A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF HAUSA AND IGBO SOUND INVENTORIES

By
Muhammad Mustapha Umar
Department of Nigerian Languages Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
Email: mustaphahausa@yahoo.com GSM: 08065466400

ABSTRACT
Contrastive analysis is a linguistic enterprise aimed at producing inverted (i.e
contrastive not comparative) two valued typologies (a contrastive analysis is
always concerned with a pair of languages), and founded on the assumption that
languages can be compared (James,1980). This research is an effort to describe
the similarities and differences between the sound systems of Hausa and Igbo with
respect to their production and quality. The proposed areas of contrast include the
consonant and vowel phonemes of the two languages.
1.0

INTRODUCTION

The Hausa language is spoken approximately by forty three million people living
mainly in Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Sudan, Cameroon,
Benin and Cote dIvoire. Hausa is a member of west Chadic language branch of
Afro-Asiatic language family. It is regarded as a lingua franca in Northern Nigeria
and even in non Hausa speaking cities in Nigeria and in some parts of west African
countries. The major Hausa dialects are the eastern and western regional dialects.
Hausa is a phonetic language i.e, it is written as it is pronounced and its
orthography is based on Latin and Arabic scripts. However, it must be pointed out
that in standard Hausa orthography, vowel length and tone are not represented.
Igbo is one of the eight major languages in the Benue-Congo of African languages
(Williamson, 1989). It is spoken natively in south-eastern Nigeria in the present
state of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. In general, there are two major
1

dialect zones in Igbo: Owere and Onica, although quite significant variations occur
within each zone. It is written in an adapted version of the Latin Alphabet. It is
spoken by approximately twenty four million people according to Wikipedia
(2012).
2.0

CONSONANT SYSTEM OF HAUSA

Hausa has thirty phonemic consonant sounds which are produced through a single
and double articulation. The double articulation relates to labialized and palatalized
consonants. Consonants are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the
airflow in a variety of ways. There are three ways of describing the Hausa
consonant sounds.
2.1

Place of Articulation: Bilabial: /b, ~, ,m/. Palatalized Bilabial: /y/.

Alveolar: /d,],l,r,s,t,ts,z/ Retroflex: /r/. Post Alveolar: /c,j,sh/. Palatal: /y/. Velar:
/k,g,},/. Labio velar: /w/. Labialized velar: /kw, gw, }w,/. Palatalized velar: /ky,gy,
}y/. Glottis: /h/. Palatalized Glottal: /y/
2.2

Manner

of

Articulation:

Stop/Plosive:

/b,d,k,g,gw,gy,k,kw,ky,t,y/.

Implosive: /~,]/. Ejective: /},}w,}y,ts/. Nasal: /m,n/. Fricative: /, y,h,s,sh,z/.

Affricate: /c,j/. Lateral: /l/. Trill/Roll: /r/. Approximant: /w,y/
2.3

State of The Glottis: Voiced: /b,~,d,],g,gw,gy j,l,m,n,r,w,y,z/. Voiceless:

/c,, y,h, k, }, kw, }w,ky, }y s,sh,t,ts/. Neutral: //, /y/

3.0

CONSONANT SYSTEM OF IGBO

This section explains the articulation of the twenty eight Igbo consonants. They
may also be classified along three major dimensions: Place of articulation,
manner of articulation and state of the glottis.

3.1

Place of Articulation: Labial: /b,m,p/. Labio Dental: /f,v/. Alveolar:

/d,l,n,r,s,t,z/ Palato-Alveolar: /c,j,sh/. Palatal: /y/. Velar: /k,g, gh/. Labio-Velar:

/kp,gb,w/. Labialized velar: /kw, gw, nw,/ Glottal: /h/.
3.2

Manner of Articulation: Plosive: /b,t,d,k,g,kp, kw,gw, gb,p,/. Fricative:

/f,gh,h,s,sh,v,z/. Affricate: /c,j/. Nasal: /m,n,,nw,ny/. Trill: /r/. Lateral: /l/.

Approximant: /y,w/.
3.3

State of The Glottis: Voiced: /b,d,g,gb,gh,gw,h,j,l,m,n,,nw,ny,r,w,v,y,z/.

Voiceless: /c,f,k, kw,p,s,sh,t/.

4.0

VOWEL SYSTEM OF HAUSA

In standard Hausa, there are five pairs of single vowels in which five are short and
five are long. A long vowel is often marked by either doubling it or following it
with a colon e.g aa or a: (Sani, 2005:20). The ten Hausa short and long vowel
phonemes are as follows: /a, aa, e, ee, i, ii, o, oo, u, uu/. A distinction is always
made between short and long vowel in Hausa, and this distinction is phonemic, i.e
it brings about change of meaning. (Yusuf, 2007:131).
In addition, three different diphthongs are found in Hausa. They are: /ai, au, ui/

