A Descriptive Grammar of the Bassa-nge Language

A descriptive grammar of the Bassa-nge language presents a comprehensive description of an endangered language spoken in Kogi State-Nigeria. The language belongs to the Niger-Kordofanian phylum of the Kwa family. The 12,000 speakers of the language occupy the eastern side of the confluence of the river Niger and Benue, though some of them still live on the side of river Lokoja. The Grammar book has four chapters. The first chapter discusses the geographical location of the language, historical origin and settlement of the people and the classification of the language. The second chapter treats the phonology of the language enumerating the consonant and vowel systems.

The third chapter briefly discusses the nominal and verbal morphology of the language while, the last chapter treats the syntax of the language, discussing the structure of the nominal and verbal phrases, identifying all the possible constituents that can occur in each of the phrases. These are supported with tree diagram of the sentences analyzed as well as phrase structure rules.

The book's authors, Mohammed Aminu Mu'azu, Jidda Hassan Juma'a and Suleman Sokomba Tebu are graduates of General linguistics and Associate Professors in the Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri-Nigeria.