Chamba Leko is one of two languages spoken by the

Chamba people The Chamba are a significant ethnic group in the north eastern Nigeria. The Chamba are located between present day Nigeria and Cameroon. The closest Chamba neighbours are the Mumuye, the Jukun and Kutep people. In Cameroon, the successors of Leko ...

, the other being Chamba Daka. It is a member of the

Leko Leko may refer to: * Leko (surname) * Leko languages, a small group of African Savanna languages * Leco language, a moribund isolate language of Bolivia * Lekolite or Leko, a type of stage spotlight * Alexandro da Silva Santos or Leko, Brazilian fo ...

branch of

Savanna languages The Savannas languages, also known as Gur–Adamawa or Adamawa–Gur, is a branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families. History of classification The Gur–Adamawa link was demonstrated in ...

, and is spoken across the northern

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 ...

n–

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 ...

ian border. ''Chamba'' is also spelled 'Samba', ''Leko'' also 'Leeko', 'Lego' or 'Lekon'. The language is also known as ''Suntai''.

Dialects

Samba, also called Samba Leeko, is highly distinct from ''Chamba Daka'', also called ''Daga Mumi'' ('language of the Daka'), spoken in Nigeria by another subgroup of the ''Chamba'' people. These two languages are respectively classified in groups 2 and 3 of the Adamawa branch by

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 ...

(see

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 199 ...

). In Cameroon, the two main groups of dialects are: *Samba languages proper (consisting of the Samba Leeko, Deenu, Bangla, Wangai varieties, as well as Sampara, mainly spoken in Nigeria) located between the

Alantika Mountains The Atlantika Mountains, also known as the Alantika Mountains, are an extension of the Cameroon line of volcanic mountains, spanning the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. They lie to the southeast of Yola, the capital of Adamawa State in Nige ...

in one area, and Faro and Mayo-Déo as well (in the south of Béka commune,

Bénoué Bénoué is a Departments of Cameroon, department of North Province (Cameroon), North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 13,614 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 1,781,955. The capital of the department lies at ...

department, North Region) *Daganjonga, spoken in two enclaves of 25,000 speakers surrounded by

Grassfields languages The Grassfields languages (or Wide Grassfields languages) are a branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon and some parts of Taraba state, Nigeria. Better known Grassfields languages include the Easter ...

, near the

Ndop Ndop is a town and a commune in the northwest of Cameroon. It comprises four villages: * Bambalang (village) * Bamali * Bamessing * Bamunka See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of admin ...

Plain (more than 400 kilometers from the

). It is spoken in the villages of Balikumbat, Baligashu, Baligashu (

Balikumbat Balikumbat is a town and commune in Cameroon. It comprises 5 villages : * Bafanji *Baligansin *Baligashu *Balikumbat (village) *Bamunkumbit See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administra ...

commune, Ngoketunjia department, North-West Region) and Baligam (

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

commune,

Mezam Mezam is a division of the North West Region of Cameroon. The department covers an area of 1745 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 524,127. The capital of the department lies at Bamenda. Subdivisions The department is divided admini ...

department, North-West Region)

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

Leko languages Languages of Nigeria Languages of Cameroon {{AtlanticCongo-lang-stub