Jarawa | |
---|---|
Region | northern Nigeria, near Bauchi |
Native speakers | 250,000 (dialects with ISO codes) (2006–2011) |
Language family | Niger–Congo? |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:jjr – Zhár (Bankal)dbm – Zugur (Duguri)bau – Mbat (Bada)jgk – Gwak (Gingwak) |
Glottolog | jara1263 |
Jarawa (also known as Jar, Jara, or in Hausa: Jaranci) is the most populous of the Bantu languages of northern Nigeria. It is a dialect cluster consisting of many varieties.
Phonology
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | (ʔ) | |
voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | k͡x | ||||
voiced | d͡ʒ | ɡ͡ɣ | ||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | ||
voiced | (β) | z | ||||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Rhotic | r | |||||
Approximant | w | l | j |
- /β/ only appears as a marginal phoneme.
- only appears in non-word-initial syllables.
- Sounds /n, t, l, r/ can be heard as palatal or retroflex in word-final position. /k/ can also be heard as uvular in the same position, and may also alternate with or .
- Sounds /k͡x, ɡ͡ɣ/ can be heard as fricatives or in intervocalic position.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
Mid | (ɛ) | ə | (ɔ) |
Open | a |
- Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ only appear after glides.
Dialects
Jarawa dialects are:
- Zhár (Bankal)
- Zugur (Duguri)
- Gwak (Gingwak)
- Ndaŋshi
- Dòòrì
- Mbat (Bada)
- Mùùn
- Kantana
- Dàmùl
Kantana may be a distinct language.
Blench (2019) lists these varieties as dialects of Jar (Jarawa).
References
- Zhár (Bankal) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Zugur (Duguri) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Mbat (Bada) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Gwak (Gingwak) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Green, Christopher R. (2020). Harmony and disharmony in Mbat (Jarawan Bantu) verbs. In Linguistique et Langues Africaines 6: Syracuse University. pp. 43–72.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
Languages of Nigeria | |
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Official languages | |
National languages | |
Recognised languages | |
Indigenous languages | |
Sign languages | |
Immigrant languages | |
Scripts |
Mbam languages | |
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Sanaga | |
West | |
Yambasa | |
Jarawan | |
Other |
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