Comparative Analysis of Hausa and Ga’anda Speech Sounds

Cite this article as: Ibrahim, I. G., & Al-Musawi, I. U. (2026). Comparative analysis of Hausa and Ga’anda speech sounds. Sokoto Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies (SOJOLICS), 2(2), 449-460. https://doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i02.042

By

IBRAHIM, Ismaila Girei, PhD

Department of Hausa

Adamawa State College of Education, Hong

ismailagireiibrahim@gmail.com

08022495128

&

Isa Umar Al-Musawi

Department of Hausa

Federal College of Education, Yola

Adamawa State

isaumaralmusawi@gmail.com

07037131666

Abstract

Speech sounds are generally divided into two, viz: consonant and vowel, the distinction being on the way they are produced or articulated in the mouth. This paper is an attempt to make a comparison between speech sounds of Hausa and Ga’anda languages. Despite that the two languages are from the same linguistic phyla. Hausa is a member of Afro-Asiatic West Chadic and Ga’anda is a member of Afro-Asiatic Central Chadic Biu-Mandara. This study would go a long way in the aspect of phonology that says in every language there is unique set of speech sounds. It is important to stress the word ‘unique’ because the set of speech sounds in one language may never be absolutely the same as in another language. This research applied both interview and observation techniquesin gathering data. This study adopts the work of Wolf (1953) on the orthography of twenty-five (25) languages widely spoken in scattered areas of Northern Nigeria as a model of operationin guiding the information collected and twenty-five informants were involved in collecting the data at the field. The findings of the research revealed that Hausa has thirty-four consonantal phonemes, while Ga’anda has thirty-two. Hausa has some consonant sounds that are not found in Ga’anda these are /b/, /ƙ/, /ƙw/, /ƙj/ /ɽ/, /ɸj/ amongst others. Ga’anda on the other hand has many phonemes which are not present in Hausa. These are /mɓ/, /nd/, /ng/, /nj/ /ngg/ /ngw/ amongst others. Moreover, there is a kind of vowel that exists in Ga’anda /ә/ which is not present in Hausa.

Keywords: Speech sounds, consonant, vowel, mouth, Hausa and Ga’anda.

1.0 Introduction

Speech according to Sani (2005:3) and Ladan (2011:76) can be described as a set of meaningful noises uttered by human beings to communicate amongst themselves complicated messages concerning every aspect of their activities. Lyons (1968) and Agbedo (2003) states that a speech sound is any phonetically distinct unit of sound, that is to say, any unit of sound produced by the speech organs that can be distinguished by the phonetician from all other units of sound produced by the speech organs. Languages are not the same that is to say every language has a unique set of speech sounds. The set of sounds in one language may never be absolutely the same as in another language.

Hausa and Ga’anda languages are both members of Afro-Asiatic, Hausa West Chadic while Ga’anda Central Chadic Biu-Mandara. Hausas are the largest ethnic group of West Africa, and the primary language spoken in all Northern States in Nigeria, with a population of over one hundred million speakers and with another wider regional thirty million bilingual speakers from Niger, Northern Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sudan, Togo, Senegal, Gabon, Chad, Cote divoire (Girei, 2021:3). Nigeria is undoubtedly the home of Hausa language, Hausa language is well documented with books on the grammars (language) literature and cultures these sources are written in various languages such as English, French, German, Japanese, Polish and Russian (Abubakar 2000: xiii).

Ga’anda Language is one of the minority languages spoken in Nigeria; the language is spoken in Gombi, Song and some part of Hong, Mubi North and Guyuk Local Government Areas of Adamawa State and some part of Biu local government area of Borno State. Ga’anda Language on the other side belongs to the Central Chadic, Biu-Mandara branch of the Chadic Language Family of Afro-Asiatic Phylum Roxana (1971:1). Its closest relatives are Whona, Tera and Jara, with which it forms a distinct cluster within the Biu-Mandara branch. There are few scanty published materials on this language (Girei, 2021:4). In terms of population, Ga’anda language has over one hundred thousand native speakers that are living in and outside these two areas (census review 2017). The co-existence of two languages in their today’s activities has necessitated the idea of writing this article. As stated earlier the discussion of this article would centre on speech sounds of Hausa and Ga’anda languages, the comparison and contrastive analysis of the two speech sounds.

