Assimilation in Kassu Zurmi’s Wakokin Barayi (The Songs of Thieves): The Linguistic and Literary Significance

Citation: Ahmad, I. (2025). Assimilation in Kassu Zurmi’s Waƙoƙin Ɓarayi (The Songs of Thieves): The Linguistic and Literary Significance. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 4(1), 55-66. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2025.v04i01.007.

ASSIMILATION IN KASSU ZURMI’S WAƘOƘIN ƁARAYI (THE SONGS OF THIEVES): THE LINGUISTIC AND LITERARY SIGNIFICANCE

Dr. Ibrahim Ahmed
Department of Nigerian Languages and Linguistics
Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria
Phone: 09057706250 / Email: iabg29101968@gmail.com

Abstract

Songs are deliberately composed verbal arts. Hence, singers also wishfully incorporate certain linguistic and literary devices in their songs to achieve the desired literary effects. Against this background, this paper explores four of Kassu Zurmi’s songs labeled as waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ in Hausa Literary Studies, focusing on instances of assimilation in the songs. Using Magaji’s (2016) oral-to-text transcription of the particular songs, and guided by the theoretical view that assimilatory processes constitute some of the major features of the western dialects of Hausa, and can occur across morpheme/word boundaries and within words (Bello, 2015), the paper reaffirms the several occurrences of assimilation across the four songs. The paper argues that the great many instances of assimilation traversing nearly all the verses of each of the songs have both linguistic and literary significance. Linguistically, they do not only determine the singer’s dialectal affiliation but also indicate that West Hausa is the dialectal context in which the songs have been composed, as it is only in the verbal renditions of the western dialects of Hausa that one finds assimilation occurring severally and spontaneously. Literarily, they accentuate the songs’ artistic qualities, as their huge occurrences make the songs artistically spicier and rhythmically/melodically coherent and vibrant.

Keywords: Assimilation, Kassu Zurmi, Waƙoƙin Ɓarayi [The Songs of Thieves] Linguistic and Literary Significance

1.0 Introduction

Kassu Zurmi is a renowned 20^th century Hausa oral singer. His songs (together with those of other like-mind singers) constitute a major genre branded in Hausa Literary Studies as waƙoƙin maza ‘the heroes-praise songs’, and the singers as mawaƙan maza ‘the singers of heroes’ (Gusau, 2003, p. 21 – 22; Ɗangambo, 2008, p. 11 & 28; Magaji, 2016). Thus, Kassu Zurmi is an oral singer whose songs focus mainly on brave/heroic individuals in the Hausa society, particularly mafarauta ‘hunters’, ’yan tauri ‘the tough-skins’, and ɓarayi ‘thieves’. His nobility in the realm of Hausa literature is underscored not just by the heroism evident in the persons he has sung for and how he figuratively represented them in the songs, but also by the density of occurrences of certain interesting linguistic features in the songs, and the precision with which these features are expressed (in the songs). In spite of these seemingly enormous linguistic potentials, far less seems to have been achieved in unveiling them, as there is general paucity of literature on Kassu Zurmi and his art. As far as the writer of this paper is aware, Magaji (2016) is the first and, perhaps, the only major work in this scholarly direction. This knowledge gap is the motivation for writing the current paper. Anchored on this gap, therefore, the paper explores some of Kassu Zurmi’s waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ with the objective of:

a) Identifying the occurrences of assimilation across the verses of each of the selected songs

b) Highlighting the linguistic and literary significance of the identified assimilation occurrences

2.0 A Brief on Kassu Zurmi and his Literary Background

Kassu Zurmi, whose formal birth name is Abubakar, was born in Magarya a town in Zurmi district/division in the present-day Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State. His father and mother were named Muhammadu and Maimuna respectively. Kassu Zurmi lived in Kadawa village about 2 kilometers away from Magarya his birthplace. He did not acquire the boko [i.e. the western] type of education but had received the basics of the Islamic one, particularly Qur’anic memorization. Kassu Zurmi’s father, known then as Muhammadu Ganga, was by occupation an oral singer who used to sing for the hunters. No sooner had Kassu Zurmi reached the adolescent stage than he became fond of going along with his father whenever the former went out to sing for his clients. This was how Kassu Zurmi was initiated into Hausa oral singing, beginning with kiɗan/waƙar farauta ‘the song of hunters’, which he inherited from his father and continued to pursue as his main vocation, though he occasionally sang kiɗan/waƙar noma ‘the song of farmers’. Because of the inseparability of certain occupations and/or skills in the Hausa cultural space, e.g. farauta ‘hunting’ and tauri ‘tough-skinning’, Kassu Zurmi’s literary pursuit took him to as far as singing for not only ’yan tauri ‘tough-skins’ but also for ɓarayi ‘thieves’, hence the emergence of waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ as integral parts of his songs (Magaji, 2016, p. 9 – 12).      

3.0 The Conceptual/Theoretical Underpinnings

Phonological patterns generally, the assimilatory ones inclusive, are cross-linguistic phenomena that occur mostly under predictable conditions and/or environments, therefore, making it difficult for them to escape the sight of scholars in the linguistic enterprise, hence the availability of certain theoretical views explaining or supportive of, for example, the where, how, and how much of the occurrences. This sub-section takes a cursory look at some of these theoretical explanations as they concern the subject matter in focus, i.e. assimilation, primarily to situate the current work in the context and direction of relevant theoretical positions.

3.1 Assimilation

In general, assimilation is a phonological process whereby one sound changes to become more like some other sound in its environment; in other words, it is “the modification of a sound in order to make it more similar to (or identical as) some other sound in its neighbourhood” (Katamba, 1996, p. 36 & 80). In such a process, a (sound) segment takes on features from a neighbouring (sound) segment, such that a consonant may pick up features from a vowel, or a vowel may take on features of a consonant, or one consonant may influence the articulation of another consonant, or one vowel may have an effect on another vowel. As Schane (1973, p. 49 – 52) explicates with corresponding cross-linguistic instantiations, depending on the sound segments involved assimilatory processes may concern consonant-vowel, vowel-consonant, consonant-consonant, or vowel-vowel. As Katamba (1996, p. 84) posits, assimilation may be looked at in terms of directionality – based on whether a sound becomes more like either the sound that precedes it or the sound that follows it; if a sound becomes more like the sound that precedes it, it is regressive assimilation. If on the other hand, a sound is modified such that it becomes more like the following sound, it is progressive (otherwise anticipatory) assimilation. Thus, the occurrence of one form of assimilatory process or the other in the phonologies of languages is underscored by the foregoing theoretical positions.

3.2 Assimilation as a Major Characteristic of West Hausa

Three things need to be made clear before any attempt to delve into discussing assimilation as one of the major characteristics of West Hausa. Firstly, as in other languages e.g. Lugunda, English, Russian, Chatino, Turkish, German, among others (Schane, 1973, p. 50 – 52), in Hausa assimilation is one of the language’s major phonological processes (Sani, 2005, p. 36 – 38). Secondly, Hausa has numerous distinct dialects broadly classified as East Hausa and West Hausa. The eastern dialects include Kananci, Bausanci, Dauranci, Guddiranci, and Zazzaganci, which are (the varieties of Hausa) spoken in Kano, Bauchi, Daura, Guddiri, and Zaria, respectively. The western dialects include Katsinanci, Sakkwatanci, Kurhwayanci, and Arewanci, which are (the varieties of Hausa) spoken in Katsina, Sokoto (including today’s Zamfara and Kebbi States in the northwestern Nigerian sub-region), Kurfey, and Dogon Doutchi (otherwise Dogon Dutse), respectively (Bello, 2015, p. 17). Thirdly, all of these dialects have significant differences in pronunciation (i.e. phonology), grammar, and vocabulary (Newman & Newman, 2001, p. 263), thus the two dialectal divides – i.e. East Hausa and West Hausa – have certain major characteristics that set them apart. Bello (2015, p. 19) argues that the western dialects are well known for regular occurrence of assimilatory processes ACROSS MORPHEME/WORD BOUNDARIES, and WITHIN WORDS. He exemplifies the former as in Table (1) below, though the original exemplification is slightly modified to suit the present purpose:

Table 1: Hausa Assimilation Across Morpheme/Word Boundaries Exemplified

West Hausa	Standard Hausa	Gloss
a) hwáadàs sárkíi	fáadàr sárkíi	emir’s palace
b) rìigám mállâm	rìigár máalâm	teacher’s shirt

It is clear from Table (1) above that, what would normally be hwáadàr ‘the palace’ (otherwise fáadàr in Standard Hausa) ends up as hwáadàs ‘the palace’, in that the genitive marker -r becomes -s having taken the features of the initial consonant of the second form in the genitive construction i.e. sárkìi ‘emir’. Similarly, the form rìigár ‘the shirt’ is realized as rìigám ‘the shirt’ with the genitive marker -r modified to -m having acquired the features of the initial consonant of the second form in the construction i.e. máalâm ‘teacher’. Bello (ibid) stresses that, “The above examples constitute some of the major features of the western dialects as opposed to the standard or the eastern dialects.”

Regarding assimilation within words, the examples provided in Sani (2005, p. 36), though cited in the context of Standard Hausa, look more appropriate for the present purpose. Consider some of the examples in Table (2) below, which are also slightly modified to suit the present purpose:

Table 2: Hausa Assimilation Within Words Exemplified

Set A	Set B	Gloss
a) harda	hadda	Memorization
b) tufka	tukka	plaiting of rope or string
c) barci	bacci	Sleep
d) ƙarni	ƙanni	unpleasant odour, as that of milk
e) rigarsa	rigassa	his gown or shirt

Items (a) to (e) in Table (2) above are clear examples of what Bello (2015) considers as assimilation within words, though his exemplifications do not include items as these ones. Of course, when we look at the items labeled Set A vis-à-vis the ones labeled Set B, we would see that assimilation occurs. We would see that the first consonants of the bold-faced and underlined segments situated in items (a) to (e) of Set A have all acquired the features of the second consonants and, therefore, have been modified to become identical with the second consonants. These modifications are reflected in the items under Set B above. Such is assimilation within words. Schane (1973) views these kinds of segmental modifications as consonant-consonant assimilation, which involves a consonant acquiring the features of a neighbouring consonant. Katamba (1996) sees them as progressive or anticipatory assimilation, which involves the modification of a preceding sound to become more like a following sound.

Therefore, the foregoing postulations and instantiations underscore the linguistic/dialectal basis of Kassu Zurmi’s deep exploitation of assimilatory processes in composing his songs – because West Hausa used to be his native dialect – with the exemplifications providing the current write-up insights on the descriptive model that suits the description of all instances of assimilation found in the focused songs.

3.4 Waƙoƙin Ɓarayi ‘The Songs of Thieves’

The notion waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ represents a sub-category of the larger Hausa literary genre waƙoƙin maza ‘the heroes-praise songs’ (cf. Gusau, 2003, p. 21 – 22; Ɗangambo, 2008, p. 11 & 28; Magaji, 2016). It takes a great deal of courage to be ɓarawo ‘thief’, though being that in all cultures is a taboo. Nonetheless, in the Hausa society certain makaɗan maza ‘the heroes-praise singers’ occasionally sing for ɓarayi ‘thieves’, hence the emergence of waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ in the Hausa literary tradition, which goes to underscore the existence of such songs in the series of Kassu Zurmi’s songs.   

