Digital Resources Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-035
A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Ajiri (Eloyi) [afo] Language of Nasarawa and Benue States, Nigeria
Ken Decker, Innocent Jonah, John Muniru, Yakubu Danladi, Benard Abraham, David Onoja, Christina Riepe A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Ajiri (Eloyi) [afo] Language of Nasarawa and Benue States, Nigeria
Ken Decker, Innocent Jonah, John Muniru, Yakubu Danladi, Benard Abraham, David Onoja, Christina Riepe
SIL International® 2021 Journal of Language Survey Report 2021-035
2021 SIL International®
ISSN: 2766-9327
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Abstract
This report concerns a sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Ajiri (Eloyi) [afo]-speaking communities in the Nasarawa Local Government Area (LGA) and the Kokona LGA of Nasarawa State and Agatu LGA of Benue State, Nigeria. The language has previously been known as Eloyi and Afo, but Ajiri is preferred. Ajiri is classified in the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. There are an estimated 105,000 to 110,000 ethnic Ajiri. Due to language shift in Benue State, the numbers of Ajiri speakers may be less. This study of Ajiri is part of a larger initiative to provide sociolinguistic information to organizations, development agencies, and local communities who are working collaboratively towards meeting the language development needs of the ethnolinguistic groups of Nigeria. The goals of this research included gaining a better understanding of linguistic variation in Ajiri and the role of Ajiri and other languages in the lives of the Ajiri speakers. With these goals in mind, this study utilizes linguistic and sociolinguistic data collected through group and individual interviews, participatory discussions, observations, and wordlist collection. Our data indicates that Ajiri, in Nasarawa State, has a relatively large population of speakers and the language use is vigorous. Therefore, the Ajiri language vitality is assessed as EGIDS level 6a (vigorous). However, in Agatu LGA, Benue State, the Ajiri are a minority and they are in the process of shifting to Agatu. Language vitality in those communities is assessed as EGIDS level 7 (shifting). Some Ajiri people perceive that there are two varieties, Mbeki (highlands) and Ambu (lowlands). Linguistic data reveals that there is a third variety which we have called ‘riverside’. However, there is not enough variation to require more than one language development effort. There has been some language development in the form of a trial orthography, a dictionary, and a Bible translation. The Ajiri are a very multilingual community; nearly everyone speaks three to five languages. Hausa and English are the usual “second” languages and they are the main languages used in schools and churches. However, there is no evidence of people shifting to either of those languages.
Contents
Languages Mentioned in this Report 1 Introduction 2 Purpose and research questions 3 Previous research 4 Research methods 4.1 Participatory discussions and dialect mapping 4.2 Select leader interviews 4.3 Observation 4.4 Analysis of qualitative data 4.5 Wordlist collection and analysis 5 Geographic, demographic, and social description 5.1 Language and people identification 5.2 Location, settlements, and administrative division 5.3 Population 5.4 Origin of the Ajiri 5.5 Other social descriptions 5.5.1 Social structure 5.5.2 Occupations 5.5.3 Education 5.5.4 Religions 5.5.5 Intermarriage 6 Influence from other languages 6.1 Language contact 6.2 Multilingual proficiency 6.3 Implications for language development 7 Language vitality 7.1 Functions of languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri 7.2 Means of acquiring languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri 7.3 Motivation for using languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri 7.4 Environmental support for the maintenance of Ajiri 7.5 Differentiation 7.6 EGIDS assessment for Ajiri 8 Linguistic relationships 8.1 Classification 8.2 Dialects and lexical similarity 8.3 Phonetic similarity and variation 8.4 Phonological variation 8.5 Morphological variation 8.6 Discussion of analysis 9 Summary 10 Recommendations Appendix A: Dialect Mapping Instructions and Group Sociolinguistics Questionnaire Appendix B: Church Leader Questionnaire Appendix C: School Teacher Questionnaire Appendix D: Sample Observation Schedule Appendix E: Wordlist Appendix F: Plurals Wordlists Appendix G: GPS Points for Select Villages References
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Languages Mentioned in this Report
These are languages mentioned in this report, with their ISO 639-3 code. The ISO 639-3 codes are the international standard three-letter designations for languages, defining a unique identifier for each. The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) is a catalog of all the world’s languages and is published by SIL International, which is the registration authority for ISO 639-3. Most of these names are also used for the ethnic group which speak the language as their heritage language. Often the names are used in the text primarily as a reference to the ethnic group.
Afo, Afu, Afao, Afoa, Aho, alternate names for Ajiri [afo] Gbagyi [ɡbr] Ajiri1 [afo] Gbari [gby] Agatu [agc] Gwandara [gwn] Ake, an alternate name for Akye [aik] Hausa4 [hau]
Akpa [akf] Idoma [idu]
Akweya, an alternate name for Akpa [akf] Igala [igl] 2 Akye [aik] Iɡbo [ibo] Alago [ala] Koro Zuba [vkz] Ambu, dialect of Ajiri [afo] Lijili [mgi] Arabic [arb] Mada [mda] Basa [bzw] Mbeki, dialect of Ajiri [afo] Ebira [iɡb] Nigerian Pidgin English3 [pcm] Edo [bin] Rjili [uji]5 Eggon [ego] Tangale [tan] Eloyi,1 Eloi, an alternate name for Ajiri [afo] Tanjijili,5 an alternate name for Rjili [uji] English3 [eng] Tiv [tiv]
Epe, alternate name for Ajiri [afo] Urhobo [urh] Fulfulde [fuv] Yoruba [yor] Gade [ged]
1 Current language catalogs, such as the Glottolog 4.2.1 (Hammarström et al. 2020), refer to the language as Eloyi. However, during this survey, it was found that most native speakers prefer their language name to be Ajiri, and this will be used throughout this report. A thorough list of alternate and previous names can be found in § 5.1. 2 Current language catalogs, such as the Glottolog 4.2.1 (Hammarström et al. 2020), refer to the language as Ake. However, during the Decker et al. (2021b) survey, it was found that most native speakers prefer their language name to be spelled Akye. 3 In Nigeria, there is a variety of English recognized by linguists as Nigerian English and another called Nigerian Pidgin English by linguists. However, both are frequently referred to colloquially as English. We did not pursue specification in this distinction. 4 There are different dialects of Hausa, but we did not pursue specification in this distinction. 5 Current language catalogs, such as the Glottolog 4.2.1 (Hammarström et al. 2020), refer to the language as Tanjijili. However, during the Decker et al. (forthcoming 2021a) survey, it was found that most native speakers prefer their language name to be spelled Rjili.
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1 Introduction
This report describes a sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Ajiri (Eloyi) [afo]-speaking communities in the Nasarawa Local Government Area (LGA) and Kokona LGA of Nasarawa State and Agatu LGA of Benue State, Nigeria. Ajiri is classified in the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. There may be about 105,000 to 110,000 ethnic Ajiri. Due to language shift in Benue State, the numbers of Ajiri speakers may be less. The fieldwork was conducted on the 17th to 20th of October 2019 by Innocent Jonah,6 John Muniru, Yakubu Danladi, Benard Abraham, and David Onoja,7 members of the SIL Nigeria language survey team. Ken Decker served as a consultant on the survey and provided writing assistance on this report. The research was conducted in seven Ajiri towns. This survey report includes linguistic, sociolinguistic, geographic, and demographic information which we use to profile the sociolinguistic environment8 of the Ajiri people. This profile is used to draw conclusions about the possibilities for language planning and development. Through this research, we learned that the language vitality of Ajiri, in Nasarawa State, can currently be described as EGIDS level 6a, vigorous, and the future of the language is sustainable. Blench (2007), and others, have reported that there are two varieties of Ajiri, the speech of the highlands (Mbeki) and the speech of the plains (Ambu). In this paper, we will demonstrate that, rather than the two varieties previously reported (Blench 2007), there are three varieties: the highlands, plains, and what we call the ‘riverside’ variety. The riverside variety is spoken in Agatu LGA, Benue State, and the Ajiri there are shifting to Agatu, the dominant language in the area. There is not enough variation between the three varieties to require more than one language development effort. The Ajiri language vitality is assessed as EGIDS level 6a (vigorous). The report is arranged in the following sections: the survey purpose and research questions are described in § 2. Background research is discussed in § 3. The methods used in our research are explained in § 4. In § 5, we describe some of the geographic, social, and cultural factors that may influence language use. In § 6, we look at the multilingual environment and multilingual proficiency. In § 7, we discuss factors affecting language vitality. In § 8, we describe linguistic data that was collected and how it was analyzed and draw conclusions relevant to answering the research questions about variation within varieties of the heritage language. In § 9, we summarize what we have described in §§ 5 through 8 and how the information answers the research questions presented in § 2. Finally, in § 10, we make recommendations for future steps in research and language development. This study is part of a larger initiative to provide sociolinguistic information to organizations and development agencies who are working collaboratively towards meeting the language development needs of the ethnolinguistic groups of Nigeria. Collaborating organizations include SIL Nigeria, the Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Community Development Associations (CONAECDA), Luke Initiative for Scripture Translation (LIST), Lutheran Bible Translators (LBT), Nigeria Bible Translation Trust (NBTT), Calvary Ministries (CAPRO), and the Kay Williamson Educational Foundation (KWEF).
2 Purpose and research questions
The purpose of this study is to gather relevant sociolinguistic information for those who are working towards meeting the language development9 needs of minority ethnolinguistic groups. There are two
6 We wish to thank CAPRO for the secondment of Mr. Jonah to the survey team, and for his valuable contribution to the research. 7 Mr. Abraham and Mr. Onoja worked with the team as part of their post-graduate services through the National Youth Services Corps. We are grateful for their valuable contribution to the research. 8 The term ‘environment’ is used throughout this report to generally refer to any factors that are relevant to decision- making for language planning and development. However, in § 8 it more specifically refers to government policies that either support or oppose minority language development. 9 For more on the goals and process of language development, see Cooper (1989) and Spolsky (2004 and 2009).
1 2 major concerns when addressing language development needs, the environment for heritage language development and the meeting of multilingual needs. The environment we are describing here includes the amount of linguistic variation within the language community, the attitudes towards linguistic and social variation in language use within the community, and the attitudes towards language maintenance and shift. The long-term usefulness of heritage language development depends on the identification of an acceptable central10 variety to develop. The acceptability often depends on the perceptions and attitudes held by the people towards social and linguistic variation. It also depends on a good linguistic analysis. In general, it is not possible to develop an alphabetic orthography11 that attempts to unite too much variation. Minority language communities need multilingual proficiency, they need people who can access information available in languages of wider communication.12 The global predominance of languages of wider communication threatens the survival of minority languages, but multilingualism also offers many opportunities to those with proficiency. It is neither possible nor desirable to preserve monolingualism in a minority language. And the reality in most minority language communities is that they already speak a repertoire of languages. The challenge is to maintain heritage language use while addressing the communities' needs to improve their proficiencies in other languages. To address these realities, we investigated language variation, the repertoire of languages, attitudes towards other languages, literacy, and the vitality of Ajiri. We also investigated the potential for development of Ajiri. For documentation and further analysis, four wordlists were elicited and recorded and Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of Ajiri villages were tracked (see Appendix G). The following research questions were formulated to help focus the data collection and analysis:
• What do the people call their language and its speakers? • What evidence of variation between Ajiri lects can be found? • How is Ajiri linguistically related to other languages? • Which languages are used regularly within the Ajiri community? • Which languages are used for reading and writing and what is the literacy rate? • What are the social relationships of the various language communities in and around the Ajiri? • What variation in language-use patterns is found in the Ajiri community? • What impact has multilingualism had on the vitality of the Ajiri language?
3 Previous research
Blench (2007:2) says that the first ethnographic reports of Ajiri were written by Rohlfs (1867) after a visit to the area in 1866. Early linguistic work was published by Armstrong (1955, 1964, 1983, 1984), Mackay (1964), and Williamson (1973). A 745-item annotated wordlist was presented by Blench (2007). Ethnographic descriptions have been published by Temple (1922) and Tschudi (1956).
4 Research methods
Our methods of data collection consisted of using the following tools: group discussions and individual interviews, dialect mapping, observation, and wordlist collection. The collected data were correlated to ensure an accurate analysis. (See Appendices A, B, and C for samples of the questionnaires, Appendix D for a sample observation schedule, and Appendices E and F for the wordlists.) The Ajiri are spread over a large area and we had heard that there might be three varieties, so we wanted to gather information from all three regions. We collected data in Apawu Kuri, Kana 1, and Onda
10 For more on the factors involved in the identification of a central variety, see Sanders (1986) and Boone (2012). 11 For more on orthography development, see Cahill and Rice (2014). 12 For more on language vitality and multilingualism, see Lewis and Simons (2017).
3 as representative of the northern hilly area. We collected data in Usha-Kadu and Akum as representative of the lowlands region south of the hilly region. We also collected data in Usha-Olugwu and Ogam, representing the furthest south communities near the Benue River.
4.1 Participatory discussions and dialect mapping
In each of the seven towns where we facilitated a group interview, we first spoke to a community leader to explain our purpose and to obtain permission to gather information from the people. The community leader invited a group of people to a meeting in each village. They each specifically asked several community leaders to participate. Each group engaged at least twenty people of both sexes and various ages ranging from 35–70 years of age. The discussions were conducted in Hausa but included side discussions in Ajiri. Using the Group Sociolinguistics Questionnaire (see Appendix A for a sample), we asked each group about their community’s: • contact patterns • comprehension of their language regionally • population • language vitality • migration and immigration • attitude towards speakers of neighboring languages • literacy and access to literature • potential for language development and project support Working with these same groups, we also used a tool called “Dialect Mapping.” This tool is designed as a participatory activity which engages community members in the research (Hasselbring 2008). This participatory activity focuses the group discussions on the geographic distribution of the language and interaction with neighboring language groups (see Appendix A for more details). We made use of visual aids—papers, permanent markers, pictures, drawings, strings, etc.—to help people think and talk through: • where their language is spoken • geographical arrangement of the villages in the form of a map • neighboring languages • perceived level of comprehension in neighboring languages and languages of wider communication Responses given to our questions were mostly a consensus of the group. Information from the Dialect Mapping and group discussions is discussed in §§ 5 through 8.
4.2 Select leader interviews
In addition to the group interview, we also interviewed a church leader in six of the seven communities (Apawu Kuri, Onda, Usha-Kadu, Akum, Usha-Olugwu, and Ogam). The church leader interviews provided information about the patterns of language use in church, the opinions of church authorities on scripture accessibility, and the perceived benefit of vernacular scripture translations. We also interviewed a schoolteacher in five of the seven towns (Apawu Kuri, Kana 1, Usha-Kadu, Akum, and Usha-Olugwu). All the teachers were from primary schools, except in Akum where the teacher was from a secondary school. We asked about the number of staff, the number of children in the schools, and which language groups they come from. We also asked questions regarding language use and attitudes and languages spoken on school premises. See Appendices B and C for samples of the church leader and schoolteacher interview questionnaires. Information from these interviews is distributed in §§ 5, 6, and 7.
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4.3 Observation
Throughout the course of our time in the villages, we observed languages use both in settings where the surveyors were part of the group and when the surveyors were not perceived as being part of conversations. We noted how the choice of language differed depending on factors including the ages of the speaker and listener, the time, location, topic of discussion, and level of comprehension. No one on the survey team was familiar with Ajiri but we could identify when the people were not using Hausa or English. In some of the communities, the only other alternative was that they were speaking Ajiri, but in the communities in Benue State we needed to identify when they were speaking Agatu rather than Ajiri. We also took note of the current state of developing projects such as schools, roads, and health centers in each community. We recorded our observations in a notebook and used the observed information to fill in an observation schedule (see a sample of the observation schedule in Appendix D). The reader should understand that in a four-day survey covering seven communities, the number of documented observations is relatively small, about 40 in this case. However, these observations are useful in comparing the community’s perceived and observed language use. Information from observations is distributed in §§ 5, 6, and 7.
4.4 Analysis of qualitative data
Since amount of data we gather is so limited, we can employ a simple “pencil and paper” method of analysis. We list the major categories of information we are interested in: names, locations, population, physical infrastructure, occupations, cultural insights, intermarriage, religions, education, literacy, perceived dialectal differences, domains of heritage language use, language use in religious practices, other-language contact, language use with other language groups, domains of other-language use, proficiency in other languages, interest in language development, and attitudes towards other dialect and language groups. Next, we go through the interview and observation forms and sort the information into relevant categories. There are many ways by which we consider the differences in the data. When there are differences in quantifications, for example in population estimates, we simply give the range. When there are differences in non-linguistic descriptions, for instance the ease of access to an area, we may need to refer to the surveyors’ memories. We also triangulate information, for example, correlating if they said they could speak Hausa, if we observed them speaking Hausa, and if a team member engaged them in a conversation in Hausa. For a language such as English, which in this part of Nigeria is only acquired through education, we will also consider how much education the person has or how long schools have been available in the village in order to assess the possibility of higher proficiency. For linguistic similarity, we compare what the people say about the similarities or differences, their perceptions of levels of comprehension, and information learned from wordlist analysis (see § 4.5). Due to the paucity of data, the data gathered only provide for some tentative conclusions. We recognize that much of the information is anecdotal, but we are looking for inconsistencies. If there are no inconsistencies, then we consider that we may be gaining accurate answers to our research questions. Certain inconsistencies may arise due to the time constraints of the survey. Some of these inconsistencies may be resolved by a phone call or another trip to the area, but some may remain unresolved.
4.5 Wordlist collection and analysis
A phonostatistical comparison of wordlists collected in different locations is one method of measuring the similarity between the speech in these locations. Communities with speech varieties that have higher lexical similarity (more words in common) have a greater probability of having higher levels of comprehension. SIL Nigeria uses the 70 percent threshold as a standard criterion for using phonostatistics to differentiate languages from dialects (International Language Assessment Conference 1989:9.5.2). Lexical similarity above 70 percent typically corresponds with acceptable levels of comprehension between the compared varieties. These may be considered closely related dialects. Lexical similarity below 70 percent corresponds with inadequate comprehension between the compared
5 varieties. These are typically considered different languages. However, sociolinguistic factors also need to be considered. We used the SIL Nigeria standard wordlist of 348 items for our elicitation in five villages: Apawu Kuri, Kana 1, Usha-Kadu, Akum, and Usha-Olugwu. We elicited the list of 348 words from one or two people who were recommended by the chief as being good speakers of Ajiri and having a relatively good knowledge of English. There were usually others standing around observing the whole activity. The language helpers were males between 28 and 58 years of age. They were all natives of the villages in which we were doing the elicitation, and the parents of each were speakers of the language. Wordlists were handwritten on a printed wordlist form using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) (International Phonetic Association 2018). We elicited both singular and plural forms (where applicable) for nouns. We attempted to elicit verbs in the infinitive form. Adjectives, prepositions, and conjunctions were also elicited both in isolation and with a sample noun. For documentation purposes, audio recordings were made using a ZOOM Handy Recorder H2 recording device. See Appendices E and F for the wordlists. Plural forms of nouns are presented in Appendix F. These wordlists were then compared using the WordSurv 7 wordlist analysis program (White & Colgan 2012). The primary method is to compare the phonetic pronunciation of words to determine a phonostatistical comparison. Our intention is to identify the potential for comprehension between the languages. Our method does not attempt to identify cognates. A similarity comparison is calculated using a variation of the algorithm described by Blair (1990:31–33). This method is like that used by Gooskens et al. (2008). Despite attempts by Blair to create an unambiguous way to compare words, there are still uncertainties when deciding if two words are similar enough to be counted as similar. Thus, we calculate one comparison in which we include all marginal similarities, and another calculation that excludes all marginal similarities. In this way, we arrive at a range of possible lexical similarity. The higher percentage number of the range is closer to the number of words that are possibly cognate. The lower number represents an estimate of the surface-level phonological similarity. We believe this gives a more realistic prediction of possible comprehension.
