Contrastive Analysis of Verb and Pronoun: Evidence of French and Hausa

Citation: Ashiru-Abdulrahman, K. (2024). Contrastive Analysis of Verb and Pronoun: Evidence of French and Hausa. Dynamics in the 21st Century Hausa Prose Literature. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 3(1), 115-123. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2024.v03i01.013.

Contrastive Analysis of Verb and Pronoun: Evidence of French and Hausa

Khadijah Ashiru-Abdulrahman (PhD)
Department of Linguistics and African Languages
University of Abuja, Nigeria
ashkhadfol@gmail.com or khadijah.ashiru-abdulrahman@uniabuja.edu.ng
+2348128151518

Abstract

In essence, translation is the act of conveying a written text from one language (source language) into another (target language) without jeopardizing the meaning. However, mistranslation has become very common and problematic in the process of passing a message from one language into another especially when it involves languages belonging to different structures and systems like the Hausa and French. Many a language, unlike French, do not conjugate their verbs and have no such verb known as the auxiliary verb. There may be similarities in gender affiliations but may not accord it to objects. Pronouns may remain the same in the French language without giving much attention to tenses but differ in the Hausa language. Based on these differences and similarities, this paper critically analyses and evaluates where French and Hausa languages meet and where they differ using the theory of Robert Lado (1957) in comparing the grammar of both languages.

Keywords: French language, Mistranslation, Translation, Hausa language, contrastive analysis

Introduction

The rate of distortion, misconception and mistranslation of Hausa language arising from Hausa Translations into French is a matter of concern for every Hausa Native and speaker. As a matter of urgency, translation scholars need to rise to discontinue this translation incompetence. Many speakers who think that they are okay with this mistranslation need to be faithful to other non-speakers and the image of our people. To save the day, Contrastive Analysis of both languages will be of great importance in this regard. Our analysis is streamlined towards the part of speech; particularly the Nouns, Verbs and Pronouns. This will be useful in examining why some features of French are not in Hausa and vice versa.

Problematic

Many translators are not well-informed or proficient in both languages, which has resulted in mistranslations. And the rate of these mistranslations from the translation of French to Hausa and vice versa is a problem that needs urgent intervention. To discontinue this translation incompetence that is distorting the standard of the Hausa-translated text from French, this study is imperative to regulate this menace.

Significance

This work will benefit translators, especially the French/Hausa translation as a work to consult when working on both languages. It is a linguistic analysis of two languages; as such, it will benefit students of applied linguistics. The contrastive analysis of Hausa and French in this aspect has provided the unique features of both languages, their differences and how they are related to one another

Literature Review

The problem of mistranslation has been a hot topic in the fields of linguistics and translation studies. Many high-profile cases of mistranslation have made headlines in recent years, including a famous mistranslation of the Bible that led to the incorrect translation of the word “virgin” into “young woman”. Mistranslation can have serious consequences, from the miscommunication of important information to the perpetuation of stereotypes and prejudices. Douglas Hofstadter (1997) in his book “Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language” explores the art of translation through the lens of a 16^th-century French poem “Le Songe du vieil Pelerin” by Clément Marot. He argues that a true translation should not only be literal but should also capture the essence and rhythm of the original text. He pointed out that mistranslation can often be a result of a failure to understand the nuance of language and culture. A literal translation of a text can miss the underlying meaning and intent of the original author when the translator does not adopt a more holistic approach to translation that takes into account the context and culture of the source text. Lawrence Venti (1988) developed a theory of “foreignization” and “domestication” in translation. He challenged the prevailing view of translation as a transparent process, arguing that the translator’s role should be visible and acknowledged, rather than hidden or invisible.

Also (1995) in his book “The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation”, stated that mistranslation is often the result of a desire to domesticate the foreign text, rather than preserve its original meaning and context. According to Gregory Rabassa (2005), mistranslation can often result from the translator’s lack of knowledge of or understanding of the source text and culture. Rabassa also highlights the challenges of translating works from other cultures and languages and emphasizes the importance of understanding the cultural and historical context of the source text. To solve the msitranslation problem Robert Lado (1957) in his book proposed the contrastive analysis hypothesis, which suggests that learners’ errors in a second language can be predicted by comparing and contrasting the two languages. By comparing French and Hausa, we are likely to know the similarities and differences (from the orthography to the word order). This analysis is needed to help understand the structure of both languages to minimize mistranslation.

Theoretical Framework

The theories of contrastive linguistics also known as differential linguistics that seeks to describe the differences and similarities between a pair of languages is our approach. This approach has been proposed by Robert Lado (1950) to assist interlingual transfer in the process of translating text from one language into another. While using the parallel-text analysis, the contrastive description can occur at every level of linguistic structure: speech sounds (phonology), written symbols (orthography), word formation (Morphology), word meaning (lexicology), collocation (phraseology), and sentence structure (syntax and complete discourse (textology). Various techniques used in corpus linguistics are relevant in interlingual and intralingual contrastive studies. 

French Language

French is a romance language spoken by over 200 million people in over 30 countries Stephen Murray(2006). It is the official language of France, Switzerland, and Monaco, and it is also the official language of Canada, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It is one of the most beautiful and a melodic language in the world and it is known for its complex grammar and rich vocabulary. According to lexicographer and linguist Herald Hammarströn (2013), who analysed the size of dictionaries in different languages, french has the largest dictionary with over 150,000 words. French is a moderately inflected language with about 23 consonant sounds like:

 

Table 1: French Consonant sounds

 

Consonants	Place of the sound
/b/	Bébé
/c/	Cycle
/d/	Devoir
/f/	Frère
/g/	Gateau
/h/	Haricot
/ʒ/	Jambe
/k/	Klaxon, Sac
/l/	Lumière
/m/	Matelas
/n/	Noir
/ᶮ/	Pagne
/p/	Pantalon
/q/	Quel
/r/	Farine
/s/	Samedi
/ ʃ/	Chapeau
/t/	Ordinateur
/v/	Valise
/z/	Zambeze, xenophobe

 

French vowel sounds appear in three formats – the oral vowels, nasal and semi-vowels. Under the oral vowels, there are two ligatures - œ and æ which are often interchanged with oe and ae in the area where the actual symbol isn’t present but it is nonstandard.

Table II: French vowel sounds

Oral vowels	Nasal vowels	Semi-vowels
/a/	/ã/	/ɥ/
/i/	/õ/	/j/
/œ/	/ɛ͂/	/w/
/æ/	/œ͂/
/u/
/y/
/ɔ/
/e/
/ə/
/ø/
/o/
/ ɛ/

Hausa Language

Hausa is a West African language spoken by over 40 million people in Nigeria, Niger, and other parts of West Africa. Hausa falls under the Afro-asiatic language family and is one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa and; also the most widely spoken language in Nigeria after English Ethnologue (2017) As a tonal language, it comprises five (5) vowels which include low tone, high tone and falling tone. The tone is not marked when writing a standardized Hausa. There are varieties of Hausa dialect known as the Arewaci such as Sakkwatanci, Katsinanci, Zanhwaranci, Kurhwayanci spoken in northwest Nigeria like Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara. According to Bernard, the Sakkwatanci is used in Hausa literature and is the classical Hausa (Bernard 2011). There are also Zazzaganci, Dauranci, Bausanci, Gudduranci, and Hadejanci spoken also in Northern Nigeria.  The Dauranci and the Kananci dialects are the standardized Hausa spoken and written Hausa. National and internal broadcasts are done in Kananci/Dauranci. (onnaedo 2021). Hausa has about 25 consonants including glottalic consonants (implosives and ejectives). They are denoted with an apostrophe or written in the form of a Latin-modified pattern. The Hausa consonants are shown in the table below

Table  III: Baƙi (Hausa consonant sounds)

Bb	/b/	Baya
Ɓƃ	/ƃ/	Ƃera
Cc	/tʃ/	Cincirindo
Dd	/d/	Dogo
Ɗ ɗ	/ɗ/	ɗaure
Ff	/ɸ/	hiilii/ huskaa
FY fy	/fy/	Fyaaɗe / fyaacee
Gg	/g/	Gajere
GWgw	/ģw/	Gwandaa/ Gwargwadoo
GY gy	/gy/	Gyaaraa/ gyandamaa
Hh	/h/	Hausa
Jj	/(d)ʒ/	Jaakii/ Juuma’a
Kk	/k/	Kaddaraa
Ƙ ƙ	/ƙ/	Ƙauna/ Ƙarshe
KW ƙw	/ ƙw/	Ƙwarai/ ƙwaaroo
KY ky	/ky/	Ƙyandaa/ ƙyalle
Ll	/l/	Labarii
Mm	/m/	Mace
Nn	/n/	Nomaa
Rr	/r/	Raino
Ss	/s/	Sarki/ Sarauta
SH sh	/ʃ/	Shiga/ sharaa
Tt	/t/	Taimako
TS ts	/tś/	Tsintuwa/ Tseefee
Ww	/w/	Wurii/ wukaa
Yy	/y/	Yaa/yan
Zz	/z/	Zaunaa

The variations of consonants like /ɓ/[b’], /ɗ/[d’],/ ƙ/[k’], /ƴ/[y’], [ts’], [gw], [gy] /tʃ/ are peculiar with Hausa language and hold no similarities with the French language. The vowel sound is ( 5) five.

