Jarawan languages

Jarawan is a dialect cluster that is closely related to, or perhaps a branch of, the Bantu languages. Blench (2011) says that it almost certainly belongs with Guthrie's A.60 languages, which are part of Mbam. They are spoken mostly in Bauchi State, with some also scattered in Taraba State and Adamawa State.[2]

Jarawan
Geographic
distribution		Southwest Cameroon, southeast Nigeria
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo
Glottologjara1262[1]
The Jarawan languages shown within Nigeria and Cameroon

Languages

The classification of Jarawan according to Blench (2011) is:[3]

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[4]

LanguageClusterDialectsAlternate spellingsOwn name for languageEndonym(s)Other names (location-based)Other names for languageExonym(s)SpeakersLocation(s)
DamlanciDamlawaDamlanci500-1000 ethnic population, but language now spoken by those over 50, although not moribundBauchi State, Alkaleri LGA, Maccido village
GwaFewer than 1,000 (LA 1971)Bauchi State, Toro LGA
Jar clusterJarDṣ’arawa (Koelle 1854), JarawaJar, Jarawan Kogi, Jarawan Kasa, Jaracin Kogi/KasaPlateau, Bauchi and Adamawa States
ZharJarDumbulawa (Sutumi village) may speak a Ɓankal dialectZharƁankal, Bankal, BankalaBankalanci, BaranciBankalawa20,000 (LA 1971)Dass town and northward to Bauchi town, west of the Gongola River, in Dass, Bauchi, and Toro LGAs, Bauchi State
LigriJar800 speakers (Ayuba est. 2008).Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA
KantanaJarPlateau State, Kanam LGA
Bobar (?)JarBauchi State, precise Location(s) unknown. May not exist as survey in 2007 failed to find such a language
GwakJarGingwakJaranciJarawan Bununu, Jaracin Kasa19,000 (LA 1971)Dass town and southward to Tafawa Balewa, west of the Gongola River, in Dass and Tafawa Balewa LGAs, Bauchi State
DooriJarPrevious sources (e.g. Maddieson & Williamson 1975) divided Duguri into a number of regional dialects, but this may not be valid since all Doori essentially speak mutually intelligible lectsDõõriDuguranciDugurawaBauchi State, Alkaleri, Tafawa Balewa LGAs; Plateau State, Kanam LGA
MbatJarMbada, Bat, Bada, BaɗaKannaJar, Jarawan Kogi, GarakaBadawa, Mbadawa10,000 (SIL)North-central part of Kanam LGA, Plateau State, centered at Gagdi-Gum
Mbat-GalamkyaJarMbada, Bat, Bada, BaɗaKannaJar, Jarawan Kogi, GarakaBadawa, Mbadawa10,000 (SIL)North-western Kanam LGA, southwest of Mbat, including Gyangyang 2 and Gidgid
LabɨrLábɨ́rJaku, JaakuJakanciSpoken in about 10 villages, perhaps 5000 speakers (2019 est.)Bauchi State, south of the Bauchi-Gombe Road, from the Gongola River at Kanyallo, in Bauchi LGA, to Gar in Alkaleri LGA
Lame clusterLame2,000 (1973 SIL)Bauchi State, Toro LGA, Lame district
RuhuLameRufu, RùhûRufawaThere were said to be no speakers remaining in 1987
MbaruLameMbárù, Bambaro, Bamburo, Bambara, Bombaro, Bomboro, BamboroBomborawa, Bunborawa3500-4500 (CAPRO 1995a). Tulu town, Toro LGA, Bauchi State
GuraLameTu–Gurasg. Ba–Gura, pl. Mo–GuraAgari, Agbiri
MamaKwarra, Kantana7,891 (1922 Temple); 6,155 (1934 Ames); 20,000 (1973 SIL)Nasarawa State, Akwanga LGA
Mbula clusterMbula7,900 (1952); 25,000 (1972 Barrett); 23,447 (1977) Blench: not clear as to whether for Mbula or both Mbula and Bwazza.)Adamawa State, Numan, Shelleng and Song LGAs
MbulaMbula
TamboMbula
BwazzaMbulaNo dialectsƁwà Ɓwàzà pl. àɓwàzàƁwázàBare, Bere [name of a town]Adamawa State, Demsa, Numan, Shelleng and Song LGAs. 26 villages.
ShɨkɨGubi, GubaGubawa300 (LA 1971)Bauchi State, Bauchi LGA
KulungKúkùlúŋBákùlúngBambur, Wurkum15,000 (SIL)Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA, at Balasa, Bambur and Kirim; Wukari LGA, at Gada Mayo
ƁileKun–Ɓíilé is said to be mutually intelligible with MbulaBille, Bili, BilanciKun–Ɓíiléɓa Ɓíilé30,000 (CAPRO, 1992); there are 36 villages reported to be entirely Ɓile-speaking, and another 16 where some Ɓile is spokenAdamawa State, Numan LGA, 25 km south of Numan, east of the Wukari road.
Dulbu80 (LA 1971)Bauchi State, Bauchi LGA

Characteristics

Due to contact with Chadic languages, Jarawan languages have "frozen" prefixes.[5] However, lexically, the Jarawan languages are more closely related to the Bantu languages; typological convergence with Chadic is due to contact.[5]

Although Jarawan had undergone Chadic influence during its earlier days, the reverse situation of a Chadic language being influenced by Jarawan is found in the curious case of Chadic Kulung being extensively influenced by the surrounding Jarawan Kulung language. (Speakers of both languages identify as ethnic Kulung, but the languages belong to unrelated language families.)[4]

Previous studies

Blench (2006) presents the early research as follows: "The Jarawan Bantu languages have always been something of a poor relation to Bantu proper. Scattered across northern Cameroun and east-central Nigeria, they remain poorly documented and poorly characterised. The first record of Jarawan Bantu is Koelle (1854), whose Dṣạ̄rāwa probably corresponds to modern-day Bankal. Gowers (1907) has six wordlists of Jarawan Bantu (Bomborawa, Bankalawa, Gubawa, Jaku, Jarawa, and Wurkunawa) include in his survey of the largely Chadic languages of the Bauchi area. Strümpell (1910) has a wordlist of the Jarawan Bantu language Mboa, formerly spoken on the Cameroun/CAR border near Meiganga. Strümpell (1922) and Baudelaire (1944) are the only records of Nagumi, based around Natsari, SE of Garoua in northern Cameroun. Johnston (1919: 716 ff.) assigned the language recorded by Koelle to a "Central-Bauci" one of his "Semi-Bantu" language groups. Thomas (1925, 1927) recognised the Bantu affinities of the Nigerian Jarawan Bantu languages, but Doke (1947) and Guthrie (1969–71) make no reference to Jarawan Bantu, and the latest reference book on Bantu also exclude it (Nurse & Philippson 2003). Some Jarawan Bantu languages are listed in the Benue–Congo Comparative wordlist (henceforth BCCW) (Williamson & Shimizu 1968; Williamson 1973) and a student questionnaire at the University of Ibadan in the early 1970s provided additional sketchy data on others."[6]

According to Blench (2006): "Maddieson & Williamson (1975) represents the first attempt to synthesise this data on the position of these languages. Since that period, publications have been limited. . . . Lukas and Gerhardt (1981) analyse some rather hastily collected data on Mbula, while Gerhardt (1982) published an analysis of some of this new data and memorably named the Jarawan Bantu "the Bantu who turned back". Gerhardt (1982) provides data on verbal extensions in Mama and Kantana. Blench (2006) likewise classified them as Bantu languages. Ulrich Kleinwillinghöfer has made available a comparative wordlist of six Jarawan Bantu lects; Zaambo (Dukta), Bwazza, Mbula, Bile, Duguri and Kulung, collected in the early 1990s as part of the SFB 268."

Wycliffe Nigeria has conducted two surveys of Jarawan Bantu groups in Nigeria, the Mbula-Bwazza (Rueck et al. 2007) and the Jar cluster (Rueck et al. 2009) providing much new and more accurate data in the status of Jarawan Bantu in Nigeria.

Bibliography
  • ALCAM 1984. Atlas linguistique du Cameroun. ACCT.
  • Blench, Roger. 2006. Jarawan Bantu: New Data and Its Relation to Bantu.
  • Gerhardt, L. 1982. Jarawan Bantu: The mistaken identity of the Bantu who turned north. Afrika und Übersee, LXV:75-95.
  • Gerhardt, L. 1988. A note on verbal extensions in Jarawan Bantu. Journal of West African Languages, XVIII,2:3-8.
  • Gowers, W.F. 1907. 42 vocabularies of languages spoken in Bauchi Province, N. Nigeria. ms. National Archives, Kaduna.
  • Guthrie, M. 1969-71. Comparative Bantu. (4 vols.) Farnborough: Gregg.
  • Maddieson, I. and K. Williamson 1975. Jarawan Bantu. African Languages, 1:125-163.
  • Meek, C.K. 1925. The Northern Tribes of Nigeria. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Meek, C. K. 1931. Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria. (2 vols) London: Kegan Paul.
  • Rueck, Michael J. Nengak Bako, Luther Hon, John Muniru, Linus Otronyi, and Zachariah Yoder 2009. Preliminary Impressions from the Sociolinguistic Survey of the Jar Dialects. ms. Jos.
  • Rueck, Michael J. Zachariah Yoder & Katarína Hannelova. 2007. Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mbula, Tambo, Bakopi, Gwamba, Bwazza, Kulung and Bille people, of Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria. ms. Jos.
  • Shimizu, K. 1983. Die Jarawan-Bantusprachen des Bundesstaates Bauchi, Nordnigeria. In Sprache Geschichte und Kultur in Afrika. R. Vossen & Claudi, U. (eds.) 291-301. Hamburg: Buske.
  • Strümpell, F. 1910. Vergleichendes Wörterverzeichnis der Heidensprachen Adamauas. Mit Vorbemerkungen von B. Struck. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. XLII:444-488.
  • Thomas, N.W. 1925 The Languages. In: The Northern Tribes of Nigeria. C.K. Meek ed. 132-247. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Williamson, K. (1971) The Benue–Congo languages and Ijo. In Current Trends in Linguistics, 7 (pp. 245–306) ed. T. Sebeok.
  • Williamson, Kay 1972. Benue–Congo comparative wordlist: Vol.2. Ibadan: West African Linguistic Society.
  • Williamson, K., and K. Shimizu. 1968. Benue–Congo comparative wordlist, Vol. 1. Ibadan: West African Linguistic Society.
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References
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Jarawan". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Blench, Roger (2011). "'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu" (PDF). Berlin: Humboldt University. p. 31.
  3. Blench, Roger (2011). "'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu" (PDF). Berlin: Humboldt University. p. 32.
  4. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  5. Blench, Roger. 2007. Language families of the Nigerian Middle Belt and the historical implications of their distribution. Presented to the Jos Linguistic Circle in Jos, Nigeria, July 25, 2007.
  6. Blench, Roger (2006). "Jarawan Bantu: New Data and Its Relation to Bantu" (PDF). p. 1.
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