The Nyingwom or Kam language is a
Niger-Congo language spoken in eastern
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 ...
. Blench (2019) lists speakers residing in the main villages of Mayo Kam and Kamajim in
Bali LGA,
Taraba State
)
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, map_caption = Location of Taraba State in Nigeria
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.
Lesage reports that Kam is spoken in 27 villages of Bali LGA.
Nyingwom was labeled as branch "G8" in
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 ...
's
Adamawa language family proposal. The precise classification of Kam is a matter of current research.
Speakers refer to themselves and their language as ''Nyí ŋwɔ̀m''. Kamajim (Kam: ''àngwɔ́g ɲí'' 'house of the people') is the traditional capital of the Kam at the western foothills of a mountain range situated to the north of the Kam River. The Kam have historically been in extensive contact with the
Kororofa Jukun.
[Lesage, Jakob]
Kam
AdaGram.
Distribution
Kam or Nyingwom is spoken by approximately fewer than 5,000 speakers in the settlements of:
[Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015]
Some notes on Nyiŋɔm (aka Nyingwom or Kam)
*
Sarkin Dawa (70)
*Mayo Kam (150)
*Garin Hamza (700)
*Din Kamaajin A, B, C, D (3,000)
*Garin Laa (300)
*Garin Bandari (300)
However, Jakob Lesage estimates 20,000-25,000 speakers in 27 villages in May 2017.
Unlike many other Niger-Congo languages, Kam does not have a
noun class
In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some a ...
system.
Further reading
*Lesage, Jakob. 2019
Selected Kam documentation (with audio) Pangloss Collection: An archive for endangered languages.
*Meek, Charles K. 1931. ''Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria'', Vol. 2. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.
References
External links
by Jakob Lesage. AdaGram.
{{Niger-Congo branches
Waja languages
Languages of Nigeria