Yebu language

Yebu (language name: Yiin Yebu;^[2] also known as Awak or Awok) is one of the Savanna languages of Kaltungo LGA in Gombe State, northeastern Nigeria.

Yebu
Awak
Native to	Kaltungo LGA, Gombe State, eastern Nigeria
Native speakers	(6,000 cited 1995)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Waja–Kam Waja Awak languages Yebu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	awo
Glottolog	awak1250

There are five distinct dialects corresponding to each of the original five settlements that had been spoken on the Awak Hill. Yebu is currently spoken in the plains rather than in the speakers' ancestral territory of Awak Hill.^[3]

Villages

Yebu villages according to Blench (2019):^[2]

Village name	IPA	Hausa/Fulfulde name	Notes
Bwara	ɓʷǎrâ
Feka	féːkâ	Jauro Gotel	70% Yebu
Fun	fúùn	Bagaruwa
Kewur	kʲèwúr
Kungge	kùjèŋí
Kuran	kūrân
Kwabilakɛ	kʷàplākē
Momidi	mòmīdī
Soblong	sòlóŋ
Tangga	tàŋgá
Wuyaka	ɓᶣāáká	Sabon Layi
Yeri-Tayo	tàːjó jèrí
Cwelangi	ʧʷélàŋí
Yebo	je᷆bǒ

Fulani villages that have Yebu chiefs are Tɔrɛ, Langgarɛ, and Lugayidi.^[2]

Hausa villages that have Yebu chiefs are Daura, Dundaye, Salifawa, Dogon Ruwa (mixed Hausa and Yebu village), Garin Bako, Garin Korau, and Garin Barau.^[2]

Other languages spoken in the area are Waja, Kamo, Tangale, and Tula.^[2]

Phonology

Yebu exhibits vowel length contrast, although it is uncommon in the language. It also has consonant gemination. There are six phonetic tones derived from three phonetic tone heights:^[2]

• High ʹ
• Mid ˉ
• Low ˋ
• Rising Low-High ˇ
• Rising Mid-High ᷄
• Falling High-Low ˆ

Grammar

Future/irrealis is marked using reduplication. In the region, morphological reduplication used for such purposes is typologically rare.

References

1. Yebu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Blench, Roger. 2019. Aspects of the phonology and grammar of the Yebu (Awak) language in Nigeria.
3. Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. The languages of the Tula – Waja Group. Adamawa Languages Project.