5 Geographic, demographic, and social description
In this section, we provide a brief description of some geographic, demographic, and social factors that describe the environment in which the language is spoken. In some cases, these may have an influence on language-use patterns and language vitality. Some of the topics in this section are revisited in § 8. Information from this section will be summarized in § 9 along with information from §§ 6 through 8.
5.1 Language and people identification
Earlier records identified the language and people in various ways. Wente-Lukas (1985:12) includes the various sources of the names of the Ajiri language and peopleː • Afao, Afu (Temple 1922:1) • Afo (Rohlfs 1867:335) • Afoa (Leith-Ross 1970:120) • Aho, Eloyi (Hansford et al. 1976:68) • Eloi (Armstrong 1955:136) • Epe (Mackay 1964:5) The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) also lists Keffi as an alternate name, though the source of this name is uncertain. None of our interviewees knew of it. Keffi is an LGA in Nasarawa State located north of Nasarawa LGA.
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The people with whom we visited referred to themselves and their language as Ajiri [àʤìɾí], Eloyi [ɛ̀lɔ́jî], or Afo [àfò].13 However, most people said that they prefer their people and language be known as Ajiri. The only exceptions are people in Kana 1, Kana 2,14 and Onda villages where they reported that they prefer to be referred to as Eloyi. The people in Onda said that Ajiri is a political designation, not what they call themselves. It is interesting that in Onda and Usha-Kadu they answered “Afo” to most questions when referring to their language and that some of their tribal organizations are called Afo, such as the Afo National Youth Association and Afo Development Association. Various explanations were given for the names from previous studies, which are listed above. Everyone agreed that Afo, sometimes pronounced Aho [àhò], is the name given them by the Hausa. Some said that the government refers to them as Ajiri, and some said Afo. Furthermore, Blench (2007:1) states, Ajiri is a town and not the name of the people. It became the title of the chief during the political era of the second republic [1977–1983], when the government of Chief Solomon D. Lar, wanted to emancipate the people. Ajiri became popular because of Makama Dogo, a chief of Nasarawa, who was killed in this village. When the government wanted to give them a traditional stool, they decided to give Ajiri the title – Osu Ajiri. Blench may be correct that the name was given by the government, but it seems to be well accepted and preferred now. The interviewees said that Idoma, Agatu, and other neighbors in Benue State call them Epe [èk͡pè]. In Usha-Olugwu they said that Epe is a term of respect. But in Kana 1 they said it is derogatory. In Nasarawa State, those who are settled in the northern hilly area refer to themselves as the Ajiri Mbeki which means “the highland settlers.” Those settled to the south of the hilly region, in the lowlands crossing the border into Benue State, refer to themselves as the Ajiri Ambu meaning, plains or lowlands settlers. See § 8.2 for more on the names of the dialects.
5.2 Location, settlements, and administrative division
Speakers of Ajiri are primarily located in the eastern part of the Nasarawa LGA and the southwestern part of Kokona LGA in Nasarawa State and the northwestern part of Agatu LGA, Benue State. It was reported that there are about 56 Ajiri villages15 (see map 1). (A list of some of the villages with their GPS coordinates can be found in Appendix G.) The villages in the hills of Nasarawa State are: Abgowa, Agabeye, Agwada, Amar, Angwan-Auta, Apawu, Apawu-Kuri, Ayini, Kama, Kana 1, Kana 2, Kofa Gwada, Mararaban Shabu, Obi, and Onda. These villages located on the plains of Nasarawa State are: Agamu, Aɡbadama, Aɡboda, Akah, Akum, Alakyo, Apura, Ebbeh, Ekpa, Enegbo, Gada Hudu, Ingla, Iyita, Kuvo, Obaraza, Odeni, Ogageni, Ogobo, Onogbo, Ogufa, Okyereku, Omini, Oshini, Udegi, Useni, Usha-Kadu, Ushata 1, and Ushata 2. The following villages are reported to be in Nasarawa State, but we were not able to determine whether they were in the hills or on the plains: Agbazo, Agbogana, Agyegu, Akewa, Akpaku, Apawu- Kakowu, Apawu-Odu, Atekpa, Endo, Endo-Eleza, Eyenu, Idete, Igwo, Kolu, Loko, Ogapa, and Okama. The five Ajiri villages in Benue State are: Edge, Oweto, Ogam, Ogba, and Usha-Olugwu.
13 In Onda, there was a comment that the name for their language is Bafo, but this was not confirmed by anyone else. 14 We did not collect data in Kana 2. There were some men from Kana 2 present during the data collection in Kana 1. 15 There are 65 names listed here. We are uncertain of the reason for this discrepancy.
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Map 1. Location of Ajiri villages
Source of roads and river: https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=Nassarawa%2C%20Nasarawa%2C%20Nigeria#map=9/ 8.4469/8.1843. CC BY-SA 2.0. Accessed 1 February 2021. Town locations and polygons added by the authors. They do not represent official locations.
5.3 Population
Estimating populations is a notoriously difficult and imprecise effort. In Nigeria, official census information is not available on specific language groups, and when asking the local people to make an estimate, there are several problems. First, particularly with languages spoken in many villages, they probably do not have any way of knowing the size of the overall population. They may include speakers of other languages. There can also be a difference between the number of speakers of a language and the size of the ethnic group. They may inflate their estimates to give the impression that they are larger than their actual numbers. To make such estimates is also difficult for outside researchers. For a language spoken in many villages, the researchers probably cannot visit every village, nor can they gather data from every household. It may also be difficult to differentiate populations when multiple groups are living in the same area. To estimate the number of speakers of Ajiri, we run into these same difficulties. Through the last 100 years, the population has been estimated to have grown from 7,682 (Meek 1925, cited in Wente-Lukas 1985) to 100,000 (Blench 2007:1). Either the population has grown significantly, or earlier reports did not consider how widely the language was spoken. The people we interviewed estimated their population to be between 800,000 to 1,000,000 speakers. This estimation seems over-optimistically large since the projected census for 2016 was only 146,500 for Kokona LGA, 252,000 for Nasarawa LGA, and 116,000 for Agatu LGA (Brinkhoff 2020), a total of 514,500.
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Brinkhoff (2020) says that Nasarawa LGA has a (2016 projected) population density of 51.87/km2, and Kokona has a population density of 73.9/km2 (Brinkhoff 2020), and Agatu LGA has a population density of 146.7/km2 (Brinkhoff 2020). Considering the hypothetical area mapped as Ajiri on map 1, we estimate that the Ajiri population is spread over approximately 512 km2 of Kokona LGA, 715/km2 of Nasarawa LGA, and 185/km2 of Agatu LGA. Multiplying these figures gives us an estimate of 37,837 Ajiri in Kokona LGA, 37,087 Ajiri in Nasarawa LGA, and 27,139 in Agatu LGA or a total population of 102,063, which we round to 100,000. However, there are also speakers of other languages in this area. Considering that the population has grown since 2016 and, to not be perceived as being too precise, we will conservatively report a population estimate of 105,000 to 110,000 members of the Ajiri ethnic group. Due to language loss in Benue State, we believe that the number of speakers of Ajiri may be as much as 10 percent less than that figure.
5.4 Origin of the Ajiri
The Ajiri reported that they originated in Yemen and migrated to present-day Borno State, residing alongside the Kanuri. Meek (1931:22) observes that it is typical of West African tribes to claim to have originated in Egypt or Arabia. A relationship between Kanuri and Ajiri is unlikely given Kanuri’s classification as a Nilo-Saharan language and Ajiri’s classification as Niger-Congo. After some title disputes between the two groups, the Ajiri reportedly migrated south to present-day Taraba State which was then ruled by a confederation of tribes known as the Kwararafa Empire. Summarizing Dinslage and Leger (1996), the so-called Kwararafa kingdom, also spelled Kworarafa or Kororofa, was a confederation of tribes and languages based in the Benue River basin centered around the town of Wakuri. Their generally accepted history spans from the 14th century to the 19th century. It is uncertain whether the Jukun people established the kingdom or if they were the last ruling power. Regardless, due to expansion and wars, there were waves of people who emigrated from the area. Numerous groups throughout central Nigeria have traditions of either being part of the Kwararafa kingdom or of being driven from the Benue Valley by the Kwararafa. Dinslage and Leger (1996:70–72) reported several Tangale (West Chadic) language groups who migrated north from the Benue Valley due to the expansion of the kingdom. In our survey of the Koro Zuba of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC) (Decker et al. 2021c), we were told a similar story that they were Jukun and came from the Kwararafa kingdom. As a result of tensions with the Kwararafa Empire, the Ajiri migrated to the Kukyeku mountain area near Kana 1 in present-day Nasarawa State. How far away these mountains were from their previous settlement is unknown; however, the Ajiri reported the mountain range protected them from other tribes who wanted to war against them or kidnap their people and sell them into the transatlantic slave trade. According to the people at Kana 1, their ancestors first settled in Kana before they started dispersing to other villages and hamlets. Now the area where the Ajiri live extends to the plains and into Benue State. This expansion was due to disputes between various clans, mostly over chieftaincy titles.
5.5 Other social descriptions
In this section, we give a brief description of social categories in which there may be some influence on language-use choices: social structure, occupations, education, literature availability, religions, and intermarriage. These are relevant categories in a sociolinguistic study because they can be directly correlated to language-use patterns.
5.5.1 Social structure
The effect of social systems that have a more centralized authority structure may differ from more individualistic societies. Individuals who feel they have the freedom to make their own language-use choices may create a more diversified language environment. Either may support language maintenance or encourage language shift. Among the Ajiri, each village has a chief who is assisted by a council of elders. Together, they handle most village affairs and try cases. The gado is the father of the community
9 and the final authority on Ajiri customs. He orders the performance of the village planting and harvest rites which are carried out on the graves of their ancestors. He also decides questions of law. The same as in most African tribes, family ties are important to the Ajiri, and elderly men are expected to guide the communities through their wisdom. In the absence of the king, the oldest person in the community is contacted for guidance. The paramount chief, the Osu Ajiri, lives in Udegi, which is also the headquarters of the Ajiri chiefdom. Ajiri from both Nasarawa and Benue gather in Udegi yearly to celebrate their cultural festivals and for other matters such as civil cases and land disputes between villages.
5.5.2 Occupations
Traditional occupations, such as farming, tend to support the maintenance of a heritage language (Gal 1979). Mining, logging, and trading can hinder language maintenance by creating more contact with other language groups (Headland 2004). When marketing crops or products or purchasing in marketplaces, people need at least a limited proficiency in the languages of the other buyers and sellers. The Ajiri are mostly farmers. The Ajiri in the hills farm maize, guinea corn, millet, groundnuts, rice, cotton, melon, yam, bene seed, and tobacco. The Ajiri of the plains, in addition to farming, also trade in palm oil and dried fish. The Ajiri in Benue State plant rice, beans, okra, soya beans, guinea corn, and maize. Their men are also hunters and fishermen while some engage in trading. Women help in cultivation and perform most household responsibilities such as caring for children and preparing meals. They also specialize in weaving and dyeing since there is a local demand for the cloth they produce. Ajiri traders travel as far away as neighboring states to trade their surplus goods. In comparison to some other tribes in the Benue Valley, the Ajiri are more economically advanced. Trucks, cars, and motorcycles are more prevalent. The Ajiri live in houses made of bricks with zinc roofing. Small hamlets have developed into villages over the years. They managed many of their own projects such as school buildings, minor road construction projects, police stations, market improvements, community halls, and bridges until recently when the government came in to take over these projects.
5.5.3 Education
Education influences the language-use choices of the next generation. The results of this influence may be incompatible with the language goals of parents and the community. Education is also a pathway to better socio-economic opportunities, and parents may desire to prepare their children for school by using the school language in the home. The Ajiri seem to be well-educated. We were told that the first primary schools were built in many villages around 1973–1975 and that all villages have a primary school now. Secondary schools have been built in many of the villages in more recent years. In most of the group interviews, people estimated that 85 to 95 percent of the school-age children go to school. However, in Akum, they said it was only about 60 percent. The groups also said that most children attend school through secondary school. Increasingly, literacy is a requirement for survival in the modern world, regardless of how remotely and isolated some people may live. Therefore, literacy and access to literature, including on the internet, can be a strong motivation for learning another language. The literature available in the Ajiri communities is written in English, Hausa, and Arabic. This includes the Quran, Bibles, dictionaries, novels, newspapers, as well as several kinds of textbooks used in their primary and secondary schools. There are language development efforts currently being carried out with the Ajiri. It was reported that there are materials being developed in Ajiri such as a history, a dictionary, and Bible translation. The Bible translation project began in 2019 in Usha-Kadu, facilitated by The Word for the World. There are representatives on the translation team from both Mbeki and Ambu. The Ajiri orthography at this point seems experimental but may be gaining acceptance. There are audio recordings available in the variety of Ajiri in Agatu LGA in Benue State which are used for evangelism (Ajiri language n.d.).
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5.5.4 Religions
Religions can either support or hinder language maintenance depending on the policies of the institution. Traditional religions may support language maintenance since they would tend to hold on to traditional patterns. The percentages of Ajiri adherents to the different religions vary by region (see table 1). Even though we asked villagers for estimates that represent the whole language group, we believe that the variation in the numbers we were given may reflect village-level differences. People in the Mbeki (northern hills) villages estimated that 50–90 percent of their people are Muslims, 5–30 percent are Christians, and 5–20 percent follow African traditional religious practices. People in the Ambu (southern plains) villages estimated Muslims between 40–60 percent of the population, Christians between 30–50 percent, and African traditional religion (ATR) as 10–20 percent. Estimates collected from Ambu dialect villages showed less variation than those collected from Mbeki villages. It appears to us that the Ajiri in Mbeki villages are more likely to adhere to Islam than those in Ambu villages. People in the riverside communities estimated that 50–60 percent of the population is Muslim, 30–40 percent are Christians, and about 10 percent follow ATR. Even though the primary religion of the Ajiri is Islam, adherence to the ancestral worship is still observed among the people. These people believe in a supreme god (Ukpo) who, they believe, is the creator of all things. There is currently a Bible translation project in progress facilitated by The Word for the World. In Usha-Olugwu we were told that the meaning of the Quran is being translated into Agatu. This may have impact on the Ajiri Muslims in the plains and communities near the Benue River where there is more contact and multilingualism with Agatu.
Table 1. Religious adherence profile
Religion Mbeki village estimates Ambu village estimates Riverside estimates Muslims 50–90% 40–50% 50–60% Christians 5–30% 30–50% 30–40% ATR 5–20% 10–20% 10%
Church denominations found among the Ajiri include: the Methodist Church, the Steward Church, the Deeper Life Bible Church, the Assemblies of God Church, the Living Faith Church, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), the Roman Catholic Church, and the Baptist Church. These church denominations are found scattered among the Ajiri in both Nasarawa and Benue States.
5.5.5 Intermarriage
Intermarriage can influence language choices in several ways. A mother from another language group may teach her children both languages. A husband and wife may choose a third language, a language of wider communication, rather than the heritage language of either spouse. If intermarriage is infrequent, it will probably have little impact on language use in the community, but if intermarriage is a common practice, it can influence language-use choices throughout the community. If the spouse who marries into the language group learns the local language, it may be an indication of the vitality of that language. An unwillingness to marry someone from a certain language group may be an indication of negative attitudes towards that language. The Ajiri prefer to marry within their own group. However, when asked about intermarriage customs, the answers differed by region and may have been influenced by the dominance of Islam in the area. Answers may have also been limited to the marriages they know of in their village. In the Mbeki (highlands) villages with a higher percentage of Muslims, the interviewees most frequently mentioned intermarriage with women from Gwandara, Gbagyi, and Gbari, all language groups to the north of the Ajiri area. They also mentioned Eggon, Mada, and Hausa. There was a difference of opinion on Basa and Tiv; some feel that it is okay to intermarry with these groups, others did not. There was more agreement that intermarriage with the Fulani should be avoided. This is due to the ongoing conflict between farmers throughout Nigeria and Fulani herdsmen. In the Ambu (plains) villages, Agatu and Mada were
11 the most frequently mentioned preferred groups to intermarry with. Once again there was a difference of opinion on favorability of intermarriage with Fulani, but they did not approve of marriages with the Tiv and Basa. The people in the villages in Benue State said that they intermarry most frequently with the Agatu, but also some with the Igala and Basa. As discussed in §§ 6 and 7, the contact and intermarriage of the Ajiri in Benue State with Agatu is having a negative impact on the vitality of the Ajiri.
6 Influence from other languages
It is a widely accepted principle among sociolinguists that less-dominant language communities are influenced by more dominant language communities when they encounter each other. Sometimes the dominant language used is a neighboring, larger, more powerful, or more prestigious language, and sometimes it is a regional or international language of wider communication. Therefore, the impact of these more dominant languages needs to be considered when describing the environment of the less dominant language. The social relationships between these language communities are not necessarily adversarial. Motivations for acquiring a second language vary (Karan 2001; 2011; Karan and Stalder 2000), and often speakers of the less prestigious languages are only interested in learning the more dominant languages for the pragmatic benefits of multilingualism. Smaller language groups may also feel less agency to influence their social environment, and multilingualism becomes a requirement. However, there are also some language communities that force their hegemony on the smaller groups around them to achieve greater social, political, economic, or religious power. In these cases, it is often advantageous to learn the more dominant language in order to survive.
6.1 Language contact
The southern part of Nasarawa State where the Ajiri live is multilingual, and the Ajiri area in Benue State is even more multilingual. The groups that have lived around the Ajiri for centuries include the Ebira, Gwandara, and Gbagyi to the west, the Agatu, Igala, and Idoma to the south, the Tiv and Basa to the east, and Alago, Mada, Lijili, and Eggon to the north. Agatu speakers are intermingled in all the Ajiri villages in Benue State.The primary contact with English is in the schools. The Ajiri interact with virtually all these language groups at their markets, health clinics, schools, churches, and mosques. However, the Ajiri in the north will have more contact with the groups to the north, and the Ajiri in the south will have more contact with groups to the south, etc. They even mentioned contact with Edo and Urhobo which are spoken quite some distance to the south. This may be related to the trade referred to in § 5.5.2. Except for those Ajiri who know Agatu, conversation with most speakers of other languages will usually be in Hausa. Some educated young people may use English when they meet.
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Map 2. Language groups neighboring the Ajiri
Source of roads: https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=Lafia#map=10/8.3555/8.3524. CC BY-SA 2.0. Accessed October 22, 2020. Town locations and polygons added by the authors. They do not represent official locations. Members of many of these language groups live within the Ajiri area also. Members of other tribes migrate to farm in Ajiri areas and then leave after harvest. There are also National Youth Service Corps members stationed to volunteer in schools and local businesses. Some police staff and pastors are migrants who are stationed to these communities for a time and then leave. As is typical throughout this part of Nigeria, families of Hausa and Fulani16 live scattered virtually everywhere. There are also Yoruba and Iɡbo businesspeople in many towns. Despite their reluctance to intermarry with some groups (see § 5.5.5), the Ajiri maintain good relationships with all their neighboring groups. They welcome immigrants and neighboring communities into their social and cultural activities.
6.2 Multilingual proficiency
During the group interview, participants were asked to give a general evaluation on language use and proficiency for different age and sex categories of people in their community. They were asked about the language use and proficiency for four general age categories: elderly, middle-aged adults, young adults, and children. The age ranges are not precise; “children” refers to people up to about 18 years, “young
16 In much of central Nigeria, the Fulani may speak Fulfulde or Hausa as a first language. Most other language groups will usually speak to them in Hausa.
13 adults” refers to approximately 18 to 35 years, “middle-aged adults” refers to approximately 30 to 55 years, and “elderly” refers to approximately 55 years and older. (See table 2.) We did not test proficiency or in any other way confirm their reports. Our data is perceptual and limited; therefore, we are not able to draw any statistically sound conclusions. However, we can make some general impressionistic observations. The Ajiri we interviewed in the Mbeki and Ambu villages reported that all their people are fluent in Ajiri. However, in Usha-Olugwu they said that the children and young adults are most fluent in Agatu. In Ogam they said the children, youth, and the middle age adults are most fluent in Agatu. Furthermore, except for the elderly people in Kana 1 and children in Onda, it was reported that everyone is multilingual in three languages. Other than Ajiri or Agatu, the other two languages for most people are Hausa and English. Blench (2007:1) said that he did not notice significant Hausa influence in this area. In fact, in Ogam, only middle-aged adults were reported to have any proficiency in Hausa. However, we did not see this elsewhere. See table 2 for a tabulation of the responses. It was reported that the young people have the best proficiency in English, except for Akum where they said all adult men have good proficiency in English. Younger people have more proficiency in English because it is taught in the schools. However, outside of school there are few opportunities to use it in their area except at church events or weekly markets. Proficiency in English seems to offer them prestige and, potentially, access to more education and economic improvement. Other than Ajiri, Agatu, Hausa, and English, it was reported that elderly people in Apawu-Kuri, Onda, Akum, and Ogam have good proficiency in Yoruba. In Akum, it was also reported that some middle-aged people have limited proficiency in Yoruba. Apparently, many of the elderly men went to western Nigeria in their youth and learned Yoruba there. The Ajiri minority we visited in Benue State are very proficient in Agatu. They told us they speak Ajiri very well, but from our observation they used Agatu more frequently. Again, from our observation, it appears that, after Agatu and Ajiri, they use English then Hausa the next most frequently. The elderly in Ogam did not report any proficiency in Hausa or English. Despite the amount of contact the Ajiri seem to have with other neighboring language groups, proficiency in a neighboring language, except for Agatu, was only mentioned twice. In Akum, they reported the ability to speak Basa to Basa speakers. In Usha-Olugwu, they reported that elderly people could use Igala with Igala speakers. Conversations with speakers of all other neighboring languages, other than Agatu, are primarily in Hausa. Blench (2007:1) reported that Gwandara was the most frequently used second language. However, we did not find any evidence of this. It is our presumption that people in some villages may have more proficiency in one or more of the neighboring languages, but multilingualism in the neighboring languages, other than Agatu, does not have any major impact on the language environment. Reports concerning literacy varied between villages. In general, most people reported literacy in English and Hausa, except for towns in Benue State where they did not report any literacy in Hausa. Fewer of the elderly are literate than other adults. Children will have more or less literacy depending on the child’s age and the amount of education they have had. In the interviews, the people mentioned that, in their communities, they have textbooks, magazines, newspapers, political, cultural, and historical literature, and novels available in Hausa and English. In Benue, they did not mention Hausa literature. In Benue State they said they are literate additionally in Agatu and Ajiri. According to Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a), the Agatu New Testament was published in 1984. So, there has been literature available for decades. Pastors in the Ajiri churches in Benue State said that they use the Agatu scriptures for preaching because everyone understands them. According to Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a), there is an experimental orthography in Ajiri and there is a dictionary. No one referred to any specific literature in Ajiri, but they said that people are able to read and write in Ajiri.
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Table 2. Reported proficiency by age group and community
Apawu-Kuri Kana 1 Onda Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu Ogam Elderly Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Hausa+ Hausa+ Yoruba+ Agatu+ Agatu+ Hausa+ Agatu+ Yoruba+ Hausa – Hausa+ Hausa+ Agatu+ Yoruba+ English – English – (Yoruba+) Igala+ English+ Middle-aged Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Agatu+ Hausa+ Hausa+ Yoruba- Agatu+ Agatu+ Hausa+ Ajiri+ English+ English+ English+ Hausa+ Hausa+ Agatu+ English+ Hausa+ English – (Yoruba –) English+ Hausa – English+ Young adults Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri Ajiri+ Agatu+ Agatu+ Hausa+ Hausa+ English+ Agatu Hausa+ Hausa+ English+ English+ English+ Hausa+ Hausa English+ English+ Ajiri – English+ Ajiri – Children Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Ajiri+ Agatu+ Agatu+ Hausa – Hausa+ Hausa – Hausa+ Hausa – Hausa+ English+ English – English – English+ English+ English+ Ajiri+ Ajiri – NOTE: The + or – distinguishes reported “good” from “poor” proficiency. Parenthesis ( ) indicates that only a few people have proficiency.
6.3 Implications for language development
From the information we have gathered, we can see that the Ajiri communities in Benue State are shifting to the use of Agatu. In § 8.4, we explain that the speech in the riverside communities is somewhat different from the other two varieties. Typically, for the purposes of language development, if there is dialectal variation in a language, we want to select a variety that will reach the most people (Unseth 2014), and in this case, it would mean studying ways to improve comprehension for the Benue communities. However, due to the state of shift that is occurring and the availability of literature in Agatu that appears to be accepted by the Ajiri, we do not believe that any special compensation for these Benue communities will be needed when developing the language. Considering the linguistic relationship of the Mbeki and Ambu communities, the lexical similarity discussed in § 8.2 suggests that Usha-Kadu has the greatest similarity with the other varieties. Other comparisons of phonetic similarity (§ 8.3), phonological variation (§ 8.4), and morphological variation (§ 8.5) only highlight the uniformity of Mbeki and Ambu and do not indicate a “best” central variety for development. Social, demographic, and cultural information may help identify a central variety. In § 5.2, we see that there are more Ambu villages than Mbeki villages and that, geographically, Ambu is more central. However, in § 5.3, we see that the population may favor Mbeki. We could not estimate the populations of the varieties, but we see that the population of Ajiri in Kokona LGA is more than the estimated population in Nasarawa LGA. Furthermore, some of the population in Nasarawa LGA speaks Mbeki. So, there may be a larger population of Mbeki speakers. According to the origin story presented in § 5.4, the Ajiri first settled near Kana and spread from there. Therefore, some people may feel that Kana is more culturally central. However, we did not get any indication of that. In fact, as discussed in § 5.5.1, Udegi, in the Ambu region, is viewed as the cultural center of the Ajiri people. It is also the home of the paramount chief. According to information presented in § 5.5.4, there are probably more Christians in Ambu. If Bible translation becomes a core element of a language development effort, it may be more possible in the Ambu region to get people among the Christians involved. As discussed in §§ 5.5.3 and
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5.5.4, there is a Bible translation progress in Usha-Kadu. Udegi is only 7.4 km (4.6 mi) north of Usha- Kadu. So, it is close to the cultural center of the community. Hausa and English are important languages in the lives of the Ajiri, but they do not present any barrier to Ajiri language development nor do they negate the need for language development. The purpose of multilingualism for the Ajiri is to be able to communicate with people who do not speak Ajiri and for access to education, knowledge, and spiritual growth. However, in most homes, parents are maintaining the use of Ajiri, and children are growing up with Ajiri as their first and dominant language. While other local languages may have been more important in the past, it appears that proficiency in these other languages has become inconsequential. In § 7, we will explain the importance of accommodating the acquisition of languages of wider communication, but here we can say that it appears the schools are doing a good job of making it possible for younger generations to adequately learn Hausa and English. If parents were unhappy with the schools, they would probably use English or Hausa more in the homes.
7 Language vitality
The presence of other languages and the frequency of encountering other languages outside of the home may influence the vitality of heritage languages. In response to this potential impact, Lewis and Simons (2017:154) describe five conditions that are critical for the sustainability of a language, which is often referred to as language maintenance. These five conditions are organized by the acronym FAMED: function, acquisition, motivation, environment, and differentiation. a. Function: For the sustainable use of a language the community must be able to employ the language for specific functions. As the number of functions for a language decreases, so does its vitality. b. Acquisition: A community must have a way to acquire proficiency in a language in order to maintain the use of that language. The home represents a common domain for the acquisition of languages. It is also important to have a way to learn other languages that are needed for functioning in the wider world. c. Motivation: For sustainability, the community must be motivated to use the language and perceive some benefit of its use. d. Environment: The environment refers to whether the government provides a route for a language to flourish or if it hinders the use of a language. It focuses primarily on government policy, and particularly that which is funded and enforced. e. Differentiation: Differentiation describes a situation in which different languages are used in different domains. In multilingual communities, there needs to be a culturally perceived differentiation of which language is used for which purposes. This serves to protect a minority language from being overwhelmed by a more prestigious language.
In contrast to language sustainability or maintenance is language endangerment. When any of the above conditions is not sufficiently met, a language is in the process of shifting or becoming endangered. A language loses vitality when: a. It loses usefulness in the daily functions for which people need language. b. Children are not provided with opportunities to learn their heritage language. c. The community sees no benefit to the use of the heritage language. d. The government provides no institutional support for the maintenance of the language. e. The community does not value the use of the language in some protected domains. In multilingual communities, we speak of a repertoire of languages that are available for different purposes. In this section, we will describe the state of these conditions for the sustainable use of Ajiri. We will end with an assessment of the vitality of Ajiri language use.
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7.1 Functions of languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri
In Nasarawa State, Ajiri is the most used language for communication in virtually all domains of community life. In most locations, they reported that Ajiri is the only language used on the farms. The Ajiri will use their own language when they meet other Ajiri in the marketplaces and health clinics. However, discussions with the staff in clinics is usually in English or possibly Hausa. Likewise, in the markets, Ajiri will be used with Ajiri, and Hausa or English with others. Except in the Benue State communities where the Ajiri may use Agatu with one another depending on their proficiency in Ajiri. While Ajiri may be the language used most often for most functions, other languages may be used for unique situations. For example, those who know Yoruba will use it with Yoruba speakers when possible. But they probably would not use it with other Ajiri speakers. Hausa will be used with strangers but will probably not be used with another Ajiri speaker. In the district headquarters at Usha-Olugwu, they reported that general meetings are held in Agatu, and Ajiri is used less frequently. Nearly all churches use the English Bible from the pulpit, some use Hausa in addition, and those in Benue State also use the Agatu translation. Churches in the plain’s region use Ajiri for limited purposes in the church such as explanation of the scriptures, announcements, prayer, youth services, and women’s fellowship. The churches in Benue State only use Ajiri for limited purposes, but they use Agatu alongside English for most things in the church. Churches in the highlands possibly use Hausa more than English, but we are certain that they use both Hausa and English for most purposes in the church. Pastors reported different patterns of language use with members. In Apawu Kuri, the church treasurer reported that the pastor uses Hausa when speaking with the parishioners. In Akum, it was reported that the pastor uses Ajiri for conversations. In Usha-Kadu, a church member said that his pastor uses Ajiri, English, or Hausa with people in the church outside of the service. Of course, in the churches in Benue, Agatu is used, but not Ajiri. Teachers interviewed all said that they teach in English and their textbooks are in English. The teachers in the plains region villages also included that some instruction is in Hausa. In Usha-Kadu the teacher said she uses Ajiri sometimes for instruction in the primary school. School teachers in Ajiri communities in Nasarawa State said that they use Ajiri to explain things that are not understood in English, except for the teacher in Usha-Kadu who said she only gives explanations in English. The teacher in Usha-Kadu also said that she would prefer to teach in Ajiri because the children do not understand English well. In Benue State, we were told that students use English to communicate in class and on the playground but frequently use Agatu in other domains apart from school. The teacher interviewed in Benue State said that he cannot use Ajiri with the students because they have so little knowledge of the language. Teachers said they primarily use Ajiri when talking to people outside of schools, or Agatu in Benue. With other teachers, they will speak Ajiri, English, or Agatu. Literacy is primarily in English and Hausa, although some literacy in Ajiri and Agatu was also mentioned. Some language functions are more essential than others when discussing language vitality. It is important to note which languages are used when parents speak to children, among children at play, when grandparents talk with children, and between husbands and wives, and what is perceived as the most widely used language in the community. In each of the interviews, people said that parents use Ajiri with their children. However, in Akum and the Benue State villages, they said they also use English with the children. Furthermore, in Ogam and Usha-Olugwu, they said that parents use more Agatu with the children because they do not understand Ajiri well enough. Likewise, in Usha-Olugwu, they said that when grandparents speak to the grandchildren in Ajiri, the children will reply in Agatu. It was reported that the Ajiri children in the Benue State communities mostly use Agatu and English when playing with their peers. The interviewees said that Ajiri husbands and wives will talk with one another in Ajiri. However, in Usha-Kadu they said that Hausa and English may also be used. In the Benue State communities, they said that most conversations between married couples will be in Agatu.
7.2 Means of acquiring languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri
Through our interviews, we learned that in the Ajiri communities in Nasarawa State, children acquire their heritage language orally at home from parents, siblings, grandparents, and neighbors. Children also
17 hear Ajiri in most domains outside of the home. In the Ambu communities, they also learn Hausa in the home. And in Akum, it was reported that they also learn English in their homes. However, in the communities in Benue State, this transmission of Ajiri is only happening in some homes, and there is less exposure in other homes. It appears that there is more use of Agatu and English in the homes. As presented in table 2, only older adults use Ajiri with proficiency. Apparently, most Ajiri children in Benue predominantly hear Agatu spoken around them, both in and out of the home. In Benue, pastors said they use the Agatu scriptures frequently, and teachers use Agatu outside of school. Domains of language use outside of the home provide opportunities for language learning. Outside of the home in most Ajiri communities in Nasarawa State, Hausa and English are used for several functions such as communication with any non-Ajiri speakers, at clinics, markets, schools, and churches. English is learned in schools since it is the primary medium of instruction. The use of English is also supported by use in most churches. It was reported that most churches do scripture reading from an English translation. Hausa is primarily learned on the streets, in the markets, from friends, in some schools, and in some churches. The teachers in Kana 1 and Usha-Kadu said that theirs were the only schools reported to be teaching Hausa, along with English. The pastor in Onda was the only church leader we spoke with who reported that scripture reading is done only in Hausa. In the Ambu villages, it was reported that adults have proficiency in Agatu. Likewise, it was reported that some people in Akum have proficiency in Basa and, in Usha-Olugwu, in Igala. This must be gained through contact and improved over years. While it was not mentioned, Muslim children typically learn to read and recite the Quran in Arabic in Islamic schools.
7.3 Motivation for using languages in the repertoire of the Ajiri
In our conversations with the Ajiri in Nasarawa State, the people expressed positive attitudes towards their language. They use their language in most of their daily activities. They also expressed a desire for language development in Ajiri. Their primary motivations for language development include the preservation of an important part of their identity and to help the youth remember their language and pass it on to the next generation. Four of the five teachers interviewed said that they would like to be able to teach in Ajiri. They said that children would have better understanding of the material. This would require language development for production of the educational materials. They also said it would help to preserve and promote use of the language. In four of the seven villages we visited, it was reported that there are some people who can read and write in Ajiri. We are uncertain as to how standardized and widespread the use of the experimental Ajiri writing system is. As mentioned in §§ 5.5.3 and 5.5.4, there is Bible translation work being done in Ajiri. Again, we do not know how many people know of this work. In Usha-Kadu, a church elder explained that, when people in church do not understand the English or Hausa Bible translations, pastors will give spontaneous interpretations. People tend to doubt the pastor’s interpretation and would have more trust in an Ajiri translation. In Akum, a church member said that people would understand an Ajiri translation better than the current English or Hausa translations that are used. We interpret these comments expressing a desire for an Ajiri Bible translation as motivations that would support language development, particularly if it involved Bible translation. The motivation to speak their neighboring languages appears to be pragmatic, to communicate with their neighbors. Hausa is the language of wider communication and is useful for speaking with people who come from further away. It is also used in some schools and churches and there is some literature available. English is the primary language used in schools and provides access to education. It has the prestige of being a language of global communication and gives greater access to information on both the national and international level. The Ajiri in Benue State are shifting to the primary use of Agatu. There were comments expressing concern about the loss of their language, and some did not even think their language is threatened. However, there was also a sense that its being threatened is seen as the inevitable consequence of living in an area that is dominated by another language.
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7.4 Environmental support for the maintenance of Ajiri
While Ajiri does not currently receive any institutional support, the Nigerian government’s policy encourages oral use of any language in the country and does not hinder any private development of the language (Federal Ministry of Education, 1981). Furthermore, the revised policy on the use of minority languages in education states that “every child shall be taught in their own mother tongue or in the language of the immediate community for the first four years of basic education.” (Federal Republic of Nigeria 2013: section 1, subsection 8.g.) However, there has been little progress in implementing these policies. The absence of government support means a lack of important institutional support for language maintenance. Adeɡbija (2007) presents a lengthy discussion on the language policies of the Nigerian government and presents evidence that there is a greater focus on the development of the major indigenous languages (Yoruba, Hausa, and Iɡbo) and English than concern for the smaller, less prestigious minority languages. This factor might affect the language vitality over time but presently Ajiri use is quite dominant in community life.
7.5 Differentiation
With such a brief time of observation, it was not possible to investigate differentiation in various domains effectively. While Ajiri is the primary language of many domains for the people in Nasarawa State, there are many domains that are shared between Ajiri and English or Hausa. However, the domains of the schools, literacy, and church are reserved for Hausa or English. The communities in Benue State are more clearly shifting to Agatu. More study is needed to determine the stability of differentiation between domains.
7.6 EGIDS assessment for Ajiri
The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) (Lewis & Simons 2017) provides a means of assessing the sustainability of a language. The EGIDS considers the state of intergenerational support for language maintenance, as well as institutional support, and the stage of literary development for the language. The scale describes thirteen levels numbered from 0 to 10 with levels 6 and 8 divided into ‘a’ and ‘b’ levels. Level 0 describes languages that are used for international commerce and political policy, and 10 represents extinct languages that have no identificational value for any community. Due to considerable differences in language use between Ajiri use in Benue and Nasarawa States, it is necessary to present two different assessments of language vitality. Considering the indicators of sustainability described in §§ 8.1 to 8.5, the vitality of Ajiri in Benue State is best described as EGIDS level 7—“Shifting.” This level applies to “clear cases of language shift in progress” (Lewis & Simons, 2017:108). For the communities in Nasarawa State, the vitality is best described as level 6a—“Vigorous orality” on the EGIDS scale. This level describes a language being “used for face-to-face conversations by all generations and the situation is sustainable.” (Eberhard et al. 2020b) Since there have been initial steps in language development with the experimental orthography, with further development and institutional support, Ajiri could eventually be assessed as 5 on the EGIDS. Even though language use is shifting in Benue State, those communities probably only represent a fraction of the total population of Ajiri speakers. Furthermore, language use is so strong in Nasarawa State that the loss of the Benue State portion of the language group will not threaten the sustainability of Ajiri language use. Therefore, we will report to Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) that the overall language vitality for Ajiri is EGIDS 6a.
8 Linguistic relationships
As discussed at the beginning of § 2, one purpose of this research is to gather data that will help in making decisions about language planning and development. One environmental factor for language development is the amount of linguistic variation in the spoken varieties. Much of this survey is based on
19 the reported perceptions of members of the speech community. Often people will make vague comments describing the similarities of different varieties. Likewise, linguists will often give similarly vague statements that one variety is “close” to another. Even linguistic classifications do not give a definitive description as to whether related varieties are linguistically near or distant. We are interested in the level of comprehension between varieties. Comprehension, along with lexical and phonological similarity, is important for establishing whether the speakers of two varieties can use the same literature. Ideally, we would want to test comprehension. However, with the limited time allocated to this survey, we were unable to make quantitative measurements of comprehension. Therefore, we want to use the data we collect to make inferences on the potential for comprehension. In this section, we will discuss the linguistic classifications that have been proposed. We also present the quantitative findings of lexical comparisons and descriptive comparisons of phonological and morphological similarity and variation. This information is presented to provide a means of corroborating the perceptions of the Asu as they relate to how close or different their varieties are from one another. We also offer the data we have collected in the hope that it will help improve the accuracy of linguistic classification systems and give a better understanding of the nominal prefixes on nouns.
8.1 Classification
The classification of Ajiri is disputed. The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) classifies Ajiri as Niger- Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Idomoid, Akweya. This is based on the work of Armstrong (1955, 1964, 1983, 1984). In a chapter on Idoma languages, Armstrong (1955) suggested that Ajiri should be classified as an Idomoid language. However, others, such as Greenberg (1966) and Williamson and Shimizu (1968), consider it to be a Plateau language. (Idomoid and Plateau are parallel branches in the Benue-Congo group of languages.) By 1984, Armstrong expressed doubt that Ajiri was close to Idoma. Blench (2007:26) presents evidence demonstrating that Ajiri belongs in the Plateau group, with influences from Idomoid languages. However, even in Blench’s Atlas of Nigerian Languages (2019:27), he both catalog’s Eloyi as “Congo: Plateau or Volta-Niger: Idomoid” (p. 27) and classifies it as a Plateau language (p. 111). Glottolog 4.2.1 (Hammarström et al. 2020) follows Blench (2009) classifying it as a Plateau language. Blench (2007:26) specifically mentions shared features with Akye,17 Eggon, and “Jili,”18 Plateau languages. He concluded the amount of data available at present is insufficient to come to a clear conclusion regarding the language’s classification. However, geographically, Ajiri is much closer to Agatu and Alago, Idomoid languages, than to the nearest Plateau languages, Akye, Eggon, and Lijili.
8.2 Dialects and lexical similarity
The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) lists three dialects of Ajiri: Mbeci (Mbeki), Mbeji, and Mbamu. This may be a misunderstanding of Blench (2007), Armstrong (1983), and Mackay (1964). Mbeki was used by all three to refer to the Ajiri living in the highlands in the northern part of the Ajiri area. Mbeji was used by Blench and Armstrong as the name of the Ajiri people who live on the plains. Mbamu was used by Mackay to refer to the Ajiri living close to the Benue. Blench (2007:1) also used Ambu along with Mbeji to refer to the Ajiri of the plains. The Ajiri in Usha-Kadu and Akum referred to their own dialect as Ambu and did not draw a distinction between themselves and the Ajiri in the Benue River area. Therefore, the names Mbeji, Mbamu, and Ambu appear to be different names for the same thing. We will use Ambu since that is how the Ajiri in Usha-Kadu and Akum identified themselves. A lexical comparison, as described in § 4.5, reveals that there may be three dialects. Of the 348 items in the wordlist, seventeen words were excluded either because they were not elicited in all varieties or there was no word to elicit in all varieties. Words that were not elicited for certain varieties were excluded only in that variety. This is only a rough, limited preliminary estimation and rigorous comparative methods were not used to establish cognates, but the clear impression is that there are
17 Previously known as Ake. SIL Nigeria survey team recently surveyed this language also. See Decker et al. 2021b. 18 We assume he means Lijili rather than Rjili (Tanjijili).
20 differences between their varieties. Further intelligibility testing may be needed to clarify this situation. Table 3 gives the numbers of words compared (n) between each pair of varieties and the range of percentages of apparent lexical similarity.
Table 3. Percentages of lexical similarity in Ajiri Apawu Kuri
88–94% Kana 1 n=306 80–88% 80–88% Usha-Kadu n=312 n=306 77–86% 78–86% 94–96% Akum n=313 n=307 n=317 67–74% 66–74% 71–78% 71–79% Usha-Olugwu n=310 n=304 n=313 n=314 NOTE: Apawu Kuri and Kana 1 represent the highlands, Usha-Kadu and Akum represent the plains, and Usha-Olugwu represents the riverside variety.
From table 3, we can see that the pairs Apawu Kuri and Kana 1, representing the Mbeki variety, and Usha-Kadu and Akum, representing the Ambu variety, have higher levels of similarity. This identifies the two varieties that people perceive. A narrower range in similarity percentages, such as the 94–96 percent between Usha-Kadu and Akum, suggests that there is less phonological variation, and the overall difference between locations is in different words that have been borrowed. In this case, there are not many words that are different. The comparison presented in table 3 between Usha-Olugwu, Akum, and Usha-Kadu shows that there is a distinct difference between the two dialects in Nasarawa and the variety in Benue. Should Usha- Olugwu be considered part of the Ambu variety? If we consider the 70 percent threshold discussed in § 4.5 as delineating languages from dialects, Ajiri, including the variety in Benue State, can be considered one language. However, a review of the wordlists shows that there are 26 words in which the highland and plains words are identical, but the Usha-Olugwu words are completely different. It would not be unusual when comparing three wordlists to find several words that are identical between two of the lists and the third has something different. However, when we compare five lists and four of them are identical and the fifth is different, it makes that fifth variety seem to be distinctly different. Furthermore, as discussed in §§ 8.2 and 8.4, there are many more Usha-Olugwu words that appear to be cognate with the other four locations but have some phonological differences from those varieties. The Ajiri themselves do not identify three varieties. Neither the Kuri nor Kana 1 (Mbeki) dialect mapping sessions revealed any perception of dialectal difference between Ajiri villages. In the Akum (Ambu) dialect mapping session, they identified Mbeki as the Ajiri who live in the highlands and Ambu as the Ajiri who live on the plains. The Akum residents, in their own words, said they comprehend 95 percent of what the Mbeki say with only slight differences in pronunciation. Likewise, the Usha-Kadu (Ambu) dialect mapping session revealed that they recognize a difference between Ambu and Mbeki, but they insisted they all speak the same with a few, small differences. In Usha-Olugwu, located on the south side of the Benue River, the Ajiri live in villages mixed with other groups. In Benue State, the Ajiri are either shifting or have shifted to Agatu. It is probably this influence from Agatu that has influenced how Ajiri is spoken, thus revealed in the lower degree of lexical similarity between Usha-Olugwu and the other Ajiri villages; the variety spoken in Benue State is probably its own dialect even though the people did not recognize it as such. For this report, we refer to this third variety, which is spoken in Benue
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State, as the “riverside”19 dialect. In this report, we use Mbeki to refer to the highland variety and Ambu to refer to lowland speech north of the Benue River.
8.3 Phonetic similarity and variation
In this section, we provide some initial, tentative observations on the phonetic inventory of Ajiri. It is based on a small data set, and there was no in-depth analysis of tones or other phonological features, nor has there been an effort to determine the phonemic status of phones. The most salient features will be discussed here. The reader may find other features in the transcribed wordlist that have not been discussed. (See the wordlists in appendixes E and F.) In a comparison of the consonants found in each wordlist, we do not find any differences in the inventory of phones that occur in each wordlist. There are some differences in distribution of those phones, which will be discussed in § 8.5. Blench (2007:5) presents his wordlists with “extensive etymological commentary.” We present our comparison to Blench’s findings in the spirit of support for refining the classification of Ajiri. The inventory of consonants from our wordlists are presented in table 4.
Table 4. Consonant inventory of Ajiri
Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-velar Plosive p b t d k ɡ k͡p ɡ͡b Nasal m n ɲ ŋ Rhotic r/ɾ Fricative f v s z ʃ h Affricates ʣ ʤ Approximant l j w
Comparing our phonetic inventories with Blench’s (2007:5), we find that there are only two differences from the phones found in our wordlists. He includes palatal plosives represented by “c, j”, which we believe are [ʧ, ʤ] in IPA. We do not have any occurrences of the voiceless affricate [ʧ] in our wordlists. Of the six words in his wordlist with “c”, in all locations except Usha-Olugwu, there is only one item that is also in our wordlist #112 feather, which we transcribe as [kúkéɾé]. He transcribes it as /ku-cɛrɛ/. The other difference is the voiceless glottal fricative [h] which occurs a few times in our wordlists but does not occur in Blench’s wordlist. The [h] appears in all varieties in our transcription of the word #187 ‘seven’ [eɾeho], while Blench (2007) transcribes it as [-lòwò]. There are three other words that have an [h] in the form found in the Usha-Olugwu wordlist (see table 5). In these examples, the voiceless, glottal fricative [h] occurs in front of a close-back, rounded vowel [u] instead of the labial- velar approximant [w].
Table 5. Variation with [h] in Usha-Olugwu
# English gloss Kuri Kana Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 134 smoke wúwú wúwú wúwú wúwú húwú 157 bridge — — ùɾà ùɾà hùɾà 242 his képónka képónka képówu képówu képóhu
Both the trill [r] and tap [ɾ] occur in our wordlists. Since the trill [r] is found fewer times (five occurrences) than the tap [ɾ] (as many as 34 items) in the transcriptions, we will assume that the tap is the phonemic rhotacized phone until further research is done to determine whether the trill is phonemic.
19 We describe this riverside variety as being spoken in Benue State. However, we are uncertain as to the similarity of the speech in close proximity on the north side of Benue River. Speech on the immediate north side of the river may be closer to Ambu or to the speech in Benue State.
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Blench (2007) does not say anything about palatalization or labialization. There are only three words with palatalization in our wordlists (see table 6). Blench does not transcribe palatalization for any of the words. It appears that the palatal approximant [j] is phonemic since it occurs frequently in word initial and intervocalic environments. There is too little data to say anything definitively about the phonemic value of palatalization.
Table 6. Examples of palatalization
# English gloss Kuri Kana Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 272 beg ʃʲɔkɔnɛ ʃʲɔkɔ ndâa bwɛj sàútē 115 agama lizard ɔ́ɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ ɔ́ɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ kʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄ kʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄ kuɾɔkʲɔ 138 mountain lówá lówá kōkʲākú kūkʲāku kúk͡pókì
Labialization occurs a bit more frequently than palatalization. It usually occurs with the voiceless velar plosive [k], but there are examples of other plosives and nasals with labialization. Labialization never occurs before a front vowel. However, there are also many examples of [k] before back round vowels, and there is no labialization. Examples of labialization on [p. m, ŋ, k] are presented in table 7. While the rounding on the bilabials could simply be due to the vowel, it could also be that approximants [j] and [w] are exceptions to typical syllable structure rules in Ajiri. However, more thorough research is necessary before making such assumptions.
Table 7. Examples of labialization
# English gloss Kuri Kana Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 13 salt ōtópà ōtópà ōtópʷà ōtópʷà ɔtɔpà 216 dull keɾimʷo keɾimʷo keɾimʷo keɾimʷo kíɾímǒmò 291 sit ŋʷɔma ŋʷɔma ŋɔ̄mā ŋɔ̄mā ŋɔ̀mà 177 canoe kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷodanwenbi 32 millet kɔ̌nʤī kɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī 173 bow (of boat) kʷótó kʷótó kʷótó kʷótó kútó
Prenasalization and doubly articulated labial-velar consonants are typical features found in Benue- Congo languages and they are also found in Ajiri. For examples in the Usha-Kadu20 wordlist, there is the bilabial [mb] in #238 ‘they’ [mba], alveolar [nd] in #184 ‘four’ [ēndō], with an affricate [nʤ] #77 ‘blood’ [ɛ̄nʤi], and velar [ŋɡ] in #202 ‘this’ [ŋɡɛlɛ]. Examples of the doubly articulated labial-velar [k͡p] and [ɡ͡b] are found in the Usha-Kadu wordlist in #266 ‘blow’ [k͡pafja] and #9 ‘house/hut’ [kóɡbà]. There is even a prenasalized doubly articulated labial-velar [mɡ͡b] as in #310 ‘kill’ [mɡ͡bɛ]. Moving on to vowels, we find that Ajiri has a seven-vowel system just as described by Blench (2007:2). The vowel inventory is presented in Table 8.
Table 8. Vowel inventory of Ajiri
Front Central Back Close i u Close-mid e o Open-mid ɛ ɔ Open a
The vowel [ø] occurred once in the Usha-Olugwu wordlist (#260 ‘red’ [ɾǿwɛ́]), but this could simply be rounding due to the following labial-velar approximant. There are no other differences in the
20 Examples could have been shown from any of the other locations. We chose these from Usha-Kadu because it is central and the point is to show the feature in the language, not to discuss variation between locations.
23 inventory of vowels found in the five wordlists. However, there are differences in the distribution of vowels, which will be discussed in § 8.4. There may be five tones (low, mid, high, rising-falling, and falling-rising). A thorough tone analysis is beyond the scope of this report.
8.4 Phonological variation
From historical linguistics, we learn that languages change as a phonological innovation diffuses outward to other varieties or it may spread from the point of contact with another language. These innovations tend to be slight changes from one phone to another phone that is similar. When we see several words that have a pattern of change like this, it may be an indication of the way that the varieties are diverging. It may also be an indication of the differences that people hear when they recognize another dialect of their language. As languages diverge, there are more such changes, and the speakers may have more difficulty understanding the other variety. We look at these patterns of phonological change to better understand the kinds of changes that are making the varieties different, which may affect comprehension. As discussed in § 8.2, a narrower range in similarity percentages, such as the 94–96 percent between Usha-Kadu and Akum, suggests that there is less phonological variation. Therefore, as we look at the phonology, we find that there is very little variation. Tables 9 through 13 present a few examples that demonstrate ways in which the speech in the three regions are diverging. In table 9, we see a group of words from the plains and riverside varieties that have [o]. The same words in the highland variety have some other vowel. This kind of pattern suggests a convergence of sounds. In table 10, we see a reversal of the pattern. In these words, it is the highland variety that has the [o] and the other varieties that have other vowels, usually [ɔ]. It is unclear as to how innovations like this would spread in such a complimentary way.
Table 9. Variation between highlands vowels and [o] in the riverside and plains varieties
Highlands Plains Riverside # English gloss Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 209 old ŋɡēkī ŋɡēkī ŋɡoki ŋɡoki ōki 210 new ŋɡēpō — ŋɡopo ŋɡopo ōpó 211 ripe ímbámō — ímbómō ímbómō ímbómō 286 vomit kɔma kɔma komo komo kómò 29 ground nut ɔ̀ʃátā ɔ̀ʃátā kòʃátá kòʃátá oʃata 119 fish ūmū ūmū òmù òmù — 215 sharp iɾimu iɾimu ɾímò ɾímò ɾímò
Table 10. Variation between riverside and plains vowels and [o] in the highlands varieties
Highlands Plains Riverside # English gloss Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 271 ask jòkujo jòkujo jokujɔ jokujɔ jōkujɔ̀ 223 hard koma koma kɔ́mà kɔ́mà kɔ́mà 35 bean oʃíkí oʃíkí ɔʃiki ɔʃiki ɔʃiki 192 fifteen uwólēpó uwólēpó uwolɛlɔ uwolɛlɔ uwolɛlɔ 73 intestines ákō ákō kʷɔ́kɔ̀ kʷɔ́kɔ̀ ákɔ̀ 18 root kōk͡pā kōk͡pā kúpú kúpú kok͡pa
There are no clear patterns of variation with consonants. In table 11, we see a variation between the voiced palatal affricate [ʤ] in the Mbeki variety and voiced velar plosive [ɡ] in the Ambu variety. The riverside variety is split between the forms. However, two words do not constitute a pattern.
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Table 11. Variation between riverside and highlands [ʤ] and [g] in the plains varieties
Highlands Plains Riverside # English gloss Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 12 chair/stool kàʤì kàʤì kàɡì kàɡì kàʤì 304 hold ɾanʤi ɾanŋɡi ɾaɡí ɾaɡi ɾaŋɡú
In table 12, we see another pair of words with a variation between the voiceless labio-dental fricative [f] and the voiceless coronal fricatives [s/ʃ]. In example #100, we see a division between the [f] in the Mbeki variety and [ʃ] in the Ambu and riverside varieties. In the second example, #274, we see the variation between the [f] in Kana and [s] in Usha-Kadu and Akum. (The forms in Kuri and Usha- Olugwu may not be cognate.) In these two very weak examples, we still see a division between the Mbeki and Ambu varieties. However, again, two occurrences do not constitute a pattern.
Table 12. Variation between highlands [f] and [s/ʃ] in the riverside and plains varieties
Highlands Plains Riverside # English gloss Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 100 animal ìzɔɔfi ìzɔɔfi ìzɔʃi ìzɔʃi azɔʃi 274 bark (v) wamba fumo súmò somo wánú
There are other small features that distinguish Usha-Olugwu from the other varieties, although none of them are strong patterns. However, the strong pattern is that when there are differences in the wordlists, they tend to be variation that is occurring in Usha-Olugwu.21 In table 13, we present two examples each of several ways that Usha-Olugwu differs from the other varieties. There are 48 items in the wordlist for which Kuri, Kana 1, Usha-Kadu, and Akum are identical, and Usha-Olugwu appears cognate but phonologically different. There are 30 items for which Usha-Kadu, Akum, and Usha-Olugwu are identical, and the words from Kuri and Kana 1 appear cognate but there is some phonological difference, such as shown in table 12. However, there are no stronger patterns that can be shown as in table 13. There are only eight items for which Kuri, Kana 1, and Usha-Olugwu are identical, and the words from Usha-Kadu and Akum appear cognate, but there is some phonological difference, such as shown in table 10. However, again, there are no strong patterns that can be shown as in table 13.
Table 13. Variation between Usha-Olugwu and the other varietiesa
Kuri Akum Usha-Olugwu # English gloss Type of variation (Highland) (Plains) (Riverside) 329 scratch īvomo ivomo vomo Initial vowel deletion 229 full iɲalɔma iɲalɔma ɲɔ́lɔmà 309 die k͡pomo k͡pomo ék͡pómo Initial vowel insertion 308 marry tókō toko étókō 183 three ɛ́lá ɛ́lá élá Initial vowel alteration 153 dry season ònèkà ònèkà ɔnèkà 149 wind kók͡pō kók͡pō ēk͡pō Initial nominal morpheme b 161 star kúlóvjó kúlóvjó élóvjó change 167 night wútú wútú útú Initial consonant deletion 210 new ŋɡēpō ŋɡopo ōpó
21 Even in tables 8 to 11, the patterns of similarities and differences accentuate the three-way distinction between these varieties.
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48 forehead údú údú kudu Initial consonant insertion 220 heavy ɔ́lú ɔ́lú jɔ́lú 172 and mala mala bala Initial consonant alteration 346 dig vu vu fúmà 287 spit fɔtɛ fɔtɛ fɔtɛma Final syllable addition 216 dull keɾimʷo keɾimʷo kíɾímǒmò a Kuri is used as representative of the Mbeki (highlands) variety. The word elicited in Kana 1 was the same in each of these examples. Akum is used as representative of the Ambu (plains) variety. The word elicited in Usha- Kadu was the same in each of these examples. b See § 8.5 for more on nominal morphemes.
8.5 Morphological variation
Blench (2007:3–5) discusses nominal prefixes in Ajiri. He describes twenty possible prefixes that alternate between the singular and plural. For some singular prefixes, a single vowel is used, and for other words a kV- syllable22 is used for the singular prefix. The single-vowel singular prefixes are paired with single-vowel plural prefixes. There are also rare examples of [mb- and lV-] used as plural prefixes. There is no apparent pattern as to which nouns have a single-vowel singular prefix and those that have a [kV-] prefix. We find a similar array of prefixes in our wordlists. He hypothesizes that this pattern of affixation may be due to influence from multilingualism with Idomoid languages. We do not have any solid evidence to support or contradict this theory. However, it seems to be such a dominant feature of the morphology that it would not seem to have been borrowed. Additionally, we collected wordlists from five locations and were able to gather a wider selection of possible prefixes. With this larger number of possible variations, some patterns begin to emerge. There appear to be several “rules” that guide the choice of which vowels can be paired for singular and plural prefixes. First, all possible vowels can be used as singular prefixes [i-, e-, ɛ-, a-, u-, o-, ɔ-] (see the singular columns in table 14), but there are no single-vowel plural prefixes with back-rounded vowels [u-, o-, ɔ-].23 For every possible V (sg) – V (pl) pair of nominal prefixes, there is a V (sg) – [a-] (pl) possibility (see table 14).
Table 14. Examples of V- (sg) paired with [a-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwua # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 22 shea butter tree īlāsā alāsā īlāsā alāsā oruzu 132 scorpion ènà anà ènà anà ènà 124 buffalo ɛ̄ŋá aŋá ɛ̄ŋá 40 fat āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà 92 child úmɛ́ ame úmɛ́ ámɛ́ úmɛ́ 20 thorn ōwūlā awūlā ōwūlā awūlā ōwūlā āwūlā 129 spider ɔ̄fī afī ɔ̄fī afī ɔ̀fì a Unfortunately, only a few plurals forms were elicited in Usha-Olugwu.
22 There are also rare examples of rV- syllables. 23 There is one exception. In our Mbeki (highlands) wordlists, #73 ‘intestines’ is [ákō] (sg) and [ɔkɔ] (pl), with [ɔ-] as the plural prefix. However, in the Ambu (plains) wordlists they are [kʷɔ́kɔ] (sg) and [ákɔ] (pl). So, it is more probable that there is a rule restricting back round vowels from being used as a single-vowel plural prefix. It is interesting to note that Blench elicited the same forms, without the [ɔ-] plural prefix, as in this Ambu example, but from his Mbeki language helper.
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Like the examples given in table 14, it is also possible that, for every V (sg) – V (pl) pair of nominal prefixes, there is a V (sg) – [e-] (pl) possibility (see table 15). However, we do not have examples of [ɛ-] (sg) – [e-] (pl) nor of [a-] (sg) – [e-] (pl). Given the patterns of front and back, rounded and unrounded vowels presented in this analysis of nominal prefixes, there does not seem to be any justification for eliminating these possibilities. We expect that, with more time and study, these patterns may also be found. Words #72 [kóʃīkò] in Usha-Olugwu and #15 [kúpú] in Usha-Kadu appear to be cognate with the words from the other locations but they do not exactly follow the pattern.
Table 15. Examples of V- (sg) paired with [e-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 72 navel íkō eko íkō eko kóʃīkò 15 leaf úpú epú kúpú épú úpú epu 38 okra ōtō etō ōtō etō ōtō ētō 6 clothing ɔk͡pàjì èk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì èk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì
If the singular prefix is a back rounded [u-], it is possible for the plural prefix to be any unrounded vowel ([V–rd-])24 [i-, e-, ɛ-, a-] (see table 16). However, there is no other single-vowel, singular prefix [e-, ɛ-, a-, o-, ɔ-] that is paired with the [i-] prefix for plural. Blench (2007:3) has one example of [o-] (sg) – [i-] (pl), ‘night’ /o-tú/ (sg) – /i-tú. Possibly, with more research, we may find that the limitation is that [i-] (pl) can be paired with any back-rounded vowel for singular. Word #109 [nʣɛ] in Usha-Olugwu and #15 [kúpú] in Usha-Kadu appear to be cognate with the words from the other locations but they do not exactly follow the pattern.
Table 16. Examples of [u-] (sg) paired with [V–rd-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 46 hair úɲí īɲí úɲí īɲí úɲí iɲí 15 leaf úpú epú kúpú épú úpú epu 109 tail úʣɛ ɛ́ʣɛ úʣɛ ɛzɛ nʣɛ 97 stranger ūɡ͡bōgā āɡ͡bōgā ūɡ͡bōgā āɡ͡bōgā ūɡ͡bòɡà
It appears that an open-mid front vowel [ɛ] can only be used for a plural prefix when there is a non- front vowel ([V–front -]) [a, u, o, ɔ] as the singular prefix (see table 17). There are no examples of [o-] singular paired with [ɛ-] plural, but the front and back, rounded and unrounded pattern seems consistent enough to expect that it may be found with more research. Word #109 [nʣɛ] in Usha-Olugwu appears to be cognate with the words from the other locations but it does not exactly follow the pattern.
Table 17. Examples of [V-f -] (sg) paired with [ɛ-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 66 finger àfì ɛfi àfì ɛfi àfì ɛfi 109 tail úʣɛ ɛ́ʣɛ úʣɛ ɛzɛ nʣɛ 43 soup ɔ́sɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄
Blench (2007:3) also points out that there are many nouns that do not alter between singular and plural. One situation in which the nouns do not change for nominal marking is when the singular prefix is the same vowel as the plural prefix vowel. However, this does not appear to happen if the vowel is
24 This notation reads as a prefix (V-) with an unrounded (V–rd) vowel.
27 rounded [u, o, ɔ]. See examples in table 18. Notice that the tone changes between singular and plural in the first three examples.
Table 18. Examples of [V–rd-] (sg) = [V–rd-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 101 dog īzú ízú īzú ízú īzú 131 honeybee ēwú éwú ēwú éwú ēwú 102 goat ɛ̄mú ɛ́mú ɛ̄mú ɛ́mú ɛ̄mú 40 fat āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà
Blench (2007:4) proposed that the kV- (sg) prefixes are the most common. We, however, find that there are more words marked with the single vowel for singular. There are two kinds of pairs when the singular is marked with a CV-, there are some words that mark the plural with an [lV-] syllable or a single unrounded vowel ([V–rd-]) [i-, e-, ɛ-, a-]. Most of the kV- singular prefixes have a rounded vowel ([V+rd-]) [u, o, ɔ] as the nucleus of the syllable.25 As demonstrated in table 15 for the [u-] (sg) prefix, the [ku-] singular prefix can be paired with any unrounded vowel ([V–rd-]) [i-, e-, ɛ-, a-] for the plural prefix (see table 19). Also, the [ku-] is the only singular prefix that can be paired with the [i-] plural prefix.
Table 19. Examples of [ku-] (sg) paired with [V–rd-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 45 fruit kumuna īmuna kumuna imuna kumuna imuna 30 bambara nut kūfē efē kūfē efē kwēfē ēfē 51 tooth kúɲì ɛ́ɲì kʷúɲì ɛ́ɲì kʷúɲì ɛɲi
The [ko-] and [kɔ-] (sg) prefixes can be paired with [a-] or [e-/ɛ-] for plural. Blench (2007:4) has one example of [kɔ-] (sg) paired with [ɔ-] (pl): grass (generic) /kɔ́-sɛ̀/ (sg) – /ɔ́-sɛ̀/ (pl). See table 20. Notice that #18 for Usha-Kadu is a different word but still follows a similar pattern for the prefixes.
Table 20. Examples of [ko-/kɔ-] (sg) paired with [e-, ɛ-, a-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 137 stone kòkī eki kòkī eki kòkī 18 root kōk͡pā āk͡pā kúpú épú kok͡pa ak͡pa 128 louse (head louse) kɔ́k͡pí ɛ́k͡pí kòʃámá àʃámá àʃámá 32 millet kɔ̌nʤī ǎnʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī ānzā
In the previous [kV-] singular prefixes, the vowels in the nucleus were rounded, and the vowels used for the plural prefix were unrounded. There is also a set of [kV-] singular prefixes with unrounded vowels [i, e, a] in the nucleus. The singular prefixes are paired with rounded vowels [u, o, ɔ] in the nucleus of an [lV-] syllable (see table 21). Notice that there is not an example of singular [kɛ-] and that there is not a complete set of [lV+rd-] plural prefixes. Blench (2007:4) has an example of [kɛ-] (sg) – [lu-] (pl): ‘thatched roof’ /kɛ̀nú/ (sg) – /lùnú/ (pl). He also has an example of [ko-] (sg) – [lo-] (pl): ‘lightning’ /kowu/ (sg) – /lowu/ (pl). So, with further research, it may be possible to find examples that present a full set of these types of prefixes.
25 There is one example of ka- (sg) – a (pl) in which the plural is not a rounded vowel: #62 “foot” [kátàkɛ́ʤí] (sg) – [ataɛʤi] (pl) found in the Kuri (Mbeki) wordlist.
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Table 21. Examples of [kV–rd-] (sg) paired with [lV+rd-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 5 basket kíbīɾí lúbīɾí kíbìɾ́ lobiɾi kíbīɾ́ 54 beard késó lósó késó lósó késó 50 mouth kénzú lūnzū kénzú lūnzū kēnzū 163 year káɾi lɔɾi káɾí lɔɾi lɔ́ɾí
Blench (2007:4) identified two other pairs of singular and plural prefixes with the [rV-] syllable shape for singular; we find the same examples as seen in table 22.
Table 22. Examples of [rV-] (sg) paired with [V-] (pl) nominal prefixes
Kuri (Mbeki) Usha-Kadu (Ambu) Usha-Olugwu # English gloss singular plural singular plural singular plural 47 head ɾéʃí éʃí ɾéʃí éʃí ɾéʃí éʃí 55 nose ɾɛ́wù āwù ɾɛ́wùŋ awuŋ ɾɛ́wùŋ
8.6 Discussion of analysis
In §§ 8.1–8.5, we have considered linguistic variation and relationships from five perspectives: classification, in-group perceptions, lexical similarity, phonetic similarity, and phonological and morphological variation. Based on our evidence, we propose that the speech of Kuri, Kana 1, Usha-Kadu, Akum, and Usha-Olugwu constitute a unique and separate language, with three distinct varieties. Since we were unable to do any lexical, phonological, or morphological comparisons with Agatu, an Idomoid language, or Eggon, a Plateau language, we cannot add any more to the classification debate. However, if Ajiri is so different from other Plateau or Idomoid languages that it cannot be easily classified, then it is not likely that Ajiri is close enough to any other language with which it could consider sharing literature. The Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020a) lists three dialects of Ajiri: Mbeci (Mbeki), Mbeji, and Mbamu. While this may have been a misunderstanding of the information presented by previous researchers, we find that there may be three varieties. However, the Ajiri themselves did not identify three varieties. Neither the Kuri nor Kana 1 dialect-mapping sessions revealed any dialectal differences between Ajiri villages. In the Akum dialect-mapping session, they identified Mbeki as the Ajiri who live in the highlands and Ambu as the Ajiri who live on the plains. Likewise, the Usha-Kadu dialect mapping revealed that they recognize a difference between the plains dwellers and the highlanders, but they insisted they all speak the same with a few, small differences. A lexical-similarity comparison revealed that Usha-Kadu and Akum (Ambu, plains variety) had the greatest similarity (94–96 percent). Next, Kuri and Kana 1 (Mbeki, highlands variety) had nearly the same percentage of similarity (88–94 percent). Usha-Olugwu had no better than 67–79 percent similarity with the other varieties. With a 70 percent similarity threshold (see § 4.5), these varieties may be considered as one language. Clearly, the people feel that they all speak the same language. Based on the lexical similarity percentages, either Usha-Kadu or Akum could be considered as a linguistic center upon which to base language development. A narrower range in similarity percentages, such as the 94–96 percent between Usha-Kadu and Akum, suggests that there is less phonological variation and the overall difference between locations is either due to words that have been borrowed in one place and not another, differences in the word that is chosen by the language helpers when there are synonyms, or due to elicitation error. In §§ 8.3–8.5, we discussed phonetic, phonological, and morphological similarities and variation. The foremost observation is the uniformity of the language as spoken in the five locations. There are a few phonetic differences, but they would seem to be inconsequential since there are no strong patterns of variation. There does not appear to be any morphological variation. Examples of phonological
29 variation are presented in tables 9–13. Tables 9 and 10 demonstrate differences between Mbeki and the other two varieties. Tables 11–13, as well as table 5, give examples of ways that the riverside variety differs from the Mbeki and Ambu varieties. From this evidence, we feel confident that Ajiri can be described as one language with three varieties. If people from Mbeki and Ambu do not recognize that the speech is somewhat different for the Ajiri on the south side of the Benue River, then they must not have much contact or they are gracious and do not consider the differences to be noteworthy.
9 Summary
The Ajiri are a large minority language group living in about 56 villages. The majority live in the Kokana and Nasarawa LGAs of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A small minority are found scattered along the Benue River in the Agatu LGA in Benue State. We estimate that the ethnic group has a population of approximately 105,000 to 110,000 people. However, due to language loss in Benue State, the population of speakers of the languages is probably less. The Ajiri themselves recognize two varieties of their language: Mbeki (Ajiri of the hills) and Ambu (Ajiri of the plains). Our research revealed that linguistically there is a third variety, which we have referred to as the riverside variety or the communities in Benue State. While there is some linguistic variation between the three varieties, there is no reason to consider them different languages. The riverside variety has the most variation from the other two varieties. Language development that is centered in Mbeki or Ambu will be a little more difficult for the riverside communities. However, it appears that their shift to and acquisition of Agatu makes literature in Agatu more accessible to them. More research is needed to settle questions about the classification of Ajiri. As discussed in § 6.3, the Ambu variety spoken in Udegi and nearby Usha-Kadu may be the most central and best choice for language development. In fact, The Word for the World (TWFTW) has begun Bible translation work in Usha-Kadu. Due to the linguistic similarities between Mbeki and Ambu, it will be best to include people from both Mbeki and Ambu to arrive at a consensus for language development efforts. This is what TWFTW is doing. The Ajiri are a multilingual people speaking between three to five languages varying according to age and village. Nearly everyone appears to have proficiency in English and Hausa, as well as Ajiri. However, in Benue State there are Ajiri who have more proficiency in Agatu than Ajiri. There are also some Ambu Ajiri speakers who have bilingual proficiency in Agatu. There are older men in several communities with proficiency in Yoruba, gained during their youth when they traveled west to the Yoruba-speaking area for work. There are also individuals who have proficiencies in Igala and Basa. There are also immigrants from other language groups living among the Ajiri, though their numbers are not large enough to cause a shift in Ajiri communities. Adults and the elderly were more likely to speak neighboring languages, other than Agatu, than younger generations. Younger adults and children usually have a higher proficiency in English than the older generations. For the Ajiri in Nasarawa, proficiency in Hausa is useful for communication with non-Ajiri speakers. Proficiency in English is useful for education and may help economically and socially. Hausa and English are also both used in the churches, along with Ajiri or Agatu depending on the state. Proficiency in any other languages is simply for communication with speakers of those languages. Literacy varies between age groups. The primary languages for reading and writing are English and Hausa, though some reported literacy in Ajiri, Agatu, and Arabic. We do not know how standardized and widespread the use of the experimental Ajiri writing system is. There is currently a Bible translation project being conducted by Word for the World, although most of the Ajiri with whom we discussed it did not appear to know much about it. The vitality of Ajiri language use in Nasarawa State is strong despite the multilingualism. We assess the EGIDS level as 6a—vigorous. Language use is sustainable and, with the nascent language development, it may become stronger. However, in Benue State, the use of Agatu in many homes appears to indicate those villages are shifting to Agatu. We assess language vitality for those villages as EGIDS 7—shifting. We do not believe that the loss of the Benue State portion of the language group will
30 threaten the sustainability of Ajiri language use. Therefore, we assess that the overall language vitality for Ajiri is EGIDS 6a.
10 Recommendations
We recommend that leaders from the Ajiri community be invited to attend a Community-Based Language and Identity Development (CBLID) planning workshop which is jointly offered by SIL Nigeria and the Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Community Development Association (CONAECDA).26 There they will be introduced to concepts of language vitality and language development. Leaders from both the Mbeki and Ambu communities should be included. If the leaders desire to pursue further language development, they can seek training in language development from SIL Nigeria. Efforts to integrate the work of The Word for the World (TWFTW) into a coordinated language development plan should be investigated. TWFTW should actively test translated materials widely throughout Mbeki and Ambu communities to achieve language development that meets the needs of the largest number of people. Community leaders may be interested in contacting one of our partnering language development organizations to implement limited development projects. This could be a good opportunity to assess their long-term commitment to language development efforts. It may also inspire the Ajiri to have further interest in other language-development activities and other vernacular products.
26 CONAECDA (Facebook 2020) is a non-governmental organization advocating for the linguistic rights of Nigerian minority ethnolinguistic groups. They provide workshops and other training opportunities to facilitate language development led by the ethnolinguistic communities themselves. The CBLID workshop uses an activity based on “The Language and Identity Journey” (SIL 2020).
Appendix A: Dialect Mapping Instructions and Group Sociolinguistics Questionnaire
Hausa translation is in italics. Participatory guidance instructions are in square brackets [ ].
A.1 Participatory dialect mapping and sociolinguistic interview / Tambayon hanyar haɓaka domin bukasar harsuna
Village—Gari: ______Interviewer—Mai Tambaya: ______Date—Kwanar Wata: ______State—Jihar: ______LGA—Karamar Hukuma: ______District—Yanki: ______Traditional chief—Tsarki: ______Language assistants—Jagora: ______
Participatory methods involve observation. Both the facilitator and the assistant can observe. Please make note of these observations on this form throughout the participatory methods and interviews. Note people’s responses, agreements, disagreements, number in attendance, the group’s make-up (gender, age ranges), and whatever else you think may be helpful. • Hanyar Haɓaka ya shafi dubawa. Duk mai gudanarwa da mai taimakawa zasu iya kiyaye. Don Allah a rubuta abubuwan da aka lura da su a wadannan bayanin a duk lokacin da ake yin wadanan tambayoyin. Yi la'akari da amsoshin mutane, yarjejeniya, rashin daidaituwa, yawan masu zuwa, ƙungiyoyi na bambanta (jinsi, jere na jima), da duk abin da kake tsammani zai iya zama taimako.
A.2 Language identity / Harshe harshe
What is/are the name(s) of your language? [Have them write the name(s) on a piece of paper.] • Mene ne / sunan harshen ku? [Bari su rubuta sunan a kan takarda daya.] Which name(s) do you prefer? [Circle their preferred language name(s).] • Wanne sunanko sunaye kun fi so? [Kewaye sunan da sun fi so.] What is/are the name(s) of your people? [Have them write the name(s) on a piece of paper.] • Mene ne / sunan mutanen ku? [Bari su rubuta sunan a kan takarda daya.] Which name(s) do you prefer? [Circle their preferred people name(s).] • Wanne sunan ko sunaye kun fi so? [Kewaye sunan da u n fi so.] What do you call your people in your language? • Menene kuke kira mutanenku a cikin harshenku? What is the word for person in your language? • Menene ana kiran kalman nan mutum a harshenku? When you are speaking (your own language) what do you call your language? • Yayin da kuke magana da harshen ku, menene kuke kiran harshen ku? When speaking Hausa with other people, what do you call your language? • Lokacin da kuke magana da harshen Hausa tare da wasu mutane, me kuke kira harshenku? When speaking English with other people, what do you call your language? • Lokacin da kuke magana da Turanci tare da wasu mutane, me kuke kira harshenka?
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What do each of the following call you? (a) Hausa; (b) Others; (c) Government • Menene wadanan suke kiran ku? (a) Hausawa; (b ) Sauran Su; (c) Gwanati What does that name mean? Menene wannan sunan yake nufi? • How do you feel about that name? Yaya kuke ji a ranku idan an kira da wanan sunan? Briefly please, what is the origin of your people? How do you know this? • A takaice, don Allah, menene asalin mutanenka? Yaya aka san wannan?