Table IV: Wasula (Hausa Vowel sounds)

/a/

/i/

/e/

/o/

/u/

This is different from what we have in the French language. French vowel sounds are divided into (3) three. The oral vowels, the nasal vowels and the semi-vowel sounds.

Language Structure

In general, language structure refers to the basic components and rules that make up a language. These include things like grammar, word order, vocabulary, and phonology (the sounds of the language). Every language has its unique structure, but there are also some common features that many languages share. For example, most languages have nouns, verbs, and adjectives and they use grammar to express things like tense and aspect. Some languages also have complex features like agreement, case, and mood.          

French Language Structure

French like most romance languages, has a relatively simple grammar structure. It has nouns, adjectives, and verbs and uses prepositions to indicate relationships between words. French Nouns have gender and number, and adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. It also has a complex system of verb conjugation, with different endings for different tenses, moods and persons. French grammar prioritizes the set of rules that govern how to create statements, questions and commands.  In many respects, French has similar features to other romance languages. Such as the use of tonal marks, articles, gender consciousness and the creation of new tenses from auxiliaries such as the Verb ‘Ȇtre’, ‘Avoir’ Aller.

Like other languages belonging to a same family group,  modern French language word order is ‘SVO’ although it allows fewer word orders like the old French which has six potential word orders such as ‘VOS, SVO, OSV, SOV,OVS, VSO’.

The parts of speech

The French language has nine parts of speech, also known as lexical categories or word classes.

         i.            Adjective

       ii.            Adverb

     iii.            Article

     iv.            Conjunction

       v.            Interjection

     vi.            Noun

    vii.            Preposition

  viii.            Pronoun

     ix.            Verb

Hausa Language Structure

Hausa like the French language has (8) eight parts of speech not including Article. Article in most Hausa grammar comes in the form of a pronoun. For example:

Akram            (Subject) (Noun)      ya (Pronoun)            sha( Verb)      fura ( object)(Noun)           

As shown above, Hausa is an SVO word order and does not work in another form of VOS, OVS, and SOV orders. According to the book Darussan Hausa 2 (2001): Akwai azuzuwa na kalmomi masu yawa a hausa. Kowace kalma akwai ta a wani aji na musamman wanda ta faɗa ciki”. It uses a variety of particles and affixes to indicate tense, aspect and other grammatical information.

The parts of speech are:

         i.            Suna               Nom

       ii.            Wakilin suna            Pronom

     iii.            Aikatau         Verbe

     iv.            Nunau                       Préposition  

       v.            Motsin rai     Adjonction   

     vi.            Bayanau        Adverbe

   vii.            Siffatau          Adjectif

viii.            Mahada         Conjunction 

 

Similarities and differences

Hausa and French have some similarities and some differences in their language structures.

 

Table V: Similarities and Differences in Language Structure

Column A ( French)	Column B ( Hausa)
Nouns, Verbs, adjectives, prepositions	Nouns, Verbs, adjectives, prepositions
Articles	No articles
Various word order SVO (subject, verb, object) VOS (Verb, Object, subject), OSV (Object, subject, Verb) SOV (Subject, object verb), OVS (Object verb subject), VSO (Verb, subject-object)’.	Only one-word order   SVO(subject, verb, object)
Has no system of honorifics	Has a complex system of honorifics
Inflected language	Inflected language
Gender and number	Gender and number etc.

Verbs and Pronouns in French

French verb is like a two-edged object that utilises patterns. The first pattern is the infinite mood and the second is the conjugated mood.   Every French verb comes in an infinitive mood before it will be conjugated for use in a sentence/ statement. While the conjugated pattern is important in present active tenses, it can also capture a verb in its infinitive mood (as a second verb in a sentence). We have discussed above on gender consciousness, that is to say, gender rule influences verbs as well as numbers (singular and plural form). Pronoun like the conjugation of every verb comes in singular and plural forms (The 1^st person singular, 2^nd to 3^rd person singular and the 1^st person plural, 2^nd and 3^rd person plural). Like singular and plural forms, a pronoun is also influenced by gender rule (Masculine or feminine).

