Damakawa is a

moribund Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state near death. Moribund may refer to: * ''Moribund'' (album), a 2006 album by the Norwegian black metal band Koldbrann * "Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel known in English as "Seasons in the Sun" ...

Benue–Congo language of northwest

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 has become extinct, there are no longer any speakers of the language, although the oldest people can remember a few words. Approximately 80 or so words and phrases were collected, with difficulty, in April 2008 (the language seems to have been unknown to linguists until then).McGill, Stuart. 2008
The Damakawa language. Unpublished manuscript.
. The Damakawa have shifted to the nearby larger language

C'Lela Lela or C'lela (Clela) is a Kainji language of Nigeria. It is known as Chilela in Hausa, and it is also known as Dakarkari, because it is spoken by the Dakarkari people Location The Lela live mostly in Kebbi State and Niger State. However, there a ...

, and it is likely that all, or almost all of them, also speak the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

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 * ...

. The Hausa name for the ethnic group is also

Damakawa The Damakawa are an ethnic group of about 500-1000 people in northwest Nigeria. They live in three villages near Maganda in Sakaba Local Government Area, Kebbi State. They used to speak the Damakawa language Damakawa is a moribund Benue–Congo ...

Classification

Based on such a small amount of data of uncertain reliability, it is hard to classify Damakawa precisely. It is probably best placed in the

Northwest Kainji The six Northwest Kainji languages, formerly known as Lela, are spoken near Kainji Lake on the Niger River in Nigeria. They are distinguishable from other Kainji languages by the reduction of their noun-class prefixes to single consonants.Roger ...

branch of Benue–Congo. The words that have been collected show similarities with both

and

Kambari languages The Kambari or Kamberi languages) are a cluster of Kainji languages spoken in northwestern Nigeria (Kebbi State and Niger State). Geographic distribution The Kambarri languages are spoken in Kebbi and Niger States, Nigeria. There are also some sp ...

, and it may be that the Kambari words are loans or mis-rememberings.

Alternative names

The nearby

Cicipu Cipu (''Cicipu''), or Western Acipa, is a Kainji language spoken by about 20,000 people in northwest Nigeria. The people call themselves ''Acipu'', and are called ''Acipawa'' in Hausa. Like most Benue–Congo languages, Cipu has a complex n ...

speakers call the Damakawa language 'Tidama'un'. In the trade language

the expected name for the language would be Damakanci, given the people are called Damakawa. However Damakawa seems to be preferred by the Damakawa themselves, as far as can be ascertained.

Geographic distribution

The Damakawa people probably number about 500-1000, and live in three or four villages near Maganda in Sakaba Local Government Area,

Kebbi State Kebbi state ( ha, Jihar Kebbi; Fulfulde: Leydi Kebbi 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤫𞤦𞥆𞤭) is a state in the northwestern Nigeria, Kebbi state is bordered east and north of Sokoto and Zamfara states, and to the south by Niger state while ...

References

External links

ISO 639-3 Request for new language code
{{Platoid languages Languages of Nigeria Northwest Kainji languages Articles citing ISO change requests Extinct languages of Africa Languages extinct in the 20th century