Doyayo (ethnonym: ''Dowayo'') is a language of the
Duru branch of
Adamawa languages
The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Chad, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 19 ...
spoken in
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
.
''Doyayo'' (Doo²³ya̰a̰¹yɔ¹ 'man's mouth'; alternatively Doo²waa²³ya̰a̰¹yɔ¹ 'man's child's mouth') is spoken by the Dowayo (or Doo²waa²³yɔ¹ 'man's child') ethnic group.
Names
According to ''ALCAM'' (2012), Doayo, which has 18,000 speakers, is the main language of the northern part of
Poli __NOTOC__
Poli can refer to:
Food
* ''Puran Poli'', a poli made up of wheat flour and puran (sweet cooked gram paste)
* A Marathi name for ''chapati'', a bread made up of wheat flour
Organisations
* FC Timişoara Romanian first league football c ...
commune (in
Faro department, Northern Region).
Taara is spoken in the mountains west of
Poli __NOTOC__
Poli can refer to:
Food
* ''Puran Poli'', a poli made up of wheat flour and puran (sweet cooked gram paste)
* A Marathi name for ''chapati'', a bread made up of wheat flour
Organisations
* FC Timişoara Romanian first league football c ...
, and Marka in the plains further northwest in
Tcheboa commune,
Bénoué department.
The term ''Namchi'', which means "crushed ones" or "those who crush
illet for us in
Fulfulde
Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...
, is a cover term that refers not only to the Doayo, but also its neighbors
Duupa and
Dugun (the latter two are both
Dii languages
The Dii language is a dialect cluster in the Duru branch of Savanna languages. ''Yag Dii'' is the ethnonym.
''Ethnologue'' lists ''Mambe’, Mamna’a, Goom, Boow, Ngbang, Sagzee, Vaazin, Home, Nyok'' as dialects, and notes that Goom may be a s ...
).
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.
Life Early life and education
Joseph Greenberg was born on ...
's "''Sewe''" is in fact a variety of the Doayo language documented by Griaule. The name comes from the informant's village, Sewe.
Dialects
Doyayo dialects are:
[Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich (2015)]
Doyayo
*Markɛ (spoken in the northwestern plains)
*Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ of Poli
*Southern Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ (spoken in the mountains to the south)
*Sewe (Séwé)
(Note that there are two distinct Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ dialects.)
Blench (2004) considers the Sewe dialect to be a separate language, no more closely related to Dowayo than to Koma and Vere.
References
*Roger Blench, 2004
List of Adamawa languages(ms)
{{Authority control
Duru languages
Languages of Cameroon