Ron languages

The Ron, Ronic or Ron–Fyer languages, group A.4 of the West Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, are spoken in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria.

Ron
Ron–Fyer
Geographic distribution	Mangu LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria
Linguistic classification	Afro-Asiatic Chadic West Chadic Ron
Subdivisions	Ron Fyer
Glottolog	west2716[1]
West Chadic per Newman (1977)

Main Chadic-speaking peoples in Nigeria

The Ron languages have undergone extensive influence from Tarok.[2]

Languages

The Ron languages, and their tentative relatioships, are:[3][4]

Ron

• Fyer, Tambas
• (branch)
  • Central Ron
    • Daffo-Mbar-Butura
    • Bokkos
    • Monguna (Shagawu) [perhaps actually closer to Sha]
  • Sha
  • Mangar
  • Mundat–Karfa
    • Mundat
    • Karfa (Duhwa)
  • Kulere (Richa)

Blench (2019)[5] groups the following in the (Central) Ron/Run dialect cluster: Bokkos, Mbar, Daffo–Butura, Manguna, Mangar, Sha.

While noting that Ron is in fact a complex linkage, Blench (2003) rejects two of the connections proposed in Seibert (1998) [Sha with Mundat–Karfa and Mangar with Kulere/Richa]:[6]

• Northern: Fyer, Tambas
• Central: Bokkos, Daffo-Mbar-Butura, Monguna
• Western: Sha, Mundat, Karfa
• Southern: Richa, Mangar

Names and locations

Below is a comprehensive list of Ron language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[5]

Language	Cluster	Dialects	Alternate spellings	Own name for language	Other names (based on location)	Other names for language	Exonym(s)	Speakers	Location(s)
Fyer			Fier					1,500 (1970); 10,000 (Blench 1999)	Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Karfa			Kerifa					800 (SIL 1973)	Nasarawa State, Akwanga LGA
Kulere		Tof, Richa, Kamwai: the latter includes Marahai (Marhai)		Akande (Kamwaĩ, Àkàndí (Tof), Kande (Richa)	Tof, Richa, Kamwai	Korom Ɓoye		6,500 (1925 Meek); 4,933 (1943 Ames); 8,000 (1973 SIL)	Plateau State, Bokkos LGA
Mundat									Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Shagawu			Shagau			Nafunfia, Maleni		20,000 (SIL)	Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Tambas			Tembis					3,000 (SIL)	Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Run cluster	Run	Bokkos and Daffo–Mbar-Butura are more closely related than Sha	Ron	Run			Challa, Cala, Chala, Challawa	13,120 (1934 Ames); 60,000 (1985 UBS)	Plateau State, Bokkos LGA
Run Bokkos	Run	Bokkos, Baron		Lis ma Run	Bokos		Challa, Cala
Run Daffo–Mbar-Butura	Run	Daffa, Mbar, Butura	Ron	Alis I Run	Batura		Mbar-wuh		Challa
Manguna	Run								Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Mangar	Run								Plateau State, Mangu LGA
Sha	Run							500 (SIL); about 1,000 (1970 Jungraithmayr)	Plateau State, Mangu LGA

Reconstruction

Proto-Ron
Reconstruction of	Ron languages

Since the Ron languages form a diverse linkage, Ron reconstruction is not straightforward due to the lack of neat sound correspondences. There are many borrowings from neighbouring Niger-Congo Plateau languages that Ron had assimilated or been in contact with.[4]

Proto-Ron reconstructions by Roger Blench are as follows.[3]

No.	English	Proto-Ron
1.	person	*naaf
7.	friend	**mwin
19.	name	*sum
45.	flesh	*lo
46.	head	*hay
49.	bone	*kaʃ
53.	ear	*kumu
54.	nose	**atin
57.	mouth	*fo
59.	tongue	*liʃ
61.	tooth	*haŋgor
62.	molar	*ɓukum
64.	chin	*njumut
69.	throat	*goroŋ
72.	breast (female)	*fofo
73.	chest	*cin
79.	navel	**mutuk
83.	elbow	*kukwat
91.	thigh	*for
107.	saliva, spittle	*lyal
110.	urine	*sar
190.	I	*yin
238.	crocodile	**haram
1072.	blow (mouth)	*fuɗ
1089.	call (summon)	*lahyal
1157.	fall	*fur
1218.	land	**nɗoro
1241.	meet	*tof
1249.	open (door)	*ɓwali
1276.	put	*kin

References

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "West Chadic A.4". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. Longtau, Selbut (25–26 March 2004). Some Historical Inferences from Lexical Borrowings and Traditions of Origins in the Tarokoid/Chadic Interface. International Symposium on Endangered Languages in Contact: Nigeria’s Plateau Languages. Hamburg: Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg.CS1 maint: date format (link)
3. Blench, Roger. Comparative Ron wordlist.
4. Blench, Roger M. 2003. Why reconstructing comparative Ron is so problematic. In Wolff, Ekkehard (ed.), Topics in Chadic linguistics: papers from the 1st biennial international colloquium on the Chadic language family (Leipzig, July 5-8, 2001), 21-42. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
5. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
6. Seibert, Uwe. 1998. Das Ron von Daffo (Jos-Plateau, Zentralnigeria): morphologische, syntaktische und textlinguistische Strukturen einer westtschadischen Sprache. (Europäische Hochschulschriften: Reihe XXVII: Asiatische und Afrikanische Studien, 66.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang

External links

• Comparative Ron wordlist by Roger Blench