The Angas, Angas–Sura, or Central West Chadic languages (also known as A.3 West Chadic) are a branch of

West Chadic languages 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 ...

spoken in

Plateau State Plateau State is the twelfth-largest Nigerian state. It is in the centre of the country includes a range of hills surrounding the Jos Plateau, its capital, and the entire plateau itself. Plateau State is described as "The Home of Peace and To ...

, north-central

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 ...

Languages

The Angas languages are:Blench, Roger. 2017
Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages
;Angas *Ngasic: Ngas (Angas), Belnəng; ? Miler *Mwaghavulic: Mwaghavul, Mupun (Mapun), Takas (Toos); Cakfem-Mushere * Miship (Chip) *Pan cluster ** Chakato; Jorto (spurious) ** Jipal, Mernyang (Mirriam), Kwagallak,

Kofyar The Kofyar are a population in central Nigeria numbering around 50,000. After several anthropological studies, they provide good illustrations of how colonial authorities become unwittingly enmeshed in local politics; of sustainable subsistence agr ...

(Doemak), Bwol, Goram, Jibyal * Nteng *Tel (Tɛɛl, Montol) *Talic: Tal, Pyapun, Koenoem *Goemaic:

Goemai PUR:purpose SG:singular DEF:definite ADVZ:adverbializer S:subject (intransitive and transitive) pronoun IDEOPH:ideophone O:object pronoun CONS:consequence clause PAST.REM:remote past DIM:diminutive GEN:genitive INSIDE:inside Goemai (also Ankw ...

* Yiwom (Ywom, Gerka) Note that in the language names, orthographic '' oe'' stands for the

mid central vowel The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a ə, rotated lowercase letter e. While the ''Handbook of th ...

ə, a practice that had been adopted by missionaries in the

Shendam Shendam is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Shendam. It is bordered by Ibi Taraba State to the south, Qua'an Pan to the east, Pankshin to the north, and Mikang to the west. Shendam town is ...

area during the 1930s, such as Father E. Sirlinger. Unlike many other

, Angas languages do not have complex nominal and verbal morphology. Ywom is the most divergent language.Blench, Roger. 2021.
West Chadic classification 2021
'. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.

Phonology

Some phonological characteristics that are typical of the Chadic A3 languages: *

Palatalised consonant In phonetics, palatalization (, also ) or palatization is a way of pronouncing a consonant in which part of the tongue is moved close to the hard palate. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be palatalized and are transcribed in the Internat ...

s *

Implosive consonant Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.''Phonetics for communication disorders.'' Martin J. Ball and Nicole Müller. R ...

s ɓ, ɗ *Six-vowel system consisting of i, ɨ, u, ɛ, ɔ, a *Three tone levels

Morphology

The West Chadic A3 languages have isolating morphology due to typological convergence with the

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 speakers. ...

. Blench (2022) notes that there are many morphological similarities with Berom, Izere, and

Ninzic languages The dozen or so Ninzic languages are a branch of the Plateau family spoken in central Nigeria. Classification There is little data on the Ninzic languages, and it is not clear that all of the following languages are related. Blench (2008) lists ...

(such as

Mada Mada ( sa, मद) is a term used in both Āstika and nāstika, Hindu theology and Hindu mythology, mythology. It is one of the Arishadvargas. It refers to one of the six enemy of the mind or a vice according to the Hindu texts, Hindu scriptures ...

), although there are no immediately identifiable direct lexical borrowings. Although

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

and the West Chadic A3 languages share many lexical cognates, Hausa is much more morphologically complex. This is because Hausa originated from outside the Plateau area and had thus not undergone intensive long-term contact with Plateau languages to the extent that West Chadic A3 had.Blench, Roger (2022).
Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence
'. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien. Plurals are marked with an *mV- affix throughout West Chadic A3 languages.

Lexicon

The West Chadic A3 languages are lexically innovative, having lost many common Chadic lexical roots as with the

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

and South Bauchi languages. Blench (2022) suggests that this is due to borrowing from Plateau languages that have since become extinct and/or assimilated.

Names and locations

Below is a comprehensive list of Angas language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).

References

{{Authority control West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria