The twenty Central Plateau languages are a residual branch of the Plateau family spoken in central

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 ...

Tyap Tyap is a regionally important dialect cluster of Plateau languages in Nigeria's Middle Belt, named after its prestige dialect. It is also known by its ''Hausa exonym'' as Katab or Kataf.McKinney, N. P. (April 1990), p. 255. It is also ...

(or Katab) has 130,000 speakers, and the closely related Jju (or Kaje) has well over 300,000. Hyam (or Jabba) has another 100,000.

Cori Cori or CORI may refer to: * Cori cycle, the metabolic pathway where lactic acid produced in the muscles is converted into glucose in the liver * Cori (lunar crater) * Cori, a crater on Venus * Cori (name) * ''Cori, de Scheepsjongen'' (''Cori, the ...

is famous for being one of very few languages with six tone levels, though only three are needed for writing.

Classification

The Central Plateau languages are a close geographical group with numerous connections; however, they are to some extent a residual group and may be a

sprachbund A sprachbund (, lit. "language federation"), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The lang ...

. The following classification is taken from Blench (2008). A distinction between North Plateau and the rest of Central Plateau is possible but appears to be geographic; Gerhardt (1994) argues they belong together. Each of the second-level bullets is a single language or

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

and is obviously valid. However, most of the first-level groups (Hyamic, North Plateau, Gyongic, Koro) are not self-evident and may continue to be revised. * Rigwe (Irigwe) *Izeric ** Izere: NE & NW Izere, Cèn, Ganàng ** Fəràn (Firan) – clearly related to Izere *Tyapic **

(Katab): Tyap ''proper'', Gworok, Takat (Attakar), Tyecha̱rak (Kacecere), Sholyia̱ (Sholio), Fantswam (Kafanchan), Tyuku ** Jju (Kaje) – probably part of the Tyap cluster *Hyamic **

(Kyoli) ** Dangana ** Hyam (Jabba): Hyam of Nok, Sait, Dzar; maybe Yaat, Ankun also separate ** Shamang ** Zhire (Shang is relexified Zhire) *Koro **

Koro Koro may refer to: Geography *Koro Island, a Fijian island * Koro Sea, in the Pacific Ocean * Koro, Ivory Coast *Koro, Mali * Koro, Wisconsin, United States, an unincorporated community Languages *Koro language (India), an endangered language spo ...

: Ashe, Begbere-Ejar ** Yeskwa (Nyankpa) ** Idun, Gwara *Gyongic ** Gyong (Kagoma) ** Nghan (Kamantan) *North Plateau (Northwest) ** Adara (Eda, Edra) ** Kuturmi ** Kulu (Ikulu) **

Idon ''iDon'' (also stylized as ''iDON'' and ''idon'') is the third studio album by Puerto Rican reggaeton performer Don Omar released worldwide on April 28, 2009, through Universal Music Group and Machete Music. The album was assumed to be named ''Ic ...

** Doka **

Iku Iku or IKU may refer to: Languages * Iku language (ISO 639: ikv), a Plateau language of Nigeria * Arhuaco language (ISO 639: arh), also known as Ikʉ, a Chibchan language of Colombia * Inuktitut (ISO 639: iku), an Inuit language of Canada Other u ...

(Iku-Gora-Ankwe) Blench (2018) splits the Central Plateau languages into a ''Northwest Plateau'' group consisting of Eda/Edra, Acro-Obiro (Kuturmi), Kulu, Idon, Doka, Iku-Gora-Ankwe, and a ''West-Central Plateau''

linguistic area A sprachbund (, lit. "language federation"), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The lang ...

consisting of the Rigwe, Tyapic, Izeric, Hyamic, Koro, and Gyongic groups.Blench, Roger M. 2018. Nominal affixes and number marking in the Plateau languages of Central Nigeria. In John R. Watters (ed.), ''East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs'', 107–172. Berlin: Language Science Press. Many of the languages, including Jju, were formerly classified as part of a ''Southern

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

'' group in earlier classifications.

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).

Classification

Names and locations

Footnotes

References

External links