Summary of Kambari Sociolinguistic Survey
Marcus Hansley, Samuel Ayenajeh, John Muniru, Michael J. Rueck 4 October 2012
Summary A survey was done in the section of the Kambari language area between Kontagora, Birnin Yauri and Rijau in north-western Nigeria to determine which languages people use in that area, the vitality of the languages and what opportunities exist there for language development. The research was focused particularly on the Kambari languages spoken within this triangle. Sociolinguistic data was collected in seventeen different villages throughout the area using group interviews and wordlists. It appears that Tsuvaɗi is the primary Kambari language spoken in this area. There were some Agwara Kambari (Cishingini) villages in the western corner of the triangle, near Birnin Yauri. There were also Hausa, Dukawa, Dakarkari, and Fulani villages and speakers throughout the triangle. Agaɗi is not actually an identifiable language inside this triangle, but a relative term which means “highlander” or “northerner”. Those people we expected to be Agaɗi and speak Tsugaɗi told us that they are Avaɗi people who speak Tsuvaɗi. However, there is a real linguistic difference between two dialects of Tsuvaɗi with a rough dividing line between them along the Malendo River, which flows from east to west across the triangle. The Tsuvaɗi language appears to have high vitality, especially in interior villages away from paved roads.
Contents Introduction ...... 1 Previous research and work done in Kambari languages ...... 1 Language Identification ...... 2 Social Identity ...... 4 Contact Patterns ...... 6 Bilingual Proficiency/Language Use ...... 7 Language Vitality ...... 9 Language Acceptability ...... 11 Literature Acceptability ...... 13 Literacy ...... 13 Development needs ...... 14 Conclusions ...... 15 Bibliography...... 17
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Introduction The purpose of this survey was to conduct sociolinguistic research in the triangle area between Kontagora, Birnin Yauri and Rijau in north-western Nigeria (see Map 1). This area has previously been known as “the hidden triangle” according to missiologists Lois Fuller and Jim McDowell as not much was known about the groups living there or their languages (Stark & Stark 1993: 2). Roger Blench confirmed just prior to this survey, that the linguistic situation in this triangle was still largely a mystery. Map 1 is based on the most recent information in the Ethnologue, and is only meant to show the relative geographic locations of languages, and is not an exact representation of the actual extents of these languages. The Kambari Language Project (KLP) leadership asked the Language Development Facilitators to do a survey of this area with a view to expanding language development throughout the rest of the Kambari language cluster. The goals of the survey were to determine what languages people use in the area and the vitality of the languages and to discover what opportunities exist for developing the languages in the area, with a particular focus on the Kambari languages. It was also important to describe the development needs of the minority groups in the area to know how to best promote development of their languages. The data were gathered by Marcus Hansley, Samuel Ayenajeh, John Muniru, Michael J. Rueck, Benjamin Gimba, John Isaiah and Michael Bawa from March 3 to March 20 2011 with the support of His Royal Highness Sa’idu Namaska, the Emir of Kontagora (Maisudan), Alhaji Daudu Hussaini, the honourable District Head of Ibelu, Col. Y.D. Salka (Rtd), Mr. James N. Yusef, Acting KLP Coordinator, Mr. Danjuma Langashi, Controller NPC of Magama LGA, and the leadership of the Kambari Language Project. This survey would not have been possible without the help and cooperation of the chiefs, leaders, pastors and residents of the following villages that we visited: Alanga Kure, Angu, Azozo, Baduku, Bisalla, Cita, Filin Jirgi, Gajimari, Jigawa, Kwanzo Kwanzo, Malodi, Marando, Kongo Masanji, Masavo, Nkuku, Rafintaba, Raha, Tungan Mamman and Warari (see Map 2). Kambari speakers were the majority of the population of these villages with the exception of Azozo where Kambari people were a minority. We visited seventeen different villages and collected sociolinguistic data using group interviews, participatory methods, observations and wordlists. Our sampling strategy for getting complete coverage of the triangle was to collect 399-item wordlists and sociolinguistics questionnaires in at least two places of each identifiable variety of a Kambari language, and 50-item wordlists and shorter questionnaires in enough other places to get overlap in the data. The results of our research are presented below organized by topic together with our particular research questions pertinent to each topic.
