Chadic languages
Branch of the Afroasiatic languages From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages[1] spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland Eastern West Africa, particularly Niger and the northern half of Nigeria. Hausa is the only Chadic language with more than 1 million speakers.
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Chadic | |
---|---|
Geographic distribution | Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon |
Linguistic classification | Afro-Asiatic
|
Proto-language | Proto-Chadic |
Subdivisions | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-5 | cdc |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | chad1250 |
![]() Map of the distribution of the Chadic languages within Africa | |
![]() Detailed map of the distribution of Chadic languages in Western and Central Africa |
Composition
Paul Newman (1977) classified the languages into the four groups which have been accepted in all subsequent literature. Further subbranching, however, has not been as robust; Roger Blench (2006), for example, only accepts the A/B bifurcation of East Chadic.[2] Subsequent work by Joseph Lovestrand argues strongly that Kujarge is a valid member of East Chadic. The placing of Luri as a primary split of West Chadic is erroneous. Bernard Caron (2004) shows that this language is South Bauchi and part of the Polci cluster. A suggestion for including the language isolate Kujargé as an early-diverged member, which subsequently became influenced by East Chadic, has been made by Blench (2008).[3]
- Chadic
- West Chadic
- the Hausa, Ron, Bole, and Angas languages
- the Bade, Warji, and Zaar languages
- Biu–Mandara (Central Chadic)
- East Chadic
- Masa
- West Chadic

Loanwords
Chadic languages contain many Nilo-Saharan loanwords from either the Songhay or Maban branches, pointing to early contact between Chadic and Nilo-Saharan speakers as Chadic was migrating west.[4]
Although Adamawa languages are spoken adjacently to Chadic languages, interaction between Chadic and Adamawa is limited.[5]
Pronouns
Pronouns in Proto-Chadic, as compared to pronouns in Proto-Afroasiatic (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:351):[6]
Pronoun | Proto-Chadic | Proto-Afroasiatic |
---|---|---|
1 | *ní | *i ~ *yi |
2M | *ka | *ku, *ka |
2F | *ki(m) | *kim |
3M | *nì | *si, *isi |
3F | *ta | |
1PL | *mun (incl.), *na (excl.) | (*-na ~ *-nu ~ *-ni) ? |
2PL | *kun | *kuuna |
3PL | *sun | *su ~ *usu |
Comparative vocabulary
Summarize
Perspective
Sample basic vocabulary in different Chadic branches listed in order from west to east, with reconstructions of other Afroasiatic branches also given for comparison:
Language | eye | ear | nose | tooth | tongue | mouth | blood | bone | tree | water | eat | name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Proto-Chadic[7] | *ydn | *km/*ɬm | *ntn | *s₃n; *ƙ-d | *ls₃- | *bk | *br | *ƙs₃ | *ymn | *hrɗ (hard); *twy (soft) | *s₃m | |
Hausa[8] | ido | kunne | hanci | haƙori | harshe | baki | jini | ƙashi | itaci; bishiya | ruwa | ci | suna |
Proto-Ron[9] | *kumu | **atin | *haŋgor | *liʃ | *fo | ɟɑ̄lɑ̄, tɾɔ̃̄ | *kaʃ | *sum | ||||
Proto-South Bauchi[10] | *(gwà)yìr(-ŋ) | *kə̂m(-si) | *bʸak(-ì) | *bìràm | *gu(ŋ)ul | *pit-ə̀ | *(yì)sûm(-s₃) | |||||
