THE VERBAL GRADE SYSTEM
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BASE FORMS IN THE VERBAL
GRADE SYSTEM
The late F.W. Parsons devised a system
of Hausa verb classification which has become the frame of reference
for all Hausa scholars (see reference).
This system groups verbs into seven Grades, where a "Grade"
refers to the pattern of tones and final vowel which the verb
carries. The seven Grades are as follows:
- Grade 1,
Hi-Lo(-Hi)-a: Grade 1 are called "regular verbs" in -a elsewhere
in this online grammar. Grade 1verbs of two syllables have Hi-Lo
tones, verbs of three syllables have Hi-Lo-Hi, verbs of more
than three syllables add additional Hi syllables to the beginning
of the verb. See
a list of verbs including Grade 1 verbs.
-
- Grade 2,
Lo-Hi(-Lo)-a: All Grade 2 verbs are transitive and end in long
-a. Grade 2 verbs are called
Variable
Vowel Verbs elsewhere in this online grammar. Two syllable
Grade 2 verbs have Lo-Hi tones, verbs of three syllables have
Lo-Hi-Lo, verbs of more than three syllables add additional Lo
syllables to the beginning of the verb. See a list of Grade 2 verbs.
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- Grade 3,
Lo-Hi(-Lo)-a: All Grade 3 verbs are intransitive and end in short
-a. Grade 3 verbs are grouped
with other intransitive verbs elsewhere in this online grammar.
Two syllable Grade 3 verbs have Lo-Hi tones, verbs of three syllables
have Lo-Hi-Lo, verbs of more than three syllables add additional
Lo syllables to the beginning of the verb. See a list including Grade 3 verbs.
-
- Grade 4,
Hi-Lo(-Hi)-e: Grade 4 are called "regular verbs" in -e elsewhere
in this online grammar. Grade 4verbs of two syllables have Hi-Lo
tones, verbs of three syllables have Hi-Lo-Hi, verbs of more
than three syllables add additional Hi syllables to the beginning
of the verb. See
a list of verbs including Grade 4 verbs.
-
- Grade 5,
All Hi tones + -ar or no final vowel + da:
Grade 5 verbs are called Causative Verbs elsewhere in this online
grammar. See a list of Grade 5 verbs.
-
- Grade 6,
All Hi tones + -o: Grade 6 verbs are called -o verbs elsewhere in this online grammar. See a list of Grade 6 verbs.
-
- Grade 7,
Lo...Hi--u: Grade 7 verbs are called -u verbs elsewhere in this online grammar. The final
tone of Grade 7 verbs is Hi, with all preceding syllables Lo.
See
a list of Grade 7 verbs.
OBJECTS WITH THE VERBAL
GRADES
An important feature differentiating
the verbal grades is the forms that verbs take before objects.
Parsons spoke of four contexts, which he called A, B,
C, and D. The table below lays out what those contexts
are and the form each grade takes in each context. The highlighted
links open windows which show illustrative verbs of each grade
in each context from the relevant sections of the online grammar.
| |
A
no object |
B
pronoun object |
C
noun object |
D
indirect object |
| Grade 1 |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -a |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -a |
Hi-Lo(-Lo)
short final -a |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -a |
| Grade 2 |
Lo-Hi(-Lo)
long final -a |
(Lo-)Lo-Hi
long final -e |
(Lo-)Lo-Hi
short final -i |
varies |
| Grade
3 |
Lo-Hi(-Lo)
short final -a* |
(all
intransitive) |
(all
intransitive) |
varies |
| Grade 4 |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -e |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -e |
Hi-Lo(-Lo)
short final -e |
Hi-Lo(-Hi)
long final -e |
| Grade
5 |
All
Hi-ar |
-
All Hi-ar da
- All Hi root da
- All Hi-she |
-
All Hi-ar da
- All Hi root da |
All
Hi-ar |
| Grade
6 |
All
Hi-o |
All
Hi-o |
All
Hi-o |
All
Hi-o |
| Grade
7 |
(Lo-)Lo-Hi
short final -u |
(all
intransitive) |
(all
intransitive) |
(all
intransitive) |
*A substantial number of two syllable intransitive verbs which
could be considered Grade 3 have Hi-Hi tones, e.g. kwana
'spend the night', b'uya 'hide'. Most of these have a heavy
first syllable whereas most Lo-Hi Grade 3 verbs have a light first
syllable.
BASIC VS. DERIVED GRADES
Parsons differentiated between what
he considered to be "basic" Grades, viz. Grades 1-3,
and "derived" grades, viz. Grades 4-7. This division
refers in part to predictability in form, but primarily
to meaning.
