Chadic languages

Branch of the Afroasiatic languages From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chadic languages

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.

Quick Facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...
Chadic
Geographic
distribution
Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon
Linguistic classificationAfro-Asiatic
  • Chadic
Proto-languageProto-Chadic
Subdivisions
Language codes
ISO 639-5cdc
ISO 639-3
Glottologchad1250
Map of the distribution of the Chadic languages within Africa

Detailed map of the distribution of Chadic languages in Western and Central Africa
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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]

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A chart of the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic languages.

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]

More information Pronoun, Proto-Chadic ...
PronounProto-ChadicProto-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
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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:

More information Language, eye ...
Languageeyeearnosetoothtonguemouthbloodbonetreewatereatname
Proto-Chadic[7]*ydn*km/*ɬm*ntn*s₃n; *ƙ-d*ls₃-*bk*br*ƙs₃*ymn*hrɗ (hard); *twy (soft)*s₃m
Hausa[8]idokunnehancihaƙoriharshebakijiniƙashiitaci; bishiyaruwacisuna
Proto-Ron[9]*kumu**atin*haŋgor*liʃ*foɟɑ̄lɑ̄, 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]yiirkəəmcinhaƙorishenbiiburan; bərangooloopətmaacisuŋ
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]kunɟukumayo ~ kimekaatakiyaaliŋatiapaɪbɪrí(kaɟeɟa), kàyɛ́yakaʃíèʃia(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’uɣŧinzāŧiɣməsŧiřəsaqəmmumiđamməniɣəssamanššisəm
Copticiama'aješašol, najhelasrosnofkasšēnmouwōmran
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-
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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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

See also

References

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