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*    Hausa-English Dictionary and English-Hausa Vocabulary. In the case



*of Yoruba and Jekri, the tones are based on notes made by the author



*in London and Nigeria. References to other dialects or languages of



*the same group are not included, since no comparative study of the



*group is intended here.



*    Word groups composed of verb＋object in which the vowel of the



*verbal stem is elided or contracted have been sparingly introduced as



*separate items. (But none of the verb＋object-groups the first element



*of which is gbe 1 [ ˥ ], ya 1 [ ˥ ], zɛ 1 [ ˥ ].) In these as well, the sign cf. is



*used in order to indicate the heading under which the word-group is



*treated.



*    Words preceded by v. refer to synonyms, to expressions covered by



*the same general idea, or to generic terms covering the item to which



*the reference is attached.



*    Both kinds of references, those indicated by cf. and those marked v.,



*are usually found at the end of each item if they concern the item as



*a whole. Words that have appeared in the item already (i.e. in de-



*scriptions, etc.) are not repeated as references.



*    Furthermore, occasional reference is made to figures contained in



*Ling Roth, Great Benin (quoted as L.R.) and Read and Dalton, Antiquities



*from the City of Benin (quoted as R.D.).



*    NOTE ON BINI SOUNDS AND ORTHOGRAPHY



*    The orthography of the Bini words in this dictionary is not the one



*used in Bini publications at present, but follows the lines indicated in



*the Memorandum on a Practical Orthography for African Languages



*published by the International Institute of African Languages and



*Cultures.



*    The Bini language has seven vowels : i, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, u; a is a forward



*variety; e and o rather close. Instead of ɛ and ɔ, e̩ and o̩ are at present



*used in Bini books, in which, generally, the tradition of Yoruba writing



*is followed.



*    With the exception of e and o, the vowels also occur nasalised, as the



*result of assimilation with preceding nasals, and also as separate



*phonemes. When a nasalised vowel in the context is elided in front of



*an e or o, only a nasalised glide shows its previous existence, the middle



*and end of the e or o vowel remain unnasalised, at least in slow speech.



*(In quick speech, e and o are possibly, nasalised throughout in such



*cases.) Nasalisation is marked with a tilde (～) above the letter repre-



*senting the vowel. In Bini books it is at present marked by an n



*following the vowel, as in Yoruba.



*    Nasalised vowels are, however, left unmarked when they follow the



*nasal consonants, i.e. m, ʋ̃, n, ɽ̃, ny, nw, as their nasalisation is the



*result of assimilation.



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