Dikaka or Cham, is one of the

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 ...

Middle Belt The Middle Belt (also spelt Middle-Belt or Central Nigeria) is a term used in human geography to designate a belt region stretching across central Nigeria longitudinally and forming a transition zone between Northern and Southern Nigeria. It is ...

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 ...

. It is also known as Dijim–Bwilim, after its two dialects, Dijim and Bwilim. A

tonal language Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emph ...

, it has a whistled register. It is spoken in Gombe and southwestern parts of

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

of Nigeria.

Dialects

The two dialects are Dijim and Bwilim.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014
The languages of the Tula – Waja Group
Adamawa Languages Project. *Dijim ijím spoken in and around Kindiyo (currently Cham town) *Bwilim wilím spoken in and around Mɔna (Mwona, Mwana) Another related dialect is spoken by former speakers of the

Jalaa language Jalaa (autonym: ), also known as Cèntûm, Centúúm or Cen Tuum, is an extinct language of northeastern Nigeria (Loojaa settlement in Balanga Local Government Area, Gombe State), of uncertain origins, apparently a language isolate. The Jalabe ...

in and around Loojaa settlement.

Orthography

It consists of 8 vowels and 17 consonants. :The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, ǝ, ɨ, ʊ :The consonants are: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y

References

{{Adamawa languages Waja languages Languages of Nigeria