Lastly articulatory phonetics would be used in the description of all sounds of the two languages.

2.1 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to compare the speech sounds of Hausa and Ga’anda languages. In addition, the objectives of this study are to examine and analyze speech sounds of Hausa and Ga’anda languages, based on place of articulation, manner and state of the glottis.

3.1 Methodology of the Study

Thisresearch applies an interview and observation techniques in gathering information for Hausa and Ga’anda speech sounds, this study and twenty-five informants were involved in collecting the data at the field. Other method that has been considered is the use of relevant library materials.

4.1 Model of Operation

This study adopted the theoretical model operation of Wolf (1953) on the orthography of twenty-five (25) languages widely spoken in scattered areas of Northern Nigeria as a working guide. The rationale behind using this document as a guide is because both the two languages (i.e., Hausa and Ga’anda) were captured in this work.

5.1 Hausa Consonants

Shimizu (1980:2) and Haliru (2019:13) states that the basic substance on which a language is built upon consists of set of sounds, and this set of sounds are recognized in a self-contained system. Linguists such as Abubakar (1983), Baba (1988), Newman (2000), Jaggar (2001), Amfani (2011), Ladan (2011) and Lawan and Girei (2024) amongst others state that in standard Hausa, there are a total number of thirty-four (34) consonant sounds as follows:

Phonetic representation	Description	Orthography
[b] e.gbàyà (back)	voiced bilabial stop	b
[ɓ] e.gtàɓàryà (pestle)	voiced bilabial implosive	ɓ
[m] e.gmângwàròo (mango)	voiced bilabial nasal	m
[ɸ] e.gkûmfàa (foam)	voiceless bilabial fricative	f
[ɸj] e.gfyàaɗèe (raping)	voiceless palatal bilabial fricative	fy
[t] e.gtúdú (hill)	voiceless alveolar stop/plosive	t
[d] e.gdàrèe (night)	voiced alveolar stop/plosive	d
[ɗ] e.gtáaɗí (conversation)	voiced retroflex implosive	ɗ
[l] e.gbúláaláa (whip)	voiced alveolar lateral	l
[ɽ] e.gbàɽà (begging)	voiced alveolar trill	r
[n] e.gnóonóo (sour milk)	voiced alveolar nasal	n
[ŋ] e.gcân (there)	voiced velar nasal	ŋ
[ɲ] e.ghânyà (road)	voiced palatal nasal	ɲ
[s] e.gsìkàarì (sugar)	voiceless alveolar fricative	s
[z] e.gzàanè (wrapper)	voiced alveolar fricative	z
[s’] e.gtsîntśiyàa (broom)	voiceless alveolar ejective	ts
[ɽ] e.grúwáa (water)	voiced retroflex flip	r
[ʃ]e.gsháanù (cattle)	voiceless post alveolar fricative	sh
[tʃ] e.gcìyàawàa (grass)	voiceless post alveolar affricative	c
[ʤ] e.gjàaki (donkey)	voiceless post alveolar affricative	j
[j] e.gyàbóo (praise)	voiced palatal aproxymate/semivowel	y
[k] e.gkàrèe (dog)	voiceless velar stop/plosive	k
[kj] e.gkyâu (beauty)	voiceless palatalized velar stop/plosive	ky
[kw] kwàrí (valley)	voiceless labialized velar stop/plosive	kw
[ƙ] e.gƙàyá (thorn)	voiceless velar ejective	ƙ
[ƙj] e.gƙyàllè (piece of cloth)	voiceless palatalized velar ejective	ƙy
[ƙw] e.gƙwáaròo (insect)	voiceless labialized velar ejective	ƙw
[g] e.gráagáa (net)	voiced velar stop/plosive	g
[gj] e.ggyáaráa (repair)	voiced palatalized velar stop/pplosive	gy
[gw] e.ggwânìi (expert)	voiced labialized velar	gw
[w] e.gwùƙáa (knife)	voiced labio-velar approximant semivowel	w
[h] e.ghàyáaƙíi (smoke)	voiceless glottal fricative	h
[Ɂ] e.gbà’á (joke)	glottal stop/plosive	’
[Ɂj] e.g ‘yáa‘yáa (children)	palatalized glottal stop/plosive	‘y

