Jalaa language
Encyclopedia
Jalaa Centúúm or Cen Tuum is an endangered language
of northeastern Nigeria
(Loojaa settlement in Balanga Local Government Area, Bauchi
State), of uncertain (possibly Niger–Congo
) origins. It is nearly extinct; the ethnic group has come to use the Bwilim dialect of Cham in daily life, and the few remaining speakers of Jalaa, all elderly, are much more fluent in Cham than in Jalaa.
Traditionally, the Jalabe (as the ethnic group is called) are said to have come to Loojaa from an area a few miles south within the Muri Mountains, where they had shared a settlement with Tso and Kwa clans. (The name of this settlement, Cèntûm or Cùntûm, is used as a name for the language in some sources.) Later, during the nineteenth century, the Cham arrived in the area, fleeing attacks from the larger Waja to the north; the Cham intermarried with the Jalabe, and the Jalabe began to adopt the Cham language.
Both the Cham and the Tso traditionally avoided using names of the dead. When those names were also words of the language, as often happened, this forced them to change the word, sometimes by replacing it with a word from a neighboring language. Kleinewillinghöfer regards this as a motivation for certain cases of borrowing from Jalaa into Cham.
Above 5, the numerals are almost identical to Cham. The numerals 2 through 5 are almost identical with Tso, while "one" has no clear cognates.
system are two of the plural suffixes: Jalaa -ta versus Cham -te̩ and (for humans) Jalaa -bo, -ba versus Cham -b(e̩).
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
of northeastern Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
(Loojaa settlement in Balanga Local Government Area, Bauchi
Bauchi
Bauchi is a city in northeast Nigeria, the capital of Bauchi State, of the Bauchi Local Government Area within that State, and of the traditional Bauchi Emirate. The city has a population of 316,173...
State), of uncertain (possibly Niger–Congo
Niger–Congo languages
The Niger–Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question...
) origins. It is nearly extinct; the ethnic group has come to use the Bwilim dialect of Cham in daily life, and the few remaining speakers of Jalaa, all elderly, are much more fluent in Cham than in Jalaa.
Traditionally, the Jalabe (as the ethnic group is called) are said to have come to Loojaa from an area a few miles south within the Muri Mountains, where they had shared a settlement with Tso and Kwa clans. (The name of this settlement, Cèntûm or Cùntûm, is used as a name for the language in some sources.) Later, during the nineteenth century, the Cham arrived in the area, fleeing attacks from the larger Waja to the north; the Cham intermarried with the Jalabe, and the Jalabe began to adopt the Cham language.
Lexicon
The Jalaa lexicon is also strongly influenced by Cham (which it has in turn influenced); some similarities are also found with the nearby Tso. However, most of its vocabulary is extremely unusual. In Kleinewillinghöfer's words, "The major part of the lexicon seems to differ entirely from all the surrounding languages, which themselves represent different language families."Both the Cham and the Tso traditionally avoided using names of the dead. When those names were also words of the language, as often happened, this forced them to change the word, sometimes by replacing it with a word from a neighboring language. Kleinewillinghöfer regards this as a motivation for certain cases of borrowing from Jalaa into Cham.
Numerals
The numerals 1-6 in Jalaa are:- násán
- tiyú, tə́só
- tətáá, bwànbí
- təbwár, ŋbár
- (tə)nó
- tənúkùn
Above 5, the numerals are almost identical to Cham. The numerals 2 through 5 are almost identical with Tso, while "one" has no clear cognates.
Morphology
Jalaa morphology (at least in its present form) is almost identical to that of Cham. The main differences in the noun classNoun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
system are two of the plural suffixes: Jalaa -ta versus Cham -te̩ and (for humans) Jalaa -bo, -ba versus Cham -b(e̩).