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Chadic languages constitute a language family of perhaps 200 languages spoken across northern
NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
,
NigerNiger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
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ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
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Central African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
and
CameroonCameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, belonging to the Afroasiatic phylum. The most widely spoken Chadic language is
HausaHausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
, a
lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of much of inland West
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Newman (1977) divided the family into four groups, which have been accepted in all subsequent literature:
- West Chadic
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 the major language of West Africa.-Languages:...
. Two branches, which include the HausaHausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
, Ron, Bole, and Angas languages; and the Bade, WarjiWarji is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Speakers are shifting to Hausa....
, and Zaar languages.
- Biu–Mandara (Central Chadic). Three branches, which include the Bura, Kamwe
Kamwe is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Adamawa State, Borno State in Nigeria and North Western Cameroon. Dialects include Nkafa, Dakwa, Fali of Kiriya, Fali of Mijilu, Futu, Humsi, Modi, Sina, and Tili Pte....
, and BataBata is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Nigeria in Adamawa State in the Numan, Song, Fufore, and Mubi LGAs, and in Cameroon in North Province along the border with Nigeria. Dialects are Demsa, Garoua, Jirai, Kobotachi, Malabu, Ndeewe, Ribaw, Wadi, and Zumu. It is often considered the same...
languages, among other groups; the BudumaBuduma is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in western Chad and neighboring Cameroon and Nigeria.- References :*...
and MusguMusgu is a Biu–Mandara language of Cameroon and Chad. The endonym is Mulwi. Speakers of the extinct related language Muskum have switched to Musgu....
languages; and GidarGidar is a divergent Biu–Mandara language of Cameroon and Chad....
- East Chadic
The three dozen East Chadic languages of the Chadic family are spoken in Chad and Cameroon.-Languages:The branches of East Chadic go either by names or by letters and numbers in an outline format. Including the language count in Ethnologue, the constituent languages and language groups are:*East...
. Two branches, which include the TumakTumak, also known as Toumak, Tumag, Tummok, Sara Toumak, Tumac, and Dije, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the southwestern Chadian prefectures of Moyen-Chari and Koumra. The two dialects, Motun and Tumak, have a lexical similarity of 71%...
, NancereNancere is an East Chadic language spoken in the Tandjilé Region of Chad....
, and KeraKera is an East Chadic language spoken by 45,000 people in Southwest Chad and 6,000 people in North Cameroon.-Grammar:Kera is a subject–verb–object language, using prepositions. It uses exclusively borderline case-marking.-External links:******...
languages; and the DangaléatDangaléat is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in central Chad.- References :* -External links:*-Further reading:...
, MukuluMukulu is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in central Chad. The local name for the language is Gergiko . This is the name used for mother-tongue literacy materials...
, and SokoroSokoro is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in central Chad. Dialects are Bedanga and Sokoro.- References :* -External links:**...
languages
- Masa
The Masa languages are a group of a dozen closely related Chadic languages of West Africa. They are,*Herdé*Pévé*Massa *Mesmé*Marba*Musey*Ngeté*Zumaya The exonym Zime is used for the Herdé, Ngeté, Pévé, and Mesmé....
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