South-east and South-south parts of Nigeria (including Igbo), Kanuri should be boasting of reviving Kanuri literature in the curriculums of our schools, both primary and secondary.
The writing is clearly visible on the wall for all who care to see and read – Kanuri is facing threat of extinction unless the text culture that Kanuri was known for during the Kanem-Borno Empire era is REVIVED. Critical stakeholders in this matter know themselves. You are advised to utilise the myriads of opportunities information and communication technology (ICT) has brought to revive the dead Kanuri literary culture. Also, another window of opportunity lies in the global partnerships for sustainable development urged by the United Nations as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. UNESCO and other non-governmental organisations both international and local are their stuff with ‘Dollars’ waiting for excellent proposals. It is high time stakeholders realised that the time is high for them to come to the rescue of the already dead, or dying Kanuri literary culture collectively. Let there be formulated Kanuri Sustainable Development Goals (KSDGs), and one of which shall be to revive literature in Kanuri among the Kanuri-speaking people of Africa (Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon)