4.0 Methodology

The current study is couched on the descriptive qualitative and quantitative research designs, as both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been adopted to guide the research process. Thus, both primary and secondary forms of data have been used to account for the focused linguistic phenomenon i.e. the occurrences of assimilation in Kassu Zurmi’s waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’, though only four of these songs were selected and investigated. The primary data comprises all the instances of assimilation contained in, and extracted from, all of the selected songs, while the secondary data consist of the theoretical insights, descriptive model, and relevant exemplifications obtained mainly from the relevant literature. The primary data are, in turn, presented and analyzed in tables (3 – 6) with each table containing data in one-word or two-word forms wherein the investigated assimilation occurrences are highlighted (i.e. boldfaced and underlined) under the heading Kassu’s Rendition. To contrast the assimilation-driven segments with their non-assimilated counterparts, equivalent forms (also boldfaced and underlined) as they occur in corresponding items drawn from Standard Hausa are also provided in the fourth columns of the tables, followed by glosses in the fifth columns, primarily to capture the semantic senses in the items. For reference purposes, the verses/lines in which the assimilations occur in the songs are also shown numerically in the sixth (last) columns of the tables with the first number representing the verse and the second one representing the line, e.g. 5:1 (verse 5, line 1) or 12:3 (verse 12, line 3) etc. A statistical summary of the major findings, i.e. the assimilation occurrences in all the studied songs, is also provided in Table (7).

5.0 Assimilation in Kassu Zurmi’s Waƙoƙin Ɓarayi ‘The Songs of Thieves’

In unveiling instances of assimilation in the focused songs, four of such songs have been selected for the task, namely:

a)      Waƙar Adamu Dodo ‘The Song of Adamu Dodo’

b)     Waƙar Sale na Gidan Goga ‘The Song of Sale na Gidan Goga’

c)      Waƙar Iro sai Mame ‘The Song of Iro Sai Mame’

d)     Waƙar Garba Zakokin Zanhwara ‘The Song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara’

5.1 Assimilation in Waƙar Adamu Dodo ‘The Song of Adamu Dodo’

Waƙar Adamu Dodo ‘the song of Adamu Dodo’ comprises 34 verses across which one finds several occurrences of assimilation in the domain of different construction types – genitive, possessive, verbal, prepositional etc. Consider Table (3) below:

Table 3: Assimilation occurrences in Waƙar Adamu Dodo ‘The song of Adamu Dodo’

S/N	Kassu’s Rendition		Standard Hausa Form	Gloss	Verse/ Line of Occurrence in the Song
	Across Morpheme/ Word Boundaries	Within Words
1.	-	ƙahwakka (x 2)	ƙafarka	your (masc.) leg	1:5 & 6:4
2.	ajiyaɗ ɗaka	-	ajiyar ɗaka	something safely kept in a room	2:4
3.	marag gaskiya	-	maras gaskiya	untrust- worthy (person)	5:1
4.	sakam mai	-	sakar mai	surrender (something) to someone	5:2
5.	maganad da	-	maganar da	the talk that; the gist that	7:1
6.	ɓantalat tasoshi	-	ɓantalar tasoshi	breaking off a part of metallic or aluminium basin/bowl (a metaphor)	10:1
7.	mala’ikam Bugaje	-	mala’ikan Bugaje	he that the Tuaregs fear most (lit. angel of the Tuaregs)	12:1
8.	jam banza	-	jan banza	(the) worthless red one (an insult)	12:3
9.	jirgim bisa (x 2)	-	jirgin bisa (otherwise jirgin sama)	airplane (a metaphor)	13:4 & 30:2
10.	’yatc tcelen (x 2)	-	’yar tselen	(literarily: ‘the daughter of the vagina…’); vulgar/taboo expression	13:4 & 30:2
11.	uway yaya (x 2)	-	uwar yaya	(literarily: ‘mother who gathers something e.g. grasses’); master carrier (a metaphor)	13:4 & 30:2
12.	-	rigimakka	rigimarka	your trouble/the trouble you make	13:5
13.	(ba su) ƙamnah haske	-	(ba su) ƙaunar haske	(they dis-) like brightness	14:2
14.	dukiyab bahili	-	dukiyar bahili	the stingy person’s wealth	16:1
15.	-	ɓanna (x 4)	ɓarna	destruction/damage	16:2; 16:3; 29:5 & 34:2
16.	uwaz zaci	-	uwar zaci	someone with arrogant disposition	18:3
17.	gobarah hannu	-	gobarar hannu	misery (a metaphor)	24:5
18.	’yam ɓace-ɓace (x 2)	-	’yan ɓace-ɓace (otherwise ’yan zage-zage)	to make insults repeatedly/periodically	25:2 & 32:3
19.	ɗam bura (uba)	-	ɗan bura (uba)	(literarily: ‘the son of penis…’); vulgar/taboo  expression	25:3
20.	ginat tama	-	ginar tama	iron ore mining	26:2
21.	baƙad dabba	-	baƙar dabba	black beast/ animal	26:3
22.	bautag godiya	-	bautar godiya	a debt of gratitude	28:1
23.	hay yau	-	har yau	yet still/ nevertheless	28:3
24.	-	motakka	Motarka	your car	29:2
25.	dilat turamen	-	dilar turamen		29:2
26.	’yam ɓurme-ɓurme	-	’yan ɓurme- ɓurme	to make repeated/ periodic destructions	31:5

