Kanuri is a dialect continuum spoken in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as in small minorities in southern Libya and by a diaspora in Sudan.
The Tuareg languages constitute a group of closely related Berber languages and dialects. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, with a few speakers, the Kinnin, in Chad.
Timbuktu is a city in Mali, situated twenty kilometres (12 mi) north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali and one town of Songhai people. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census.
The Songhay, Songhai or Ayneha languages are a group of closely related languages/dialects centred on the middle stretches of the Niger River in the West African countries of Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. In particular, they are spoken in the cities of Timbuktu, Niamey and Gao. They have been widely used as a lingua franca in that region ever since the era of the Songhai Empire. In Mali, the government has officially adopted the dialect of Gao as the dialect to be used as a medium of primary education.
The Songhai people are an ethnolinguistic group in West Africa who speak the various Songhai languages. Their history and lingua franca is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. Predominantly a Muslim community, the Songhai are found primarily throughout Niger and Mali in the Sahel and Sahara. The name Songhai was historically neither an ethnic nor linguistic designation, but a name for the ruling caste of the Songhai Empire which are the Songhai proper of Sonni and Askia decent found predominantly in present-day Niger. These people call themselves Ayneha. Although some Speakers in Mali have also adopted the name Songhay as an ethnic designation, other Songhay-speaking groups identify themselves by other ethnic terms such as Zarma or Isawaghen. The dialect of Koyraboro Senni spoken in Gao is unintelligible to speakers of the Zarma dialect of Niger, according to at least one report. The Songhai languages are commonly taken to be Nilo-Saharan but this classification remains controversial. Nicolai considers the Songhai languages to be either Berber languages or a new subgroup of Semitic languages restructured under Mande and Nilo-Saharan influence. The lexicon of Songhai languages includes many complete lexical fields close to Berber languages. Dimmendaal (2008) believes that for now it is best considered an independent language family.
Gao, or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, 320 km (200 mi) east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
Azawad, or Azawagh was a short-lived unrecognised state from 2012 to 2013. Azawagh (Azawaɣ) is the generic Tuareg Berber name of all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mali and northern and western Niger. Its independence was declared unilaterally by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2012, after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Army from the region.
Koyra Chiini, or Western Songhay, is a member of the Songhay languages spoken in Mali by about 200,000 people along the Niger River in Timbuktu and upriver from it in the towns of Diré, Tonka, Goundam and Niafunké as well as in the Saharan town of Araouane to its north. In this area, Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and the lingua franca, although minorities speaking Hassaniya Arabic, Tamasheq and Fulfulde are found. Djenné Chiini[dʒɛnːɛ tʃiːni], the dialect spoken in Djenné, is mutually comprehensible, but has noticeable differences, in particular two extra vowels and syntactic differences related to focalisation.
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Koyraboro Senni is a member of the Songhay languages of Mali and is spoken by some 400,000 people along the Niger River from the town of Gourma-Rharous, east of Timbuktu, through Bourem, Gao and Ansongo to the Mali–Niger border.
Koorete is the language spoken by the Koore people of southern Ethiopia.
The Dawsahak people, Idaksahak are pastoralist Berbers centered on Ménaka and Inékar town in Menaka Cercle and Talataye in Ansongo Cercle of the Gao Region of northeastern Mali. They speak the Northern Songhai language Tadaksahak. Many also speak Western Tawallammat Tamajaq language, the Tuareg language of southern Gao. Daoussahak appears to be the most common transliteration of the collective name among French and English academics.
The Igdalen are a Berber people inhabiting northwestern Niger and parts of Mali and Algeria. They speak Tagdal, a mixed Tuareg–Songhay language. The Igdalen are closely related to Idaksahak people of eastern Mali and the Sawaq of Ingal in Niger, with whom they share a very similar language. Culturally, the Igdalen are often considered a Tuareg faction. In the past they have formed a sub-confederation with the Kel Fadey, Kel Ferwan and others in the Kel Ayr Tuareg confederation or Drum Group.
Northern Songhay is the smaller of the two branches of the Songhay languages. It is a group of heavily Berber-influenced dialects spoken in scattered oases of the Sahara.
Songhoyboro Ciine or Songhay Ciiné is an upriver dialect of the southern Songhay dialect of Niger. It is spoken mostly in the northwestern corner of Niger's Tillaberi region, an area known as Songhay: from Gorouol, a border town with Mali, down to the towns of Tera, Anzourou, Namari Goungou and Say.
Southern Songhay is the more populous branch of the Songhay languages, centered on the Niger River, including Timbuktu and the old capital of Gao. It includes Zarma (Djerma), a major language of Niger.
Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others being Tamajaq and Tamahaq.
The Macro-Gunwinyguan languages, also called Arnhem or Gunwinyguan, are a family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken across eastern Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Their relationship has been demonstrated through shared morphology in their verbal inflections.
The Nunggubuyu are an Aboriginal Australian people of eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The Warndarrang people, (waɳʈaraŋ), also spelt Warndarang, Wanderang, and other variants were a predominantly coastal Aboriginal Australian people of eastern Northern Territory. Though extinct as a distinct ethnolinguistic group, their descendants survive among the neighbouring Nunggubuyu.
