Languages of Nigeria
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[[Image:Nigeria_Benin_Cameroon_languages.png|thumb|360px|[[Linguistic]] map of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin.]]
{{Culture of Nigeria}}
The number of '''languages''' currently estimated and catalogued in '''[[Nigeria]]''' is 521. This number includes 510 living languages, two second languages without native speakers and 9 [[extinct languages]]. In some areas of Nigeria, ethnic groups speak more than one language. The official language of Nigeria, [[English language|English]], the former colonial language, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country. The major languages spoken in Nigeria are [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Edo language|Edo]], [[Efik language|Efik]], [[Ibibio]] and [[Annang]] language, and French [[Fula language|Adamawa Fulfulde]], [[Idoma]], and [[Kanuri language|Central Kanuri]]. The [[Annang]]/[[Efik]]/[[Ibibio]] languages are actually three dialect of the same language, when add together, they form the fourth major Nigerian language. Even though most ethnic groups prefer to communicate in their own languages, English, being the official language, is widely used for education, business transactions and for official purposes. English, however, remains an exclusive preserve of a small minority of the country's urban elite, and is not spoken in rural areas. With approximately 75% of Nigeria's populace in the rural areas, the major languages of communication in the country remain tribal languages, with the most widely spoken being Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Foreign minorities speak their own languages aside from English and/or major native languages as their second languages.
Nigeria's linguistic diversity is a microcosm of [[Africa]] as a whole, encompassing three major [[Languages of Africa|African languages families]]: the [[Afro-Asiatic]], [[Nilo-Saharan]], and the [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo A]] branch of the Niger-Congo family. Nigeria also has one unclassifiable language, Cen Tuum, spoken by a few old people among the Cham in Gombe State. This may represent an intriguing relic of an even greater diversity prior to the spread of the current language families.
==Niger-Congo languages==
Niger-Congo predominates in central and southern Nigeria; the main branches represented in Nigeria are Mande, Atlantic, Gur, Kwa, Benue-Congo and Adamawa-Ubangian. Mande is represented by the Busa cluster and Kyenga in the northwest. [[Fulfulde]] is the single Atlantic language, of [[Senegambia|Senegambian]] origin but now spoken by cattle pastoralists across the [[Sahel]] and largely in the North of Nigeria by the [[Fulani]] (sometimes Fulbe) diaspora. The [[Ijoid languages]] are spoken across the [[Niger Delta]] and include [[Ịjọ]] ([[=Ijaw]]), Kalabari and the intriguing remnant language, Defaka, while the [[Ibibio]] language is spoken across the coastal southeastern part of Nigeria and includes [[Efik]], [[Annnang]], [[oron]], [[Eket]], and [[Ikot Abasi]]. The single Gur language spoken is Baatọnun, in the Northwest. The Adamawa-Ubangian languages are spoken between central Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Their westernmost representatives in Nigeria are the Tula-Waja languages. The Kwa languages are represented by the Gun group in the extreme southwest, which is affiliated to the Gbe languages in Benin and Togo.
The classification of the remaining languages is controversial; [[Joseph Greenberg]] classified those without noun-classes, such as Yoruba, Igbo, and Ibibio (Efik, Ibibio, and Annang), as 'Eastern [[Kwa]]' and those with classes as '[[Benue-Congo]]'. This was reversed in an influential 1989 publication and reflected on the 1992 map of languages, where all these were considered [[Benue-Congo]]. Recent opinion, however, has been to revert to Greenberg's distinction. The literature must thus be read with care and due regard for the date. It should be noted that there are several small language groupings in the Niger Confluence area, notably Ukaan, Akpes, Ayere-Ahan and Ọkọ, whose inclusion in these groupings has never been satisfactorily argued.
Former Eastern [[Kwa]], i.e. West [[Benue-Congo]] would then include Yoruboid, i.e. [[Yoruba]], [[Itsekiri]] and [[Igala]], [[Akokoid]] (eight small languages in Ondo, Edo and Kogi state), [[Edoid]] including [[Edo]] in [[Edo State]], [[Igboid languages|Igboid]], [[Ibibio]], [[Efik]], [[Annnang]], [[Idomoid languages|Idomoid]] ([[Idoma]]) and [[Nupoid languages|Nupoid]] ([[Nupe language|Nupe]]) and perhaps include the other languages mentioned above. East [[Benue-Congo]] includes [[Kainji]], [[Plateau languages|Plateau]] (46 languages, notably [[Eggon language|Eggon]]), [[Jukunoid]], [[Dakoid]] and [[Cross River languages|Cross River]. Apart from these, there are numerous Bantoid languages, which are the languages immediately ancestral to Bantu. These include [[Mambiloid]], [[Ekoid]], [[Bendi]], [[Beboid]], [[Grassfields]] and [[Tivoid languages]]. The geographic distribution of Nigeria's Niger-Congo languages is not limited to south-central Nigeria, as migration allows their spread to the linguistically Afro-Asiatic northern regions of Nigeria, as well as throughout [[West Africa]] and [[abroad]]. [[Yoruba]] is spoken as a ritual language in cults such as the Santeria in the Caribbean and South-Central America, and the Berbice Dutch language in Surinam is based on an Ijoid language.