Discussion/Findings

A closer and careful look at all the items in the second column vis-à-vis the corresponding forms in the third column of Table (3) above should lead to the understanding that no fewer than 34 cases of assimilation occur in the song under consideration. In each case, the sound segments involved are bold-faced and underlined. Thus, on the one hand we would see that 26 of the cases (i.e. S/Nos. 2 – 11, 13, 14, 16 – 23, 25 & 26) are representations of the across morpheme/word boundaries type of assimilation (= 76% of the total occurrences). In all these 26 cases, assimilation involves two adjacent consonants with the preceding ones (i.e. consonants ending the preceding or first morphemes) taking on features of the following sounds (i.e. the initial consonants of the following or second morphemes) such that both sounds become exactly or very nearly alike. On the other hand, the remaining 8 cases (i.e. S/Nos. 1, 12, 15 & 24) occur within words (= 24% of the total occurrences). In view of these discoveries, it becomes clear that in composing the song, Kassu Zurmi adequately used assimilatory processes.

5.2 Assimilation in Waƙar Sale na Gidan Goga ‘The Song of Sale na Gidan Goga’

Waƙar Sale na Gidan Goga ‘the song of Sale na Gidan Goga’ is a 20-verse song in which could be found the occurrences of assimilation cutting across almost all the verses. Consider Table (4) below:

Table 4: Assimilation occurrences in Waƙar Sale na Gidan Goga ‘The song of Sale na Gidan Goga’

S/N	Kassu’s Rendition		Standard Hausa Form	Gloss	Verse/ Line of Occurrence in the Song
	Across Morpheme/ Word Boundaries	Within Words
1.	babam Mamman (x 2)	-	baban Mamman	Mamman’s father	1:1 & 9:4
2.	taƙamad da	-	taƙamar da	the boast (I do)	2:1
3.	tabrahw hwatu	-	tabrar fatu (?)	cut-proof/ cut-resistant (persons)	3:2
4.	roƙom mutum (x 2)	-	roƙon mutum	someone’s (extent of) begging	4:1 & 17:4
5.	ƙwancim mutum (x 2)	-	ƙwancin mutum	someone’s (extent of) gluttony	4:2 & 17:1
6.	watam bakwai	-	watan bakwai	the seventh month	5:3
7.	-	wasammu	wasanmu	our play/ joke/fun	5:5
8.	hay ya(z)	-	har ya(z)	he even	7:1
9.	’yatc tcelen	-	’yar tselen	(literarily: ‘the daughter of the vagina of…’); vulgar/taboo expression	8:1
10.	uway yaya	-	uwar yaya	(literarily: ‘mother who gathers something e.g. grasses’); master carrier (a metaphor)	8:1
11.	dut ta	-	duk ta	she altogether	8:3
12.	hat ta(k/z) (x 2)	-	har ta(k/z)	she even/ she went further	9:1 & 10:1
13.	dud don	-	duk don	all because of/all due to	14:9
14.	had da	-	har da	including	14:1