4.1

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES FOR HAUSA VOWELS

Tongue Position
Front
Central
Back
High
Mid
Low
Lip Position
Rounded
Unrounded

5.0

a
+
+
a
+

aa
+
+
aa
+

e
+
+
e
+

ee
+
+
ee
+

i
+
+
i
+

ii
+
+
ii
+

o
+
+
o
+
-

oo
+
+
oo
+
-

u
+
+
u
+
-

uu
+
+
uu
+
-

ai
+
+
ai
+

au
+
+
au
+
-

ui
+
+
ui
+*
+*

VOWEL SYSTEM OF IGBO

There are eight vowels in Igbo: /a, e, i, , o, , u, / It will be observed that the
order here is strictly alphabetical in that dotted vowels follow their undotted
counterparts. The dotted phonemes are marked with script dot under them or with
umlauted dot placed at the top of the vowel. Furthermore, in Igbo, there is a
phonological pattern in which vowels within a given domain are required to agree
in properties such as vowel height or backness, vowel roundness and tongue root
position. In this situation, there are constraints on what vowels may be found near
each other, or occur together, but will not occur with others in a word. In Igbo,
vowels are divided into two harmonic sets: Set I /a, , , / set II /e, i, o, u/

5.1

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES FOR IGBO VOWEL

Tongue Position
Front
Central
Back
High
Mid
Low
Lip Position
Rounded
Unrounded

6.0

a
+
+
a
+

e
+
+
e
+

i
+
+
i
+

+
+

o
+
+
o
+
-

+
+

+
-

u
+
+
_
u
+
-

+
+

+
-

SIMILARITIES
1. The

two

languages

share

these

consonant

phonemes:

/b,c,d,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,r,s,sh,t,w,y,z/.
2. Hausa and Igbo share some features in the place of articulation. The similar
areas include: Bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar, labio- velar, labialized velar
and glottal.
3. Hausa bears a striking similarity to Igbo in respect of manner of articulation,
as in: Plosive, fricative, affricate, nasal, trill, lateral and approximant.
4. Hausa has voiced sounds resembling similar phonemes in the Igbo language
as in: /b,d, g,gw,j,l,m,n,r,y,z/ They also share these voiceless phonemes:
/c,f,k,kw,s,sh,t/.
5. The vowel phonemes /a,e,i,o,u/ are basically common in the two languages.
6. For tongue position, in the articulation of monophthongs, both languages
have the same vowel backness.
7. For lip position, in the articulation of monophthongal vowels /o/ and /u/,
roundness is present in both Hausa and Igbo.
5

7.0

DIFFERENCES
1. Hausa has thirty consonant sounds, while Igbo has twenty eight. These
Hausa consonants are not present in Igbo: /~,],gy,},ky,}w,}y,ts,y/ and the
Igbo phonemes /gb,gh,kp,,nw,ny,p,v/ are absent in the Hausa Language.
2. In place of articulation, these do not occur in Igbo: Palatalized bilabial,
retroflex, post alveolar, palatalized velar, while labio dental is not available
in Hausa.
3. In manner of articulation, Hausa has implosive and ejective but they are not
present in Igbo.
4. The Hausa voiced sounds /~,],gy,w/ are absent in Igbo, and Igbo voiced
sounds /gh,nw,v/ are absent in Hausa. Furthermore, Voiceless phonemes
/ky,},}w,}y,ts/ available in Hausa, do not exist in Igbo. And the Igbo
voiceless phoneme /p/ is not present in Hausa. And the Hausa

neutral

sounds // and /y/ are absent in Igbo.

5. The number of vowel phonemes is twelve for Hausa, whereas in Igbo this
number is eight. There are no diphthongs in Igbo at all.
6. The dotted vowels in Igbo / , , / are not present in Hausa, while long
vowels are absent in Igbo.
8.0

CONCLUSION

Contrastive analysis is the study and comparison of two languages. This is done by
looking at structural similarities and differences of the studied languages. This
study reveals the differences between Hausa and Igbo phonemes, the differences
that may be used to find the relationship between the two languages, in order to
create a linguistic family tree, and for the aim to aid second language acquisition. It

is hoped that this study will provide the motivation for a much wider comparison
which will fully establish the interrelationships of languages.
REFERENCES
Echeruo, M.J.C. 2001. Igbo-English Dictionary: A Comprehensive Dictionary of
The Igbo Language With an English-Igbo Index. Lagos: Longman Nigeria Plc.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hausa_language
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo_language
James, C. 1980. Contrastive Analysis. England: Longman.
Sani, M.A.Z. 1989. An Introductory Phonology of Hausa (with exercises), Kano:
Triumph Publishing Co. (Nig) Ltd. Gidan Saadu Zungur.
Sani, M.A.Z. 1999. Tsarin Sauti da Nahawun Hausa Ibadan: University Press.
Williamson, K. 1972. Dictionary of Onicha Igbo: Second Editor, Blench, R. (ed.)
United Kingdom: Ethiope Press.
Yusuf, O. 2007. Basic Linguistics For Nigerian Teachers, Port Hartcourt:
Linguistic Association of Nigeria, M & J Grand Orbit Communication Ltd, And
Emhai Press.
Zsiga, E.C. 1997. Features, Gestures And Igbo Vowels: An Approach to The
Phonology-Phonetics Interface. In Language, Vol. 73, No. 2 Pp. 227-274.