COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SEGMENTAL FEATURES OF HAUSA AND MADA LANGUAGES

The aim of this paper are: a) to identify the similarities and differences between the segmental features of Hausa and Mada languages, and b) to predict learning difficulties among Mada learners of Hausa and Hausa learners of Mada based on this comparison. Learners of Hausa as a second language (HSL, hereinafter) and learners of Mada as a second language (MSL, hereinafter) mostly encounter difficulties as a result of some features of their first languages (LI). Among the sources of difficulty in pronouncing Hausa among Mada speakers and vice versa is segmental deviation. This study compares and contrasts the segmental features of Hausa and Mada. The study is in accordance to Contrastive Analysis (CA), which behavioural and structural linguists founded the theoretical foundations in 1950 and 1960. Since then CA has been used in the second language acquisition studies. Desk research was employed in the course of this study, where data was sourced from existing works on the phonology of Hausa and Mada languages, then diagnosed and arrived at their similarities and differences. The results of the study reveals that, although Hausa and Mada share some segmental features, but the sounds do not behave the same way in the two languages. Hausa has 47 phonemes while Mada has 42 phonemes. These differences in phonological features are assumed to constitute learning difficulties for the L2 learners of the two languages.