Paʼa language

Paʼa
Afa
Fucaka
Native toNigeria
RegionBauchi State
Native speakers
(8,000 cited 1995)
Language codes
ISO 639-3pqa
Glottologpaaa1242
ELPPa'a
PersonFuCiki
PeopleFoni
LanguageFuCaka

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

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lateral plain labialized plain labialized palatalized
Plosive p b t d c ɟ k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ ʔ
Prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ⁿɟ ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ
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
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; high, mid, low, and falling.

Notes

  1. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 Skinner, Margaret Gardner (1979). Aspects of Pa'anci Grammar (PhD thesis). University of Wisconsin-Madison.