U̠t-Ma'in language

Ut Main
Native toNigeria
RegionKebbi State, Niger State, Sokoto State, Zamfara State
Native speakers
(36,000 cited 1992)
Language codes
ISO 639-3gel
Glottologkagf1238

u̠t-Ma'in or Fakai is a Northwest Kainji dialect continuum spoken by 36,000 people in Nigeria. (The letter ⟨u̠⟩ is /ə/.) There are numerous rather divergent dialects:

Names

Names for the u̠t-Ma'in peoples and languages from Blench (2012):

Hausa namec-Lela namePeopleLanguage
FakkawaPək-nuKag-neǝt-Kag
FakkawaPək-nuəs-Usǝt-Us
GelawaGeeri-nia-Jiirǝt-Jiir
ZuksunWipsi-nia-Zuksunǝt-Zuksun
KukumawaWipsi-niəs-Ferǝt-Fer
KelawaKeri-niKər-niǝt-Kər
Tuduwaǝd-Gwana-Rorǝt-ma-Ror
Kuluwa?a-Koorǝt-ma-Koor

Geographic distribution

The Ut-Ma'in language is spoken mainly in Kebbi State (especially Fakai) and Sokoto State (Kebbe) but also in Niger State (Kontagora) and Zamfara State.

References

  1. ↑ Ut Main at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Ut-Main". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Blench, Roger (2012). "The Kainji languages of northwestern and central Nigeria" (PDF). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.

Further reading