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Map 1: Languages spoken in the triangle area
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Previous research and work done in Kambari languages The name Kambari is first mentioned and spelt as Kambali in Polyglotta Africana (Koelle 1854: 19). The name has other variants including Kamberi, Kamberri, Kamberawa and Cumbry (Gunn and Conant 1960: 21). The Kambari people are said to be found all over the old Kontagora province, now in Niger state. Today, this is a large area surrounding the Kainji Dam, in Agwara, Borgu, Magama, Mashegu, Kontagora, Mariga and Rijau local government areas (LGA) of Niger state and Ngaski, Yauri and Shanga LGA’s of Kebbi state. (CAPRO Research Office 1995: 112) The Kambari are believed to have originated from the “highlands between the south of Zaria and the north of Niger province”. It is also believed that they came from Katsina country (Temple 1919, 200). But the Kambari of Wara claim to come from Zakanna Hill around Busa, the Kambari of Salka believe they originated from where they are found presently, while the Kambari of Argida and Auna maintain that they originated from Katsina (Gunn and Conant 1960). David Crozier and Roger Blench (1992: 64) group the Kambari languages into two clusters: 1) Agaɗi (Tsɨgaɗi, Kakihum), Avaɗi (Tsɨvaɗi, Ibeto), Baangi, Ashingini (Cishingini, Salka), Yumu and 2) Agaushi (Cishingini, Auna), Akimba (Tsɨkimba, Auna, Wara), Nwanci (Tsɨwənci, Mawunci, Agwara). These languages are reportedly not mutually intelligible, particularly between clusters. John and Janie Stark describe the area inside the triangle formed by Kontagora, Yelwa (as the new Birnin Yauri is also known), and Rijau as “the hidden triangle”. The population in this triangle is Kambari, Duka, Hausa and Fulani. They state that “it is common in any given 5 km square that a mix of groups is represented. Ethnic group homogeneity is very rare, while a high degree of regular interaction with members of other groups is the norm” (Stark & Stark 1993: 2). Carl Hoffman produced three papers on Central Kambari based on the dialect found in Raba and Salka, which are located within three miles of each other. They describe the noun class system, include a 700-item wordlist, and discuss the vowel contraction and elision processes (Hoffmann 1963; 1965; 1972). David Lovelace did some work in Tsuvaɗi including putting together an 1800- item wordlist, which is the most comprehensive one to date (Lovelace 1990). Jan Camburn conducted sociolinguistic research and collected wordlists in the upper region of the triangle just south of Rijau in the late 1990s. She concluded that there were two different dialects of Tsuvaɗi: the Ozozolo on the west side of the road between Kontagora and Rijau speak one dialect, and the Azagaɗi on the east side of the road speak the other dialect (Camburn 1999: 7). We note that Crozier and Blench referred to the language found in Salka as Cishingini, however the KLP has used the spelling “Cishingini” for Western Kambari, also known as Agwara by Hausa speakers, and have named the Kambari language found in Salka “Tsishingini”. Since this survey was at the request of the KLP, and for the sake of continuing with the most recent work being done in the language, we will refer to the language spoken in Salka as Tsishingini, and that spoken in Agwara or Western Kambari as Cishingini for the remainder of this report. The KLP also refers to the Kambari language spoken in Auna as Tsikimba. Most recently, the KLP
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has published primers and dictionaries in Tsishingini of Salka and Tsikimba of Auna. The New Testament has also recently been published in Tsikimba.
Language Identification Which languages are spoken in the area? There are six languages spoken in the triangle area: Cishingini (Agwara Kambari) [ISO 639-3 identifier: asg], Tsuvaɗi [tvd], Dukawa (Hun-Saare) [dud] and Dakarkari (c’Lela) [dri] (four Western Kainji languages) and Fulfulde [fuv] and Hausa [hau]. Cishingini is spoken in the western corner of the triangle around Birnin Yauri. We found that Tsuvaɗi was divided into two dialects, which could be called Tsuvaɗi- Agaɗi, centred on Genu in the north of the triangle, and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo, centred on Raha in the south of the triangle (see Map 2). We gathered our primary data for Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo in Raha, Azozo and Kwanzo Kwanzo, for Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi in Malodi and Nkuku and for Cishingini in Filin Jirgi and Jigawa. Map 2: Triangle Area between Kontagora, Birnin Yauri and Rijau.
The name Tsuvaɗi consists of the noun class prefix tsu- appended to the root vaɗi (Crozier 1984, 66-67) and (Blench 2007: 34 & 38). The Ethnologue lists the classification of Tsuvaɗi as: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue- Congo, Kainji, Western, Kambari (Lewis 2009). The other members of the Kambari linguistic family are: Kakihum (Agaɗi) [kxe], Baangi [bqx], Salka (Tsishingini) [tsw], Yumu, Agaushi, Tsɨkimba (Auna) [kdl], and Agwara (Cishingini).
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How are any newly discovered or undeveloped languages related to the Kambari languages? Where are these previously unreported languages located geographically? While we did not find any previously unreported languages, there was one language mentioned which is not currently listed in the Ethnologue. In Masavo they told us that some people speak Gonfawa along the road to Zuru just north of Rijau. Most likely, however, this is just an alternate pronunciation of Gwamfawa, a dialect of Gwamhi-Wuri [bga], which belongs to the Duka branch of the Western Kainji languages along with Dukawa, c’Lela, and Damakawa [dam]. How are any previously unreported language(s) or dialects within the area related to each other? In order to show which Kambari language any newly discovered varieties might be most closely related to, we chose 50 words from Roger Blench’s Comparative West Kainji Wordlist Project (2011) that highlighted known differences between the Kambari languages. We elicited these 50 words in the sixteen villages we visited and using Blair’s method (Blair 1990, 21-33) compared them with each other and the Tsishingini composite wordlist compiled from several elicitations in Salka by Roger Blench (Blench 2011). There were two wordlists taken at Kongo Masanji, as there were both Tsuvaɗi and Cishingini speakers living in the same village. Although we did not discover any new Kambari varieties, we can see in Table 1 that for these 50 items, all of the Tsuvaɗi lists group together with no clear distinction between the Agaɗi and the Azozolo varieties. (The dialect or language spoken in each village is indicated in Table 1 and Table 2 by (T Ag) for Tsuvaɗi- Agaɗi, (T Az) for Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo and (C) for Cishingini.) Note also that the distinction between Tsuvaɗi, Tsishingini and Cishingini is clear, and that Tsuvaɗi is more similar to Tsishingini than to Cishingini, as suggested by Crozier and Blench’s groupings (1992: 64).
Table 1: Lexical similarity results for 50-item wordlists
Nkuku (T Ag) 98 Angu (T Ag) 96 94 Baduku (T Ag) 93 91 93 Malodi (T Ag) 93 91 91 93 Masavo (Tsuvaɗi) 91 89 91 93 96 Azozo (T Az) 93 91 89 89 91 89 Alanga Kure (T Ag) 93 91 91 91 91 91 93 Marando (T Ag) 89 89 90 87 87 91 89 100 Kwanzo Kwanzo (T Az) 89 93 89 87 89 84 87 91 87 Cita (T Ag) 91 89 91 89 89 89 87 93 89 87 Bisalla (T Az) 91 89 89 91 84 87 85 89 87 82 85 Raha (T Az) 82 81 81 83 82 84 81 89 91 78 83 87 Kongo Masanji (T Az) 81 76 74 75 73 76 78 76 76 70 69 78 78 Tsishingini (Composite) 64 64 60 63 61 67 66 66 67 57 57 61 66 61 Tungan Mamman (C) 62 57 58 61 59 61 64 64 65 54 54 59 68 63 90 Kongo Masanji (C) 64 62 60 59 61 67 66 68 69 57 57 59 64 65 88 88 Filin Jirgi (C) 60 57 58 54 57 63 62 64 65 52 52 54 60 61 85 88 96 Jigawa (C)
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From the comparison of 399-item wordlists, we note the shared vocabulary between the four Tsuvaɗi lists and the two Cishingini lists (from Jigawa and Filin Jirgi villages) is not greater than 60 percent (see Table 2).
Table 2: Lexical similarity results for 399-item wordlists Malodi (T Ag) 93 Nkuku (T Ag) 79 78 Azozo (T Az) 77 77 85 Raha (T Az) 58 58 60 59 Filin Jirgi (C) 56 55 59 57 92 Jigawa (C)
We further learned that there is a difference in the vocabularies of Agaɗi and Azozolo Tsuvaɗi. The wordlists taken in Raha and Azozo (Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo villages) and in Malodi and Nkuku (Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi villages) are between 77% and 79% lexically similar. Although there are differences between these two dialects, it is still possible that they could be mutually intelligible. Jan Camburn had collected some wordlists on a survey in the 1990s. Her survey focussed mostly on Tsuvaɗi villages to the east of the road between Kontagora and Rijau. Although it is not clear, we believe Camburn’s lists are orthographic transcriptions and we were able to compare 204 matching words between her wordlists from Mazame and Idaci and ours. The results (in Table 3) show at least 75% lexical similarity between Camburn’s lists and the Tsuvaɗi villages in the triangle area. We also see a classic dialect chaining pattern with the Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi in the north of the triangle (at Malodi and Nkuku) as the central link between the Tsuvaɗi- Agaɗi to the east of the triangle (at Mazame and Idaci) and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo in the southern part of the triangle. The adjacent links share about 83% lexical similarity while the links on either end are only about 77% lexically similar to each other.