 

5.1.1 The Consonant Chart for Standard Hausa

Plosive/stop

b

t d

k g

kw gw

kj gj

ɂ

ɂj

Implosive

ɓ

ɗ

Ejective

s’

ƙ

ƙw

ƙj

Nasal

m

n

ɲ

ŋ

Fricative

ɸ

ɸj

s z

ʃ

h

Affricate

tʃʤ

Lateral

l

Trill/roll

r

Flap

ɽ

Approximant/ Semi vowel

j

w

Note: Those consonants placed on the left-hand side of a column are voiceless, those on the right hand, voiced and that middle being neutral. Sani (1989:19)

6.1 Hausa Vowels

Newman (2000), Jaggar (2001), Amfani (2011), Sani (2015) and Ladan (2011) amongst others have agreed that in standard Hausa there are five pairs of single vowels in which five (5) are short and five (5) are long, as follows:

1.  [i] and [ii] e.gcìyaàẁa /ʧijaawa/ (grass) and jìikàa /ʤiikaa/ (grandchild) high front unrounded

2.  [e] and[ee] e.gmàcè /maʧe/ (woman) and gèemù /geemu/ (beard)mid front unrounded

3.  [a]and [aa] e.ggàshì /gaʃi/ (roasting) and baashii /bàaʃiì/ (debt) low central unrounded

4.  [o] and [oo] e.gsaabo /saabo/ (new) and [] oofan /ƙooɸaŋ/ (door) mid back rounded

5.  [u] and [uu]e.guwa /ùwà/ (mother) and buutaa /bùutàa/ (kettle)high back rounded

Apart from the monophthongs (single vowels), three different diphthongs are found to operate in standard Hausa.

[ai] as in aikii /àikìi/ (work) and mai /mâi/ (oil)

[au] as in [] auyee /ƙàujèe/ (village) and taurari /tàuràrì/ (toughness)

[ui] as in guiwaa /gûiwàa/ (knee) and kui [] ii /kûiɓiì/ (hip).

7.1 Ga’anda Consonants

Ga’anda consonants; Newman (1971), and Girei (2021) have identified the following consonants for Ga’anda. Most of these descriptions were done by Girei (2021).

 

