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Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages Henrike Firsching University of Bayreuth

Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages Henrike Firsching University of Bayreuth. 1. Methodology Language sample. Interviews with speakers of 14 African languages: Niger-Congo: Igbo, Yoruba (Benue-Congo) Swahili, Luyia, Fe ’fe’ , Ngwo (Bantu) Moba (Gur)

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Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages Henrike Firsching University of Bayreuth

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  1. Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages Henrike Firsching University of Bayreuth

  2. 1. MethodologyLanguage sample • Interviews with speakers of 14 African languages: • Niger-Congo: Igbo, Yoruba (Benue-Congo) Swahili, Luyia, Fe’fe’, Ngwo (Bantu) Moba (Gur) Ewe, Baoulé (Kwa) Bambara (Mande) • Afroasiatic: Hausa, Kilba (Chadic) • Nilosaharan: Kalenjin, Luo (Nilotic) H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  3. 1. MethodologyQuestionnaire • Temperature terms • Table with entities from different domains of use: Food/liquids (e.g. porridge immediately after preparation, drinking water) Body-parts (e.g. head when feverish) Environment (e.g. room with air conditioning) Surfaces (e.g. cloth when ironing it) Household (e.g. refrigerator, fire) Weather/climate (e.g. snow, sun) • Experiencer-based/personal-feeling temperature • Metaphorical use of temperature terms H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  4. 2. Questions • How many different temperature terms do the languages have? • How are the terms organized on the temperature scale? 1 very low temperature cold 2 low temperature cool 3 medium temperature lukewarm 4 high temperature warm 5 very high temperature hot • In which domains of use can the terms be used? • Are the systems of temperature terms in different languages structured in a similar way? H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  5. 3. The number of temperature terms H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  6. 3. The number of basic temperature terms • Criteria: salient, generally known, native/nativized, morphologically simple, primarily used for this domain, not-too-restricted in application, not subsumed under other terms (Plank 2003:1; Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2007:6) H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  7. 4. The temperature scale Group I H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  8. 4. The temperature scale Group II a Group II b H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  9. 4. The temperature scale Group III H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  10. 5. Domains of use Category I: Igbo, Kilba, Yoruba H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  11. 5. Domains of use Category II: Luyia, Bambara, Kalenjin, Hausa H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  12. 5. Domains of use Category III: Moba, Swahili, Luo H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  13. 5. Domains of use Category IV: Baoulé H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  14. 5. Domains of use Category V: Ewe, Ngwo H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  15. 5. Domains of use Category VI: Fe’fe’ H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  16. 6. Conclusions6.1 Does the number of temperature terms in a language allow conclusions about the position of the terms on the temperature scale? Languages with two basic temperature terms: low – high (Ewe, Fe’fe’, Igbo, Kilba, Luyia, Moba) Languages with three basic temperature terms: • low – high – very high(Hausa, Luo, Ngwo, Yoruba) • low – low – high(Baoulé) • low – high – high(Bambara, Kalenjin, Swahili) H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  17. 6. Conclusions6.2 Terms for very low and very high temperature • If terms for extreme temperature are used in a language, they are likely to describe extremely high and not extremely low temperature. Very low temperature: yii (Ngwo) Very high temperature: liet (Luo) sino oluyia (Luyia) gbona (Yoruba) zaafii (Hausa) lale (Kalenjin) twon/feh (Ngwo) tu/mbesi (Fe’fe’) H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

  18. 6. Conclusions6.3 Restrictions to domains of use • Liquids: • If a term for medium temperature is used in a language, it is used for liquids • Experiencer-based: • 8 of 14 languages have a separate set of terms for experiencer-based temperature • In 6 languages one of the temperature terms is used exclusively for experiencer-based temperature H. Firsching Temperature Terms across 14 African Languages

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