Phonological Deviation in Mudi Sipikin’s Poetry

Citation: Adamu Abdulsalam (2017). Phonological Deviation in Mudi Sipikin’s Poetry. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. 5. Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660

PHONOLOGICAL DEVIATION IN MUDI SIPIKIN’S POETRY

By

Adamu Abdulsalam

Abstract

This paper as its title implies Phonological Deviation in Mudi Sipikin’s Poetry is a linguistic study of poetic license in some selected poems of Mudi Sipikin. The paper analyzed the selected poems with the view to finding the linguistic deviations in them at the level of phonology. The primary source of data used for this research is Sipikin (1971): Tsofaffi da Sababbin Waqoqin Alhaji Mudi Sipikin. After examination and analyses of the poems, the study finds out that Mudi Sipikin deviates in his poems at phonological level where he uses aphaeresis, syncope, apocopation, clipping and contraction to break the phonological provisions of certain words when he wants to maintain a certain rhyme or metre.

1.0  INTRODUCTION

Ramsaran (1983:1) says “poetry is deviation from the norms of the language.” The types of deviation which she considers in her Poetry in the Language Classroom include phonological deviation, lexical deviation, syntactic deviation, semantic deviation, graphological deviation and stylistic deviation. This paper attempts to discuss the phonological deviations found in Mudi Sipikin’s poetry.

Despite the fact that poets have mastered the various sounds and the ways they are organized or structured, they pronounce certain word as they like, by changing or removing some elements in their structures. These types of practices appear in Mudi Sipikin’s poems in the form of vowel change, apocopation, clipping, syncopation, aphaeresis and in some cases contraction.

2. 0 VOWEL CHANGE FOR RHYME

This is a process whereby the final vowel of a word is replaced by another vowel as in the case of modification (see Abubakar, 2001). Unlike in modification where the difference between the base form and the derived or inflected form may be in the vowel quality, here Mudi Sipikin is found to change the final vowel of certain words to achieve and maintain a given rhyme. Look at the example below:

(1). Don Nabiyu Muhammadu   For sake of Prophet Muhammad

Da Shehu Tijjani Ahmadu   And Sheikh Ahmadu Tijjani

A daina gaba da hassadu   Let us shun enmity and envy

Mu ji tsoron fa Auhadu   And fear the one and only God

Kar ya tura mu Hawuya   Lest He puts us in hell (Hawuya)

(Nasiha ga ‘Yan Siyasa)

The last word in the third line is supposed to be hassada not hassadu but Mudi Sipikin changes the final /a/ vowel with the /u/ vowel to achieve his internal rhyme of the stanza that ends in du syllable.

3.0 APOCOPE

“The term apocopation is used for the optional dropping of final vowel where the tone is retained e.g kádà (→) kâr ‘don’t’, Hàlíilù (→) Halîl ‘proper name” (Newman, 2000). Mudi Sipikin engages in this act whenever he wants to maintain an existing order of his metre as follows:

(2).   _  _¹  Ɓ   v²  _¹ Ɓ _  v _ Ɓ   _    v   _  Ɓ_³

Hanyar zaman laafiyaa sai mu bii taa,  We should follow the roadmap to peace

v²   _¹Ɓv² v _Ɓ   _  v   _  Ɓ  _   v    _ Ɓ  _³

Mu daina qiyayyaa da gaabaa da wautaa,  And shun enmity and foolishness

v²   _¹  Ɓ   _  v  _ Ɓ  _   v   _  Ɓ  _    v  _ Ɓ  _³

Mu zam maasu kirkii rashin yin muguntaa,  Let us be kind and stop wickedness

_   _¹ Ɓ v²  _¹ Ɓ _  v _   Ɓ _    v   _  Ɓ_³

Too yanzu dai har idan mun fahintaa  Now, if we understand all these

_   _ ¹Ɓv  _ Ɓ v² v  _ Ɓ   _    v   _

Duk arzikii mu yi kiishii nasaa  We should cherish all good things

(Murna Mulkin kan Jahar Arewa)

The complete form of the third line in the stanza is supposed to be:

(3).   v   v v Ɓ  _  v _  Ɓ _ ³ Ɓ   v² v   _  Ɓ  _   v  _  Ɓ _³

Mu zama maasu kirkii da rashin yin muguntaa

?  + 5 + 5 + 5  

But Mudi Sipikin deletes the final vowel of zama as follows:

/zámá/ becomes Ɗzámɗ

Mudi Sipikin deletes this element in order to maintain his Mutadarak metre (5+5) of the poem. Maintaining the complete structure for the sake of preserving the original form would have rendered the scansion of the metre to be unaccounted for in Hausa prosody. This will be as a result of the insertion of three short moras in the beginning of the line. This has rendered the arrangement anomalous one as seen above.

Another case of apocopation can be seen in the following stanza:

(4).   v  v   _     v _  Ɓv  v   _      v  _  Ɓ _⁴ _   v _

Muka kwan cikin haka duk munaa yin al’ajab      We spent the night (on the plane) thinking of its wonders

_⁴ _     v   _ Ɓ  v  v     _  v    _ Ɓ  v    v   _ v  _

Mun bar Kanoo kuma yanzu gaa mu Areebiyaa We left Kano and now we are on Arabian (land)

(Waqar Ziyarar Rum…)

In the first line of the stanza, the word kwan is supposed to be kwana but it is changed as follows:

 

The low central vowel /a/ has been apocopated as a result of the poet’s search for the Kaamil metre. Maintaining the original form of the word kwana would have given the metre the following form:

V V – V ^? V – Ɓ V V – V –  Ɓ– ⁴ –  V –

That is to say the scansion will be unaccountable because of the insertion of a short syllable (marked v^? ) within the foot. This is not possible in Hausa metric rules. In an attempt to avoid this complication, Mudi Sipikin apocopated the low central vowel so that metre will remain intact without the wrong foot.

4.0 CLIPPING

Abubakar (2001) defines clipping as a way of word coining by shortening the base. Newman (2000) says the term clipping is used to describe lexicalized, sometimes grammatically conditioned short forms where the shortening cannot be considered as simply a fast-speech variant. Generally speaking, clipping results in the deletion of the tone along with the deleted segment(s) e.g qásà ‘on the ground’ → qás not *qâs; sánìi ‘kwow’ → sán not *sân.

In their efforts to maintain rhyme or metre, poets have been found to employ the technique or process of clipping segments from lexical items.

4.1 CLIPPING FOR MAINTAINING RHYME

Mudi Sipikin adopts the process of clipping for the sake of maintaining a given rhyme as in the following example:

(6). Ga ni ni na roqi Allah  Here I am asking the Most High

Nai salati mai kamala    May His peace and blessings

Gun Masoyi mai jalala  Be upon the Beloved (Prophet)

Har Sahabbai duk da Ala  His companions and members of his household

Nai salami ba tukewa.   I pray for eternal peace.

(Maraba da Shehu)

The word Ala in the fourth line in supposed to be Alaye, a term used to refer to the members of the household of Prophet Muhammad. Mudi Sipikin clipped the word to Ala in order to maintain his la internal rhyme; otherwise the full word would have distorted the rhyming of the stanza.

4.2 CLIPPING FOR MAINTAINING METER

Mudi Sipikin sometimes clips certain segments in a word in order to maintain a given metre. Look at the following examples:

(7).   _⁴  _    v   _   Ɓ  v  v   _     v  _

Tun baabu qas kuma baa samaa  Since there was no earth nor the heavens

_⁴  _    v   _  Ɓv v   _  v  _

Tun can azal aka girmamaa  He was honored since the beginning of time

v v   _  v  _   Ɓ  _⁴  _    v   _

Darajarsa tun can an gamaa  His glory was full and complete

_⁴  _    v   _ Ɓ _⁴  _  v  _

Kai xan uwaa bar gardamaa  My brother, stop arguing

_⁴  _    v   _ Ɓ v v   _  v  _

Duubaa cikin ishiriiniyaa  Look (for the evidences) in Ishiriniya

(Waqar Maraba da Mauludi)

The complete form of the first line in the stanza is supposed to be:

(8).   _⁴   _  v  Ɓ v⁶v⁶ Ɓv  v   _   v  _

Tun baabu qasa kuma baa samaa

But Mudi Sipikin clips the word qasa to qas in order to maintain his Kaamil metre. Maintaining the unclipped structure would have rendered the metrical configuration astray because of the addition of two short syllables at the root of the foot number eight. This is not allowed in the Hausa prosodic rule.

Another case of clipping can be seen as follows:

(9).  v  v   _   v _  Ɓ_⁴  _  v   _ Ɓ  v  v   _   v  _

Maqiyaa adiinii nee sukee ta wahal da nii  The enemies of your religion are making if difficult for me

_⁴  _    v   _  Ɓ v  v   _   v   _ Ɓ   _⁴  _   _¹ 

Wai don na raunata kar na zoo nan gunka  So that I will be too enfeebled to make this journey.