A.3 Reported intelligibility / Rehotun makamantun harsuna
[Get two pieces of paper, write the name of the language and the name of the people on each. Place them before the people so that all can see.] Write observations: • Rubuta bayanai: Name all villages where [your own language______] is spoken. [Have them write each village on a separate piece of paper.] • Rubuta dukan kauyuka inda ake magana da [yaren ku ______] • [Bari su rubuta kowane ƙauye a kan takarda.] [Place these on the mat/table/ground in order to show which villages are next to each other.] • [Sanya wannan a kan taburma / teburi / ƙasa don nuna wajan kauyukan da ke kusa da juna.] [Have them arrange these by location on the ground…use the river, road, mountain, and market pictures if it helps or if you see these things around. Be sure to circle the villages with a loop and place the language name at the top edge of the loop.] • [Shin, sun shirya wannan ta wurin wuri a ƙasa … amfani da kogin, hanyoyi, tudu, da kuma kasuwanni kalli idan yana taimakawa ko kuma idan kun ga wadannan abubuwa a kusa. Ku tabbata cewa kungiyoyin ƙauyuka da madauki kuma sanya sunayen sunaye a babban gefen madauki.] Which villages speak exactly the same? • Wadanne ƙauyuka suna yin magana daidai da juna? [Mark villages that speak the same with the letter “S”.] • [Yi makin kauyuka da ke magana iri daya da wata alama “S”.] Which villages do not speak exactly the same? Wadanne kauyuka ne suna fada abu daidai da juna? [If they name a group, tell them to write the name on a piece of paper and place it based on location. Then ask for the villages of the group to be written on paper and placed based on their locations. This should be done for each group, and please remember to prompt for the names that we already have. Circle villages of each group with a different-colored loop, with their names at the top edge of their separate loops.] • [Idan suna kiran wata kungiya ko kauye, gaya musu su rubuta sunan a kan wani takarda su kuma sanya shi bias bangaren da ya kamata, sa'an nan kuma ka umarci ƙauyuka su kasance a rubuce a takarda ka kuma sanya tushe a wuraren da ya kamata. Kowane rukuni kuma ku tuna don fadakar da sunayen da muke da shi. Kungiyoyin kauyuka na kowane rukuni tare da launi mai launi dabam dabam, tare da sunaye a saman gefen ƙananan madaukai.] Do you learn to speak each other’s dialects? • Kuna koyon yin magana da yarukan juna? [Write: “We learn to speak each other’s language” or “We don’t learn to speak each other’s language” for each paper.] • [Rubuta: “Muna koyi yin yaren juna.” ko “Ba mu koyi yin yaren juna” na kowane takarda.]
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Which dialect (including your own) do you understand 1st best? 2nd best? 3rd best? etc. [Have them place 1st choice, 2nd choice, etc. on the villages or dialect groups.] • Wadanne yare (har da naku) kukan fahimce shi 1st mafi kyau? 2nd mafi kyau? 3rd mafi kyau? da dai sauransu • [Bar su su aje Zaben 1st, Zaben 2nd da sauran su a kan kauye ko yare.]
A.4 Dialect relationships / Dangantakan yaruruka
[Pointing to the 1st best, ask:] Do you understand this dialect completely, most or almost all, half, little, or none? [Place the reference card, where all can see, listing the options: All, Most, Half, Little, or Non-smiley face marker(s) by the 1st best. Repeat for 2nd best, 3rd best, etc.] • [Mika hanu akan 1st mafi kyau, sai ka tambaya:] • Kuna fahimtar wannan yare gaba daya, mafi yawa ko kusan dukka, rabi, kadan, ko a'a? • [Saka “makwuli” a wurin, sa'an nan kuma sanya Duk, Mafi, Rabi, Ƙanana, ko Babu alamar. Fuskance mai haske a cikin 1st Mafi kyau. Maimaita don 2nd Mafi kyau, 3rd Mafi kyau, da dai sauransu.] [Pointing to the 1st best, ask:] When you meet people from this dialect group, how do you speak to them? [++ we speak our own dialect, and they speak our dialect too, OR they speak their dialect, and we speak our dialect. -- we speak another language, and they speak another language. Place the reference card out, then place ++, or -- by the 1st best. Repeat for 2nd best, 3rd best, etc.] • [Mika hanu akan 1st Mafi kyau, tambayi:] • Idan kun sadu da mutane daga wannan rukunin harshe, ta yaya kuke magana da su? • [++ muna magana da yaren mu kuma suna magana da yaren mu, KO suna magana da yarensu kuma muna magana da namu - muna magana da wani harshe kuma suna magana da wani harshe. Sanya “makuli”, sannan sanya ++ , ko - ta hanyar 1st mafi kyau. Maimaita don 2nd Mafi kyau, 3rd Mafi kyau, da dai sauransu.] What other language groups live around you? [Have them write the names of the languages and place them outside the loop, based on their geographical locations.] • Wadanne kungiyoyin Harsuna ne suke zaune kewaye da ku? • [Bari su rubuta sunayen harsunan kuma sanya su a waje da madauki, bisa ga wuraren su.] Which of the neighboring languages do you understand? [Have them write we speak or do not speak each other’s languages.] • Wanne daga cikin harsunan da ke kusa da ku kuna fahimta? • [Bari su rubuta mu magana ko ba magana da harsunan juna.] How well do you understand the neighboring language(s)? [Have them write on each either (a) little, (b) some, (c) well, or (d) very well.] • Yaya kuke fahimci harshen makwabcinku? • [Bari su rubuta kowanne ko dai (a) kadan, (b) wasu, (c) da kyau, ko (d) sosai.] [Take photos of these and make SURE you can read the words in the photos.] • [Ɗauki hotunan wadannan ka kuma tabbatar za ka iya karanta kalmomi na hotuna.] If a film or book is going to be produced in your language, in which dialect would you prefer it to be? [Point to the dialect and write answers here.] • Idan fim ko littafi za a samar a cikin harshen ku, wane yarre za ku fi son shi a cikin? • [Nuna waƙa da rubuta amsoshin a nan.]
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Which dialect should be used as the one for writing or recording, so that you will understand it well? [Have them point.] • Wadanne yare ya kamata a yi amfani dashi a matsayin rubutaccen rubutu, rikodi, don ku fahimta da kyau? • [Bari su nuna.] 1st choice – Why? • Zabin na Farko – Me yasa? 2nd choice – Why? • Zabi na biyu – Me yasa? 3rd choice – Why? • Zabi na Uku – Me yasa? [Write observations. (See first page for suggested observations.)] • [Rubuta abin Lura. (Duba shafin farko don shawarwarin akan abin da zaka yi Lura akai.)]
A.5 Contact and prestige / Hulda da daraja
Which city town/city/village do your people consider as important for all of you? Why? • Wane birni gari / garin / kauye ne mutanenku suke ganin muhimmancin ku duka? Me yasa? What dialect is spoken in that town/city/village? • Wane harshe ake magana a wannan gari / birni / kauye? Where do all speakers of your language gather for your cultural festival? • A ina ne duk masu magana da harshenku sukan taru don bikin al'adun ku? Why do you gather there? • Me yasa kuke taruwa a can? Where is the palace of your paramount ruler located? • Ina masallacin mai mulkinku ya kasance? Tell me other places where your people are located. • Fada mini wadansu wurare inda ake samun mutanenku.
A.6 Bilingualism / Domains of language use / Yanki na amfani da harshe
What languages can the (persons below) in this village speak? • Wadanne harsuna ne (a ƙasa) a wannan ƙauyen ke magana da su/ita? Can they speak each language very well? • Za su iya magana da kowane harshe sosai? Which language do you hear them speaking most of the time? • Wane harshe kukan ji su suna magana mafi yawan lokaci? [(mark with +), or only a bit ko kawai da (mark with -)?] • [(yi alama tare da +) ko (yi alama tare da +)?] Old men – Old women • Tsohon Maza – Sofofi Mata Men – Women • Maza – Mata
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Young men – Young women • Samarai – Matashi Children • Yara Tell me the languages people speak in this community? • Ka gaya mini harsunan da mutane suna yi a cikin wannan al'umma? What language(s) are usedː • Wane harshe ko harsuna ake amfani da su: (a) in markets that are in this community? • a kasuwanni da ke cikin wannan al'umma? (b) in schools that are in this community? • a makarantu da suke cikin wannan al'umma? (c) in churches that are in this community? • cikin majami'u da suke cikin wannan al'umma? (d) among friends/age-mates? • tsakanin abokai / masu aure? (e) between grandchildren and grandparents? • tsakanin jikoki da kakanninsu? (f) between brothers and sisters? • tsakanin 'yan'uwa maza da mata? (g) at the farm? • a gona? (h) for prayer at home? • don addu'a a gida? What language(s) do teachers use for instruction in school? • Menene harshe (ko harsuna) da malamai suke amfani da su a makaranta? Which languages do you use during your cultural festivals? • Wadanne harsuna kuke amfani da su a lokacin bukukuwa naku? Which of these groups speak own language the best? (a) children, (b) youth, (c) adult men, (d) adult women • Wanne daga cikin wadannan kungiyoyi suna magana da harshe mafi kyau? (a) yara, (b) matasa, (c) tsofaffi maza, (d) mata masu girma Which of these groups speak Hausa the best? (a) children, (b) youth, (c) adult men, (d) adult women • Wanne daga cikin wadannan kungiyoyi suna Magana da Hausa mafi kyau? (a) yara, (b) matasa, (c) tsofaffi maza, (d) mata masu girma Which of these groups speak English the best? (a) children, (b) youth, (c) adult men, (d) adult women • Wanne daga cikin wadannan kungiyoyi suna magana daTuranci mafi kyau? (a) yara, (b) matasa, (c) tsofaffi maza, (d) mata masu girma Which of these groups speak any neighboring language the best? (a) children, (b) youth, (c) adult men, (d) adult women • Wanne daga cikin wadannan kungiyoyi suna magana da kyau a kowane harshe kusa da ku? (a) yara, (b) matasa, (c) tsofaffi maza, (d) mata masu girma Which of your neighboring languages do you understand? • Wanda harshe makwabta ne ku ke ganewa?
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How well do you understand the languages? (a) little, (b) some, (c) well, (d) very well • Yaya iya ganewan ku na harsosin nan? (a) kadan, (b) da dan dama, (c) da dama, (d) sosai When you meet people from neighboring language groups, what language(s) do you speak with them? • Idan kun sadu da mutane daga kungiyoyin Harsuna wanda suke zaune kewaye da ku, wane harshe kuke Magana da su?
A.7 Vitality / Muhimmanci
What language(s) do parents/care givers speak to their children in this community? • Wane harshe ne iyaye suna magana da 'ya'yansu a cikin wannan al'umma? What language(s) do children in this community speak when they are playing? • Menene harshe (ko harsuna) da yara suke yi a lokacin da suke wasa? What language(s) do husbands and wives speak at home? • Menene harshe (ko harsuna) da maza da mata suke yin magana a gida da shi? Which language(s) is/are mostly used everywhere in this community? • Wanne harshe (ko hasuna) ne / ake amfani dashi mafi yawa a cikin wannan al'umma?
A.8 Attitudes towards speakers of neighboring languages / Halin da ake nuna ga masu magana da harsuna makwabta
Which of your neighboring communities do your women and men prefer to marry from or into? Why? • Wanne daga cikin ƙauyukan da ke kusa da ku ke yi matanku da maza sun fi so su auri daga ko cikin? Me ya sa? Which language groups do your people feel reluctant to marry from or into? Why? • Wace harshe ne mutanen ku sukan jin kiwiyar yin aure dasu? Me ya sa? Which language groups attend your markets? • Wace kungiyoyi harshe ne suke zuwa cin kasuwa da ku? Which language groups would you not welcome at your markets? • Wace kungiyoyin harshe ne ba ku da marmarin cin kasuwa da su? Which language groups would you not farm with? • Wace kungiyoyin harshe ba za ku je gona da su ba? Which language groups do you attend church service with? • Wace kungiyoyin harshe ne kuke shida majelisa tare? Which language group’s children do your children go to the same school with? • Wace kungiyoyin harshe ne yaran su suke tafiyan makaranta daya da yaran ku?
A.9 Literature and literacy / Litattafai da rubuce-rubuce
What reading materials do you have in this community? • Wadanne kayayakin karatu ne kuke da su a cikin wannan al'umma? In which language(s) are the materials written? • An Rubuto Wadanan kayan karatun a wadane harshe ko harsuna ne? Who of these can read and write? • Wanene daga cikinsu zai iya karatu da rubutu?
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Old men – Old women • Tsohon Maza – Sofofi Mata Men – Women • Maza – Mata Young men – Young women • Samarai – Matashi Children • Yara • In which language(s)? • A wanne harshe (ko harsuna)? How well? (in each language) [Chooseː (a) not at all, (b) a little, (c) some, (d) well] • Ta yaya? (a cikin kowane harshe) [Zabi Iraki (a) ba komai ba, (b) kadan, (c) wasu), (d) da kyau] What kind of information/reading materials do they read? • Wani irin littattafai ne sukan karanta? What language do they use for texting? • Wane harshe ne suke amfani dasu don saƙo na wayar salula?
A.10 Estimated populations / An kiyasta yawancin
What is the number of all your people in the last national headcount? • Menene kimanin dukan mutanenku a cikin kidaya na kasa wanda aka yi a kwanakin baya? Based on the number of people in your community for the last election, what would you say is the total number of your people now? • Bisa ga yawan mutanen da ke cikin al'umman ku don zabe na kwanakin baya, me za ku ce shi ne yawan mutanen ku a yanzu? Estimated percentage of Muslims: • A kimanta kashi dari na Musulmai: Estimated percentage of Christians: • A kimanta kashi dari na Kiristoci: Estimated percentage of African Traditional Religion (ATR): • An kimanta kashi dari na ATR:
A.11 Community perceived roles of vernacular scriptures in their lives / Yadda al'umma suke ganin amfanin nassosin harshensu a rayuwarsu
Which category of people do you think will benefit the most if Scriptures were translated into your language? • Su wanda mutanene za su fi riba I dan aka juye littafi mai tsaki cikin yaren ku? How do you think they will benefit from the translated Scriptures? • Yaya kuke gani za su yi riba da ga juyeyen littafi mai tsarkin? When do you think they will use those Scriptures? • Yaushe kuke ganin za su fara amfani da littafin?
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A.12 Project support / Tallafin ginin
What are the names of your important persons who can be invited to discuss how your community can access Scriptures? • Mene ne sunayen mutanenku masu muhimmanci wadanda za a iya gayyace su domin tattauna yadda za ku iya samun damar samun Nassosi? (a) What are their phone numbers or email addresses? • Menene lambobin waya ko adiresoshin imel nasu? (b) In which city/town/village do they live? • Wane birni / garin / kauye suke da zama? Which churches can be invited to the Scriptures access discussion? • Wace majami'u za a iya gayyace su a cikin shirin samun Nassosi a harshen ku? (a) What are the names and phone numbers of their leaders? • Mene ne sunayen da lambobin waya na shugabannin ku? (b) In which city/town/village do they live? • Wace birni / garin / kauye suke da zama? What organizations can be invited for the discussion? • Wadane kugiyoyi ne zaku iya gayyatar don tattaunawa a kai? (a) What are the names and phone numbers or email addresses of their leaders? • Menene sunayen da lambobin waya ko adiresoshin imel na shugabanninsu? (b) In which city/town/village are they located? • Wane birni / garin / kauye ne suke da zama?
Appendix B: Church Leader Questionnaire
Hausa translation is in italics.
Village ______Language ______State ______LGA ______Church name ______Church denomination ______Language assistant ______Position ______Researcher ______Date ______
B.1 Percentage of Christians, Muslims and ATRs in the area
What percentage of the population in the area is Christian? • Mene ne yawan mutanen da suke Krista a yankin nan? What percentage of the population in the area is Muslim? • Mene ne yawan mutanen da suke musulmi a yankin nan? What percentage of the population in the area is ATR? • Wani kashi na yawan jama'a ne na safi a yankin nan?
B.2 Language(s) in which the church leaders are interested in having the Bible
Which language(s) do you as a priest/pastor speak with members of your congregation in the community? • Wace harshe kake yi a matsayin firist / fasto yayi magana da mambobi na ikilisiyarku a cikin al'umma? Which language(s) do you use for most activities in the church? • Wanne harshe/harshuna kuke amfani da shi don yawancin ayyuka a coci? In which language(s) do you read the Bible and other materials? • A wadanne harshe/harshuna kuke karanta Littafi Mai-Tsarki da wasu litatafe ciki? In which language(s) do you think it is best to read the Bible and other materials? • Wanne harshe/harshuna kake tsammani mafi kyau a karanta Littafi Mai-Tsarki da wasu litatafe ciki? Why do you think this/these language(s) is/are the best? • Me yasa kake tsammanin wannan harshe/harshuna shine/sune mafi kyau?
B.3 Language use for other church activities
What languages are used in the church for preaching? • Wadanne harsuna ana amfani dasu a coci don wa'azi? What languages are used for: • wadanne harsuna ana amfani dasu a: Bible reading? Hymns / songs? • Karatun Littafi Mai Tsarki? Waƙoƙi? Prayer? Announcements? • Addu'a? Sanarwe? Youth services? Women’s fellowship? • Ayyukan matasa? Zumuntan mata?
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Bible studies? Other church activities? • Nazarin Littafi Mai Tsarki? Wasu ayyukan coci?
B.4 Potential project support
What are the names of your important persons who can be invited to discuss how your community can access Scriptures? • Mene ne sunayen mutanenku masu muhimmanci wadanda za a iya gayyace su don tattauna yadda za ku iya samun damar Nassosi? What are their phone numbers or email addresses? • Menene lambobin wayan su adiresoshin imel? In which city/town/village do they live? • Wace birni / garin / kauye suke zaune? Which churches can be invited to the Scripture access discussion? • Wace majami'un za a iya gayyatan su domin tattaunawa na samun Littafi? What are their names and phone numbers of their leaders? • Menene sunayensu da lambobin wayan shugabanninsu? What organizations can be invited for the discussion? • Wadanne ƙungiyoyi za a iya gayyata don tattaunawa? What are the names and phone numbers or email addresses of their leaders? • Mene ne sunayen da lambobin waya ko adiresoshin imel na shugabanninsu? In which city/town/village do they live? • Wace birni / garin / kauye suke zaune?
Appendix C: School Teacher Questionnaire
School ______Language area ______State ______LGA ______Interviewee/Position ______Others present ______Researcher ______Date ______
C.1 School staff
Headmaster’s name ______Number of teachers ______What languages do teachers use outside school? • with their families: • with other teachers: • with village adults:
C.2 Size and attendance
How many children attend this school? How many children in this area are school-aged? Which villages do your students come from? Which language groups do your students come from?
C.3 Language use and attitudes
What languages are used in class for teaching? What language(s) are the textbooks written in? What language(s) do the children use on the playground, among themselves? • (Confirm this by observation if possible as there may be an “official” answer.) What happens if the children use the local language? If a child asks you a question about a school subject away from school grounds, in what language do you respond to him? In what language do you prefer to teach? If you had a chance to teach in the local language, would you do so? Why?
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Appendix D: Sample Observation Schedule
Speakers Addressee Community Children Young Young Elderly Elderly Outsiders observations males females males females Children Young males Young females Elderly males Elderly females Outsiders
Marketplace Children Young Young Elderly Elderly Outsiders observations males females males females Children Young males Young females Elderly males Elderly females Outsiders
School Teacher Student Teacher Student
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Appendix E: Wordlist
The SIL Nigeria standard 348-item wordlist is designed after the wordlists used by: Blench (for example, 2007), who has done extensive historical comparative work on Nigerian languages; the wordlists used by Dettweiler and Dettweiler (for example, 2002), former SIL Nigeria surveyors; and earlier SIL Nigeria surveys (for example, Hon et al., 2018). The transcriptions are preliminary since there was no in-depth analysis done of tones or other phonological or phonetic features. In the wordlists, all entries represent phonetic transcriptions although the items are not put between square brackets. Some vowels are transcribed with the IPA symbol for vowel lengthening [ː]. By this convention, however, we are not implying to have analyzed phonemic lengthening. It appears that there is extensive labialization and palatalization (see § 8.3). We have transcribed these consonants with a raised [w] or [j]. However, we are not claiming to have decided that these are phonemic features; these may be separate approximant phonemes. A few decisions were made as to words that are compared in the following list: • An asterisk (*) in the number (#) column indicates that the word was not included in the final comparison. • Items 247 to 259 were excluded because it appears that the words simply repeat the comparison of another word or there were no comparisons.
