Review: Origine des langues africaines: essai d'application de la méthode, by Jean-Claude Mboli

The Origine des langues africaines: essai d'application de la méthode, by Jean-Claude Mboli, is a new book that claims to provide an introduction to the Black African-Egyptian language. The Black African-Egyptian languages was discovered by Anta Diop and Th. Obenga who recognized that a genetic relationship existed between Black African (mainly Niger-Congo languages) and the ancient Egyptian language.


There is a new book on Proto-Black African Egyptian languages. Black African _egyptian or Negro-Egyptian is the name Afrocentric linguists have given to the the genetic linguistic relationship between languages spoken by Black Africans and the ancient Egyptian language. This new book is called: Origine des langues africaines: essai d'application de la méthode by Jean-Claude Mboli.


Diop's, Parente genetique de LEgyptien Pharaonique et des Langues Negro-Africaines, is the most exhuastive study of Negro-Egyptian, and no matter what you say it does prove Niger-Congo exist because it demonstrates connections between Egyptian and Niger-Congo languages.

I have not read Mboli’s entire book. But I have read summaries of his book


http://www.youscribe.com/catalogue/livres/ressources-professionnelles/efficacite-professionnelle/origine-des-langues-africaines-174246

I have also checked out the book at Google books. Google books gives numerous segments of the Mboli book:

http://books.google.com/books?id=UaEFugi-awAC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=mboli+origine&source=bl&ots=JHHDToFj7p&sig=xr_gE6rLCnu7DVvypOrClHcm1hA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BEQ2U7zzHcuysQS_1YCIAw&ved=0CCs Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=mboli%20origine&f=false

Mboli has divided Black African-Egyptian languages into four stages.Mboli’s view that there is

quote:

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VI.14 Évolution grammaticale du négro-égyptien…………………… 361
VI.14.1 Grammaire du négro-égyptien archaïque ………………….. 362
VI.14.2 Grammaire du négro-égyptien pré-classique………………. 365
VI.14.3 Grammaire du négro-égyptien classique…………………… 367
VI.14.4 Grammaire du négro-égyptien post-classique........................ 370

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You can not detect the various forms of Egyptian claimed by Mboli, without written text dating back to the proposed stages of a language. We only have contemporary linguistic evidence for the Black African languages to compare to the acient Egyptian language.the

This is due to the idea of F. de Saussure, who in Cours de linguistique générale, Paris 1916: discussed the idea synchronique and diachronique linguistics in relation to historical linguistics. Diachronic linguistic looks at the state of language in the past, while synchronic linguistics look at a language as it exist today. To determine a diachronic view of a language you have to have written text. As a result, we only have written evidence of Egyptian in two stages: Old and Middle Egyptian .


The phases imagined for Negro-Egyptian does not agree with the law of “linguistic continuity” for African languages.


The rate at which languages change is variable. It appears that linguistic change is culture specific. Consequently, the social organization and political culture of a particular speech community can influence the speed at which languages change.

Based on the history of language change in Europe most linguists believe that the rate of change for all languages is both rapid and constant.(Diagne, 1981,p.238) The idea that all languages change rapidly is not valid for all the World's languages. Mboli has accepted this reality of I-E languages as existing in African languages. Thus he has created a series of stages for Negro-Egyptian.

African languages change much slower than European languages. (Armstrong, 1962) As a result, you can not use a European model of language change to describe events in African linguistics. For example, African vocabulary items collected by Arab explorers over a thousand years ago are analogous to contemporary lexical items.(Diagne,1981, p.239)
Although, Mboli, according to Asar does not recognize Coptic as an aspect of Egyptian there are striking resemblances between the ancient Egyptian language and Coptic, and Pharonic Egyptian and African languages which indicate continuity between and among the speakers of Negro-Egyptian.(Diagne, 1981; Diop, 1977; Obenga, 1993)

The political stability of African political institutions has caused languages to change very slowly in Africa. Pawley and Ross (1993) argue that a sedentary life style may account for the conservative nature of a language.