Discussion/Findings          

Table (4) above exemplifies 18 occurrences of assimilation in Waƙar Sale na Gidan Goga ‘The song of Sale na Gidan Goga’. Interestingly, except in the case of one item (i.e. S/N 7) in which assimilation occurs within a word (= 6% of the total occurrences), all other occurrences (i.e. S/Nos. 1 – 6, 8 – 14) represent the across morpheme/word boundaries assimilation type (= 94% of the total occurrences). In the light of these revelations, there is no gainsaying that in composing the song under consideration Kassu Zurmi substantially employed different assimilation patterns.

5.3 Assimilation in Waƙar Iro sai Mame ‘The Song of Iro sai Mame’

Waƙar Iro sai Mame ‘The song of Iro sai Mame’ is comprised of 30 verses. In this song, Kassu Zurmi used assimilatory processes, as Table (5) below substantiates:

Table 5: Assimilation occurrences in Waƙar Iro sai Mame ‘The song of Iro sai Mame’

S/N	Kassu’s Rendition		Standard Hausa Form	Gloss	Verse/ Line of Occurrence in the Song
	Across Morpheme/ Word Boundaries	Within Words
1.	gidam Mamman (x 4)	-	gidan Mamman	Mamman’s house	1:1; 7:2; 26:9 & 30:1
2.	kash sheri	-	kar sheri	let not blackmail (befalls you)	1:4
3.	hanyash shiririta (x 2)	-	hanyar shiririta	(the path to) unserious behaviour	2:1 & 2:2
4.	hid da	-	fit(ar) da	remove or take out	5:3
5.	hanyan nan	-	hanyar nan	this path or way; that path or way	8:2
6.	baj jan (x 4)	-	bar jan	(you/they dare) not provoke (them/you)	9:1; 9:2; 14:1 & 14:2
7.	’yam banza (x 2)	-	’yan banza	worthless them (abusive expression); an insult	9:2 & 14:2
8.	kuwwan nan	-	ku(w)war nan	that shout	13:2
9.	ɓarawom mi!	-	ɓarawon me!	what thief!	14:6
10.	ɗakim mutum (x 2)	-	ɗakin mutum	someone’s room	18:1 & 22:7
11.	-	sa’akka	sa’arka	(be) triumphant over you	22:2
12.	kamaz za (ka)	-	kamar za (ka)	as if you will	23:1
13.	kamak karnai	-	kamar karnuka	like dogs	23:4
14.	duy ya	-	duk ya	he entirely	25:2
15.	-	kikkimtsa[1] < kimkimtsa	kikkimtsa/ kimkimtsa	be well prepared	25:2
16.	-	yanyakke[2] < yanyanke	yanyanke/ yayyanke	be severally cut	26:3
17.	’yag gitta	-	’yar gitta	small sharp axe	26:5
18.	’yag gora	-	’yar gora	a small jug or a small bamboo stick	26:7
19.	-	yanyakka[3] < yanyanka	yanyanka/ yayyanka	to cut severally	26:7
20.	bak ka	-	bar ka	left you (empty-handed)	27:1
21.	wuƙag gutsu	-	wuƙar gutsu	waist-knife	27:3
22.	awazzum mutun	-	awazun mutum	someone’s rib bones	28:1
23.	’yag guntuwas	-	’yar guntuwar	a short (fem.) one	28:2
24.	guntuwas sanda	-	guntuwar sanda	a short stick	28:2
25.	’yatc tcelen (uwa)	-	’yar tselen (uwa)	(literarily: ‘the daughter of the vagina of…’); vulgar/ taboo expression	28:7