Table 3: Lexical similarity results for 204-item wordlists Idaci (Tsuvaɗi) 98 Mazame (Tsuvaɗi) 83 85 Malodi (T Ag) 82 82 96 Nkuku (T Ag) 78 80 84 84 Azozo (T Az) 75 76 83 82 91 Raha (T Az) 55 55 59 61 60 59 Filin Jirgi (C) 52 53 56 56 60 57 94 Jigawa (C)
Social Identity How many clans/ethnic groups are there? There appear to only be two primary clan or ethnic groups who speak Kambari in the triangle area, with one of those groups being divided into sub-groups. People
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either associate themselves as Avaɗi people who speak Tsuvaɗi or Kambari people who speak Cishingini. There does seem to be a difference in culture between the Avaɗi in the north of the triangle area and those in the south. Those in the north tend to have more body- markings and are clinging more tightly to the traditions of their ancestors. Many of those in the south have adopted Islam. Avaɗi people referring to the people in the north as Agaɗi people may contribute to the perception that their language is slightly different from that of the people in the north. In a dialect mapping exercise, we asked groups to name surrounding villages and arrange labels with these names written on them as a map on the ground. They then distinguished which language was spoken in each village, reflecting their perceptions of which languages are used in the area and how they are related. The results show that Tsuvaɗi speakers separate themselves into two groups with the exception of the people of Masavo, who identified themselves with both groups (see Map 3). On the map we have only shown villages that were mentioned by people in at least two different villages as there is not enough space on the map to show all of the villages that were mentioned everywhere. Map 3: Dialect Mapping results showing two dialects of Tsuvaɗi.
It is important to note that in most places we visited the people did not identify themselves as Agaɗi. In Marando when we first arrived, our guide said they were Agaɗi people, but the people themselves said they were Avaɗi. In Malodi they said that some outsiders call them Agaɗi, but that they call themselves Avaɗi. There were a few exceptions where people changed what they called themselves. In both
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Bisalla and Baduku they at first said they were Agaɗi people, but once we started asking questions, they said they were Avaɗi. Also in Bisalla, they said they speak Katunga; in Kongo Masanji they said they speak both Tsuvaɗi and Cishingini. In Cita they first said they speak Azozolo, but then later said they speak Tsuvaɗi. We note that Hoffman had a similar experience when he did research in this area (Hoffman 1965, 7). There are also Dakarkari, Dukawa, Fulani and Hausa people throughout the area. Some live in villages of their own and some live with the Kambari people in their villages. How do they relate to each other? Nearly all of the Kambari people reported that they are one people because they come from the same ancestors, they speak the same language and because they intermarry with each other. They explained that the differences between the Kambari people are because of geographic location. At Filin Jirgi they suggested this was because people spread out looking for land they could farm. In Cita, Nkuku, Baduku and Malodi, which are all villages north of the Malendo River, they said that they do not marry people outside of the Kambari language group at all. However, the people in seven other villages said they do sometimes marry Hausas, and four villages reported intermarrying with the Dukawa. The great majority of marriages though are still among the Kambari people themselves. What languages do they speak? The Kambari peoples in the triangle speak Tsuvaɗi and Cishingini. There appear to be two different dialects of Tsuvaɗi. There are different terms that people use to describe themselves. Avaɗi is what people call themselves, and this name appears to be based on a root meaning ‘world’. Some people referred to people in the Northeast as Agaɗi, which means ‘those in the highlands’, derived from gaɗi ‘high’. Some people in the North referred to people in the Southwest as Azozolo, which means ‘people in the lowlands’, derived from zolo ‘low’. Although the people preferred the term Avaɗi to Agaɗi or Azozolo, perhaps Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo would be acceptable names for the two dialects.