African oral traditions and the eye witness accounts of travelers to Africa, make it clear that African empires although made up of diverse nationalities illustrated continuity. To accomodate the plural nature of African empires Africans developed a Federal system of government. (Niane , 1984) In fact we can not really describe ancient African state systems as empires, since this implies absolute rule or authority in a single individual. This political state of affairs rarely existed in ancient Africa, because in each African speech community local leadership was elected by the people within the community. (Diop, 1987) For example the Egyptians often appointed administrators over the conquered territories from among the conquered people. (Diop ,1991)

The continuity of many African languages may result from the steady state nature of African political systems, and long standing cultural stability since neolithic times. (Diop, 1991 ; Winters 1985) This cultural stability has affected the speed at which African languages change.

In Africa due to the relative stability of socio-political structures and settled life, there has not been enough pressure exerted on African societies as a whole and African speech communities in particular, to cause radical internal linguistic changes within most African languages. Permanent settlements led to a clearly defined system of inheritance and royal succession. These traits led to stability on both the social and political levels.

This leads to the hypothesis that linguistic continuity exist in Africa due to the stability of African socio-political structures and cultural systems. This relative cultural stability has led African languages to change more slowly then European and Asian languages. Diop (1974) observed that:

First the evolution of languages, instead of moving everywhere at the same rate of speed seems linked to other factors; such as , the stability of social organizations or the opposite, social upheavals. Understandably in relatively stable societies man's language has changed less with the passage of time.(pp.153-154)

There is considerable evidence which supports the African continuity concept. Dr. Armstrong (1962) noted the linguistic continuity of African languages when he used glottochronology to test the rate of change in Yoruba. Comparing modern Yoruba words with a list of identical terms collected 130 years ago by Koelle , Dr. Armstrong found little if any internal or external changes in the terms. He concluded that:

I would have said that on this evidence African languages are changing with glacial slowness, but it seems to me that in a century a glacier would have changed a lot more than that. Perhaps it would be more in order to say that these languages are changing with geological slowness. (Armstrong, 1962, p.285).


You can not detect the various forms of Egyptian claimed by Mboli, without written text. This is due to the idea of F. de Saussure, who in Cours de linguistique générale, Paris 1916: discussed the idea synchronique and diachronique linguistics in relation to historical linguistics. Diachronic linguistic looks at the state of language in the past, while synchronic linguistics look at a language as it exist today. To determine a diachronic view of a language you have to have written text. As a result, we only have written evidence of Egyptian in two stages: Old and Middle Egyptian .

Scholars group the Egyptian language into six major chronological divisions:[10]

Archaic Egyptian language (before 2600 BC, the language of the Early Dynastic Period)

Old Egyptian language (2686 BC – 2181 BC, the language of the Old Kingdom)

Middle Egyptian language (2055 BC – 1650 BC), characterizing Middle Kingdom (2055 BC – 1650 BC, but enduring through the early 18th Dynasty until the Amarna Period (1353 BC), and continuing on as a literary language into the 4th century AD).

Late Egyptian language (1069 BC – 700 BC, characterizing the Third Intermediate Period (1069 BC – 700 BC), but starting earlier with the Amarna Period (1353 BC)).

Demotic (7th century BC – 5th century AD, Late Period through Roman times)

Coptic (1st century AD – 17th century AD, early Roman times to early modern times)

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Mboli’s view that there is

quote:

---

VI.14 Évolution grammaticale du négro-égyptien…………………… 361
VI.14.1 Grammaire du négro-égyptien archaïque ………………….. 362
VI.14.2 Grammaire du négro-égyptien pré-classique………………. 365
VI.14.3 Grammaire du négro-égyptien classique…………………… 367
VI.14.4 Grammaire du négro-égyptien post-classique........................ 370

---

This is untenable, because we don’t have written records of Black African languages extending this far back in time relating to the periods proposed by Mboli. So there is no way to compare the grammars of Black African languages and Egyptian. Moreover, if Mboli is of the opinion that Coptic is not an Egyptian language (eventhough it is the language we used to read ancient Egyptian) we don’t even have a model of “post-classic” Egyptian.

We do have a diachronic view of Egyptian, but our data on African languages is all contemporary. We may recognize changes in the structure of Egyptian VC vs. CV, but overall the grammars for Egyptian do not show radical changes.

