Jarawa language (Nigeria)

Not to be confused with Jarawa language (Andaman Islands).

Jarawa (also known as Jhar, or in Hausa: Jaranci) is the most populous of the Bantu languages of northern Nigeria. It is a dialect cluster consisting of many varieties.

Jarawa
Region	northern Nigeria, near Bauchi
Native speakers	250,000 (dialects with ISO codes) (2006–2011)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Mbam-Bube-Jarawan Jarawan Nigerian Jarawan Jarawa
Dialects	Zhár (Bankal) Zugur (Duguri) Gwak (Gingwak) Ndaŋshi Dòòrì Mbat (Bada) Mùùn Kantana Dàmùl
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: jjr – Zhár (Bankal) dbm – Zugur (Duguri) bau – Mbat (Bada) jgk – Gwak (Gingwak)
Glottolog	jara1263

Phonology

Consonants in the Mbat dialect^[2]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Affricate	voiceless				k͡x
	voiced			d͡ʒ	ɡ͡ɣ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ
	voiced	(β)	z
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic			r
Approximant		w	l	j

• /β/ only appears as a marginal phoneme.
• [ʔ] only appears in non-word-initial syllables.
• Sounds /n, t, l, r/ can be heard as palatal or retroflex [ɲ, ʈ, ɭ, ɽ] in word-final position. /k/ can also be heard as uvular [q] in the same position, and may also alternate with [ʁ] or [ɢ].

• Sounds /k͡x, ɡ͡ɣ/ can be heard as fricatives [x, ɣ] or [χ, ʁ] in intervocalic position.

Vowels in the Mbat dialect^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	(ɛ)	ə	(ɔ)
Open		a

• Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ only appear after glides.

Dialects

Jarawa dialects are:

• Zhár (Bankal)
• Zugur (Duguri)
• Gwak (Gingwak)
• Ndaŋshi
• Dòòrì
• Mbat (Bada)
• Mùùn
• Kantana
• Dàmùl

Kantana may be a distinct language.

Blench (2019) lists these varieties as dialects of Jar (Jarawa).^[3]

• Zhar
• Ligri
• Kantana
• Bobar (?)
• Gwak (Gingwak)
• Dõõri
• Mbat
• Mbat-Galamkya