Hausa Language - Book 1

Author: Niu Jiachang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-05-01
Features: Hausa is one of the three most important languages in Africa. It belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family (formerly known as the Semito-Hamitic language family). It is spoken in northern Nigeria, southern Niger, the Chadic Lake region, northern Cameroon, northern Ghana, and other West African countries in the Sahel zone. Approximately 50 million people speak this language. Although no country has officially adopted it as an official language, it has long been recognized as a commercial lingua franca in West Africa due to its wide usage, making it still an important language. In addition to the countries in West Africa, major countries worldwide such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, China, as well as Egypt, Libya, and Ghana, among others, have radio broadcasts in Hausa. Many universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Poland, among others, offer Hausa language courses and award degrees in Hausa, including doctorates and master's degrees. Universities in northern Nigeria offer Hausa as a major, awarding doctorates and master's degrees. This textbook is divided into four volumes. The guiding principles for writing this textbook are as follows:
1. In the phonetics stage, we aim to have students learn pronunciation in a natural flow of speech, reducing dry word-by-word and sound-by-sound exercises.
2. Since the main difficulty of Hausa grammar lies in morphology, we have focused on teaching morphology in the writing and teaching process of this textbook.
3. The text sections, except for most of the first volume which are self-written, are mostly original texts in the second, third, and fourth volumes. During the writing process, we strive for diversity in themes and styles, ensuring the language is as authentic and elegant as possible, the grammar as rich and varied as possible, and the content as closely aligned with real-life situations as possible, enabling practical application. We also try to arrange the text content in a progressive manner, from simple to complex, so that students not only learn language knowledge but also gain insights into the history, culture, and other national conditions of the target country through the texts.
4. For the vocabulary section: Generally, we provide only one meaning for each word. However, most Hausa words have multiple meanings. For the convenience of annotations, we have developed an abbreviated table of Hausa word parts of speech.