Guruntum is a

Chadic language The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 150 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type ...

spoken in Bauchi and Alkaleri LGAs,

Bauchi State Bauchi State (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Kano and Jigawa to the north, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Gombe and Yobe to the e ...

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 ...

. In 1993 it was spoken by about 15,000 people.

Classification

Guruntum is a

West Chadic language 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 n ...

of the Barawa (B.3) group. Major

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

s include Kuuku, Gayar, Mbaaru, Dooka,

Gar Gars are members of the family Lepisosteidae, which are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, an ancient holosteian group of ray-finned fish, which first appeared during the Triassic, over 240 million years ago. Gars comprise seven livin ...

and Karakara.

Phonology

Vowels

Guruntum contrasts long and short forms for all vowels except for . In addition, two nasalized vowel phonemes exist: . There are two diphthongs, and .

Consonants

is realized as a

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intervocalically before back vowels; elsewhere it is a

trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...

Tone

Guruntum has four tones: high, low, rising (low-high) and falling (high-low).

References

* West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria {{WChadic-lang-stub