Discussion/Findings

Table (5) above provides evidence of occurrence of assimilation patterns in Waƙar Iro sai Mame ‘The song of Iro sai Mame’. Of the 34 occurrences of assimilation discovered, 30 cases (i.e. S/Nos. 1 – 10, 12 – 14, 17, 18, 20 – 25) represent the across morpheme/word boundaries form of assimilation (= 88% of the total occurrences) while the rest (i.e. S/Nos. 11, 15, 16 & 19) exemplify assimilation within words (= 12%). Therefore, the entire extracts in the table are evidential of the presence of several different forms of assimilation in this particular song.

5.4 Assimilation in Waƙar Garba Zakokin Zanhwara ‘The Song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara’

Waƙar Garba Zakokin Zanhwara ‘the song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara’ is 12-verse length. In the song could also be found the occurrence of several assimilation patterns, as the following extracts exemplify:

Table 6: Assimilation occurrences in Waƙar Garba Zakokin Zanhwara ‘The song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara’

S/N	Kassu’s Rendition		Standard Hausa Form	Gloss	Verse/ Line of Occurrence in the Song
	Across Morpheme/ Word Boundaries	Within Words
1.	-	annan	arnan	pagans of (a metaphor)	2:1
2.	duy ya(s)	-	duk ya	(he that) gets/got	2:2
3.	hay ya (x 2)	-	har ya	he even; until he	3:2 & 4:3
4.	im mutum (x 4)	-	in mutum	if someone	4:1; 5:1; 5:2; 5:4
5.	-	tahiyakka	tafiyarka	your kind of movement	5:3
6.	uwan nan	-	uwar nan	literarily: ‘this mother’ (used as part of vulgar/taboo expression as in ‘ɗan durun uwan/-r nan’)	5:3
7.	mugunyah hiɗa	-	muguwar hiɗa (otherwise muguwar fiɗa)	merciless butchering	8:1
8.	’yag guzuma	-	’yar guzuma	an aged and emaciated cow	10:4
9.	ruggaɗ ɗan	-	rugar ɗan	the ruga ‘Fulani home’ of	11:1
10.	amsad dokin	-	amsar dokin	receive the horse of (a metaphor)	12:1
11.	saniyas sarki	-	saniyar sarki	emir’s cow	12:2
12.	dub ba	-	duk ba	never at all	12:6

 

Discussion/Findings

In Table (6) above, we see the evidence of occurrences of assimilation in Waƙar Garba Zakokin Zanhwara ‘the song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara’, the general outlook of which is not significantly different from related occurrences presented in the preceding tables (i.e. 3 – 5 above). 16 cases of assimilation have been identified occurring in the song, with 14 of the cases (i.e. S/Nos. 2 – 4, 6 – 12) reflecting the across morpheme/word boundaries form of assimilation (= 87.5% of the total occurrences) while the remaining 2 cases (i.e. S/Nos. 1 & 5) exemplify assimilation within words (= 12.5% of the total occurrences). All of the extracts, therefore, are supportive of the presence of assimilatory patterns in the song.