(Waqar Saduwa da Manzon Allah)

In the first line the word wahal is a clipped form of wahalar. Now if we use the full word the structure of the line will look like this:

(10).   v  v   _   v _ Ɓ _⁴  _  v  _ Ɓv⁶  Ɓv  v _  v  _

Maqiyaa adiinii nee sukee ta wahalar da nii

Here, the metre will still be intact but with the addition of a short syllable at the beginning of the third foot in the line. It will have been normal if the zihafi Ta’aliqi has occurred even once in the poem, but after analyzing the whole poem only one zihafi (deviation) and one illa (defect) were found namely, Ilmari and Kaxa’i respectively. This justifies the fact that it is not Ta’aliqi but rather something different which cannot be accounted for in the Hausa prosodic rules. In order for the poet to avoid this doubt, he clipped the word wahalar to wahal. That way, the foot will be achieved without any defect.

5.0 SYNCOPE

Lass (1988), in Zulyadaini (1995:58), defines syncope as “a formative internal deletion which refers to the loss of medial segment in a word. It is a kind of contraction within a word through the loss of a vowel sound or letter and in some cases syllables from the middle of the word”. When looking for a specific metre, sometime poets violate the sound structure of some words by employing the process of syncopation. For instance, Mudi Sipikin deviates by syncopating the medial segments of some words in his poem as follows:

(11).  _⁴  _    v   _ Ɓ  _⁴  _    v  _ Ɓ _⁴  _    v  _ 

Bayan magarbaa mun isoo birnin masar  We landed at Cairo by twilight

_⁴  _    v   _   Ɓ v  v    _   v  _ Ɓ _⁴  _  v  _ 

Baayan ishaa muka taashi duk baakii xayaa.  And we took off immediately after dusk

(Ziyarar Rum…)

The word magarbaa in the first line is supposed to be Magaribaa going by the standard pronunciation. But as a result of Mudi Sipikin’s effort to avoid irregular arrangement of the metre, he deviates by deleting the nucleus of the third syllable of the word.

Sticking to the normal form of the word would have given the metre the following shape:

(12).  _   _      v  v v Ɓ _   _     v _  Ɓ  _   _  v  _

Baayan magaribaa mun isoo birnin Masar

?          +      6       +     6

The first foot in the line is unaccounted for in Hausa prosodic rules. This is because the addition of two short syllables is not allowed. Furthermore, the other feet change to 6+6. By syncopating the hight-front vowel /i/ from the medial position of the word, Mudi Sipikin achieved his metre without problem.

Another instance of syncopation is that of deletion across syllable boundary. Mudi Sipikin syncopated a vowel and a glide from different syllables in part of a stanza as follows:

(13).  _⁴   _    v    _  Ɓ  _⁴ _ v   _   Ɓ   v  v   _   v _  

Yaa Rabbi don sirrin da kun yi da Annabii

v     v   _   v _  Ɓ  _⁴   _ v    _ Ɓ     _⁴ _  _¹

Na batun wajen saadanku yaa Allaahuu

The word sadanku in the second line is supposed to be saduwarku but it is syncopated as follows:

/sàadúwárkù/   Ɗsàadúwárk^wùɗ becomes /sàadánkù/       Ɗsàadáŋk^wùɗ

What happens is that the segments /u/ and /w/ are deleted across syllable boundary in the medial position and the liquid alveolar /r/ is changed to nasal alveolar /n/ which is subsequently backed as a result of Hausa nasal backing rule as follows:

 (Homorganic nasal assimilation)

These processes occur as a result of Mudi Sipikin’s desire to maintain his Kaamil metre of the poem. Had he used the normal form of the word the line would have the following metrical configuration:

(14).  v    v _    v  _ Ɓ   _  v⁷ _  v  Ɓ     _     _  _  _⁸  

Na wajen batun saaduwarku yaa Allaahuu

   8               +       9       +             9

This type of arrangement is not possible because foot eight cannot co-occur with any foot except repeating itself and foot nine co-occurs only with foot six in Hausa prosodic and metrical rules.