Polci[11] | yiir | kəəm | cin | haƙori | shen | bii | buran; bəran | gooloo | pət | maa | ci | suŋ |
Proto-Central Chadic[12] | *hadaj; *tsɨʸ | *ɬɨmɨɗʸ | *hʷɨtsɨnʸ | *ɬɨɗɨnʸ | *ɗɨrɨnɨhʸ; *ɣanaɗʸ; *naɬɨj | *maj | *ɗiɬ; *kɨrakaɬʸ | *hʷɨp | *ɗɨjɨm | *zɨm | *ɬɨmɨɗʸ | |
Proto-Masa[13] | *ir | *hum | *cin | *s- | *si | *vun | *vuzur | *sok | *gu | *mb- | *ti | *sem |
Kujarge[14] | kunɟu | kumayo ~ kime | kaata | kiya | aliŋati | apa | ɪbɪrí | (kaɟeɟa), kàyɛ́ya | kaʃíè | ʃia | (tona), tuye [imp. sg.]; tuwona [imp. pl.] | rúwà |
Other Afroasiatic branches | ||||||||||||
Proto-Cushitic[15] | *ʔil- | *ʔisŋʷ- | *ʔiɬkʷ- | *caanrab- | *ʔaf-/*yaf- | *mikʷ’-; *moc’- | *-aħm-/*-uħm-; *ɬaam- | *sim-/*sum- | ||||
Proto-Maji[16] | *ʔaːb | *háːy | *aːç’u | *eːdu | *uːs | *inču | *haːy | *um | ||||
Tarifiyt Berber[17] | ŧit’t’ | aməžžun, aməz’z’uɣ | ŧinzā | ŧiɣməsŧ | iřəs | aqəmmum | iđammən | iɣəss | aman | šš | isəm | |
Coptic | ia | ma'aje | ša | šol, najhe | las | ro | snof | kas | šēn | mou | wōm | ran |
Proto-Semitic[18] | *ʕayn- | *ʔuḏn- | *ʔanp- | *šinn- | *lišān- | *dam- | *ʕaṯ̣m- | *ʕiṣ̂- | *mā̆y- | *ʔ-k-l | (*šim-) | |
Proto-Afroasiatic[19] | *ʔǐl- | *-ʔânxʷ- | *sǐn-/*sǎn- 'tip, point' | *-lis’- 'to lick' | *âf- | *dîm-/*dâm- | *k’os- | *ɣǎ | *âm-; *akʷ’- | *-mǎaʕ-; *-iit-; *-kʷ’-̌ | *sǔm-/*sǐm- |
Bibliography
- Caron, Bernard 2004. Le Luri: quelques notes sur une langue tchadique du Nigeria. In: Pascal Boyeldieu & Pierre Nougayrol (eds.), Langues et Cultures: Terrains d’Afrique. Hommages à France Cloarec-Heiss (Afrique et Language 7). 193–201. Louvain-Paris: Peeters.
- Lukas, Johannes (1936) 'The linguistic situation in the Lake Chad area in Central Africa.' Africa, 9, 332–349.
- Lukas, Johannes. Zentralsudanische Studien, Hamburg 1937;
- Newman, Paul; Ma, Roxana (1966). "Comparative Chadic: Phonology and lexicon". Journal of African Languages. 5: 218–251. hdl:2022/21342.
- Newman, Paul (1977) 'Chadic classification and reconstructions.' Afroasiatic Linguistics 5, 1, 1–42.
- Newman, Paul (1978) 'Chado-Hamitic 'adieu': new thoughts on Chadic language classification', in Fronzaroli, Pelio (ed.), Atti del Secondo Congresso Internazionale di Linguistica Camito-Semitica. Florence: Instituto de Linguistica e di Lingue Orientali, Università di Firenze, 389–397.
- Newman, Paul (1980) The Classification of Chadic within Afroasiatic. Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
- Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Kiyoshi Shimizu: Chadic lexical roots. Reimer, Berlin 1981.
- Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Dymitr Ibriszimow: Chadic lexical roots. 2 volumes. Reimer, Berlin 1994
- Schuh, Russell (2003) 'Chadic overview', in M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (eds.), Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, LINCOM Europa, 55–60.
- Data sets
- Kraft, Charles H. (1981). "CLDF:Wordlist". CLDF dataset derived from Kraft's "Chadic Wordlists" from 1981. Geneva. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3534953.
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See also
- Proto-Chadic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
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