| Jarawa | |
|---|---|
| Region | northern Nigeria, near Bauchi |
Native speakers | 250,000 (dialects with ISO codes) (2006–2011) |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:jjr – Zhár (Bankal)dbm – Zugur (Duguri)bau – Mbat (Bada)jgk – Gwak (Gingwak) |
| Glottolog | jara1263 |
Jarawa (also known as Jar or Jhar, or in Hausa: Jaranci) is the most populous of the Jarawan languages of northern Nigeria. It is a dialect cluster consisting of many varieties.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | (ʔ) | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | k͡x | ||||
| voiced | d͡ʒ | ɡ͡ɣ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | (x) | |
| voiced | (β) | z | (ɣ) | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | (ɛ) | ə | (ɔ) |
| Open | a |
Jarawa dialects are:
Kantana may be a distinct language.
Blench (2019) lists these varieties as dialects of Jar (Jarawa).
Danglong (also known as Damlawa in Hausa), which is likely most closely related to Zhar, was discovered by Roger Blench in 2019, who collected a short word list at the time. It is spoken by a few elderly individuals in Danglong village, which is located just north of Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi State.
Maccido, a stone-walled settlement west of Yankari Game Reserve that is now deserted, was built on the western edge of Yankari Game Reserve, likely by Zhar or related peoples around the 18th century to protect themselves from slave raids.
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