6.0 APHAERESIS

Hartman and Stork (1972:16) defines aphaeresis as “omission of one or more sounds or words from the beginning of utterance.” This process can be seen in some of Mudi Sipikins poems especially when he wants to maintain a particular metre as follows:

(15). _⁴    _  v    _ Ɓ  _⁴ _ v   _   Ɓ   v  v   _   v  _  

In kunka san iikoo ku woo Haji nan da nan  If you are opportune go on pilgrimage,

_⁴   _    v    _ Ɓ   _⁴    _  v   _ Ɓ    _⁴  _  _¹  

Tamkar da ALKUR’AN ya dai zaanaataa Just as it is prescribed in the Qur’an.

(Itaciyar Zumunta)

In the second line of the stanza the word da is supposed to be yadda. Here, the initial segment yad is lost in the word. Mudi Sipikin violates the sound structure of the word simply because he wants to maintain the Kaamil metre, so that it will conform to Hausa prosodic rules. Maintaining the correct form of the word will make the metre to go astray because it will be 9+9+9 as follows:

(16).   _      _     _   v Ɓ   _    _      _    v  Ɓ _    _   _   _⁸ 

Tamkar yadda ALKUR’AN ya dai zaanaataa

This is not allowed in Hausa prosodic rules because there is no metre having foot number 9 repeating itself. Thus, by deleting the first syllable of the word yadda, Mudi Sipikin achieves his metre.

Another case of aphaeresis can be found in the poem Waqar Tuba as follows:

(17). v    _     v  v   _ Ɓ  v  _  _⁹   _ Ɓ v   _   _ ¹⁰

Ba zan yi mubazzarancii don xagaawaa I will not be ostentatiously extravagant

v  _   _⁹ _ Ɓ  v    _    _⁹ _ Ɓ v  _   _¹⁰

Ba zan riigaa ta zam mai jan qasaa baa Nor will I wear a long ground-sweeping dress

The word mubazzaranci in the first line is supposed to be almubazzaranci, but Mudi Sipikin deletes the initial syllable of the word. This change enables the poet to maintain his Wafir¹¹ metre (3+3) without any hindrance.

Maintaining the normal structure of the word without aphaeresis, the metrical pattern in the line will be:

v    _     v  _ v   _ Ɓ  v  _  _⁹   _ Ɓ v _   _¹⁰

Ba zan yi almubazzarancii don xagaawaa

The first foot in the line will be unaccountable because of the infixation of a long syllable to foot number three. Infixation of short or long mora is not allowed to any foot in Hausa prosodic rules.

7.0 CONTRACTION

Abubakar (1983) defines contraction as the deletion of certain segments which have a sequence of glide plus a final vowel. Newman (2000:422) says “the term contraction is used for apocopation that accompanies the cliticization or phonological attachment of specific items across underlying word (or morpheme) boundaries. The reduced item is either a light-syllable CV pronoun or else the verb yi ‘do’.”

In searching for a specific metre, Mudi Sipikin sometimes contract direct pronoun object when followed by the auxiliary/pro-verb yi as it is the case in the following example:

(18).   v    v  _    v    _ Ɓ  v v  _  v   _  Ɓ  v v   _  v  _  

Na matsaa wajen kabarinsa nai masa sallamaa I moved close to his grave and said peace be unto you,

_⁴   _    v    _ Ɓ _⁴   _  v   _ Ɓ    _⁴   _    _¹  

Nai gaisuwaa sannan na cee mai Makkaa  I greeted him then I said, Oh Prophet.

(Waqar Saduwa da Manzon Allah)

The word nai in the above stanza is supposed to be two different words at the underlying form. Orthographically, it is represented as na yi.

Phonetically, an ad hoc representation can be given below:

Ɗ#naa# #ji#ɗ   underlying form

Ɗ#naa# #j-#ɗ   apocopation

Ɗ#naaj#ɗ    contraction

Ɗ#naj#ɗ   compulsory vowel laxing

Ɗ#naj#ɗ   surface form

nai    orthographically

Mudi Sipikin contracted this word for the sake of maintaining his metre. This can be accounted for when the accepted structure of the word is taken into consideration:

(19).   v    v  _    v    _ Ɓ v v  _  v⁵ Ɓ v⁶  v⁶ Ɓ v v   _  v  _  

Na matsaa wajen kabarinsa na yi masa sallamaa

_⁴   _    v    _ Ɓ   _⁴_  v   _  Ɓ   _⁴   _    _¹  

Nai gaisuwaa sannan na cee mai Makkaa

The third foot in the scansion of the first line will pose a problem with the addition of two short syllables. This is not allowed in Hausa prosodic rules. In order to avoid this problem, Mudi Sipikin violates the orthographical rules by deleting the high front vowel and contracting the glide with the direct object pronoun so that the metre – Kaamil, will operate without any obstacle.