Phonetic Representation	Descripton	Orthography
[ɓ] ɓàawàtá (lizard)	voiced bilabial implosive	ɓ
[ch] chíndà (father)	voiceless post alveolar affricate	ʗ
[d] gà’ándá (language)	voiced alveolar stop	ɗ
[ɗ] ɗèekwèná (stone)	voiced retroflex implosive	ɗ
[ɸ] húlàfártá (heaven)	voiced bilabial fricative	f
[h] hә́nggá (farm)	voiced glottal fricative	h
[k] tìrèktà (hunting)	voiced velar stop	k
[l] lèktà (lie)	voiced alveolar lateral	l
[m] mâhkân (three)	voiced bilabial nasal	m
[n] nèfáa (man)	voiced alveolar nasal	n
[p] pàfǝ̂n (gift)	voiceless bilabial stop	p
[ŋg] ngá (red)	voiced glottal nasal	ng
[r] rèetá (marriage)	voiced alveolar trill	r
[s] sǝ̀fáktá (harvest season)	voiceless alveolar fricative	s
[∫]shíɗshíɗèetá (folktale)	voiceless post- alveolar fricative	sh
[t] táɓtá (mud)	voiceless alveolar stop	t
[thl] thlánchá (teeth)	voiced labio dental lateral	thl
[w]wírà (house)	voiced labio velar approximant	w
[j] yáthlà (belch)	voiced palatal approximant	y
[ɂ] pa’pa (simple)	glottal stop /plosive	’
[hw] hwírà (stomach)	voiced labio velar approximant	hw
[kw]kwántá (shouting)	voiceless labialized velar stop	kw
[ŋgw] ngwèelà (mountain)	voiced labialized nasal	ngw
[ɂj] íyènà (sleeping)	palatalized- glottal stop	‘y
[mɓ] mɓàtá (war)	voiced bilabial nasal	mb
[nɗ] nɗírtà (melon)	nasalized alveolar	nd
[ŋgg] nggèe’lá (egg)	nasalized velar	ngg
[nj] njâng (tall)	voiced glottal approximant	nj
[ŋ]mɓәŋ (soup)	voiced velar nasal	n
[s’]siwa (meat)	voiceless alveolar ejective	s
[x] xiya (buy)	voiced alveolar fricative	z
[xw] xwerma (guineacorn)	voiceless alveolar fricative	zw

 

7.1.1 The Consonant Chart of Ga’anda

Bilabial

Palatalized Bilabial

Alveolar

Labio Dental

Retroflex

Post-alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Labio velar

Labialzed velar

Palatalized Velar

Glottal

Palatalized Glottal

Plosive/stop

p

t d

k

kw

Ɂ

Ɂj

Implosive

ɓ

ɗ

Pre-Nasal   Nasal

mɓ m

nd n

ŋg ŋ

ŋgg

ŋgw

Fricative

ɸ

s

ʃ

x

xw

h

Affricate

tʃ

Lateral

l

Lateral approximant

thl

Trill/roll

r

Approximant/ Semi vowel

j

w

hw

nj

Note: Those consonants placed on the left-hand side of a column are voiceless, those on the right hand, voiced and that middle being neutral. Girei (2021).

8.1 Ga’anda Vowels

Newman (1971) and Girei (2021) explained that Ga’anda language operates six (6) vowels as follows: as follows: [a], [e], [ə] [i], [o], and long vowels exist on the followings: [aa], [ee] and [ii].

 [a] àrtá (one)

àrú - (one thousand)

[e] nèfá - (man)

 mèe - (mouth)

[ə] nə̀ - (he)

  tə̀ - (hit)

[i] pírshá - (horse)

 wìrá - (house)

[o] chókítá - (sand)

  nò - (you)

   [aa] [ee], [ii]

   yàa – (my mother)

   wàa – (child)

  [ee] –

   wéeshá – (hair)

  [ii]  wíitá –  (night)

The Ga’anda Vowel Chart

9.1 Research Findings

From the earlier discussions, we can observe and realized that Hausa has thirty-four consonantal phonemes, while Ga’anda has thirty-two. It can be seen that there are phonemes that are exists in both Hausa and Ga’anda, such as [ɓ, d, ɸ, ʧ, n, m] and [t] amongst others. However, from the list of phonemes in both Hausa and Ga’anda, consonantal phonemes such as [ƙ, ɽ, ɲ, ɸj] and [ƙw] amongst others exists only in Hausa. While consonantal phonemes such as [mɓ, nɗ, hw, nj] and [ŋgg] amongst others exists in Ga’anda. Vowel sound [ә] exists in Ga’anda that is not present in Hausa.

10.1 Conclusion

In conclusion, this research is able to present the parade of Hausa and Ga’anda speech sounds (consonants and vowels) in tabular and chart format. This paper was also attempted to describe all the phonemes of the two languages from the point of view of articulatory phonetics (i.e. the place of articulation, manner of articulation and the state of the glottis). Moreover, the missing links (i.e. the sounds identical and the sounds absent) between the two languages were identified. 

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