Predictability:
Among Grades 1-3, there seems to be little, if anything, about
the meaning of the verbs which allows one to predict which Grade
they will fall into, i.e. there are Grade 1 verbs that are transitive
but have meanings that are similar to Grade 2 verbs (all of which
are transitive), and there are Grade 1 verbs that are intransitive
but have meanings that are similar to Grade 3 verbs (all of which
are intransitive):
- gaya
'tell' is a Grade 1 verb, whereas fad'a 'say' is a Grade
2; yanka 'cut' is a Grade 1 verb, whereas sara
'chop' is a Grade 2
- tsaya
'stop, come to a halt' is a Grade 1 verb, whereas sauka
'get down' is a Grade 3
Parsons also noted that Grade 4 verbs
form a sort of mixed category. There are some Grade 4 verbs which
seem to have basic meanings that would not differentiate them
in any systematic way from verbs in Grades 1-3:
- ajiye
'put away, deposit' is a Grade 4 verb, whereas saka/sa
'put down, put on' is a Grade 1
- gane
'understand, recognize' is a Grade 4 verb, whereas fahimta
'understand, comprehend' is a Grade 2
- gode
'thank' is a Grade 4 verbs, whereas yarda 'agree' is a
Grade 3
It is, however, possible to change verbs
from Grades 1-3 into Grade 4 to create derived meanings (see just
below).
Meaning:
The main reason for making a distinction between basic and derived
grades is that, by and large, when a root is found in one of the
derived grades, there is a fairly constant element of meaning
associated with the Grade form, an element of meaning which is
absent in the basic grades. This is particularly clear in Grades
5-7. Click on the highlighted links for a discussion of meaning
in the online grammar:
As noted, Grade 4 is mixed between "basic"
and "derived" meanings. As it turns out, Grades 1-3
also have this property, making a strict division between "basic"
and "derived" grades questionable. See comments on the Grades 1-4 as "derived"
Grades.
SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE
GRADE SYSTEM
The Grade system provides a frame of
reference for all but a handful of Hausa verbs. All Hausa specialists
use it, and there is no question as to its usefulness and the
fact that it reflects real categories of Hausa verbs. Nonetheless,
it does have some shortcomings.
- Hausa verbs that do not fit into
the system: Although the Grade
system accounts for probably 99% of the verbs in a Hausa dictionary,
there are some important categories of verbs that it does not
accommodate, including some of the most frequently used verbs
in Hausa. In particularly, it does not account for any of the
10 or so monosyllabic verbs nor any non-derived verbs ending
in the vowels -i or -u, including the important
verbs sani' know', bari 'leave', and gani
'see'. Parsons recognized this and published an article in the
early 1970's attempting to incorporate such verbs (see
reference), but one gets the feeling that he is pounding
square pegs into round holes. See a discussion of the classes of verbs which
do not fit the Grade System.
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- Missed generalizations: The Grade System as originally laid out by
Parsons misses some important generalizations about verb classification.
The most obvious is the fact that Grades 2 and 3 in the Grade
System would be categories as distinct as, say, Grades 2 and
6, whereas Grades 2 and 3 are essentially identical in form,
with any differences predictable on the basis of the fact that
Grade 2 verbs are all transitive and Grade 3 verbs are all intransitive.
Moreover, as noted in the section above this, the "basic"
vs. "derived" Grade division misses the fact that the
"basic" Grades
1-3 actually have derivational properties as well. These
and other problems with the Grade System have been covered by
Paul Newman (see reference).
-
- The Grade System as a learner's
framework: (This comment is
not a critique of the Grade System per se, but it will serve
as an explanation for why I did not choose the Grade System as
the organizational system for verbs in the online grammar.) The
Grade System focuses on an idealized formal system of verb classification
but says very little about the way verbs are actually used. For
example, as noted in the first bulleted point above, the Grade
System does not accommodate some of the most commonly used verbs
in Hausa. On the other side of the coin, by focusing on formal
derivational possibilities, it leads to a discussion of verb
forms that rarely occur and even for a native Hausa speaker,
would have highly marked meanings. For example, Grade 7 verbs
are generally used only with transitive base verbs, but the question
arises as to whether intransitive base verbs can be put into
Grade 7. The answer is yes, in such forms as shigu 'be
crowed' ("be well-entered") from shiga 'enter',
but one could spend years in Hausaland and read thousands of
pages of text before encountering such a form. Next, although
the Grade System gives a way to pigeonhole verb forms,
it becomes a distraction in learning how to use verbs. The verbs
k'ara 'increase' and k'are 'finish' are Grade 1
and 4 forms respectively of the same root, but in learning Hausa,
it makes more sense to simply learn them as separate words with
separate meanings than to think of them in terms of the formal
pigeonholes they fit into. Finally, reference to the Grade System
framework obscures cross-grade generalizations, in particular
that Grades 1 and 4 are identical in all respects except final
vowel, which, from the point of view of constructing sentences
using these verbs, is of no importance.
References
Paul Newman, "Grades, vowel-tone
classes and extensions in the Hausa verbal system," Studies
in African Linguistics 4:297-346, 1973.
F.W. Parsons, "The verbal system
in Hausa," Afrika und Ubersee, 44:1-36, 1960.
F.W. Parsons, "Suppletion and neutralization
in the verbal system of Hausa," Afrika und Ubersee
55:49-97, 188-208, 1971/72.