Even the above listed linguistic diversity of the Niger-Congo in Nigeria is deceptively limiting, as these languages may further consist of regional dialects that may not be mutually intelligible. As such some languages, particularly those with a large number of speakers, have been standardized and received a [[romanization|romanized orthography]]. Nearly all languages appear in a Roman script when written, often with modifications allowing for a language's particularities. The Yoruba, Igbo and Efik languages are notable examples of this process; [[Standard Yoruba]] came into being due to the work [[Samuel Crowther]], the first African bishop of the [[Anglican Church]] and owes most of its lexicon to the dialects spoken in [[Ọyọ]] and [[Ibadan]]. Since Standard Yoruba's constitution was determined by a single author rather than by a consensual linguistic policy by all speakers, the Standard has been attacked regarding for failing to include other dialects and spurred debate as to what demarcates "genuine Yoruba". The more historically recent standardization and romanization of Igbo has provoked even more controversy due to its dialectical diversity, but the Central Igbo dialect has gained the widest acceptace as the standard-bearer; however many such as [[Chinua Achebe]] have dismissed standardization as colonial and conservative attempts to simplify a complex mosaic of languages. Such controversies typify inter- and intra-ethnic conflict endemic to post-colonial Nigeria.
Linguistically speaking, all demonstrate the varying [[phonological]] features of the Niger-Congo family to which they belong, these include the use of [[tone]], [[nasality]], and particular [[consonant]] and [[vowel]] systems; more information is available [[Niger-Congo#Common features|here]].
==Afro-Asiatic languages==
The Afro-Asiatic languages of Nigeria divide into Chadic, Semitic and Berber. Of these, [[Chadic]] languages predominate, with 70+ languages. Semitic is represented by various dialects of Arabic spoken in the Northeast and Berber by the Tuareg-speaking communities in the extreme Northwest.
The [[Hausa language]] is the most well-known [[Chadic]] language in Nigeria; though there is a paucity of statistics on native speakers in Nigeria, the language is spoken by 24 million people in West Africa and is the second language of 15 million more. Hausa has therefore emerged as ''[[lingua franca]]'' throughout much of West Africa and the Sahel in particular. The language is spoken primarily amongst [[Muslims]], and the language is often associated with Islamic culture in Nigeria and West Africa on the whole. Hausa is classified as a [[West Chadic languages|West Chadic language]] of the [[Chadic languages|Chadic]] grouping, a major subfamily of Afro-Asiatic. Culturally, the [[Hausa people]] have become closely integrated with the Fulani following the [[jihadist]] establishment of the [[Sokoto Caliphate]] by the Fulani [[Uthman dan Fodio]] in the 19th century. Hausa is the [[official language]] of a number states in Northern Nigeria and the most important dialect is generally regarded as that spoken in [[Kano]],an Eastern Hausa dialect, which is the standard variety used for official purposes. Eastern dialects also include some dialects spoken in [[Zaria]], and [[Bauchi]]; Western Hausa dialects include Sakkwatanchi spoken in [[Sokoto State|Sokoto]], Katsinanchi in Katsina Arewanchi in both [[Gobir]] and [[Adar]],[[Kebbi]], and [[Zamfara]]. [[Katsina]] is transitional between Eastern and Western dialects. Northern Hausa dialects include [[Arewa]] and [[Arawa]], while [[Zaria]] is a prominent Southern tongue version; [[Barikanchi]] is a [[pidgin]] formerly used in the military.
[[Hausa]] is a highly atypical [[Chadic]] language, with a reduced tonal system and a phonology influenced by [[Arabic]]. Other well-known Chadic languages include Ngas, Mwaghavul, [[Bole language|Bole]], [[Ngizim language|Ngizim]], [[Bade language|Bade]] and Bacama. In the East of Nigeria and on into Cameroun are the Central Chadic languages, such as Bura, the Higi cluster and Marghi. These are highly diverse and remain very poorly described. Many Chadic languages are severely threatened; recent searches by Bernard Caron for Southern Bauchi languages show that even some of those recorded in the 1970s have disappeared. However, unknown Chadic languages are still being reported, witness the recent description of Dyarim.
Hausa, as well as other Afro-Asiatic languages like [[Bade language|Bade]] (another West Chadic language spoken in Yobe State), have historically been written in a modified [[Arabic script]] known as ''[[Ajami script|ajami]]'', however, the modern official orthography is now a romanization known as ''boko'' first introduced by the British regime in the 1930s.
==See also==
*[[List of languages of Nigeria]]
==Wikimedia==
*[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Niger-Congo_speakers.png Systematic graphic of the Niger-Congo languages with numbers of speakers]
==References==
* Blench, Roger (2002) [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Africa/Nigeria/Minority%20Languages-%20Nigeria%202001.pdf Research on Minority Languages in Nigeria in 2001]. ''Ogmios''.
* Blench, Roger (1998) 'The Status of the Languages of Central Nigeria', in Brenzinger, M. (ed.) ''Endangered languages in Africa''. Köln: Köppe Verlag, 187-206. [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Africa/Nigeria/Language%20Death%20in%20Nigeria.pdf online version]
*Crozier, David & Blench, Roger (1992) ''An Index of Nigerian Languages (2nd edition)''. Dallas: SIL.
==External links==
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=NG Ethnologue Listing of Nigerian Languages]
* Blench, Roger (n.d.) [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Africa/Nigeria/Atlas%20of%20Nigerian%20Languages-%20ed.%20III.pdf Atlas of Nigerian Languages, ed. III] (revised and amended edition of Crozier & Blench 1992)
{{Africa in topic|Languages of}}
[[Category:Languages of Nigeria| ]]
[[bn:নাইজেরিয়ার ভাষা]]
[[pt:Línguas da Nigéria]]