A Study of Epicene (Common Gender Nouns) In Some Selected Hausanized English Words

Citation: Saifullahi Dahiru USMAN & Muhammad Sagir ABDULLAHI (2020). A Study of Epicene (Common Gender Nouns) In Some Selected Hausanized English Words. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. .8 Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660

A STUDY OF EPICENE (COMMON GENDER NOUNS) IN SOME SELECTED HAUSANIZED ENGLISH WORDS

Saifullahi Dahiru USMAN

&

Muhammad Sagir ABDULLAHI

Abstract

This paper surveys and address the problem common gender in some of the English loanwords that were hausanized and used by the Hausa native speakers and presently became part of their Hausa language. Many Hausa speakers particularly non-native, do encounter problems when dealing with epicene (common gender) nouns in Hausa. That is why the focus of this study is centered on English loanwords in Hausa that only belong to noun class and categorized linguistically as epicene (common gender). Thus, this paper therefore, only aims at investigating and studying epicene (common gender) from those nouns, with a sole purpose of discovering whether those nouns that are epicene i.e. common gender by nature in English language still maintain their status of epicenism (commonness) after they have been borrowed and imported into the Hausa language.

Definition of Some Key Terms:

Gender: is usually used in grammatical category which refers to the fact of being male or female, especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences, not biological differences.

Epicene/Common Gender: is mainly used in grammatical category that refers to a word having one form to represent both male and female.

Sex: is frequently used in biological category which refers to the state of being male or female. Sex is sometimes used interchangeably with gender.

List of Abbreviations

F = Feminine

M = Masculine

EG = Epicene Gender/Common Gender

GN = Gender Neutral

GS = Gender Specific

1.0 Introduction

“Gender is a fascinating category, central and pervasive in some languages and totally absent in others.” (Corbett, 1991)

This paper is primarily designed to investigate and study the epicene gender in the hausanized English words. It is undisputable fact among scholars (more especially linguists and particularly sociolinguists) that Hausa language borrowed extensively from English language. However, the concept of epicene gender has for so long been studied and defined by many linguists particularly grammarians in many different languages. According to Bussmann, (1988, p.150) epicene is a noun which can refer to both male and female entities without changing its grammatical gender. Similarly, Hey et al (2015, p. 516) maintain that epicene is part of grammar which refers to a word having one form to represent both male and female. You can write ‘s/he’ as an epicene pronoun when you are not referring to men or women. In language and linguistic study, epicene gender is sometimes referred to as gender-neutral. According to Newmann (2000, p. 110) all compound nouns have gender in Hausa language, though some compound nouns could refer to both genders e.g. Idon-sani (acquaintance), Tattava-kunne (great-grandchild) etc. Newmann (2000, p. 200) further reveals that epicene nouns are found in Hausa and also in many other Chadic languages. For example, in Hausa language, the following words in the table below are all categorized as epicene by gender because there is no distinction between male and female:

S/No.	Hausa Words	Gloss
1.	Likita	Medical doctor/Physician
2.	Autaa	Lastborn/Youngest child
3.	Shaashashaa	Foolish
4.	Butulu	Ungrateful
5.	Agoola	Stepchild
6.	Baaree	Outsider
7.	Zabiyaa	Albino
8.	Waadaa	Dwarf
9.	Kurmaa	Deaf
10.	Talaka	Poor

 

The above examples of Hausa words are all considered as epicene gender nouns, because they are not gender-specific i.e. they do not specifically belong to either feminine or masculine gender, but rather they can be used or assigned to both genders i.e. male and female. Therefore, in this case, the gender of the above Hausa words cannot be easily derived when the words are in isolation. Their gender can only be deduced or understood when they are used in a particular sentential environment with the help of other neighbouring linguistic entities which surround them in the sentence. For example, when we consider the word butulu (ungrateful) in the following expression:

1. Na tsani butulu a rayuwata. Which means I hate ungrateful person in my life.

We can see that the word butulu is an epicene noun because it has no gender specification at all in the above construction. Therefore, in this case, the object butulu could refer to either male or female. But when we say:

2. Audu butulu ne or Binta butulu ce. Which means Audu is ungrateful or

Binta is ungrateful.