Another instance of contraction can be obtained in a place where Mudi Sipikin contracts the first future tense marker with the first person singular preverbal pronoun as follows:

(19).   _     v   _     _ Ɓ  _   v  _  _

Sheehu baa yaa son nifaaqaa   (The) Sheikh doesn’t like hypocrisy

_     v  _  _ Ɓ  _     v  _  _

Yaa yi niisaa kan xariiqaa  He is deep into Sufism

_     v   _  _  Ɓ   _   v  _  _

Baa shi zancee sai haqiiqaa   He doesn’t talk except the truth

_ v   _  _  Ɓ   _     v    _   _

Kaito nii daa wagga waaqaa   Oh how I wish in this poem

_     v   _  _  Ɓ   _   v  _  _

Zan yi harshen laarabaawaa   I will speak the Arabic language

(Maraba da shehu Ibrahim Kaulaa) 

In the last line of the stanza, the word zan is suppose to be za na going by the orthographic representation.

Phonetically, the basic ad hoc explanation of the process is as follows:

Ɗ#zaa# #na#ɗ  underlying form

Ɗ#zaa# #n-#ɗ   apocopation

Ɗ#zaan#ɗ   contraction

Ɗ#zan#ɗ   closed syllable laxing

zan    surface form

Maintaining the underlying structure of the word without violating its structure will make the scansion of the last line go astray as there will be infixation of a short mora to the root of foot number seven as can be seen below:

(20).  _      v  v  _    _  Ɓ  _   v  _    _

Zaa na yi harshen laarabaawaa

With the contraction however, the Ramal¹² metre (7+7) will be achieved without any problem.

8.0 CONCLUSION

This paper selects poems of Mudi Sipikin from his anthology Tsofaffi da Sababbin Waqoqin Mudi Sipikin (Sipikin, 1977) and made linguistic study on the deviations found in the poems as a result of his exploitation of poetic license. The paper in general found that Mudi Sipikin does not care what rules he breaks of the language as long as his rhyme, meter and message will be conveyed effectively to the audience. The phonological deviations were looked at under the headings of vowel change, apocopation, clipping, syncopation, aphaeresis and contraction. However, the findings here do not claim to be exhaustive nor are they to be regarded as conclusive. More researches need to be carried out to investigate in depth the other phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic deviation of not only Mudi Sipikin’s poems but also other Hausa poets as well.

ENDNOTES

Kaxa’i: This is a process whereby one part of a long syllable which occupies the third position (the third short syllable) in the root of a foot is deleted and the remaining short syllable in the second position is joined with the first short syllable to form long syllable. Example:  - v- to -vv which becomes - -

Habni: This is the process whereby the second part of the long syllable in the affixes of a foot (the second mora) is deleted. Example: - - v - becomes        v - v -

Tarfili: This is a situation whereby a long syllable is added at the end of a foot. For instance, - - v - becomes - - v - -

Ilmari: This is a metrical process whereby a sequence of two short syllables in foot number 8 (two independent mora) are joined together to form one long syllable. Example: v v - v - becomes - - v -

Hazfi: Refers to the deletion of long syllable at the end of a foot which does not affect the root. Thus, v - - - becomes v - -

Ta’aliqi: This refers to the metrical process in which one short syllable (one mora) is added at the beginning of a foot irrespective of the root. Thus - - - v would be   v + - - - v which is equal to v - - - v

Xayyib: Is a process whereby the fourth part (the fourth mora) of the second long syllable is deleted. Example: - - v - becomes - vv -

Tazyili: This refers to a process whereby the short syllable in foot number nine, changes to long syllable. Thus, - - - v becomes - - -v + v = - - - -

Azbi: This is a metrical process that affects foot three where it joints the short syllables in the middle of the foot to form a long syllable. E.g. v – v v – becomes v –  –  –

Kaxafi: This is a metrical process whereby the co-occurrence of Hazfi and Azbi on foot three is found.

Wafir: 3 + 3 = v – v v – Ɓ v – v v – (i.e. short + long + short + short + long Ɓ short + long + short + short + long)

Ramal: 7 + 7 = - v - - Ɓ - v - - (i.e. long + short + long + long Ɓ long + short + long + long)

 

 

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