Chadic languages

Chadic
Geographic distribution	Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asiatic Chadic
Subdivisions	Biu–Mandara East Chadic Masa West Chadic
Language codes
ISO 639-5	cdc

The Chadic languages constitute a language family of perhaps 150 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, Central African Republic and nortern Cameroon, belonging to the Afroasiatic phylum. The most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland West Africa.

Newman (1977) divided the family into four groups, which have been accepted in all subsequent literature. The subbranching, however, is not as robust; Blench (2006), for example, only accepts the A/B bifurcation of East Chadic.

• West Chadic. Two branches, which include

(A) the Hausa, Ron, Bole, and Angas languages; and

(B) the Bade, Warji, and Zaar languages.

• Biu–Mandara (Central Chadic). Three branches, which include

(A) the Bura, Kamwe, and Bata languages, among other groups;

(B) the Buduma and Musgu languages; and

(C) Gidar

• East Chadic. Two branches, which include

(A) the Tumak, Nancere, and Kera languages; and

(B) the Dangaléat, Mukulu, and Sokoro languages

• Masa

Origin

Proto-Chadic language is believed* to have originated in Asia before it entered Africa as early as 7 kya, probably before or after the First Egyptian Dynasty. The speakers of Proto-Chadic might have been a Levantine population dating back to an Africa migration. And they played a larger role in the diffusion of Euro-Asian Y-Chromosome R1b R-V88 into Africa.

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Bibliography

• Ethnologue entry for Chadic languages
• Lukas, Johannes (1936) 'The linguistic situation in the Lake Chad area in Central Africa.' Africa, 9, 332–349.
• Lukas, Johannes. Zentralsudanische Studien, Hamburg 1937;
• Newman, Paul and Ma, Roxana (1966) 'Comparative Chadic: phonology and lexicon.' Journal of African Languages, 5, 218–251.
• Newman, Paul (1977) 'Chadic classification and reconstructions.' Afroasiatic Linguistics 5, 1, 1–42.
• Newman, Paul (1978) 'Chado-Hamitic 'adieu': new thoughts on Chadic language classification', in Fronzaroli, Pelio (ed.), Atti del Secondo Congresso Internazionale di Linguistica Camito-Semitica. Florence: Instituto de Linguistica e di Lingue Orientali, Università di Firenze, 389–397.
• Newman, Paul (1980) The Classification of Chadic within Afroasiatic. Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
• Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Kiyoshi Shimizu: Chadic lexical roots. Reimer, Berlin 1981.
• Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Dymitr Ibriszimow: Chadic lexical roots. 2 volumes. Reimer, Berlin 1994
• Schuh, Russell (2003) 'Chadic overview', in M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (eds.), Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, LINCOM Europa, 55–60.

External links

• Chadic Newsletter Online