Aspects Of Mernyang Morphology
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Aspects Of Mernyang Morphology
Chapter one
MERNYANG LANGUAGE & SPEAKERS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the Mernyang language and its speakers. It also describes the study’s historical context, geographical location, cultural and social background, scope and limitations, genetic classification, justification, and importance in relation to the research method used.
Mernyang (pronounced “Mernyan”) is a language spoken in Nigeria’s plateau state. It is spoken as a dialect by a tiny community in the south of the plateau. Mernyang is formally known as MERNYANG, which means “nucleus of rebel” The name of the language is commonly referred to as “pan”.
The community pan consists of seven (7) districts, however there are only three (3) significant fluent speakers of Mernyang language in Pan chiefdom: Kwa, Kwang, and Dokan Kasuwa districts.
Each village of the pan chiefdom has a different pronunciation, although they all understand each other. The project is based on the Mernyang dialect.
The focus of this work is Mernyang morphology, which will include the consonant and vowel chart of Mernyang because the language has no written form, Mernyang word formation processes, word classes, Morphological typologies, morpheme structure, morphemic function, and, most importantly, the morpheme in Mernyang language.
1.1. General Background
MERNYANG AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS
The movement of a big group of individuals thought to be of the same stock has been attributed to oral tradition, with roots in the North East at or near Kanem-Borno.
In the absence of written records, some writers attribute the migration of these big groups to the introduction of Islam, while others attribute it to tribal squabbles.
Whatever drove the movement, the groups sojourned in different sites as they were on the move, but the recent populate settlement nodes, Jivi, Gyangang, Wase, Fiemgiji, Kofyar, Asa, etc, have been mentioned verbally and in writing.
A group is claimed to have travelled from Fyer to Asa via Katul, forming the Ron-Kulere-Chakfem-Mushere axis. Its splinter group split up and relocated to Ndai, and vice versa. Ndai is another sub-dispersal point situated between Panyam and Mangu.
Another party is alleged to have marched towards Munok, passing via Langshi and into Garram. Fomter migrated to Doemwai and later to Jagatoe (Dokan Tofa), which extended into Koenoem regions, while Lekni travelled to the Jelbang inselbang and beyond to create the Goemai of Muduut and its surroundings. Another party, commanded by Dafyar, travelled to Pees and then to Kofyar, where they stayed before dispersing, as depicted below.
This highlights how the Tal Montol, Koenoem, Mernyang, and Piapung have created the identity “Panshak” meaning “brothers”. By extension, and in agreement with language similarities and closeness, the inhabitants of the so-called ethnic principalities of the Plateau’s “corn belt” are one and the same, with slight variances due to contact and lengthy isolation caused by migrations.
According to Sr.Marie de Paul Neiers (1979:16), the “corn belt” is propelled by one group: As archaeological evidence fades towards the end of the first century of the Christian period, oral traditions provide historians with a window into the second millennium.
According to Ames, the Angas were driven out of Borno around 1100 by the Bolewa and others, or about 1350 by Kanuri. After some time on the move, they eventually reached the plateau’s eastern side.
From there, they spread to the west and south west, producing several subgroups such as the Tal, Sura (now Mughavul, with the Challa as a branch of the family), Miriam, Chip, Ankwe, and others.
Both Ames and Neiers were unaware of the direction and location of Lekni and Foniter, nor did they understand the relationship between the knoenoem, Piapung, Monton, and present-day Goemai. They were unable to connect the Jelbang-Muduut group (also known as the Jipari), which had separated from the Lekni group.
Both Ames and Neiers overlooked the cultural and linguistic ties between the Tal, Taroh, Pai, and Myet groups, which are linked to the Fier, Mupun, Mughavul, Ron, Kuletre, Chakfem, Mushere, and “Panshak” groups.
Finally, Ames and Neiers were unaware that some modern Goemai descended from the Fomter, Njen, and Kwararafa stock rather than the Lekni branch.
A significant disadvantage of the early transcribers of oral tradition into written form was their lack of knowledge of the people’s language and cultural customs, which would have allowed them to recognise how interconnected the various groups are today.
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
Dafyar, from whom the Mernyang and other clans descended, is supposed to have procreated with his sister Nade as the only survivors of the apocalypse, which they saw as the collapse of the sky accompanied by fire and brimstone.
It is thought that all of people died as a result of transgressions that incurred God’s wrath. Dafyar and Nade had sheltered in a cave on a peninsula known as Chor in Kopfubum, near present-day Kofyar.
A cursory examination reveals that one of the many volcanic chains in the area (Moelar, Sogom, Pak, Kwanoeng, etc.) may have erupted, resulting in the apocalypse they described as the sky collapsing with fire and brimstone.
Dafyar’s descendants had dispersed into numerous other sub-groups and intermarried, resulting in a much broader cultural mix. The colonial expedition’s visit to Latok following the death of her Magestry’s Administration officer, Mr. Christopher Matthew Barlow, in the early 1930s drove many Darfyar descendants away from home and into other communities, broadening the cultural mix in the sub-region and surrounding areas.
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