Tikar (also called Tigé, Tigré or Tikari) is a

Northern Bantoid Northern Bantoid (or North Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid languages. It consists of the Mambiloid, Dakoid, and Tikar languages of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon. History A proposal that divided Bantoid into North and South Bant ...

semi-Bantu Semi-Bantu or Semibantu is an outdated term used for specific inhabitants of the Western grassfields of Cameroon (portions of the Adamawa, West, Northwest, and Southwest regions), who speak languages that have certain characteristics to the Bantu ...

language that is 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 ...

by the Tikar people, as well as by the Bedzan Pygmies, who speak their own dialect of the language''.'' A recent hypothesis by

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 ...

suggests that the Tikar language could be a divergent language in the Niger-Congo language family with an uncertain origin.

Classification

The little evidence available suggests that it is most closely related to the

Mambiloid The twelve Mambiloid languages are languages spoken by the Mambila and related peoples mostly in eastern Nigeria and in Cameroon. In Nigeria the largest group is Mambila (there is also a small Mambila population in Cameroon). In Cameroon the la ...

and

Dakoid languages The Dakoid languages are a branch of the Northern Bantoid languages spoken in Taraba and Adamawa states of eastern Nigeria. Languages *Gaa–Dong ** Donga (Dong) ** Gaa (Tiba) *Daka–Taram ** Taram ** Daka (a dialect cluster A dialect co ...

Dialects

The Tikar language has four dialects, including ''Tikari'', ''Tigé'', and ''Túmú''.

References

Northern Bantoid languages Languages of Cameroon African Pygmies Tikar people {{BenueCongo-lang-stub