Contact Patterns Economic/Commercial units There are several markets in the area. The ones at Genu, Rijau and Bunu were the only ones mentioned in two villages (Malodi and Nkuku) as markets that people from both go to. Yangalu, Ibeto, Libele, Birnin Yauri and Gengi were other places mentioned with markets that people from Azozo, Raha, Kwanzo Kwanzo and Filin Jirgi travel to. Hausa is the language that is most spoken at the markets, however, if there are other Kambari there, they will speak with them in Kambari. Intermarriage Tsuvaɗi and Cishingini speakers, for the most part, do not intermarry with people from other language groups. It appears that Tsuvaɗi speakers in the northern section of the triangle marry almost exclusively other Tsuvaɗi speakers from neighbouring villages. In the southern section of the triangle there is more intermarriage with members of other language groups, but Tsuvaɗi people mainly
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intermarry within their own dialect community. In all the Kambari villages visited, a woman who is from the outside, who speaks a different Tsuvaɗi dialect or other language, will move to her husband’s village and learn to speak his Tsuvaɗi dialect well. Their children will almost always learn his Tsuvaɗi dialect and sometimes will also learn the mother’s language as well. This points towards high language vitality for Tsuvaɗi as children continue to hear it used more than other languages in the area. Migration Cishingini speakers at Filin Jirgi and Jigawa said they originate from Gumbi, just to the west of their area. The chief at Tungan Mamman1 said he originated from Rofia about 80 years ago and was the first to settle in the area. Other Cishingini speakers settled first at Filin Jirgi and then migrated to Tungan Mamman. Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo people at Azozo and Bisalla both said they come from places which are close to Ibeto. People at Kongo Masanji, who speak Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo, said they came from Libele. People in Kwanzo Kwanzo who are also Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo speakers said they originate from where they are now. This shows that people south of the Malendo River have tended, in recent times, to migrate northwards from the road between Kontagora and Birnin Yauri. People in Marando and Baduku said they originate from Argida, which we note is also one of the places most of the Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi villages mention as a place where people speak the same as they do. Argida seems to be one of the first villages where people settled in the area north of the Malendo River. People in Masavo said they originate from the nearby mountain. People in Cita said they originate from Katsina. People reported that foreigners and their children who move into a Kambari village do not usually learn the local language, but continue to learn and speak their own language among themselves and use Hausa to communicate with Kambari speakers. Hausa is the language used by Kambari speakers to communicate with non-Kambari immigrants. The search for farming land is the most common reason for outsiders to move into the area.
Bilingual Proficiency/Language Use What other languages are spoken by Kambari people? Besides Kambari, Hausa is the primary language spoken by the Kambari people in the villages we visited. Dukawa, Fulfulde and c’Lela are spoken only by people of those people groups who live in the area. In all of the villages we visited there was no-one who spoke English well enough to interpret for us. Are any neighbouring languages spoken fluently by the Kambari? In all the answers to our questions about bilingualism, there were none that showed that Kambari people learn to speak neighbouring languages fluently. However, many people in most of the villages visited have learned to speak Hausa to varying degrees as a Language of Wider Communication (LWC). Kambari people
1 Traditionally called Lokacin Mamman.
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use Hausa as the LWC because there are Hausa settlements scattered throughout the triangle area, it is the primary language used at large markets and it is used as the language of instruction in some schools in the area. The Kambari also use Hausa to communicate with the Dukawa, Fulfulde and Dakarkari living in the area. The most common other language that was spoken in Kambari villages after Hausa was Dukawa, followed by Fulfulde. It seems, though, that the people who speak these languages in each of the villages are outsiders who have either married Kambari people in the village or who have immigrated to that village. Only in Filin Jirgi did they say that a man from their village who marries a woman who speaks a different language will learn her language himself. In all the other villages they said the women who immigrate will learn to speak the language of their village. English is only used by people who have been educated. English is used as the language of instruction by some schools in the area. Which segments of society use which language? In all of the villages that we visited, the men use and speak Hausa more than the women. In fact, in Angu the women reportedly do not speak Hausa at all. In general, young men and women speak Hausa more than the older generations. What is the perceived language proficiency of social segments? We chose six villages in which to collect representative data about language use by what we considered the primary Kambari groups within the triangle area. These were: Nkuku and Malodi for Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi; Azozo, Kwanzo Kwanzo and Raha for Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo; and Filin Jirgi for Cishingini. Regarding the elders’ proficiency in Hausa, in three of the six villages they said that only the men can speak it, and in Kwanzo Kwanzo they said the old men only know a few greetings in Hausa. As for the middle-aged generation, in Raha, Malodi, Nkuku and Azozo they said that middle-aged men can speak Hausa well, but in Raha and Nkuku the middle- aged women do not speak it well. As for the young adults, in Azozo and Filin Jirgi they reported that young men and women speak Hausa well. In Raha, young men speak Hausa, and a few young women speak it a bit. In Kwanzo Kwanzo only the young men speak it between themselves. This is possibly from influence by a local primary school and the Kwanzo Kwanzo mosque using Hausa as the language of communication. Concerning the children’s Hausa proficiency, in Raha, Malodi and Nkuku the children only speak a bit of Hausa, but in Azozo and Filin Jirgi they speak it well, and in Kwanzo Kwanzo the older children speak it well. Both men and women of all age groups reportedly speak Hausa well in Azozo. We note that this village was one of the closest ones to Kontagora, and we therefore expected more Hausa to be spoken in this area. How/where do people learn these languages? Hausa is learned mostly at home and school according to the people in the villages we visited. They also use Hausa with outsiders who do not speak their language and when they go into town. The average age at which children learn to
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speak Hausa is five to seven years old, although they could begin learning as young as two years old (at Tungan Mamman) and as old as 15 years (at Marando). Those very few Kambari children who have a parent who does not speak the local dialect of Kambari will learn that parent’s language, most likely Dukawa, Fulfulde or a different Kambari language, from them.
Language Vitality Perceived language vitality and the people’s feelings regarding their language. People in all of the villages we visited said that it is good for them to speak their own language and that their children and their great grandchildren will still be speaking Kambari. They reported that they would not be happy if their children would not continue to learn the local language. They said they are proud of their language. In most villages they said there is no situation in which they should not use their own language, although in a few villages they said they should use a different language if the people they are speaking with do not understand Kambari. They reported that children in all of the villages visited learn and speak the local language very well and it is the first language that they learn. We observed children speaking Kambari in several villages. In Raha and Tungan Mamman, however, they did say they fear there will be some loss of Kambari, specifically to Hausa. Only in Kwanzo Kwanzo did the people say that Hausa is better than their language, although in Kongo Masanji they acknowledged English is better for travelling. People in all other villages we visited said that Kambari is better than Hausa or English. There were, however, some villages in Magama LGA whose Muslim leaders refused to allow us to gather data. It would not be surprising if Hausa is valued above Kambari in such villages. In the southern Avaɗi villages of Raha, Azozo and Kwanzo Kwanzo they said God likes every language. However, in the Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi villages of Malodi and Nkuku and the Agwara village of Filin Jirgi they said that God only likes the Kambari language. How many people speak the Kambari languages found inside this triangle? In 1993 John and Janie Stark estimated the populations of speakers of Kambari languages in certain LGA’s in Niger and Kebbi states. This included population estimates of all the Kambari people inside the triangle area, as well as other places Kambari people lived. This was based on 1991 census data and Kambari leaders’ estimates of what percentage of various LGAs were Kambari. They estimated that there were at least 166,000 Kambari people living in Magama (75%), Rijau (25%) and Agwara (84%) LGAs. This included speakers from several different Kambari languages. This figure did not include Kambari speakers in Mariga (16%), Borgu (10%), Ngaski (88%) and Yauri (16%) LGAs because they did not have census data for these LGAs, but the Starks estimated a grand total of around 250,000 Kambari (Stark and Stark 1993: 2). Most of these LGAs appear to have approximately the same boundaries as they did in 1993, so it seems reasonable to assume that the ethnic proportions within them are still the same. Mariga LGA has since been split into Mariga, Kontagora, Mashegu and Wushishi LGAs, so we have estimated the percentage of Avaɗi in these
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LGAs based on the previous estimate, the new boundaries and the assumption that very few Avaɗi, who prefer rural settlements, will be living in Kontagora town. Our estimates (see Table 4) add up to a total population of about 120,000 Tsuvaɗi speakers today. Note that the Avaɗi population estimates in Table 4 include those outside the triangle area as well as those inside it. Table 4: Estimated Avaɗi population Estimated Population Percentage Estimated Estimated 2011 (2006 Avaɗi by LGA, 2006 Avaɗi Avaɗi LGA Census) 2011* Population Population** Magama 181,653 15% 27,000 32,000 Rijau 176,053 25% 44,000 52,000 Mariga 199,430 10% 20,000 24,000 Kontagora† 151,944 5% 7,500 9,000 *This is based on percentage of geographical area where Avaɗi currently live in each LGA (Hansley, 2011) **Niger State annual growth rate of 3.4% (2006 Census) †Kontagora LGA was part of Mariga LGA when the Starks’ estimate was made.
