{{Infobox language family

| name = Chadic

| region = Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon

| protoname = Proto-Chadic

| familycolor = Afro-asiatic

| child1 = Biu–Mandara

| child2 = East Chadic

| child3 = Masa

| child4 = West Chadic

| iso5 = cdc

| glotto = chad1250

| glottorefname = Chadic

| map = Chadic_languages_in_Africa_map.svg

| mapcaption = Map of the distribution of the Chadic languages within Africa

| ancestor =

| glottoname =

| notes =

| map2 = Chadic languages map.svg

| mapcaption2 = Detailed map of the distribution of Chadic languages in Western and Central Africa

| speakers =

}}

The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland Eastern West Africa, particularly Niger and the northern half of Nigeria. Hausa is the only Chadic language with more than 1 million speakers.

Composition

Paul Newman (1977) classified the languages into the four groups which have been accepted in all subsequent literature. Further subbranching, however, has not been as robust; Roger Blench (2006), for example, only accepts the A/B bifurcation of East Chadic.Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms) Subsequent work by Joseph Lovestrand argues strongly that Kujarge is a valid member of East Chadic. The placing of Luri as a primary split of West Chadic is erroneous. Bernard Caron (2004) shows that this language is South Bauchi and part of the Polci cluster. A suggestion for including the language isolate Kujargé as an early-diverged member, which subsequently became influenced by East Chadic, has been made by Blench (2008).Blench, Roger. 2008. Links between Cushitic, Omotic, Chadic and the position of Kujarge . 5th International Conference of Cushitic and Omotic languages.

  • Chadic
  • West Chadic
  • the Hausa, Ron, Bole, and Angas languages
  • the Bade, Warji, and Zaar languages
  • Biu–Mandara (Central Chadic)
  • the Bura, Kamwe, and Bata languages, among other groups
  • the Buduma and Musgu languages
  • Gidar
  • East Chadic
  • the Tumak, Nancere, and Kera languages
  • the Dangaléat, Mukulu, and Sokoro languages
  • Masa

thumb|left|700px|A chart of the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic languages.|class=skin-invert-image

Loanwords

Chadic languages contain many Nilo-Saharan loanwords from either the Songhay or Maban branches, pointing to early contact between Chadic and Nilo-Saharan speakers as Chadic was migrating west.

Although Adamawa languages are spoken adjacently to Chadic languages, interaction between Chadic and Adamawa is limited.Blench, Roger. 2012. Linguistic evidence for the chronological stratification of populations South of Lake Chad. Presentation for Mega-Tchad Colloquium in Naples, September 13–15, 2012.

Pronouns

Pronouns in Proto-Chadic, as compared to pronouns in Proto-Afroasiatic (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:351):Vossen, Rainer and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). 2020. The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Pronoun !! Proto-Chadic !! Proto-Afroasiatic

|-

| 1 || || ~

|-

| 2M || || ,

|-

| 2F || ||

|-

| 3M || || ,

|-

| 3F || ||

|-

| 1PL || (incl.), (excl.) || ( ~ ~ ) ?

|-

| 2PL || ||

|-

| 3PL || || ~

|}

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary in different Chadic branches listed in order from west to east, with reconstructions of other Afroasiatic branches also given for comparison:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%"

! Language !! eye !! ear !! nose !! tooth !! tongue !! mouth !! blood !! bone !! tree !! water !! eat !! name

|-

| Proto-ChadicJungraithmayr, Herrmann; Ibriszimow, Dymitr (1994). Chadic Lexical Roots: Tentative reconstruction, grading, distribution and comments. (Sprache und Oralität in Afrika; 20), volume I, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. || || / || || ; || || || || || || || (hard); (soft) ||

|-

| HausaCosper, Ronald. 2015. Hausa dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ids.clld.org/contributions/220 , Accessed on 2019-12-31.) || || || || || || || || || ; || || ||

|-

| Proto-RonBlench, Roger. no date. Ron comparative wordlist . || || || || || || || , || || || || ||

|-

| Proto-South BauchiShimizu, Kiyoshi. 1978. The Southern Bauchi group of Chadic languages: a survey report. (Africana Marburgensia: Sonderheft, 2.) Marburg/Lahn: Africana Marburgensia. || || || || || || || || || || || ||

|-

| PolciCosper, Ronald. 2015. Polci dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ids.clld.org/contributions/221 , Accessed on 2019-12-31.) || || || || || || || ; || || || || ||

|-

| Proto-Central ChadicGravina, Richard. 2014. Proto-Central Chadic Lexicon . Webonary. || ; || || || || ; ; || || || ; || || || ||

|-

| Proto-Masa || || || || || || || || || || || ||

|-

| KujargeDoornbos, Paul. 1981. Field notes on Kujarge, language metadata, 200-word list plus numerals and pronouns. || || ~ || || || || || || (), || || || (), [imp. sg.]; [imp. pl.] ||

|-

| colspan = "13" | Other Afroasiatic branches

|-

| Proto-Cushitic || || || || || || / || || ; || || || /; || /

|-

| Proto-Maji || || || || || || || || || || || ||

|-

| Tarifiyt BerberKossmann, Maarten. 2009. Tarifiyt Berber vocabulary . In: Haspelmath, Martin & Tadmor, Uri (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. || || , || || || || || || || || || ||

|-

| Coptic || || || || , || || || || || || || ||

|-

| Proto-SemiticKogan, Leonid (2012). "Proto-Semitic Lexicon". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 179–258. . || || || || || || || || || || || || ()

|-

| Proto-Afroasiatic || || || || / 'tip, point' || 'to lick' || || / || || || ; || ; ; || /

|}

Bibliography

  • Caron, Bernard 2004. Le Luri: quelques notes sur une langue tchadique du Nigeria. In: Pascal Boyeldieu & Pierre Nougayrol (eds.), Langues et Cultures: Terrains d’Afrique. Hommages à France Cloarec-Heiss (Afrique et Language 7). 193–201. Louvain-Paris: Peeters.
  • 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 (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.

Data sets

See also

  • Proto-Chadic reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

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