Village name Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu Dialect name Mbeki Mbeki Ambu Ambu “riverside” Language Ajiri [àʤíɾí] Eloyi [ɛlɔjì] Ajiro [aʤíɾí] Ajiro [aʤíɾí] Ajiro LGA Kokona Kokona Nasarawa Nasarawa Agatu State Nasarawa Nasarawa Nasarawa Nasarawa Benue Language SAO UI IME TAE AK Age 36 45 58 28 30 Sex M M M M M Reliability: 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st Elicited by: John Muniru John Muniru John Muniru John Muniru John Muniru Date 17/10/2019 18/10/2019 18/10/2019 19/10/2019 18/10/2019
# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 1 broom ōjō ōjō ojo / áʃɛ́kú áʃɛ́kú áʃɛ́kú 2 mortar ūmí ūmí ūmí ūmí ūmí 3 pestle óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí 4 rope kùɾmǒkī kùɾmǒkī òɾìmóki òɾìmóki kùɾmǒkī 5 basket kíbīɾí kíbīɾí kíbìɾ́ kíbìɾ́ kíbīɾ́ 6 clothing ɔk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì ɔk͡pàjì 7 road/path ɔɡūzɛ ɔɡūzɛ ɔɡūzɛ ɔɡūzɛ ɔɡūzɛ́ 8 pit kùvɔ kùvɔ kùvɔ kùvɔ kùvɔ 9 house/hut kóɡ͡bà kóɡ͡bà kóɡ͡bà kóɡ͡bà kóɡ͡bà 10 room ùɡùu ùɡùu ùɡùu ùɡùu ùɡùu 11 door òk͡pôɾō òk͡pôɾō kwɔ̄bɛ kwɔ̄bɛ kwɔbɛ
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 12 chair/stool kàʤì kàʤì kàɡì kàɡì kàʤì 13 salt ōtópà ōtópà ōtópʷà ōtópʷà ɔtɔpà 14 tree kwɛ́jī kwɛ́jī kúwɛ̄jī kúwɛ̄jī kúwɛ̄jiī 15 leaf úpú úpú kúpú kúpú úpú 16 bark kúkú kúkú kúkù kúkù kúkū 17 branch kōndē kōndē konde konde ak͡pulɛpo 18 root kōk͡pā kōk͡pā kúpú kúpú kok͡pa
19 medicine kúpú kúpú kùpù kùpù 20 thorn ōwūlā ōwūlā ōwūlā ōwūlā ōwūlā 21* firewood kúwɛ̄j kúwɛ̄j kúwɛj ŋwɔ̄jī kúwɛj ŋwɔ̄jī kuwɛji 22 shea butter tree īlāsā īlāsā īlāsā īlāsā oruzu 23 mahogany ɛ̄ví ɛ̄ví ɛ̄ví ɛ̄ví eza 24 farm (field) útú útú útú útú u᷄tú 25 bush kúkátá kúkátá kúkátá kúkátá kukata 26 grass ɔ̂sɛ̀ ɔ̂sɛ̀ ɔ̂sɛ̀ ɔ̂sɛ̀ ɔ̂sɛ̀ 27 forest kúʤiʤì kúʤiʤì ɾíto ɾíto kúkátá 28 seed ɾito ɾito kújī kújī eji 29 groundnut ɔ̀ʃátā ɔ̀ʃátā kòʃátá kòʃátá oʃata 30 bambara nut kūfē kūfē kūfē kūfē kwēfē 31 guinea corn kōwā kōwā kōwā kōwā kōwā 32 millet kɔ̌nʤī kɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī kʷɔ̌nʤī
33* millet (another kind)
34 yam lúsú lúsú lúsú lúsú 35 bean oʃíkí oʃíkí ɔʃiki ɔʃiki ɔʃiki 36 locust bean tree ēná ēná kēná ēná kēná 37 zobo leaf kòɲákūwá kòɲákūwá kōɲákūwá kōɲákūwá iɲakuwa 38 okra ōtō ōtō ōtō ōtō ōtō 39 meat kūvjé kūvjé kūvjé kūvjé kūvjé 40 fat āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà āfjà 41 egg kóʃí kóʃí kʷóʃí kʷóʃí kʷóʃí 42 tuwo / fu-fu ɔ́wɛ ɔ́wɛ ɔ́sɛ́ ɔ́sɛ́ ɔ̄wɛ́ 43 soup ɔ́sɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ ɔ́sɔ̄ 44 flower kúkúlú kúkúlú kúkúlú kúkúlú kululu 45 fruit kumuna kumuna kumuna kumuna kumuna
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 46 hair úɲí úɲí úɲí úɲí úɲí 47 head ɾéʃí ɾéʃí ɾéʃí ɾéʃí ɾéʃí 48 forehead údú údú údú údú kudu 49 ear kwɔ́lū kwɔ́lū kwɔ́lū kwɔ́lū kwɔ́lū 50 mouth kénzú kénzú kénzú kénzú kēnzū 51 tooth kúɲì kúɲì kʷúɲì kʷúɲì kʷúɲì 52 tongue ɔ̀tùnɛ̀ ɔ̀tùnɛ̀ ɔ̀tíɛ̀ ɔ̀tíɛ̀ ɔ̀tíjɛ 53 chin kɔ́ŋɡ͡bà kɔ́ŋɡ͡bà kwɔ́mùɡɔ̀ kwɔ́mùɡɔ̀ kwɔ́mùɡɔ̀ 54 beard késó késó késó késó késó 55 nose ɾɛ́wù ɾɛ́wù ɾɛ́wùŋ ɾɛ́wùŋ ɾɛ́wùŋ 56 eye kújī kújī kújī kújī kújī 57 neck kító kító kító kító kwɔ́ɾɔ 58 shoulder kúsúwo kúsúwo kúsúwo kúsúwo kusuwo 59 back ɔ́sú ɔ́sú ɔ́sú ɔ́sú īʤēmbō 60 knee kúpúnú kúpúnú kúpúnú kúpúnú kúpúnú 61 leg kwɔlɛ kwɔlɛ kwɔlɛ kwɔlɛ kwɔlɛ
62 foot kátàkɛ́ʤí kátàkɛ́ʤí kátàkɛ́ʤí kátàkɛ́ʤí 63 thigh òbúkɔ̀lɛ òbúkɔ̀lɛ òbúkɔ̀lɛ òbúkɔ̀lɛ obukʷɔlɛ 64 hand kúwòo kúwòo kúwòo kúwòo kúwòo
65* arm 66 finger àfì àfì àfì àfì àfì 67 skin kók͡pō kók͡pō kók͡pō kók͡pō kók͡pō 68 bone kúkú kúkú kúkú kúkú kúkú 69 breast kwàmɛ kwàmɛ kwàmɛ kwàmɛ kwɔmɛ̄ 70 belly ùbū ùbū ùbù ùbù ùbù 71 stomach kɔ́sūbū kɔ́sūbū ùbù ùbù ùbù 72 navel íkō íkō íkō íkō kóʃīkò 73 intestines ákō ákō kʷɔ́kɔ̀ kʷɔ́kɔ̀ ákɔ̀ 74 heart kùdùŋɡɔ̄kú kùdùŋɡɔ̄kú kuduŋɡwɛnʤi kuduŋɡwɛnʤi ìdù 75 liver étú étú kūtū kūtū ɛ̄ɲí 76 body ɛ́wú ɛ́wú ɛwúŋ ɛwúŋ ɛ̄ŋū 77 blood ɛ̄nʤi ɛ̄nʤi ɛ̄nʤi ɛ̄nʤi ɛ̄nʤi 78 saliva ɔ̄sɔ̀ ɔ̄sɔ̀ ɔ̄sɔ̀ ɔ̄sɔ̀ ɔ̀tɛ̀ 79 sweat ānú ānú ānú ānú úzù
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 80 teardrop ɛ́ɲɛ̄ ɛ́ɲɛ̄ ɛ́ɲɛ̄ ɛ́ɲɛ̄ ɛ́ɲɛ̀ 81 cough kékù kékù kékù kékù kékù 82 pain ɔ́fjà ɔ́fjà ɔ́fjà ɔ́fjà ɔ́fjà 83 corpse úk͡pɛ́ʤí úk͡pɛ́ʤí ǒɡāɾū ǒɡāɾū úk͡pɛʤí 84 grave kúmbú kúmbú kúmbú kúmbú òɡaarû 85 woman okok͡paji okok͡paji okok͡paji okok͡paji okōo 86 man ɔ̄nzɔ́nū ɔ̄nzɔ́nū ɔ̄nzɔ́nū ɔ̄nzɔ́nū ɔ́nū 87* [L1____] ónzù ónzù kúsé kenzu ésé language 88* [L1____] person onzu ōnzu ónzélé úmɛ́
89 person onzu onzû onzû onzù 90 father ádā ádā ádā ádā ada 91 mother ɛ́nɛ̄ ɛ́nɛ̄ ɛ́nɛ̄ ɛ́nɛ̄ ɛnɛ 92 child úmɛ́ úmɛ́ úmɛ́ úmɛ́ úmɛ́ 93 old person ǒnzwakɔ́ ǒnzwakɔ́ ònzwákɔ́ ònzwákɔ́ ònzúákɔ́ 94 chief ɔ̄sú ɔ̄sú ɔ̄sú ɔ̄sú ɔ̄sú 95 blacksmith nzúkoⁿdó onzukondó n̄dókondó n̄dókondó ndokondo 96 friend mézàmī mézàmī meza meza úmeza 97 stranger ūɡ͡bōɡā ūɡ͡bōɡā ūɡ͡bōɡā ūɡ͡bōɡā ūɡ͡bòɡà 98 God ūk͡pō ūk͡pō ūk͡pō ūk͡pō ūk͡pô 99 name ɛ́ɲí ɛ́ɲí ɛ́ɲí ɛ́ɲí ɛ́ɲí 100 animal ìzɔɔfi ìzɔɔfi ìzɔʃi ìzɔʃi azɔʃi 101 dog īzú īzú īzú īzú īzú 102 goat ɛ̄mú ɛ̄mú ɛ̄mú ɛ̄mú ɛ̄mú 103 cow ēndo ēndo ēndó ēndó ēndó 104 sheep īlɔ̄ īlɔ̄ ìlɔ̄ ìlɔ̄ ɛ̄mú 105 chicken ɛ̄nú ɛ̄nú ɛ̄nú ɛ̄nú ɛ̄nú 106 guinea fowl ēsú ēsú ēsú ēsú ēsú 107 bird ɔ̄fí ɔ̄fí ōk͡pāku ōk͡pāku ōk͡pāku 108 horn kúlɔ́ kúlɔ́ kúlɔ́ kúlɔ́ úlɔ́ 109 tail úʣɛ úʣɛ úʣɛ úʣɛ nʣɛ
110 claw ūkúɾàfī ɛfijiiɔk͡paku akuɾaɛfi ákúɾáfi 111 wing kúkówó kúkówó kúkówó kúkówó ewó 112 feather kúkéɾé kúkéɾé kúkéɾé kúkéɾé éɲí 113 snake kījānʤiɾa kījānʤiɾa ɔkú ɔkú ɔkú
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 114 tortoise ùkúnábɔ̄ ùkúnábɔ̄ òkuɾunʤɛ òkuɾunʤɛ òkuɾunʤɛ 115 agama lizard ɔ́ɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ ɔ́ɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ kʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄ kʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄ kuɾɔkʲɔ 116 crocodile īkù īkù īkù īkù iŋɡíwembī
117* crocodile, 2nd
118* crocodile, 3rd 119 fish ūmū ūmū òmù òmù ìvé 120 toad ùwájì ùwájì ɔji ɔji ɔ̀wɔ̀jì 121 rat īkí īkí īkí īkí īkí 122 bush pig oɾísú oɾísú oɾūsū oɾūsū oɾūsū 123 red monkey òbàɡùʷɔ̀sɛ̀ òbàɡùʷɔ̀sɛ̀ òbàɡùɔ̀sɛ̀ òbàɡùɔ̀sɛ̀ ēkó 124 buffalo ɛ̄ŋá ɛ̄ŋá ɛ̄ŋá ɛ̄ŋá inʤiwukudu 125 elephant īŋɡí īŋɡí īŋɡí īŋɡí īŋɡí 126 hyena ótùmúsú ótùmúsú ótùmúsú ótùmúsú īzuukukata 127 fly ìʤì ìʤì ìʤì ìʤì ìʤì 128 louse (head kɔ́k͡pí kɔ́k͡pí kòʃámá kòʃámá àʃámá louse) 129 spider ɔ̄fī ɔ̄fī ɔ̄fī ɔ̄fī ɔ̀fì 130 mosquito ìʤítú ìʤítú ìʤítú ìʤítú ìʤítú 131 honeybee ēwú ēwú ēwú ēwú ēwú 132 scorpion ènà ènà ènà ènà ènà 133 fire ɔ́jí ɔ́jí ɔ́jí ɔ́jí ɔ́jí 134 smoke wúwú wúwú wúwú wúwú húwú 135 ashes kúlɔ̄ kúlɔ̄ kúlɔ̄ kúlɔ̄ kúlɔ̀ 136 stick ùpí ùpí ùpí ùpí kwéjī 137 stone kòkī kòkī kòkī kòkī kòkī 138 mountain lówá lówá kōkʲākú kūkʲāku kúk͡pókì 139 up óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí 140 down ɛʤí ɛʤí ɛʤí ɛʤí ɛʤí 141 sky óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí óʃí 142 earth, ground ɛ́ʤí ɛ́ʤí ɛ́ʤí ɛ́ʤí ɛ́ʤí 143 mud ɔ́tɔ̄tɔ̄ ɔ́tɔ̄tɔ̄ ɔ́totɔ̄ ɔtɔ̀tɔɾɔ́ ɔ́tɔtɔ̄ɾɔ̄ 144 clay lōmbō ámí lōmbō uɾɔ́ ámí 145 sand ɔ̄ʤɛ̄ ɔ̄ʤɛ̄ ɔ̄ʤɛ̄ ɔg̟ɛ ɛ́ʤí 146 dust kúmbúɾú kúmbúɾú kúmbúɾú kúmbúɾú ómbúɾú 147 iron kósó kósó kósó kósó kwósó
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 148 money ēdwó ēdwó ɛ̀jì ɛ̀jì ɛ̀jì 149 wind kók͡pō kók͡pō kók͡pō kók͡pō ēk͡pō 150 cloud ámú ámú ámú ámbú ǒk͡pàki 151 rain ēmbī ēmbī ēmbím̩ ̀ bùk͡pò ēmbím̩ ̀ bùk͡pò ēmbī 152 rainy season òk͡pōrító òk͡pōrító òk͡pōɾító īwó īwó 153 dry season ònèkà ònèkà ònèkà ònèkà ɔnèkà 154 dew úmɛ̄ úmɛ̄ úmɛ̄ úmɛ̄ ébú 155 stream ɔ̀kú ɔ̀kú ɔ̀kú ɔ̀kú ɔ̀kú 156 river ōká ōká ɾísù ɾísù ɔku 157 bridge kàdólòɡō kàdólòɡō ùɾà ùɾà hùɾà 158 water embi embi embī embī embī
159* lake kùbú bɛ̄ɾí 160 moon óvjá óvjá óvjá óvjá óvjá 161 star kúlóvjó kúlóvjó kúlóvjó kúlóvjó élóvjó 162 sun ɔ̀nú ɔ̀nú ɔ̀nú ɔ̀nú ɔ̀nú 163 year káɾi káɾi káɾí káɾí lɔ́ɾí
164 morning kwôtō kwôtō kwôtō kwôtò
165 afternoon ɔ́nú ɔ́nú ɔ́nûdà ɔ́nú
166 evening ɔnuojo ɔnójó ɔ̀núóójó ɔnúójó
167 night wútú wútú wútú útú 168 yesterday kwɔɲi mule múlé múlé múlé 169 tomorrow kwɔɲime kwɔɲi kʷɔɲí kʷɔɲí kɔ́ɲí 170 ax kékō kékō kékō kékō kēkó 171 hoe ɛ̄jì ɛ̄jì ɛ̄jì ɛ̄jì ɛ̄jì 172 and mala mala mala mala bala 173 bow kʷótó kʷótó kʷótó kʷótó kútó 174 arrow óɡú óɡú óɡú óɡú ɔ̀jī 175 quiver kúk͡pó kúk͡pó kúk͡pó kúk͡pó kútàmbúlà 176 spear kɔk͡pó kɔkù kɔkù kʷɔkù òdáɡīɾī 177 canoe kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷɔ̄dán kʷodanwenbi 178 war ewitomuu ewitomuu ewitomuu èdúmà èwà 179 work ɛ̀dúmà ɛ̀dúmà ɛ̀dúmà ɛ̀dúmà èdúmà 180 hunger lɔ̄nzū lɔ̄nzū lɔ̄nzū lɔ̄nzū lɔ̄nzū 181 one ūk͡pɛ̄ɲí ūk͡pɛ̄ɲí kuɲi kuɲi kuɲi
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 182 two épō épō épō épō épō 183 three ɛ́lá ɛ́lá ɛ́lá ɛ́lá élá 184 four ēndō ēndō ēndō ēndō ēndō 185 five élɔ̀ élɔ̀ élɔ̀ élɔ̀ élɔ̀ 186 six ɛ́ɾɛ̄ɲí ɛ́ɾɛ̄ɲí ɛ́ɾɛ̄ɲí ɛ́ɾɛ̄ɲí ɛ́ɾɛ̄ɲí 187 seven eɾeho eɾeho eɾeho eɾeho eɾeho 188 eight éɾèndá éɾèndá éɾāndá éɾāndá éɾāndá 189 nine éɾèndó éɾèndó éɾèndó éɾèndó éɾèndó 190 ten wúwó wúwó wúwó wúwó wúwó 191 twelve uwólak͡pɛɲi uwólak͡pɛɲi uwólēpō usɔ uwólēpō 192 fifteen uwólēpó uwólēpó uwolɛlɔ uwolɛlɔ uwolɛlɔ 193 twenty úwóēpēpó úwóēpēpó wuwoepepo wuwoepepo wuwoepepo 194 hundred úwóēk͡pūwó úwóēk͡pūwó uwook͡puwo uwook͡puwo uwook͡puwo 195 who? wūwé wūwé wuwe wuwe wùwe 196 what? wūwé kīmbé kīmbé kīmbé kīmbé 197 when? ɔ̄núná ɔ̄núná ɔ̄núnǎ ɔ̄núnǎ ɔ̄núnǎ 198* how? m̀ ̩ bé m̀ ̩ bé kīmbé kīmbé kīmbé 199 where? mūná mūná muna muna muna 200 here múnɛ̄ múnɛ̄ munɛ munɛ mūnɛ̄ 201 there mɔ̄mɔ̄ mɔ̄mɔ̄ mɔ̄mɔ̄ mɔ̄mɔ̄ mɔ̄mɔ̄ 202* this ɡɛ̀nʤì ŋɡɛlɛ ŋɡɛlɛ ele āwù 203 that onzawo onzawo awo awu ɛ̄lɛ̄ 204 white kiɾúwú kiɾúwú kùɾū kùɾū ùɾū 205 black kīɡī kīɡī kùɡì ɾìɡì kùɡì 206 red kɛ̄jɔ̄ kɛ̄jɔ̄ kùjɔ̀ ɾìjɔ̀ kùjɔ̀ 207 long wɔ̀ʤì wɔ̀ʤì wɔʤì wɔʤì búlɔló 208* short k͡púlúkúdú k͡pindīɾī k͡pīmɡ͡bí k͡pìɾìɡìdí ŋʷɛ̄ɾí 209 old ŋɡēkī ŋɡēkī ŋɡoki ŋɡoki ōki 210 new ŋɡēpō mūná ŋɡopo ŋɡopo ōpó 211 ripe ímbámō múnɛ̄ ímbómō ímbómō ímbómō 212 rotten kívámā mɔ̄mɔ̄ kùvùmá ɾivuma ɔ̄jī 213 hot ʤɔji ŋɡɛlɛ úzù úzù ɔ̄jī 214 cold oloto oloto oloto oloto ēk͡pò 215 sharp iɾimu iɾimu ɾímò ɾímò ɾímò