The word ‘ne’ (which stands as masculine gender marker) and the word ‘ce’ (that serves as feminine gender marker) are the only linguistic entities that determine and clarify the gender of the word ‘butulu’ in the above sentence. However, the concern of this study is not on Hausa words but only on English words that have been borrowed and hausanized by the Hausa speakers.

1.1 The Concept of Gender in Natural Language:

Humphreys (1973, p. 22) opines that, in the matter of gender, English language is simpler than most languages because in English, the gender of the noun is determined by its meaning and not by its form. But this is not the case in Latin, for instance. The word for the noun sailor is nauta, and that is a feminine form. In English, sailor, referring to a man, is a masculine gender. Similarly, Quirk & Greenbaum (1973, p. 89) also express that English language makes very few gender distinctions. Where they are made, the connection between the biological category ‘sex’ and the grammatical category ‘gender’ is very close, in so far as natural sex distinctions determine English gender distinctions. They further maintain that, it is typical of English that special suffixes are not generally used to mark gender distinctions. Nor are gender distinctions made in the article. Some pronouns are gender-sensitive (the personal he, she, it, and objective her, him as well as the relative who, which etc.). On his part, Newmann (2000, p. 200) reveals that the issue of gender in Hausa is a two-term: masculine and feminine. It is operative only in the singular. There is no distinction in the plural. Newmann further states that, epicene nouns are found in Hausa and also in many other Chadic languages. However, Pawlak (2014, p. 172) investigates and discusses the Hausa gender sensitive lexicon in cultural context. In this study, two pairs of nouns which are gender-specific in Hausa (i.e. mutum/maataa which correspond with miji/maataa = man/woman and husband/wife) were purposely selected and used for the analysis.

2.0 Previous Researches on Gender Studies

The study of gender is an interesting area that usually affects and attracts the attention of many other academic disciplines. That is why many scholars particularly of anthropology, biology, psychology, sociology, sociolinguistics; grammar and rhetorics have been conducting various researches on gender and gender-related-issues viewing and describing it from different perspectives. But this paper primarily endeavours to view gender from linguistic perspective only. Scholars who previously contributed on this issue include, Schon (1862), Migeod (1914) and Tylor (1959) who are even regarded as part of the pioneer researchers on Hausa studies. In his influential work for instance, Migeod (1914, p. 16) convincingly explains the concept of grammatical gender in Hausa language and the ways in which it operates as well as the major distinctions between Hausa and its neighbouring languages. Similarly, Galadanci (1976, p. 53) discusses the issue of gender and its classifications in Hausa. His work reveals that Hausa language, like many other natural languages, has three basic types of gender i.e. masculine, feminine and common gender. Galadanci further states that words such as: agoola (stepchild), banzaa (useless), edita (editor), kaakaa (grandparent), talaka (poor) all have common gender in Hausa. Likewise, Humphreys (1973, p. 22), Quirk and Greenbaum (1973, p. 89), Ibrahim (1973, p. 13), Bussmann (1988, p. 181), Baron (1986, p. 18) as well as Das (2007, p. 47) and many others, have significantly discussed the issue of grammatical/linguistic gender in their various works. They have also established the importance of gender in language study specifically when it comes to the issue of grammatical/syntactic analysis.

3.0 Methodology

This study is purely descriptive in nature because it only investigates and describes a particular linguistic phenomenon i.e. common gender in Hausa words that are not originally Hausa but borrowed from English language and adopted as Hausa words by the Hausa speakers. However, about thirty hausanized English words were randomly selected and used by the researchers as sample data of this research paper. Therefore, in their effort to gather factual and reliable data in this research paper, the researchers as Hausa native speakers, used their native speakers’ intuition in sourcing and analyzing the primary data of the research. Furthermore, since Hausa language is very rich in dialectal variations, this paper only restricts itself within Kano dialectal i.e. Kananci but not any other dialect. Thus, all the primary data are sourced from Kano, some part of it from Hausa news of some radio stations located in Kano such as, Arewa Radio, Rahama Radio, Freedom Radio etc.

4.0 Data Presentation and Analysis

This segment of the research is going to present, analyse and discuss the primary data of this research work. First of all, the data is presented in a tabular form and the analysis and discussion of the data follow immediately.

Table One

In this table, some samples of selected English epicene words that were hausanized are presented.