Verbs in French are conjugated to reflect the following information

a.       voice ( active and passive tense )

b.      Reflexive

c.       feature ( perfect features and imperfect features)

d.     tense ( Present, past and future )

e.       indicative, imperative, subjunctive, conditional, infinitive or gerundive tenses

Verbs in French are in infinitive mood different from what is applicable in the Hausa language.  It will then be conjugated to agree with the subject (Person) to create a place for the first person, second person, and third person in singular as well as the plural where you have first, second and third person plural for a present active tenses.  For example, the conjugation of the verb “parler”

Table VI: French Verb and pronoun in present tense

	Pronoun	Verb -Parler
First Person Singular	Je	Parle
Second Person Singular	Tu	parles
Third Person Singular (Masculine)	Il	parle
Third Person Singular (Feminine)	Elle	parle
First Person Plural	Nous	parlons
Second Person Plural	Vous	parlez
Third Person Plural (Masculine)	Ils	Parlent
Third-person plural (Feminine)	Elles	parent

French unlike Hausa is neither a null-subject nor a pro-drop language.

To construct a sentence involving reflexive verbs, past tenses (passé composé, passé historique, plus que parfait etc) auxiliary verbs “Avoir” or Ȇtre” is usually combined with the past participles of main verbs. For future tenses like (future proche) the verb “aller” is used combined with the main verb and for regular future tense it is conjugated in simple future tense. 

Table VII: (French Verb and pronoun in a past tense format Using Verb Avoir

	Pronoun	Past tense auxiliary (Avoir)	Verb Manger
First Person Singular	J’	ai	Mangé
Second Person Singular	Tu	as	Mangé
Third Person Singular (Masculine)	Il	a	Mangé
Third Person Singular (Feminine)	Elle	a	Mangé
First Person Plural	Nous	Avons	Mangé
Second Person Plural	Vous	Avez	Mangé
Third Person Plural (Masculine)	Ils	Ont	Mangé
Third person plural (Feminine)	Elles	Ont	Mangé

 

Table VIII: Passe composé of the verb « Aller » with the auxiliary verb ‘Ȇtre’

	Pronoun	Past tense auxiliary (Ȇtre)	Verb Aller
First Person Singular	Je	Suis	Allé
Second Person Singular	Tu	Es	Allé
Third Person Singular (Masculine)	il	Est	Allé
Third Person Singular (Feminine)	elle	Est	Allée
First Person Plural	nous	Sommes	Allés
Second Person Plural	vous	Etes	Allés
Third Person Plural (Masculine)	ils	Sont	Allés
Third person plural (Feminine)	Elles	Sont	Allées

 

To produce future tense (future proche) in French, the verb “Aller” is used

Example:

Table IX: Future tenses using the Verb “Aller”

	Pronoun	Past tense auxiliary (Aller)	Verb- Réussir
First Person Singular	Je	Vais	Réussir
Second Person Singular	Tu	Vas	Réussir
Third Person Singular (Masculine)	Il	Va	réussir
Third Person Singular (Feminine)	Elle	Va	Réussir
First Person Plural	Nous	allons	Réussir
Second Person Plural	Vous	Allez	Réussir
Third Person Plural (Masculine)	Ils	Vont	Réussir
Third person plural (Feminine)	Elles	Vont	Réussir

 

The imperative mood, which only has first-person plural and second-person singular and plural forms, usually has forms similar or identical to the corresponding ones in the present indicative.

Hausa Pronouns (Wakilin Suna) and Verbs (Aikatau)

Wakilin Suna  (Pronouns)

In Hausa language, whether the subject of a sentence is expressed in a previous sentence or not, a pronoun must accompany every verb in Hausa language. This marks pronoun differences in Hausa and French.

Table X:         Pronouns in perfect tenses and verbs

	Relatives	Negatives	Verb – Zauna
Indefinite	Akà	bà’à ... ba	Zauna
1st person singular	Na	bàn ... ba	Zauna
2nd person singular	Ka (masculine) Kikà (feminine)	bàkà ... ba(Masculine) bàkì ... ba(Feminine)	Zauna
3rd person singular	ya (Masculine) Ta (feminine)	bài ... ba(Masculine) bàtà ... ba(Feminine)	Zauna
1st person plural	Mukà	bàmù ... ba	Zauna
2nd person plural	kukà	bàkù ... ba	Zauna
3rd person plural	sukà	bàsù ... ba	Zauna

 

Continuous tense in Pronoun

 Continuous tense in Hausa Verb: Hausa verb in continuous tense is conjugated adding ya or wa

For example the verb Tafii

Table XI: Continuous tenses in Pronoun and Verb

	Relatives	Negatives	Possessive negatives	Verb  -Tafii
Indefinite	akèː	baː àː	bâː a	Tafiya
1st person singular	nakèː / nikèː	baː nàː	bâː ni	Tafiya
2nd person singular	kakèː(Masculine) kikèː(Feminine)	baː kàː(Masculine) baː kjàː(Feminine)	bâː ka(Masculiine) bâː ki(Feminine)	Tafiya
3rd person singular	jakèː / ʃikèː(Masculine) takèː (Feminine)	baː jàː(Masculine) baː tàː(Feminine)	bâː ʃi(Masculine) bâː ta(Feminine)	Tafiya
1st person plural	mukèː	baː màː	bâː mu	Tafiya
2nd person plural	kukèː	baː kwàː	bâː ku	Tafiya
3rd person plural	sukèː	baː sàː	bâː su	Tafiya

Future Tenses Pronoun:

Verb – Tashii

In future tenses, nothing is added to the verb. It remains the same and not conjugated like what we have in the French language.

Table XII: Future Tenses Pronoun and Verb (Negation)

	Negatives	Tashii
Indefinite	zaː à	Tashii
1st person singular	bà/bàː zân ... ba / bà/bàː zaː nì ... ba	Tashii
2nd person singular	bà/bàː zaː kà ... ba (Masc) bà/bàː zaː kì ... ba (Fem)	Tashii
3rd person singular	bà/bàː zâi ...ba / bà/bàː zaː jà ... (Masc) bà/bàː zaː tà ... ba (Fem)	Tashii
1st person plural	bà/bàː zaː mù ... ba	Tashii
2nd person plural	bà/bàː zaː kù ... ba	Tashii
3rd person plural	bà/bàː zaː sù ... ba	Tashii

 

Similarities and Differences of Pronoun and Verbs in French and Hausa

For Pronouns, the main similarity between French and Hausa pronouns is that both languages distinguish between singular and plural pronouns. However, there are also some differences. In French, there are three grammatical genders for pronouns (Masculine il/lui/son, Feminine elle/sa, Neuter pronouns celui,ce/ceux) all of which agree in gender and number with the noun,  while Hausa has only two (Masculine/Feminine). French also has a formal and informal “you” (tu/ ka/ ke and Vous ka/ke) pronoun, while Hausa use the “you” (Ku/ Vous)- for the plural and it is also applicable in French

Hausa and French verbs share some similarities and some differences. Both languages have a conjugation system that indicates tense, person, and number. However, the way those verbs are conjugated is different in each language. For example, Hausa verbs are conjugated by adding suffixes to the stem, while French verbs are conjugated by changing the endings of the verb.

In terms of similarity, French and Hausa verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. When it requires an object to complete its meaning –it is transitive. For example “to eat” (Manger and ci) requires an object such as (des Pommes/ abinci). When it does not require an object to complete its meaning, it is intransitive. For example, the verb “to stand” (se lever/ Tashi) is intransitive, because it does not require an object. It should be noted that many Hausa verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used in a sentence.

Conclusion

Although translation is simply encoding and decoding from one language into another language yet it involves the ability to understand the phonological systems that govern how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes in both languages; not neglecting the differences in language form as well as the structure.  The contrastive analysis of French and Hausa languages reveals some interesting similarities and differences. Both languages use grammatical gender but in different ways. While both languages have many similarities, the differences between them highlight the unique characteristics of each language. Understanding these differences can help in learning and understanding how best to translate into/from Hausa and French. Also beyond the comparison of grammatical structures, it is interesting to look at how these languages are used in everyday life. For example, French is a Romance language, and its pronunciation and grammar are heavily influenced by Latin. Hausa, on the other hand, is an Afro-Asiatic language with a very different grammatical structure. Hausa is also spoken in many different dialects, and these dialects can vary significantly in terms of pronunciation and grammar. Linguistic diversity is a key feature of the Hausa language.

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