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 216 dull keɾimʷo keɾimʷo keɾimʷo keɾimʷo kíɾímǒmò 217 good eʃi eʃi ʃēʃí ʃēʃí ʃēʃí
218 narrow mɡ͡bɛ́lɛ̀mà mɡ͡bɛ́lɛ̀mà ʃìbwɛ́ 219 straight ḿblóló mbloló mblolo / ʃiɾiɾi mblolo / ʃiɾiɾi mɡ͡búlóló 220 heavy ɔ́lú ɔ́lú ɔ́lú ɔ́lú jɔ́lú 221 left ɔzu ɔzu ɔzu ɔzu ɔzu 222 right wùŋɡì wùŋɡì uɡì uɡì ŋɡʷɔ̄zù 223 hard koma koma kɔ́mà kɔ́mà kɔ́mà 224 soft kikɔmo kikɔmo kikɔmo kikɔmo kɔmǎmò 225 few kɛ̄kí kɛ̄kí kɛ̄kí kɛ̄kí fítētē 226 wet ílólòmò ílólòmò ílólòmò ílólòmò hannú 227 dry ʃìɾìmà ʃìɾìmà ʃìɾìmà k͡píɾìì ʃìɾìmà 228 dirty ɛ́ɲìɲiì ɛ́ɲìɲiì ɛ́ɲìɲiì ɛ́ɲìɲiì ɛ́ɲìɲiì 229 full iɲalɔma iɲalɔma iɲalɔma iɲalɔma ɲɔ́lɔmà 230 all k͡pɛ́k͡pɛ̄ŋɡí k͡pɛ́k͡pɛ̄ŋɡí k͡pɛ́k͡pɛ̄ŋɡí k͡pɛ́k͡pɛ̄ŋɡí k͡péɾí 231 I ímí ímí ímí ímí ímí 232 you ŋɔ̩́́ ŋɔ̩́ ŋɔ́ ́ ̩ ŋɔ́ ̄ŋɔ̩̄ 233 you (fem) ŋɔ ŋɔ ŋɔ̩ ŋɔ ̄ŋɔ̩̄ 234 he a a u a a 235 she a a u a e 236 we kī kī ki ki ki 237 you lu lu lu lu ŋa 238 they a a mba mbo mba 239 knife képó képó képó képó képó 240 my mi mi mi mi mi 241 your ŋɔ ŋɔ ŋɔ ŋɔ ŋɔ 242 his nka nka wu wu hu
243 her wu wu hu 244 our nzu nzu nzu nzu nzu 245 your (pl) ji ji ji ji ji 246 their ŋɡamba ŋɡamba mbo mbo mba 247– 259* 260 eat ɾi ɾi ɾi ɾi ɾǿwɛ́ 261 do wo wo wo wo wō
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 262 dance komo komo komo komo komò 263 play nɛmɛ nɛmɛ nɛnɛ nɛnɛ nɛnɛ 264 smell awubɔ awubɔ tùmbò pùmbò wùmbò 265 see jese jese jese jese jesè 266 blow k͡pa fʲawuk͡po k͡pafja k͡pafja k͡pá 267 whistle nʤɔji nʤɔji nʤɔji nʤɔji k͡pákúlɔ́ 268 sing takʷɔmu takʷɔmu sámú sámú sámú 269 laugh jɔŋɡɔma jɔŋɡɔma jɔŋɡʷɔma jɔŋɡʷɔma jɔŋɡɔma 270 say siso so so so sísō 271 ask jòkujo jòkujo jokujɔ jokujɔ jōkujɔ̀ 272* beg ʃʲɔkɔnɛ ʃʲɔkɔ ndâa bwɛj sàútē 273 hear pa pʷa pʷà pʷà pìstō 274 bark wamba fumo súmò somo wánú 275 shout uʤi uʤi wánú wánú sísō 276 cry loɡa loɡa loɡa loɡa lōɡá 277 fear wuji ɾiji ɾījí ɾījí ɾījī 278 want ʃimi miɡi mīɡí mīɡí mīɡí 279 think eɡ͡bo lolo wamasa bīeɡ͡bo kamasa 280 count wa wa wā wā wā 281 know lokwo jitu jito jito jitu 282 teach vuŋɡwɔ zɔwu zɔ́ zɔ́ sɔ̄mbá
283 show zɔmi zɔ zɔ jêsè 284 drink wo wo wo wo wémbī 285 suck wo wo wo wo wò 286 vomit kɔma kɔma komo komo kómò 287 spit fɔtɛ fɔtɛ fɔtɛ fɔtɛ fɔtɛma 288 sneeze oʃiŋɡ͡ba woʃinɡ͡ba fioʃíŋɡᵇà fioʃíŋɡᵇà fiōʃíŋɡ͡bà 289 bite kwɛɲi kwɛɲi jiɛɲi jiɛɲi fíɛɲì 290 sweep kukizɛ kuŋɡi vjɛkizɛ vjɛkizɛ vɛkizɛ́ 291 sit ŋʷɔma ŋʷɔma ŋɔ̄mā ŋɔ̄mā ŋɔ̀mà 292 stand imo imo imo imo or rima ɾima 293 fight kiɾewa kiɾewa kiɾewa kiɾewa kiɾiwa 294 lie down nɔma nɔma nɔma nɔma nɔmà 295 yawn ewokenzo ewokenzo ewokenzo ewokenzo wokenzū
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 296 rest ewuɡ͡bomo ewuɡ͡bomo ewuɡ͡bomo ewuɡ͡bomo ɛwuŋliɡ͡boŋɔ̄mò 297 sleep k͡pondo k͡pondo k͡pondo k͡pondo k͡pondo 298 wash ɡ͡bɔ / jima ɡ͡bɔ ɡ͡bɔ ɡ͡bɔ ɡ͡bɔ 299 bathe iwomo womo iwomo iwomo womo 300 steal wɛlɔ wɛlɔ wɛlɔ wɛlɔ wɛlɔ̀ 301 give ʃuwuji ʃuwu ʃiwu ʃiwu ʃiwō 302 hide ⁿʤemo vemo vémò vémò kɔ́mò 303 take toɲimo to toɲimo na nā 304 hold ɾanʤi ɾanŋɡi ɾaɡí ɾaɡi ɾaŋɡú 305 buy ja ja ja ja já 306 sell jajima jajima jajima jajima jámà 307 give birth ambama ambama ɛmbama ámbámā ámbámà 308 marry tókō ʃɔɔnu toko toko étókō 309 die k͡pomo k͡pomo k͡pomo k͡pomo ék͡pómo 310 kill uɡ͡bɛumma ɛmɡ͡bɛ mɡ͡bɛ mɡ͡bɛ émɡ͡bɛmà 311* drop tanʤima taɲimaʤi ʃimɛʤi taŋɡīma ʃiŋɡú(mɛʤi) 312 fall over tamma atama tàmá tàmá tàmá 313 walk zɛma zɛma zɛma zɛma zɛ̄ma 314 run ɾeɲa ɾeɲa ɾeɲa ɾeɲa ɾeɲa 315 fly ìmokaɾima imoʃi imokaɾima ìmòmǒʃí àjimò 316 jump across bezama bezama bezama bezama hùmò 317 swim otanbi tembi tembi témbī tembi 318 come bo bo bo bo bő 319 enter femo femo femo femo fémò 320 exit wɔma wɔma wɔma wɔma wɔ́kudù 321 go kiso or bi ʃemo kiso kiso ʃêmò 322 follow ᵐbalu ᵐbalu ᵐbalu mbàlú baluwū 323 send ʃemo ilɔma lɔma ilɔ lɔ̄wùma 324 cut k͡polo k͡pʊlo k͡polo k͡polo k͡poloŋɡumo 325* cut down za k͡pʊlo k͡polo za k͡poloŋɡumo 326* cut neck sopumu k͡pʊlo ɾikepo ɾíkēpō / sópūmò k͡poloŋɡumo 327 break muŋɡi muŋɡi muŋɡi ʃɛ́kɛ̀ ʃɛ́kè
328 split za za táɾà 329 scratch īvomo īvomo ivomo ivomo vomo
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# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 330* cook ʃumɔji ɡuŋɡi wūɾéko vjē vīɔwɛ́ 331 boil iwuma iʤiɾima iwuna iwuna wúnà
332* fry ᵐɡ͡bola ipumo mɡ͡bola nʤìɾ̀ 333 hunt ɡɔma iɡɔma ɡɔmà kwoto fókótó 334 hit k͡pa k͡pau k͡pa k͡pa k͡pá 335 tie maɡimma maʤi ma ma màmà 336 sew ɡ͡bɛ ɡ͡bɔŋɡ ma ma ɡ͡bɔ́ 337 forge ɡ͡bɛma kondo kóndo kóndo kondo 338 burn ipumo kuŋɡimo ɡ͡bɔ̀ ɡ͡bɔ̀ púmò 339 throw taŋ taŋ po po tóŋ 340 pour fu / jimo fuŋɡi fu fu fú
341* pour out fu fu fú
342 fill ɲjɔlɔ ɲjɔlɔ ɲjɔlɔ ɲjɔlɔ 343 push k͡paŋɡi bɔwewo bɔ bɔ túɾù 344 pull ju ju ji jī jímò 345 squeeze pri pɾi piɾi ʃīɾí píɾì 346 dig vu vu vu vu fúmà 347 plant so so so so sumo 348 harvest mɡ͡be bi mɡ͡bɛ́ mɡ͡bɛ́ ēwíɾí
Appendix F: Plurals Wordlists
Rows numbered 61, 65, 75–82, 84, 98–99, 116–118, and 133–134 have been removed because there was no data.
# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu
1 broom ējō ējō
2 mortar ímí ímí ímí ímí
3 pestle éʃí éʃí éʃí éʃí
4 rope èɾmǒkī èɾmǒkī eɾìmóki eɾìmóki
5 basket lúbīɾí lobiɾi lobiɾi
6 clothing èk͡pàjì èk͡pàjì èk͡pàjì èk͡pàjì
7 road/path ɛɡūzɛ ɛɡūzɛ ɛɡūzɛ ɛɡūzɛ
8 pit ɛvɔ ɛvɔ ɛvɔ ɛvɔ
9 house/hut áɡ͡bà áɡ͡bà áɡ͡bà áɡ͡bà
10 room ìɡù ìɡù ìɡù ìɡù
11 door ɾīkū ɾīkū ābɛ́ ābɛ́
12 chair/stool lɔ̀ɡi lɔ̀ɡi lɔ̀ɡi lɔ̀ɡi 13 salt etōpà etōpà etōpʷà etōpʷà etɔpa 14 tree áwējí áwējí áwɛ̄jī áwɛ̄jī áwɛ̄jī 15 leaf epú epú épú épú epu 16 bark ékū ékū ēkù ēkù eku
17 branch ēnde ēnde endé endé 18 root āk͡pā āk͡pā épú épú ak͡pa
19 medicine epú epú épú épú 20 thorn awūlā awūlā awūlā awūlā āwūlā 21 firewood ŋwɛ̄wúɾū ŋwɛ̄wúɾū ɛwɛj ŋwɔji ɛwɛj ŋwɔji awɛji
22 shea butter tree alāsā alāsā alāsā alāsā
23 mahogany ɛ́ví ɛ̄ví ɛ̄ví
24 farm (field) itú itú itú itú
25 bush ákátá ákátá ákátá ákátá
26 grass ase ase ase ase
27 forest eʤiʤì eʤiʤì
28 seed eji eji
29 groundnut eʃátā eʃátā èʃátá èʃátá 30 bambara nut efē efē efē efē ēfē 31 guinea corn awa awa īkū īkū ēkō
54 55
# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu 32 millet ǎnʤī ǎnʤī ǎnʤī kukata ānzā 34 yam ísú ísú ísu ísu īsū 35 bean eʃíkí eʃíkí eʃiki eʃiki ēnzē 36 locust bean tree aná aná aēná aná kɛ̄ɲa
37 zobo leaf eɲákūwá eɲákūwá aōɲákūwá aōɲákūwá 38 okra etō etō etō etō ētō 39 meat ēvjé ēvjé ēvjé ēvjé īvjé
40 fat āfjà āfjà āfjà
41 egg àʃí àʃí aʃi
42 tuwo / ɛwɛ ɛwɛ ɛwɛ́ ɛwɛ́ fu-fu 43 soup ɜsɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ ɜsɔ̄ 44 flower ekulu ekulu ekulu ekulu ekulu 45 fruit īmuna īmuna imuna imuna imuna 46 hair īɲí īɲí īɲí īɲí iɲí 47 head éʃí éʃí éʃí éʃí éʃí
48 forehead idú idú idú idú 49 ear álū álū álū álū álū
50 mouth lūnzū lūnzū lūnzū lūnzū 51 tooth ɛ́ɲì ɛ́ɲì ɛ́ɲì ɛ́ɲì ɛɲi
52 tongue ɛ̀tùnɛ̀ ɛ̀tùnɛ̀ ɛtíɛ̀ ɛtíɛ̀
53 chin àŋɡ͡bà àŋɡ͡bà ámùɡɔ̀ ámùɡɔ̀
54 beard lósó lósó lósó lósó
55 nose āwù āwù awuŋ awuŋ
56 eye éjī éjī éjī éjī
57 neck lúto lúto lúto lúto
58 shoulder ésúwó ésúwó ésúwó ésúwó
59 back ɛ́sú ɛ́sú ɛ́sú ɛ́sú
60 knee épúnú épúnú épúnú épúnú
62 foot ataɛʤi ataɛʤi ataɛʤi ataɛʤi
63 thigh ebujalɛ ebujalɛ ebujalɛ ebujalɛ
64 hand ewo ewo ewo ewo 66 finger ɛfi ɛfi ɛfi ɛfi ɛfi
67 skin ek͡po ek͡po ek͡po ek͡po
68 bone eku eku eku eku
56
# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu
69 breast emɛ emɛ amɛ amɛ
70 belly ibu ibu
71 stomach asubu asubu
72 navel eko eko eko eko
73 intestines ɔkɔ ɔkɔ ákɔ̀ ákɔ̀
74 heart īdíɛku īdíɛku iduŋɛnʤi iduŋɛnʤi
83 corpse ɛk͡pɛ́ʤí ɛk͡pɛ́ʤí
85 woman ekok͡paji ekok͡paji ekok͡paji ekok͡paji
86 man anzɔ́nū anzɔ́nū anzɔ́nū anzɔ́nū
87 [L1_] language ɛnzù ɛnzù ese lonzu
88 [L1_] person enzu enzebele
89 person enzu
90 father mbádā mbádā
91 mother mbɛ́nɛ̄ mbɛ́nɛ̄ mbɛ́nɛ̄ mbɛ́nɛ̄
92 child ame ame ámɛ́ ámɛ́
93 old person enzubakɔ́ enzubakɔ́ enzwákɔ́ enzwákɔ́
94 chief asù asù
95 blacksmith énzukóndó énzukóndó wandókondo wandókondo
96 friend amɛ́zàmī amɛ́zàmī ameza ameza
97 stranger āɡ͡bōɡā āɡ͡bōɡā āɡ͡bōɡā āɡ͡bōɡā
100 animal ìzɔʃi ìzɔʃi
101 dog ízú ízú ízú ízú
102 goat ɛ́mú ɛ́mú ɛ́mú ɛ́mú
103 cow éndó éndó
104 sheep élɔ̀ élɔ̀ élɔ̀ élɔ̀
105 chicken ɛ́nú ɛ́nú
106 guinea fowl ésú ésú
107 bird ɔ́fí ɔ́fí ak͡pāku ak͡pāku
108 horn ílɔ́ ílɔ́ ílɔ́ ílɔ́
109 tail ɛ́ʣɛ ɛ́ʣɛ ɛzɛ ɛzɛ
110 claw ɛkúɾàfī afijiɔk͡paku
111 wing ekowo ekowo ekowo ekowo
112 feather ekere ekere ekere ekere
113 snake ákú ákú
57
# English gloss Apawu Kuri Kana 1 Usha-Kadu Akum Usha-Olugwu
114 tortoise ekunabo ekunabo ekuɾunʤɛ ekuɾunʤɛ
115 agama lizard aɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ aɾɔ̀ʤɔ́ ākʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄ ākʷɔ̀ɾɔkʲɔ̄
119 fish emū emū emù emù
120 toad awaji awaji aji aji
121 rat īkí īkí īkí īkí
122 bush pig eɾísú eɾísú eɾūsū eɾūsū
123 red monkey abàɡùʷɔ̀sɛ̀ abàɡùʷɔ̀sɛ̀ abàɡùɔ̀sɛ̀ abàɡùɔ̀sɛ̀
124 buffalo aŋá aŋá
125 elephant íŋɡí íŋɡí
126 hyena etùmúsú etùmúsú etùmúsú etùmúsú
127 fly îʤì îʤì ìʤì ìʤì
128 louse (head louse) ɛ́k͡pí ɛ́k͡pí àʃámá
129 spider afī afī afī afī
130 mosquito ìʤítú ìʤítú
131 honeybee éwú éwú éwú éwú
132 scorpion anà anà anà anà
135 ashes ɛlɔ ɛlɔ ɛlɔ ɛlɔ
136 stick epí epí epí epí
137 stone eki eki eki eki
Appendix G: GPS Points for Select Villages
Village name Dialect Longitude Latitude Kana 1 Mbeki 7.871033 8.544864 Apawu Kuri Mbeki 7.901318 8.545445 Abgowa Mbeki 7.908290 8.543121 Kana 2 Mbeki 7.917659 8.542830 Apawu Mbeki 7.931167 8.541087 Agwada Mbeki 7.945399 8.542084 Onda Mbeki 7.801205 8.500711 Ayini Mbeki 7.955788 8.595504 Amar Mbeki 7.963935 8.628277 Mararaban Shabu Mbeki 7.965231 8.641979 Agabeye Mbeki 7.976341 8.654200 Angwan Auta Mbeki 7.994672 8.669754 Kofa Gwada Mbeki 8.007633 8.686974 Ogapa Mbeki (?) 7.750814 8.419056 Ebbeh Ambu 7.797477 8.314427 Kuvo Ambu 7.869769 8.263136 Gada Hudu Ambu 7.885116 8.238904 Usha-Kadu Ambu 7.880269 8.189632 Akum Ambu 7.965922 8.122572 Ogobo Ambu 7.995973 8.093952 Ushata 1 Ambu 7.833317 8.089659 Ushata 2 Ambu 7.841882 8.060801 Onogbo Ambu 7.840224 8.050856 Loko “riverside” (?) 7.815032 8.003951 Oweto “riverside” 7.824313 7.958371 Ogba “riverside” 7.824313 7.940140 Usha-Olugwu “riverside” 7.827297 7.933841 Ogam “riverside” 7.829285 7.913289
58
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