S/No.	Hausa	English	English	Status in Hausa
1.	Lauyaa	Lawyer	EG	EG
2.	Injiiniyaa	Engineer	EG	EG
3.	Editaa	Editor	EG	EG
4.	Direeba	Driver	EG	EG
5.	Farfeesa	Professor	EG	EG
6.	Daktaa	Doctor	EG	EG
7.	Leeburaa	Labourer	EG	EG
8.	Kiliinaa	Cleaner	EG	EG
9.	Kwamandaa	Commander	EG	EG
10.	Akantaa	Accountant	EG	EG
11.	Manajaa	Manager	EG	EG
12.	Masinjaa	Messenger	EG	EG
13.	Fasinjaa	Passenger	EG	EG
14.	Ministaa	Minister	EG	EG
15.	Kiristaa	Christian	EG	EG
16.	Sooja	Soldier	EG	EG
17.	Lakcaraa	Lecturer	EG	EG
18.	Gwamnaa	Governor	EG	EG
19.	Kansilaa	Councilor	EG	EG
20.	Kwastan	Custom	EG	EG
21.	Teela	Tailor	EG	EG
22.	Kwamandaa	Commander	EG	EG
23.	Birkilaa	Bricklayer	EG	EG
24.	Kwandastaa	Conductor	EG	EG
25.	Mambaa	Member	EG	EG
26.	Nas	Nurse	EG	EG
27.	Daraktaa	Director	EG	EG
28.	Firsinaa	Prisoner	EG	EG
29.	Janar	General	EG	EG
30.	Kanar	Colonel	EG	EG

 4.1 Analysis/Discussion

In the above table, we have clearly seen that the above thirty (30) words are all epicene gender/gender-neutral in both English and Hausa languages. Because they can be assigned to both masculine or feminine nouns without any form of linguistic modification such as, adding a prefix or suffix to the original word in order to indicate its masculinity or femininity in the languages. For example: In English expression, it is acceptable to say:

 i. Binta (f.) is a lawyer/Audu (m.) is a lawyer.

 ii. Amina (f.) has become an engineer/Aminu (m.) has become an engineer.

Similarly, in Hausa expression, it is also allowed to say:

 i. Binta lauya ce/Audu lauya ne.

 ii. Amina ta zama injiniya/Audu ya zama injiniya.

Table Two:

In this table, another sample of hausanized English words are also presented.

S/No.	Hausa	English	English Status	Hausa Status
1.	Kwamishina/Kwamishiniya	Commissioner	GN	GS
2.	Sakatare/Sakatariya	Secretary	GN	GS
3.	Makanike/Makanikiya or	Mechanic	GN	GS
4.	Bakanike/Bakanikiya	Mechanic	GN	GS

 Analysis/Discussion

In the above table, unlike in the previous table, here we have obviously seen some few examples of epicene gender nouns that violate the rule of maintaining their epicenism. Instead of being them gender-neutral in English, they function and operate differently in Hausa as gender-specific i.e. there is a clear morphological distinction between the masculine and feminine gender. Example: In Hausa, we normally say:

 i. Kwamishinan ilimin ya iso/Kwamishiniyar ilimin ta iso.

 ii. An naɗa sabon sakataren gwamnati/An naɗa sabuwar sakatariyar gwamnati.

These examples and many others were extracted by the researchers from some of the Kano radio stations while broadcasting their daily Hausa news.

But in English, there is no such distinction in these nouns:

1. The commissioner (m.) of education has arrived/The commissioner (f.) of education has arrived.

2. A new secretary (m.) to the government was appointed/A new secretary (f.) to the government was appointment.

5.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has clearly shown that there exist many epicene gender nouns in English, and that most of those epicene gender nouns maintain their epicenism in Hausa after they have been borrowed by Hausawas and imported into their Hausa language. The study has also discovered that there are some few exceptions with regard to some words, because some epicene gender nouns deviate or violate that rule of maintaining their epicenism after they have been borrowed and thus, they operate quite differently. Such words include, commissioner and secretary which are purely gender-neutral (i.e. epicene) in English but gender-specific (i.e. not epicene) in Hausa because there are both kwamishina (m.) and kwamishiniya (f.), sakatare (m.) and sakatariya (f.).

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