Residents of Filing Jirgi and Tungan Mamman identified a total of nine villages inside the triangle where Cishingini was spoken. We also found a few Cishingini speakers in Jigawa and Kongo Masanji. Considering the possibility of additional Cishingini speaking villages inside the triangle to the west of the ones we visited and the size of the villages we visited we conclude that there could be up to 5,000 Cishingini speakers in the triangle area. Which languages dominate in which domains? Is there stable diglossia? People mentioned the domains of the home and the farm as the two most dominated by Kambari. In some villages Kambari is the only language used when telling stories or relaxing and talking or when talking with relatives or in-laws. The only domain where Hausa is used exclusively is when they are speaking to people who do not speak any Kambari. There does seem to be diglossia, with Hausa as the language of trade and communication with outsiders and Kambari being used at home and with insiders. However, there does appear to be a general trend towards using more Hausa in the home and village, therefore the diglossia in this area may be losing its stability. As people listed places and occasions in which they speak different languages, school was only mentioned twice; they said in Raha that they use Hausa in school and in Cita that they use Tsuvaɗi in school. Is there a generational shift in language use? In five out of six villages where we used the long questionnaire, people said that the youth mix Hausa words with Kambari words when speaking Kambari, and they said this is a good thing. The reasons they gave for this being good are:
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Raha: Because languages are being mixed up in the world. Malodi: Because they live with Hausa people. Nkuku: Because they hear Hausa very well. Kwanzo Kwanzo: To be clear to others who do not understand. Filin Jirgi: Because they did not learn that word in Kambari, so they can communicate what they need to in Hausa.
This mixing of Hausa words in the Kambari that the youth speak points to a generational shift in language use. The younger people are speaking more Hausa than the older generation, which probably also means they are speaking Kambari less than their elders. Also when asked about bilingualism, the people said that the young men and women and children are more likely to speak Hausa well than the older generation. How does Tsuvaɗi rate on the EGIDS? Is the vernacular at a sustainable level on EGIDS? The Extended Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) describes the stages in a language’s development or, conversely, its endangerment (Lewis and Simons 2010). Based on the key factors that it is still normal for parents to teach Tsuvaɗi to their children at home but that there is currently no literacy in the language, Tsuvaɗi is at EGIDS level 6a, described as “vigorous” since it is still being spoken extensively and passed along to succeeding generations. This is one of the potentially stable levels on the scale, termed “sustainable orality”. If the use of Hausa in the home and farms continues to increase and a significant portion of Avaɗi parents start failing to pass their language along to their children, Tsuvaɗi would then slide to EGIDS level 6b, “threatened”.
Language Acceptability What are the people’s feelings about related languages, especially other Kambari languages? In most villages when asked about people who speak a different dialect of Kambari than themselves, people told us that they were one people with them (see Table 5). However Cishingini speakers in Jigawa said that Tsuvaɗi speakers and Kambari speakers in Salka (southwest of Ibeto, see Map 1 and Map 2) are not one people with themselves. Also Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi speakers in Nkuku said that they are not one people with the Cishingini speakers or the Azagaɗi people. Unfortunately, it is unclear precisely who the people of Nkuku refer to as Azagaɗi. The dialect categories listed were based on language/dialect names that Kambari people gave to us during group interviews. In Table 5, Tsuvaɗi speakers refers to those Kambari people who identify themselves as Avaɗi people; Tsugaɗi speakers refers to the Avaɗi people who live in the “highlands”; and the Kambari language spoken in Ibeto and Salka is referred to as Tsishingini. A key is used on the following table to show which dialect or language is spoken in each village, (T Ag) for Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi, (T Az) for Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo and (C) for Cishingini. Blank spaces mean that the question was not asked. The questions were not asked in Malodi.
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Table 5: Ethnic identities Are the people in the village 'one people ' with those who speak the different language varieties?
Kwanzo Kwanzo (T Az) Kongo Masanji (T Az) Tungan Mamman (C ) Alanga Kure (T Ag) Marando (T Ag) Baduku (T Ag) Azozo (T Az) Bisalla (T Az) Nkuku (T Ag) Filin Jirgi (C Raha (T Az) Angu (T Ag) Cita (T Ag) Masavo (T) Jigawa (C
) ) Tsuvaɗi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Tsugaɗi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cishingini No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Azagaɗi Yes No Ibeto Variety Yes Yes Yes Yes Salka Variety Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
When asking about people who speak the same language as themselves (see Table 6), all the people from Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo villages who were asked said they speak the same as Tsuvaɗi and Tsugaɗi speakers except in Raha where they said that Tsugaɗi is not the same language. Table 6: Linguistic identities Do the people in the village 'speak the same language ' as those who speak different varieties?
