Tala is a language from the West Chadian branch of the Chadic language family. The language is spoken in the central regions of

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 ...

, and had approximately 1000

native speakers A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

in 1993. The language is unwritten.

Classification

Tala is part of the Guruntum (Gurdung according to the work of

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works ...

) group of the South Bauchi language group, and is thus similar to the Guruntum, Tala, and Zangwal languages.

General Information

The Ju language is spoken in the villages of

Kuka KUKA is a German manufacturer of industrial robots and systems for factory automation. It has been predominantly owned by the Chinese company Midea Group since 2016. The KUKA Robotics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries, mostly sales and servic ...

and Talan Kasa, which lie to the south of

Bauchi Bauchi (earlier Yakoba) is a city in northeast Nigeria, the Administrative center of Bauchi State, of the Bauchi Local Government Area within that State, and of the traditional Bauchi Emirate. It is located on the northern edge of the Jos Plateau ...

. The village is in the Bauchi

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in the state of Bauchi. Tala shares language borders mosty with other

West Chadic languages The West Chadic languages of the Afro-Asiatic family are spoken principally in Niger and Nigeria. They include Hausa, the most populous Chadic language and a major language of West Africa. Languages The branches of West Chadic go either by ...

; Zangwal to the west, Ju to the southwest, Guruntum to the southeast, and the

Gera language Gera (also known as Gerawa or Fyandigeri) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Nigeria. Speakers are shifting to Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms ...

to the north and northeast. To the south, Ju borders the

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 ...

of the Dulbu language. In 1993,

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

estimated the number of speakers of the language at a thousand, and the

Joshua Project The Joshua Project is a Christian organization based in Colorado Springs, United States, which seeks to coordinate the work of missionary organizations to track the ethnic groups of the world with the fewest followers of evangelical Christianity. ...

has estimated the number of speakers at 2,000.

References

External Links

* * * {{West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria Chadic languages