Waziri Junaidu and His Contributions to Linguistics

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue XII, December 2018 | ISSN 2454–6186

Waziri Junaidu and His Contributions to Linguistics

Muhammad Arzika Danzaki

Department of Arabic, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto-Nigeria

Abstract—This paper attempts to highlight the contributions of Waziri Junaidu to linguistics through a survey of some of his works on the subject. It established that, his contributions to linguistics are manifested in the works he wrote on aspects of Fulfulde language, especially syntax, morphology and phonology. It posit that, despite those works written by Waziri Junaidu, there was hardly any attention paid by researchers to his contributions in the study of language. After presenting a brief biography of the subject, the paper identified the works which represent his major contribution to the field. It further outlined some of the specific aspects of the language he dealt with in his said works.

Keywords: Linguistics, Waziri Junaidu, Contributions, Fulfulde, Sokoto Caliphate.

I. INTRODUCTION

There is a lot of literature on the life and works of Waziri Junaidu. The literature covers his administrative and intellectual contributions. However, most of the writings were concerned with his contributions as a historian and with his literary ingenuity. Examples of such works are [1], [2], [3] and [4]. Waziri Junaidu was a literary icon who was not only a poet but a prose writer that contributed greatly in such genres as travelogue and poetry of beseeching and supplication. He left behind a complete anthology on this spiritual form of poetry. There is however, another area in which Waziri Junaidu gave significant contribution but seldom caught the attention of writers and researchers; that is his contribution to the study of language. Despite the titles Waziri Junaidu had to his credit in this area, hardly one can find academic works devoted to his contribution in it. In addition to his work on some aspects of Arabic language, Junaidu wrote over four works on the grammar of Fulfulde language.

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