Reconstructing Proto-Hausa: A Comparative Historical Phonology of West Chadic Languages

The reconstruction of Proto-Hausa, the hypothetical ancestor of the West Chadic B language cluster, requires systematic comparative historical phonological analysis of a group of languages that have received unequal descriptive attention, with Hausa extensively documented but many of its closest relatives only partially described. This doctoral study advances the reconstruction of Proto-Hausa through a comprehensive comparative historical phonological analysis of West Chadic B languages, making original contributions to Chadic historical linguistics and to the understanding of Hausa's internal linguistic history. Drawing on the comparative method as developed in formal historical linguistics, the research assembles and critically evaluates existing phonological descriptions of twelve West Chadic B languages, supplementing existing documentation with original fieldwork phonological data collected during six months of fieldwork in Hausa-related language communities in Bauchi, Gombe, and Yobe states. The comparative analysis reconstructs the Proto-Hausa consonant and vowel inventory, proposes regular sound correspondences across the language group, identifies shared innovations that define subgroup membership, and evaluates competing previous reconstruction proposals. Original findings include a revised Proto-Hausa consonant inventory that differs from existing proposals particularly in the reconstruction of the phonation type contrasts, identification of two previously unrecognised shared innovations supporting a tighter internal subgrouping of West Chadic B, and new etymologies for a significant portion of basic Hausa vocabulary through inter-West-Chadic comparison. Contributions extend both Hausa historical linguistics and broader Afro-Asiatic comparative reconstruction. Keywords: Proto-Hausa, Historical phonology, West Chadic, Comparative linguistics, Language reconstruction.