The West Chadic languages of the

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic s ...

family are spoken principally in

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesNigeria 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 ...

. They include Hausa, the most populous Chadic language and a major language of

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Languages

The branches of West Chadic go either by names or by letters and numbers in an outline format. * Hausa–Gwandara (A.1): Hausa, Gwandara *Bole–Angas (?) ** Bole–Tangale (A.2) ***North (Bole proper): Bure, Karekare, Bole,

Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...

, Geruma, Deno, Galambu, Giiwo, Kubi, Ngamo, Maaka (Maagha), Ɓeele, Daza (Dazawa), ?

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

***South (Tangale): Kwaami, Pero, Piya-Kwonci, Kholok, Nyam, Kushi (Goji), Kutto (Kupto), Tangale,

Dera Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is 'camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Moha ...

(Kanakuru) ** Angas ( Central West Chadic) (A.3)Blench, Roger. 2017
Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages
***Ngasic: Ngas (Angas), Belnəng ***Mwaghavulic: Mwaghavul, Mupun (Mapun), Takas (Toos); Cakfem-Mushere *** Miship (Chip) ***Pan cluster **** Chakato/Jorto **** Jipal, Mernyang (Mirriam), Kwagallak, Kofyar (Doemak), Bwol, Goram, Jibyal *** Nteng ***Tel (Tɛɛl, Montol) ***Talic: Tal, Pyapun, Koenoem ***Goemaic: Goemai *** Yiwom (Ywom, Gerka) ** Ron (A.4): Fyer, Tambas, Ron (

Bokkos Bokkos is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Bokkos at . It has an area of 1,682 km and a population of 178,454 at the 2006 census. Ron languages are the indigenous languages spoken in Bok ...

, Daffo-Butura, Mangar, Monguna), Shagawu, Duhwa (Karfa), Kulere (Tof, Richa, Kamwai-Marhai), Mundat, Sha *Bade–Warji (?) ** Bade (B.1): Duwai; Bade, Shira (†), Ngizim, Teshenawa (†), Auyokawa (†) **

Warji Warji is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Warji. It has an area of 625 km and a population of 114,720 at the 2006 census. The postal code A postal code (also known locally in various ...

( North Bauchi) (B.2): Pa'a;

, Diri, Ciwogai, Kariya (Vinahə), Mburku, Miya,

Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer qu ...

, Zumbun (Jimbin),

Ajawa The yao people, ''wayao'', are a major Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based at the southern end of Lake Malawi, who played an important part in the history of Southeast Africa during the 19th century. The Yao are a predominantly Muslim ...

(†) *

Barawa Barawa ( so, Baraawe, Maay: ''Barawy'', ar, ﺑﺮﺍﻭة ''Barāwa''), also known as Barawe and Brava, is the capital of the South West State of Somalia.Pelizzari, Elisa. "Guerre civile et question de genre en Somalie. Les événements et le ...

( South Bauchi) (B.3) **Zaar: Dass; Geji, Polci (Polchi), Saya,

Zari ''Zari'' (or ''jari'') is an even thread traditionally made of fine gold or silver used in traditional Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani garments, especially as brocade in saris etc. This thread is woven into fabrics, primarily silk, to m ...

, Zeem **Guruntum: Guruntum-Mbaaru, Ju, Tala, Zangwal **Boghom: Jimi, Jum; Boghom, Kir-Balar, Mangas In addition, Poki is unclassified within West Chadic.

Internal structure

George Starostin's (2010) internal classification of West Chadic as presented in Blažek (2010): *West Chadic **West Chadic A *** Hausa–Gwandara ***(branch) **** Ron ****Bole-Angas ***** Bole–Tangale ***** Angas–Sura **West Chadic B *** Bade–Ngizim ***Bauchi **** North Bauchi **** South Bauchi

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 w ...

's (2021) internal classification of West Chadic:Blench, Roger. 2021.
The erosion of number marking in West Chadic Roger Blench
'. WOCAL, Leiden. *West Chadic ** Hausa–Gwandara **Core West Chadic *** Ron *** Bole–Tangale *** Bade–Ngizim *** North Bauchi *** South Bauchi, A3 (Central-West)

Distribution

Distributions of West Chadic branches:

History of dispersal

(2022) suggests that West Chadic languages may have spread via a gradual agricultural dispersal in Central Nigeria, starting from 3,000-4,000 years ago. Blench notes that West Chadic morphology has been heavily influenced by

Plateau languages The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria. Berom and Eggon have the most speake ...

, likely as a result of long-term intermarriage that occurred as West Chadic incomers took local wives who spoke Plateau languages.Blench, Roger (2022).
Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence
'. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.

Reconstruction

Although no full reconstruction of West Chadic has been published, reconstructions of numerals for West Chadic and its subgroups have been proposed by

Václav Blažek Václav Blažek (born 23 April 1959 in Sokolov, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech historical linguist. He is a professor at Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic) and also teaches at the University of West Bohemia ( Pilsen, Czech Republic). His ma ...

(2018).Blažek, Václav. 2018
The numerals of West Chadic
''Topics in Chadic Linguistics IX''. Papers from the 8th Biennial International Colloquium on the Chadic Languages, Bayreuth, February 4-5, 2016.

Phonology

The labial–velar consonants /kp/ and /gb/, widespread in Plateau and other Niger-Congo languages but uncommon in Chadic languages, can be found in

Ron languages The Ron, Ronic or Ron–Fyer languages, group A.4 of the West Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, are spoken in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria. The Ron languages have undergone extensive influence from Tarok. Languages Th ...

and in certain West Chadic A3 and Bole-Tangale languages. These consonants were borrowed from Plateau languages due to intensive long-term contact. However, other phonological features typical of Plateau and Niger-Congo languages such as ATR and

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...

are not found in West Chadic languages.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

External links

The Yobe Languages Research Project
by the late Russell G. Schuh of UCLA

at africanlanguages.org {{Authority control Chadic languages West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria