Related Research Articles
Hausa is a Chadic language that is spoken by the Hausa people in the northern parts of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern parts of Niger, and Chad, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast. A small number of speakers also exist in Sudan.
Thaana, Tãnaa, Taana or Tāna is the present writing system of the Maldivian language spoken in the Maldives. Thaana has characteristics of both an abugida and a true alphabet, with consonants derived from indigenous and Arabic numerals, and vowels derived from the vowel diacritics of the Arabic abjad. Maldivian orthography in Thaana is largely phonemic.
Comorian is the name given to a group of four Bantu languages spoken in the Comoro Islands, an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is named as one of the official languages of the Union of the Comoros in the Comorian constitution. Shimaore, one of the languages, is spoken on the disputed island of Mayotte, a French department claimed by Comoros.
Zarma is one of the Songhay languages. It is the leading indigenous language of the southwestern lobe of the West African nation of Niger, where the Niger River flows and the capital city, Niamey, is located. Zarma is the second-most common language in the country, after Hausa, which is spoken in south-central Niger. With over 6 million speakers, Zarma is easily the most widely spoken Songhay language.
Fula, also known as Fulani or Fulah, is a Senegambian language spoken by around 36.8 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that stretches across some 18 countries in West and Central Africa. Along with other related languages such as Serer and Wolof, it belongs to the Atlantic geographic group within Niger–Congo, and more specifically to the Senegambian branch. Unlike most Niger-Congo languages, Fula does not have tones.
Pulaar is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by the Fula and Toucouleur peoples in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro and further south and east. Pulaar speakers, known as Haalpulaar'en live in Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and western Mali. The two main speakers of Pulaar are the Toucouleur people and the Fulɓe. Pulaar is the second most spoken local language in Senegal, being a first language for around 22% of the population. This correlates with 23.7% of the country in which Pulaar is the population's ethnicity. Pulaar is one of the national languages of Senegal alongside 13 others. It was admitted as an official language of Senegal by Presidential decree in 1971. There are around 28 known dialects of Pulaar, most of which are mutually intelligible with each other. The Pulaar dialects, as well as other West African languages, are usually referenced under the umbrella term ‘Fula’. Pulaar as a language, however, is not usually referenced as ‘Fula’.
Air Tamajeq (Tayərt) is a variety of Tuareg. It is spoken by the Tuareg people inhabiting the Aïr Mountains of the Agadez Region in Niger.
Serer, often broken into differing regional dialects such as Serer-Sine and Serer saloum, is a language of the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo family spoken by 1.2 million people in Senegal and 30,000 in the Gambia as of 2009. It is the principal language of the Serer people, and was the language of the early modern kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and Baol.
Pular (𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞤪) is a Fula language spoken primarily by the Fula people of Fouta Djallon, Guinea. It is also spoken in parts of Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. There are a small number of speakers in Mali. Pular is spoken by 4.3 million Guineans, about 55% of the national population. This makes Pular the most widely spoken indigenous language in the country. Substantial numbers of Pular speakers have migrated to other countries in West Africa, notably Senegal.
Ajami or Ajamiyya, which comes from the Arabic root for 'foreign' or 'stranger', is an Arabic-derived script used for writing African languages, particularly Songhai, Mandé, Hausa and Swahili, although many other languages are also written using the script, including Mooré, Pulaar, Wolof, and Yoruba. It is an adaptation of the Arabic script to write sounds not found in Standard Arabic. Rather than adding new letters, modifications usually consist of additional dots or lines added to pre-existing letters.
Wolofal is a derivation of the Arabic script for writing the Wolof language. It is basically the name of a West African Ajami script as used for that language.
The Fula language is written primarily in the Latin script, but in some areas is still written in an older Arabic script called the Ajami script or in the recently invented Adlam script.
Tawellemmet (Tawəlləmmət) is the largest of the Tuareg languages in the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. It is usually one of two languages classed within a language called Tamajaq, the other language being Aïr Tamajeq. Tawellemmet is the language of the Iwellemmeden Tuareg. It is spoken in Mali, Niger and parts of northern Nigeria by approximately 1.3 million people with the largest number of speakers in Niger at 829,000 people.
Awing, or Mbwe'wi, is a Grassfields language spoken in Cameroon.
The Swahili Ajami script refers to the alphabet derived from the Arabic script that is used for the writing of the Swahili language.
Maasina Fulfulde is a variety of the Fula language. It is spoken mainly in Mali, Ivory Coast, and Ghana by 7.6 million people. The language has several mutually intelligible dialects albeit with some differences. The variety is named after the Macina region in Mali.
Nigerian Fulfulde, also known as Hausa States Fulfulde, Fula, or Fulani is a variety of the Fula language spoken by the Fulani people in Nigeria, particularly in the Northern region of Nigeria. It belongs to the West Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Phonologically, Nigerian Fulfulde exhibits a system of vowel harmony and a relatively simple consonant inventory, including stops, fricatives, and nasal sounds.
Borgu Fulfulde, also known as Borgu Fulani, Benin-Togo Fulfulde, Fulbe-Borgu, or Peul is a variety of the Fula language a West Atlantic language part of the Niger-Congo language family, it is spoken primarily in the Borgou Department of Benin, spanning Nigeria, other parts of Benin, as well as Togo and parts of Burkina Faso.
Hausa Ajami script refers to the practice of using the alphabet derived from Arabic script for writing of Hausa language.
Anjẹmi or Yoruba Ajami refers to the tradition and practice of writing the Yoruba language using the Arabic script, as part of the tradition among Muslims of West Africa at large, referred to as the Ajami script. These include the orthography of various Fula dialects, Hausa, Wolof, and more.
References
- 1 2 3 Adamawa Fulfulde at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ↑ "OLAC resources in and about the Adamawa Fulfulde language". www.language-archives.org.
- ↑ VerEecke, Catherine (1994). "The Slave Experience in Adamawa: Past and Present Perspectives from Yola (Nigeria) (Une approche historique de l'esclavage dans l'Adamawa du XIXe siècle à nos jours)". Cahiers d'Études Africaines. 34 (133/135): 28–29. doi:10.3406/cea.1994.2039. ISSN 0008-0055. JSTOR 4392512.
- ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (December 9, 2023). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World". SIL International.
- ↑ Kouega, Jean-Paul (2007). A Dictionary of Cameroon English Usage. Peter Lang. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-03911-027-8.
- 1 2 "Fulfulde, Adamawa | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All).
- ↑ "WALS Online - Datapoint Fulfulde (Adamawa) / Order of Degree Word and Adjective". wals.info.
- ↑ "Fula". www.languagesgulper.com.
- ↑ "WALS Online - Datapoint Fulfulde (Adamawa) / Order of Subject, Object and Verb". wals.info.
- ↑ Priest, Lorna A.; Hosken, Martin (12 August 2010). Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages (PDF). (Archive)
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Clark, Scott (2007). Alphabet and orthography statement for Fulfulde [FUB] Ajamiya (found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic) (PDF). Yaoundé: SIL. (Archive)
- ↑ Scriptsouce Writing System. Contributor: Lorna Evans Adamawa Fulfulde written with Latin scriptfub-Latn
