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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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