Paʼa language

Paʼa, also known as Afa (Afawa) or Fucaka (autonym), is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Bauchi State, Nigeria.^[1]

Paʼa
Afa
Fucaka
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Bauchi State
Native speakers	(8,000 cited 1995)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic West Chadic Bade–Warji Warji (B.2) Paʼa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pqa
Glottolog	paaa1242
ELP	Pa'a

Person	FuCiki[2]
People	Foni
Language	FuCaka

Phonology

Consonants^[3]

	Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
		plain	lateral		plain	labialized	plain	labialized	palatalized
Plosive	p b	t d		c ɟ	k g	kʷ gʷ	ʔ
Prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd		ⁿɟ	ᵑg	ᵑgʷ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Ejective		s’	ɬ’		k’	kʷ’
Fricative	f v	s z	ɬ ɮ	ʃ ʒ			h ɦ	hʷ ɦʷ	hʲ ɦʲ
Nasal	m	n
Approximant		r	l	j, ˀj		w

Vowels^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː

Additionally, the following diphthongs are recorded: /ei/, /au/.

Pa'a also has four tones;^[3] high, mid, low, and falling.

Notes

1. Paʼa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
3. Skinner, Margaret Gardner (1979). Aspects of Pa'anci Grammar (PhD thesis). University of Wisconsin-Madison.