5.5 Statistical Summary of the Major Findings

Table 7: Statistical summary of assimilation occurrences in selected Kassu Zurmi’s Waƙoƙin Ɓarayi ‘The Songs of thieves’

S/N	Assimilation Type	Assimilation Occurrences By Song
		Song
		SAD		SSGG		SISM		SGZZ
		No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
1.	Across Morpheme/Word Boundaries	26	76	17	94	30	88	14	87.5
2.	Within Words	8	24	1	6	4	12	2	12.5
Total		36	100	18	100	34	100	17	100

Key to Acronyms:

SAD = Song of Adamu Dodo

SSGG = Song of Sale na Gidan Goga

SIM = Song of Iro sai Mame

SGZZ = Song of Garba Zakokin Zanhwara

5.6 The Linguistic and Literary Significance

Since songs are deliberately composed verbal arts, singers tend to incorporate certain linguistic and literary devices also deliberately to make their songs appear truly poetic, i.e. to sound melodic/rhythmic and look aesthetic. In response to this fundamental literary requirement, Kassu Zurmi radically employed assimilation in composing the waƙoƙin ɓarayi ‘the songs of thieves’ studied in this paper. Thus, the use and the extent of use of this unique and interesting Hausa phonological feature in the songs are significant in the following major respects:

a)      Linguistically, aside from being major determinants of the poet’s dialectal affiliation the discovered assimilatory patterns indicate that West Hausa is the dialectal context in which the songs have been composed, as it is only in the verbal renditions of the western dialects of Hausa that one finds assimilation occurring severally and spontaneously.

b)     Literarily, the identified assimilatory patterns accentuate the songs’ artistic qualities, as their occurrences and the density thereof make the songs artistically spicier and rhythmically/melodically coherent and vibrant.

6.0 Conclusion

This paper examined four of Kassu Zurmi’s songs of the thieves and identified huge occurrences of assimilation therein, the details of which have been presented and analyzed in tables (3 – 6) with each table containing data relating to a specific song. The paper discovered that Kassu Zurmi radically employed across morpheme/word boundaries assimilation and within words assimilation in composing the songs. On the strength of this discovery, the paper posited that the assimilation occurrences that hugely characterize the songs have both linguistic and literary significance, as they are not only indicators of the singer’s dialectal affiliation and the dialectal context in which the songs were composed but are also boosters of the songs’ artistic qualities.

References

Bello, A. (2015). The Dialects of Hausa (revised edition). Ahmadu Bello University Press Limited.

Ɗangambo, A. (2008). Rabe-raben Adabin Hausa (sabon tsari). Amana Publishers Limited.

Gusau, S. M. (2003). Jagoran Nazarin Waƙar Baka. Benchmark Publishers Limited.

Katamba, F. (1996). An Introduction to Phonology. Longman.

Magaji, A. (2016). Kassu Zurmi da Waƙoƙinsa. Spectrum Books Limited.

Sani, M. A. Z. (2005). An Introductory Hausa Phonology. Al-Amin Publishers Company.

Schane, S. A. (1973). Generative Phonology. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

 

---

[1]. This is a Hausa intensive verb form derived from its corresponding primary form kimtsa ‘be ready or prepared’ which, prior to the assimilation highlighted within, has undergone partial reduplication involving the repeat and subsequent prefixing of the verb’s first syllable kim- to the whole verb, hence the intensive form kimkimtsa/kikkimtsa ‘be well/fully prepared’ i.e. kim- + kimtsa = kimkimtsa ® kikkimtsa.   

[2]. This too is an intensive verb in Hausa derived from its corresponding primary form yanke ‘surely cut (off)’. Prior to the assimilation highlighted, the verb form has also undergone partial reduplication involving the repeat and subsequent prefixing of the verb’s first syllable (i.e. yan-) to its stem (i.e. yanke), hence the intensive form yanyanke (without assimilation) in the first instance, which transforms toyanyakke (with assimilation) i.e. yan- + yanke = yanyanke ® yanyakke.  

[3]. This is another Hausa intensive verb that is also derived from its corresponding primary form yanka ‘cut off’. Prior to the assimilation highlighted, the verb form has also undergone partial reduplication involving the repeat and subsequent prefixing of the verb’s first syllable (i.e. yan-) to its stem (i.e. yanka), hence the intensive form yanyanka (without assimilation), which transforms to yanyakka (with assimilation) i.e. yan- + yanka = yanyanka ® yanyakka.  

Get the full PDF here: