Jju (; ) is the native language of the

Bajju people The Bajju people (; exonyms: ; , ''Kaje''), are an ethnic group found in the Middle Belt (central) area of Nigeria. The word Bajju stems from , literally "people who speak Jju". The Jju language, Jju language is spoken in , the homeland of the B ...

Kaduna State Kaduna (, جىِهَر كَدُنا; مدينة كدونا; , ; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna (city), Kaduna, which was the List of Nigerian ...

in central

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. As of 1988, there were approximately 300,000 speakers. Jju is one of the

Southern Kaduna Southern Kaduna ( ; Jju language, Jju: ''Ka̱tak Ka̱duna'' ; ; formerly Southern Zaria) is an area of the Nok Culture region inhabited by various related ethnic groups who do not identify as Hausa people, Hausa, living south of Zazzau Emirat ...

languages. Although usually listed separately from the Tyap cluster, Jju's separation, according to Blench R.M. (2018), seems to be increasingly ethnic rather than a linguistic reality.

Distribution

Jju is spoken as a first language by the

Zangon Kataf Zangon Kataf (, also Katab, Cuttub), is a Local Government Areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna, southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Zonkwa. It is also a name of a town in the Atyap Chiefdom, ch ...

Jema'a Jema'a (also written ''Ajemaa'' and ''Jama'a'') is a Local Government Area in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria with headquarters at Kafanchan. The Local Government Council is chaired by Yunana Barde. It has an area of 1,384 km2 and a populati ...

Kachia Kachia ( Adara: ''Akhwee'') is a Local Government Area in the southern part of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Kachia. It has an area of 4,570 km and a population of 252,568 in the 2006 census. The postal code of ...

, Kaura and

Kaduna South Kaduna South is a Local Government Area in the Kaduna Metropolis of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is located in Makera. Other wards are Barnawa, Tudun Wada, Tudun Nupawa, Television, Kakuri, Unguwar Muazu, Kabala West, Sabon Gar ...

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s of

Kaduna state Kaduna (, جىِهَر كَدُنا; مدينة كدونا; , ; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna (city), Kaduna, which was the List of Nigerian ...

. It is also spoken in neighbouring Atyap, Fantswam, Agworok,

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

, Adara, and other kin communities as a second or third language.

Phonology

Vowels

A few words also include the long vowels and .

Consonants

* There is a

tenseness In phonology, tenseness or tensing is, most generally, the pronunciation of a sound with greater muscular effort or constriction than is typical. More specifically, tenseness is the pronunciation of a vowel with less centralization (i.e. either ...

distinction, which McKinney (1990) calls a fortis-lenis distinction. McKinney analyzes the fortis consonants as longer than lenis consonants. * There is allophonic palatalization before front vowels and allophonic labialization before rounded vowels. * Most consonants have a three-way contrast between

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels invol ...

� and palatalized � * Aspiration �may phonetically occur among stops. * Tense stops may also be heard as affricates .

Numerals

Vocabulary

List of vocabulary relating to body parts. * zwuoi - nose * shog - cheek * a̠kpukpa ka̠nu - lip * zwuak - throat * du̱ryem - tongue * pffwa - neck * ka̠dyet - chin * ka̠hog - chest * trang - beard * kawiyang - armpit * du̱ccu - head * a̠nyyi teeth * tsuo mbvak - elbow * ka̠ma - back * du̱kkwat - back of head * tak - leg * ka̠hwa - stomach * du̱kkwut - knee * hun-tak ankle * gruang - shoulder * kanu - mouth * kop - navel * pffwo - ear * du̱ssi - eye * a̠cat - hair * du̱byiang - breast * ka̠ta̠ssi - forehead * a̠ta̠ngbak - wrist * ka̠ta̠ng-hurung bak - finger * bva̠k - hand

Notes

References

External links

Diwan Jju (Voice of Jju)
Tyapic languages Central Plateau languages Languages of Nigeria {{plateau-lang-stub