There is no way Mboli can claim he has reconstructed the various grammatical stages of Negro-Egyptien, because we don't have written text for the various proposed stages of the languages classified in Negro-Egyptien.

Mboli’s view is that there is

---

VI.14 Évolution grammaticale du négro-égyptien…………………… 361
VI.14.1 Grammaire du négro-égyptien archaïque ………………….. 362
VI.14.2 Grammaire du négro-égyptien pré-classique………………. 365
VI.14.3 Grammaire du négro-égyptien classique…………………… 367
VI.14.4 Grammaire du négro-égyptien post-classique........................ 370

---

Mboli can not claim to present the stages of Negro-Egyptian (NE) because he fails to have diachronic view of Negro-Egyptian due to a lack of written text for the languages making up the subgroups of NE. To be able to discover the various grammatical stages/styles discussed by Mboli we need to see successive synchronic grammars of African languages as represented in written text.

The true Historical linguist looks at the changes that have occured in a language through the comparison of successive synchronic grammars as indicated by text written in the various grammars. The absence of ancient text in the sub-languages of NE, except for Egyptian and Mande makes any discussion of archaic NE, post-classic NE and etc., a mute point.

.

In summary, Mboli has to support his claims for various periods of Egyptian and Black African languages with written or textual evidence, which would evidence the grammar of a language at a particular time in history. Textual evidence for Egyptian-Black African languages for the periods in Black African-Egyptian languages does not exist.

Mboli wants the PNE to agree with Proto-Indo-European (PIE) terms. As a result in Mboli’s reconstructions of proto-terms he usually adds /h, w /to his reconstructions, just like they are found in PIE.

In African languages aspiration or non-aspiration of plosives usually gives a word a variety of meanings. Westerman and Ward, in Practical Phonetics for Students of African Languages, recommends that they be written as digraphs, ph,th,kh. In African languages aspiration is used to give words different meanings

Swahili

Unaspirated…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Aspirated
Tembo ‘palm wine’ ………………………………………………………………………………thembo ‘elephant’
Paa ‘roof of a house’…………………………………………………………………………………..phaa ‘gazelle’
Kaa ‘coal’………………………………………………………………………………………………………khaa ‘crab’

The reconstructions of Mboli for cattle, lamb, ram and horse are below.
In these reconstructions Mboli introduces the fricative or aspirated element represented by /ph/ to his reconstruction of PNE to indicate articulation of the consonant.

The addition of /h, w/ was unnecessary because the African forms of the words cattle, horse and etc., do not need aspitation. Let’s look at the term for cattle, cow.


Much of the evidence relating to this pastoral way of life comes from the discovery of cattle bones at excavated sites in the Sahara dated between 7000-2000 BC, and the rock drawings of cattle (McIntosh &McIntosh 1981). In the western Sahara, sites such as Erg In-Sakane region, and the Taoudenni basin of northern Mali, attest to cattle husbandry between 6000 and 5000 BP. The ovicaprid husbandry on the other hand began in this area between 5000 to 3000 BP. Cattle pastoral people began to settle Dar Tichitt and Karkarichinkat between 5000 to 3500 BP.
The term for cattle,cow in the various African languages show much correspondence. Below we will compare the term for cow from various African languages:

• CATTLE/ COW
  Egyptian ng, nag
  Wolof nag
  Peul/Fulfulde nag
  Angas ning
  Ankwe ning
  Susu ninge
  Nuer yang
  Baguirmi m-ang, mang
  Gbea m-angu, mangu
  Sar(a) m-ang, mang
  Serere nak
  Mande nika
  Burma nak
  Jarawa i-nak
  Kagoro nyak
  Kaje nyak
  Burak nyek
  Kagoma nyak
  Bobo nyanga
  Kono-Vai nige
  So.W. Mande ninke
  Sembla nigi
  Congo-Benue *i-nak
  Duala nyaka
  Mpongwe nyare
  Fang nyar
  Kwa nare
  Azer(Azayr) na
  Soninke na
  Gourmantche nua, nue
  Senufo nu
  Ewe nyi
  Niellim nya
  Boua (Bwa) nya
  Tarok ina
  Iregwe nya
  Dadiya nee
  Amo na
  Baya nday
  Bobofing nya-nga
  Gera ndiya
  Koro indak
  Hausa nagge
  Dravidian Languages
  Tamil naku
  Tulu naku

The correspondence between African terms for cattle support the archaeological evidence for the early domestication of cattle in the Proto-Sahara (Winters 1985). This view is supported by the similarity in the terms for cow/cattle by speakers of the Mande, Niger-Congo, Chadic, and Afro Asiatic Supersets.

The oldest written evidence from Africa comes from the Egyptian language. The Egyptian terms for cattle/ cow were ng and nag . In other African languages we find either the consonant n-, before the consonant g/k , e.g., n/v______(v)g/k ;or the nasal consonant n- , before the vowels -i,-y , and -a , e.g., n+i+a = nia , or n+y+a = nya .

This evidence of cognition in African terms for cattle/cow shows considerable correspondence in consonants and vowels within roots.
Table 1.

Correspondence within Roots

• Niger-Congo Nilotic Mande Chadic Egyptian
  -g/-k g -g/-k -k -g
  -s- -s- -z- s/z
  -n- -n- -n- -m- n-
  
  
  Table 2.
  Correspondence within Vowels
  Niger-Congo Nilotic Mande Chadic Egyptian
  -i/-y -i/-y -i/-y -y
  a/u a a/u a/u a

The linguistic evidence supports the view that the Paleo-African term for cattle/cow was *n'n , *n'g /n'k , and *nia . This data also makes it clear that /g/ and /k/ were interchangeable consonants long before the separation of the speakers of Negro-Egyptian into distinct African cultural and linguistic groups.




This review of the linguistic evidence for cow/cattle in African languages does not support Mboli’s proto-term for cattle:
•
• *h.hm cattle (Egyptian)
• *ƞwkeƞwe, cattle (Bantu ngome)

These words are from Mboli page 591.

The linguistic evidence for African terms for cattle make it clear the Proto-NE term would not be aspirated.



It appears that Mboli constructed this term with aspiration to make it analogous to PIE terms for cattle. It appears to me that Mboli’s reconstructions of Proto-NE terms were made to agree with PIE and therefore do not reflect reliable reconstructions of PNE.



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Ancient Europeans were Brown skinned

Skoglund et al. Genomic Diversity and Admixture differs for Stone-Age Scandinavian Foragers and Farmers. Science, 2014 DOI: 10.1126/science.1253448  ,is quite interesting. The paper attempts to review the data on hunter-gatherer and European farming communites.The authors report that the majority of neolithic haplogroups were U for the hunter-gatherers and H and K for the farmers. The Y-chromosome were M429,P129,P126, IJ and etc. They also found R1b1a2a. They go on to discuss how other hunter gatherer groupd accross Europe carried the U haplogroup, while R is also frequently found among the ancient European.

It appears to me that the discovery that most early Europeans carried U5 is one of the reasons they are trying to deny the origin of hg U5 in Africa.

The most interesting part of the paper is found in the supplement. This is made vividly clear in Table S9. In this Table the authors discuss the mutation frequencies for hair color and eye color. As you can see the frequencies vary but for the most part the authors have found that the people were dark skinned. This was a significant finding, because European want to make it appear that whites are native to Europe, when they really came from Central Asia.

Reference:.

Download supplement:      http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6185/747/suppl/DC1    

Archaeogentics and the Dravidian and Aryan Divide

Geneticists use Bayesian statistical models to make inference relating to population movements. Using genetics to document population movements has usually involved geneticists making statistical models to detail ancient population movements. Colin Renfrew invented the term Archaeogenetics, to refer to the application of the techniques of archaeology and molecular biology to study of the human past.

 A statistical model is basically a hypothesis until it can be confirmed by ancient DNA (aDNA) or archaeological remains and linguistic evidence. Much of the contemporary population movements based on genetics often fail to correspond to the archaeological, anthropological and linguistic data. Ray and Excoffer argue that coupling the archaeological data with genetic data is a powerful way to infer population migration (1).Rresearchers have noted the absence of congruency between Indian population genetics and rchaeological research (2) As a result research into India population studies are not supported by historical,

archaeological  and linguistic evidences (3).

The archeological evidence indicated that the first settlers of India were probably Negritos and Austro-Asiatic, then Dravidian speakers and finally Southeast Asians (4-5). But Geneticists maintain that the
Dravidian speakers originated in India (6-7). They support this view by showing how the Indian mtDNA belonging  to the M haplomacrogroup must have developed in situ in India (7).

         Some researchers use Rosenberg et al.to argue that there is a low level of genetic divergence

across geographically and linguistically diverse Indian populations based on their analysis solely of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian speakers from India  (8-9).

         This study by HPASC contradicts  Rosenberg et al and supports the view that the Indian populations are not homogenous and that Negritos were probably the first settlers of India. Using an Indian sample from India, HPASC acknowledges that the Dravidians were probably not the first population to settle India. The research of HPASC also supports an Indo-European migration into India.

          The HPASC finding is supported by linguistic and archaeological evidence that indicated a Dravidian substratum in the Indo European languages and the major probability that Rosenberg et al.  use of only  Indo- Aryan and Dravidian speakers in the United States as a  representative sample of diverse Indian populations was not an accurate example of the linguistic and geographical diversity of Indian populations because TMRCA of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian speakers in India was probably a Proto-Dravidian speaker and a high level of genetic divergence across Indian populations (11) . A shared MRCA for Dravidian and Indo-Aryan speakers , is supported by the Dravidian substratum in Indo-European languages which indicates that the speakers of these languages lived in intimate contact in North India for 1000s of years .

   The finding of heterogeneity in ancient India by the HUGO Pan –Asian SNP Consortium is in conformity
with the archaeological and linguistic data. This makes the research of  HPASC significant and suggests future studies which will provide keen insight into the ancient human demography in India and the rest of Asia.

Reference:

1. Ray N, Excoffier L.2009.  Inferring past demography using spatially explicit population genetic models. Human Biology, 81 (2-3): 141-157.

2. Tripathy V, Nirmala A, Reddy BM. 2008. Trends in Molecular Anthropological Studies in India. Int J Hum Genet, 8(1-2): 1-20.

3. Winters,C. 2008.Origin and Spread of Dravidian Speakers Int J Hum Genet, 8(4): 325-329 (2008)

4. Cordaux R, Saha N, Bentley GR, Aunger R, Sirajuddin SM, et al. (2003) Mitochondrial DNA analysis
reveals diverse histories of tribal populations from India. Eur J Hum Genet 11:253–264.

5. Kumar V, Reddy ANS, Babu JP, et al. (2007). Y-chromosome evidence suggests a common paternal heritage of Austro-Asiatic populations. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 7:47.

6. Rajkumar R, Banerjee J, Gunturi HB, Trivedi R, Kashyap VK. 2005. Phylogeny and antiquity of M macrohaplogroup inferred from complete mtDNA sequence  of Indian specific lineages. BMC Evo.

Bio., 5: 26.

7. Thangaraj K, Chaubey G, Singh VK, Vanniarajan A, Thanseem I, Reddy AG, Singh L. 2006. In situ origin of deep rooting lineages of mitochondrial macrogroup M in India. BMC Genome, 7: 151.

8. Rosenberg NA, Mahajan S, Gonzalez-Quevedo C, Blum MGB, Nino-Rosales L, et al.. 2006. Low Levels of Genetic Divergence across Geographically and Linguistically Diverse Populations from India. PLoS Genet, 2(12): e215 DOI: 10.1371 /journal.pgen.0020215

9. Winters C (1989). Review on Dr. Asko Parpola’s ‘The Coming of the Aryans’. International Journal of
Dravidian Linguistics 18 (2): 98-127.

10. Krishnamurti K 2001. Comparative Dravidian linguistics: Current perspectives. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.11. Winters CA 2007. High Levels of Genetic Divergence  across Indian Populations. PloS

Genetics. Retrieved 4/8/2008 http://www.plosgenetics

Teaching Common Core State Standards Social Science and History

The Uthman Dan Fodio Institute has just begun a Common Core State Standards Institute to teach  teachers how to introduce CCSS to teach their students Social Science/History.

