Chamba Leko

Chamba Leko is one of two languages spoken by the Chamba people, the other being Chamba Daka. It is a member of the Leko branch of Savanna languages, and is spoken across the northern Nigerian–Cameroonian border.

Chamba
Samba Leekɔ
Region	northern Nigeria and Cameroon
Ethnicity	Chamba people
Native speakers	(62,000 in Nigeria cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Leko–Nimbari Leko Chamba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ndi
Glottolog	samb1305

Chamba is also spelled 'Samba', Leko also 'Leeko', 'Lego' or 'Lekon'. The language is also known as Suntai.

Dialects

Samba, also called Samba Leeko, is highly distinct from Chamba Daka, also called Daga Mumi ('language of the Daka'), spoken in Nigeria by another subgroup of the Chamba people. These two languages are respectively classified in groups 2 and 3 of the Adamawa branch by Joseph Greenberg (see Adamawa languages).^[2]

In Cameroon, the two main groups of dialects are:^[2]

• Samba languages proper (consisting of the Samba Leeko, Deenu, Bangla, Wangai varieties, as well as Sampara, mainly spoken in Nigeria) located between the Alantika Mountains in one area, and Faro and Mayo-Déo as well (in the south of Béka commune, Bénoué department, North Region)
• Daganjonga, spoken in two enclaves of 25,000 speakers surrounded by Grassfields languages, near the Ndop Plain (more than 400 kilometers from the Alantika Mountains). It is spoken in the villages of Balikumbat, Baligashu, Baligashu (Balikumbat commune, Ngoketunjia department, North-West Region) and Baligam (Santa commune, Mezam department, North-West Region)

Phonology

Consonants

^[3]: 21

			Labial	Labiodental	Apical	Palatal	Velar	Labial–velar	Glottal
Fricative		Voiceless	p	f	t	s	k	kp	ʔ
		Voiced	b	v	d	z	g	gb
Nasal			m		n	ɲ	ŋ	̰w
Oral					l	y		w	(h)
Flap				(ⱱ)	(r)

Vowels

^[3]: 47

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ə	u
Mid	e		o
Open	ɛ	a	ɔ