Abstract: | The author introduces two aspects of Hausa language which have escaped the notice of other writers: a) the dictionary explanation of Hausa describing words is very often too short to expose their hidden meanings, b) the Hausa people are at liberty to invent describing words hitherto not known or heard of. This freedom to create describing words will make it difficult for any authority compiling a Hause dictionary to be very up-to-date and comprehensive. Nature provides a Hausa man with varying sounds which he can combine and use at his pleasure. The suddenness of the appearance of something or his sense of humour places him at advantage to invent describing words whose meanings to the ears? of the hearers are decided by 1) the likely root meaning of the word and 2) the sounds of the individual letters contained in each word. With several examples the author illustrates what he is driving at. |