Berom or Birom (''Cèn Bèrom'') is the most widely spoken
Plateau language
The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria.
Berom and Eggon have the most speakers. ...
in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
. The language is locally numerically important and is consistently spoken by
Berom of all ages in rural areas. However, the Berom are shifting to
Hausa
Hausa may refer to:
* Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa
* Hausa language, spoken in West Africa
* Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states
* Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse
See also
* ...
in cities.
The small Cen and
Nincut dialects may be separate languages. Approximately 1 million (2010) people speak in this language.
Berom is spoken in a large area just to the south of
Jos city in
Plateau State
Plateau State is the twelfth-largest Nigerian state. It is in the centre of the country includes a range of hills surrounding the Jos Plateau, its capital, and the entire plateau itself.
Plateau State is described as "The Home of Peace and To ...
, Nigeria.
History
The Berom have a link to the
Nok culture
The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria ...
, a civilization that existed between 200BC to 1000AD. Generally, the Berom speakers are identified to live in the core
Jos Plateau
The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages. ...
and down the low plains of
Kaduna State
Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...
.
Dialects
The Berom dialect clusters are:
[Blench, Roger. 2021. ]
Introduction to Berom: Reading and Writing Guide
'.
*Gyel–Kuru–Vwang
*Du–Foron
*Fan–Ropp–Rim–Riyom–Heikpang
*Bachit
*Gashish
*Rahoss-Tahoss
Phonology
Consonants
Eastern Berom consists of twenty-four consonant phonemes:
[Blench, Roger M. 2006c. ''Plural Verb Morphology in Eastern Berom''. Cambridge.]
In Berom, approximants are found in the last position, for example- orthographic rou is /ròw/ and vei is /vèj/.
/ts/ occurs in the Foron dialect.
Vowels
This language consists of seven vowel phonemes:
Berom consists of three type of tones and four glide tones (Bouquiaux 1970). The glide tones are treated here as rising and falling tones. The tones are as follows:
/tút / = (to climb) for a high tone
/shɛl/ = (small) No tone mark is demonstrated for the Mid tone.
/bàsa/ = (to teach, read,) for a low tone
/nepâs/ = (new) for a falling tone
/sǎn/ = (empty) for a rising tone
Orthography
Berom orthography:
a, b, c, d, e, ɛ, f, g, gb, h, i, j, k, kp, l, m, n, ng, o, ɔ, p, r, s, sh, t, ts, u, v, w, y, z
References
External links
{{authority control
Beromic languages
Languages of Nigeria
Berom people