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The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria.
The Angas, Angas–Sura, or Central West Chadic languages are a branch of West Chadic languages spoken in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria.
The Kainji languages are a group of about 60 related languages spoken in west-central Nigeria. They form part of the Central Nigerian (Platoid) branch of Benue–Congo.
The South Plateau languages, also known as Jilic–Eggonic, are spoken in central Nigeria. Eggon has 150,000 speakers and Jili perhaps 100,000.
Zangon Kataf is a Local Government Area in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Zonkwa. It is also a name of a town in the chiefdom of the Atyap. Other towns include: Batadon (Madakiya), Chenkwon, Kamantan, Anchuna and Kamuru. It has an area of 2,579 km2 and a population of 318,991 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 802.
Akwanga is a Local Government Area in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Akwanga.
The Atyap people are an ethnic group found majorly in Zangon-Kataf, Kaura and Jema'a Local Government Areas of southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. They speak the Tyap language, one of the Central Plateau languages.
Alumu is a Plateau language spoken by approximately 7,000 people in Nassarawa State, Nigeria. It has lost the nominal affix system characteristic of the Niger–Congo family.
Jili (Lijili) is a Plateau language of Nigeria. It is one of several languages which go by the ambiguous name Koro.
Hyam is a regionally important linguistic cluster of Plateau languages in Nigeria. Hyam of Nok is the prestige dialect. Writing the sociolinguistics of Hyam, Blench treats Sait, and Dzar as distinct varieties, and notes that Yat and Ankung may be viewed as separate languages, however, Hayab (2016) presents a differing opinion arguing that it is Ankung, a language called Iduya, that is not mutually intelligible to Hyam. Meanwhile, Hyam, which is spoken by the Ham people of Nigeria, popularly known as 'Jaba' in a recent study by Philip Hayab, a native of the area and a linguist who carried out in-depth research into the language, reveals that 'Jaba' has a Hausa etymology and is derogatory and should be discarded.
Adara, is a language spoken by Adara people of Kaduna state and Niger state of Nigeria. The name Adara is also used to refer to the ethnic group.
Tyap is a regionally important dialect cluster of Plateau languages in Nigeria's Middle Belt, named after its prestige dialect. It is also known by its Hausa exonym as Katab or Kataf. It is also known by the names of its dialectical varieties including Sholyio, Fantswam, Gworok, Takad, "Mabatado", Tyeca̱rak and Tyuku (Tuku).
The Jju people, or Ba̠jju, are an ethnic group found in the Middle Belt (Central) area of Nigeria. The word Ba̠jju is a short for "Ba̠nyet Jju" which simply means "Jju People" and is used to refer to the speakers of the Jju language found in the Ka̠jju, the homeland of the Jju people. They are found in the Southern part of Kaduna State, chiefly in Kachia, Zangon Kataf, Jama'a and in Kaduna South Local Government Areas. Ba̠jju people are also commonly known as "Kaje" which is a pejorative name used to refer to both the Jju people and Jju language by the larger Hausa people who could not pronounce the name Ka̠jju well. The Ba̠jju people are predominantly farmers, hunters, blacksmiths and petty traders.
Jju is the native language of the Bajju people of Kaduna State in central Nigeria. As of 1988, there were approximately 300,000 speakers.
Koro Wachi, natively Tinɔr and Myamya, is a dialect cluster of Plateau languages spoken to the north of Keffi in Nasarawa State Kagarko Local Government Area and Jema'a Local Government of southern Kaduna State in central Nigeria. Koro Wachi forms part of a larger cultural grouping with the Ashe.
Iku, or Iku-Gora-Ankwa (Ekhwa), is a Plateau language of Nigeria.
Southern Kaduna is an area inhabited by primarily various non-Hausa speaking peoples living in the south of Zazzau Emirate of Kaduna State. It is located in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Southern Kaduna consists of 12 Local Government Areas out of a total of 23 in Kaduna State. Some view it as being less of a geographical identity and more of an ethnic identity concept.
The subgroups of the Atyap ethnolinguistic group as suggested by Meek (1931:2) include the Katab (Atyap) proper, Morwa (Asholyio), Ataka (Atakad) and Kagoro (Agworok) which he deems may be regarded as a single tribe and each division/unit as a sub-tribe because they speak a common tongue and show cultural trait uniformity. McKinney (1983:290), thereafter, opined that Kaje (Bajju) should likewise be included with the above, rather than with the Kamantan (Anghan), Jaba (Ham), Ikulu (Bakulu) and Kagoma (Gwong) due to the linguistic and cultural similarities they share with the 'Katab' group, adding that Jaba and Kagoma seem farther away linguistically and culturally to the aforementioned. The clans may refer to further grouping within each subgroup.
Moro is an East Kainji language of Nigeria belonging to the Shammo cluster.
CONAECDA is an organization that serves as a coalition of indigenous ethnic communities in central and northern Nigeria. CONAECDA works in diverse areas such as language development, community development, and indigenous land rights. It represents a few hundred indigenous groups that are spread across 15 Nigerian states.
References
- Blench, Roger (2008). Prospecting proto-Plateau. Manuscript.
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