In Common Core State Standards teaching Social Studies/History  student

participate in a number of learning activities. Students individually or in 

collaborative groups, manipulate knowledge, emphasizing the idea that 

they are  “learning to learn” .

In CCSS History students make inference about informational text to solve 

problems.

In CCSS History students use Annotations to master the text

In general in CCSS  History students utilize, access & evaluate informational text

In CCSS History students synthesize info and use key details to write a 

compelling narrative like historians.

CCSS Institute Program

 

 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are NOW. Today schools are 

focused on preparing students for the World of Work and College. The 

varied States have chosen CCSS to drive and deliver this educational reform.

CCSS demands that Elementary and High School students become actively 

involved in their own learning.

   The CCSS demand that students become actively engaged in their own 

learning while they generate their own learning products. As a result, 

students are expected to seriously think about what they are learning while

they generate knowledge answering rigorous questions. During this process 

it is important for teachers to remember that good teaching requires explicit 

teaching of academic content across the curriculum so students will have the

background knowledge to analyze, compare and contrast historical 

documents, informational text and artifacts.

     In this program teachers learn how to encourage their  students to use 

CCSS to identify primary and secondary sources; and be able to make 

inferences based on the relationship between these diverse sources of 

information to understand historical events and ideas.

     Teachers learn how to guide their students to  use details from the text 

they read and analyze to support their conclusions. Teachers will learn how 

to use use CCSS to create social science lessons and thematic units. These

social sciences lessons will demand that students individually or co-

construct their own knowledge as they work to explore the significant 

changes that have occurred in the world, the nation  and their 

neighborhood or community over time. 

    Making inferences and drawing conclusions will be an integral part of any 

unit of study. Using CCSS students will  become involved in uncovering 

information that will be used to develop and produce creative projects that

provide valuable social science and historical information.

African mtDNA haplogroup A is Related to Mexican haplogroup A

The mtDNA A haplogroup common to Mexicans is also found among the Mande speaking people and some East Africans (4-6). Haplogroup A found among Mixe and Mixtecs (4).The Mande speakers carry mtDNA haplogroup A, which is common among Mexicans (6). In addition to the Mande speaking people of West Africa, Southeast Africa Africans also carry mtDNA haplogroup A (5).

References:

4. Bonilla C, Gutierrez G, Parra E J, Kline C, Shriver M D. (2005). Admixture of a rural population of the State of Guerrero,Mexico, Am J Phys Anthropol. Dec;128(4):861-9.

5. Salas A, Richards M, De la Fe T, Lareu M V, Sobrino B, Sanchez-Diz P, Macaulay V, Carracedo A. (2002). The making of the West African mtDNA Landscape, Am J. Hum. Genet, 71:1082-1111.

6. Jackson B A, Wilson J L, Kirbah S, Sidney S S, Bassie L, Alle J A D, McLean D C Garvey W T.(2005). Am J Phys Anthropol. 128:156-163.

 

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A Short History of Black People in Ancient Times

A Short World History of Black People in Ancient Times, provides a history of the numerous Black and African civilizations that existed between 60,000BC and 1492AD in the Americas and Eurasia. In this book you will learn about the phylogeography of African people and the four Out of Africa events beginning 6okya. It explains how the migration of the Kushites out of the Proto-Sahara led to the raise of the River Valley civilizations of Egypt, India and Mesopotamia and the Black civilizations of the Americas and Southeast Asia.


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Ancient African History Primer

The "Primer" gives information that spans the millennia and the world to illuminate and supply the reader a thought provoking and comprehensive record of the life of the homo sapiens Africanus, i.e., the Black and African people on the earth. This is the only exhaustive history of classical African civilizations published anywhere in the world. The "Primer's" prose is readable and definitions and pronunciations for many terms are found in the text and index.


The "Primer" provides a chronological survey of African Civilizations . It is organized into separate chapters that offer an depth treatment of the ancient Black cultures of Africa.

The "Primer" has been designed primarily for use by the private student. This is due to the fact that there are very few centers of higher learning where students can pursue Africalogical studies. It can also be used as an introductory text of Africana history.





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