Kwanzo Kwanzo (T Az) Kongo Masanji (T Az) Tungan Mamman (C ) Alanga Kure (T Ag) Marando (T Ag) Baduku (T Ag) Azozo (T Az) Bisalla (T Az) Nkuku (T Ag) Filin Jirgi (C Raha (T Az) Angu (T Ag) Cita (T Ag) Masavo (T) Jigawa (C
) ) Tsuvaɗi Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Tsugaɗi No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Cishingini No No No No No No No No No Yes Azagaɗi No Yes Ibeto Variety Yes No No Yes Salka Variety Yes No No No Yes No No
When asked about the Cishingini language, the people of nine Tsuvaɗi villages said that it is not the same language as theirs. In Filin Jirgi they said it is the same language, but with a few differences. Tsuvaɗi and Cishingini people in five villages out of seven where we asked about the Kambari language spoken in Salka said it is not the same language.
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Literature Acceptability Which languages and dialects of Tsuvaɗi are people willing to read/write? People in all villages expressed an interest in literacy programs for adults and children. The only exception was the chief at Kongo Masanji who said he was not particularly interested in literacy; however, other members of the village were interested. Table 7 shows responses to a literature acceptability question during our longer group interview, conducted in six villages. Table 7: Languages people are willing to read and write If books or materials were produced in another dialect would you allow your children to learn to read and write in it? Raha Azozo Kwanzo Malodi Nkuku Filin Jirgi Kwanzo Yes Yes to Salka Yes, any of Only their Yes to They prefer to and Ibeto, no the languages own, not Azagaɗi, learn in their to Cishingini. or dialects. Salka or Salka only own language Agaɗi. after learning and dialect their own. before learning others.
What literature is available within the community? In Azozo they said they have some religious songs written down in their language, but we did not find out how many of these songs there are, or who wrote them down. In Filin Jirgi, where they speak Cishingini, they said they have seen a history book written in their language. We did not learn where the book is, who wrote it, or who has access to it. The KLP has produced books and materials covering topics such as: learning to read, traditional stories and proverbs, basic healthcare, Kambari culture, the Kambari numbering system, and also a body chart and portions of the Bible. These books and materials are available in Tsishingini, Tsikimba and Cishingini. In addition, they have published the New Testament in Tsikimba and expect to publish the New Testament in Tsishingini and Cishingini within the next two years. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) translation team helped develop the Gospel of Luke, the Jesus Film script, basic primers and other portions of the Old and New Testaments in Tsuvaɗi based on the dialect to the northeast of the road between Kontagora and Rijau. However these are reportedly not successfully understood by Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi speakers in the triangle area.
Literacy How many of each age group read/write in which languages? Questions about literacy were only asked on the long sociolinguistic questionnaires which were used in Azozo, Filin Jirgi, Kwanzo Kwanzo, Malodi, Nkuku and Raha. We were unable to complete any school interviews on this survey because most of the villages we visited had either no functioning school or no school
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representative available for answering questions. Results from the participatory exercise on domains of language use show that in Raha they speak Hausa in school and in Cita they speak Tsuvaɗi in school. We observed school buildings in nine villages, but only in Filin Jirgi and Masavo was school in session during our visit and English seemed to be the language of instruction. In an interview we learned that Hausa is the language of instruction at the school in Marando. At Azozo, we saw both English and Hausa words on the classroom walls. Most people in the villages we visited were not literate in English at all. Of the six villages where we asked about people who could read and write, only in Raha did they say a few young men who had gone to school were literate in English. In Azozo they reported that children in school were becoming literate in English. More people were literate in Hausa in some of the villages. At Azozo a few individuals of all generations, although not middle-aged and young women, were reported to be literate in Hausa. In Kwanzo Kwanzo some young men and women and children were reported to be literate in Hausa. In Malodi and Filin Jirgi there were very few people who were literate, only one old man and one young man in Malodi, and a few old men and children at Filin Jirgi are literate in Hausa. In Raha and Nkuku they claimed there are no people literate in Hausa. One reason that literacy is so low in this area is because the school teachers do not usually live in the villages. The people reported in Kwanzo Kwanzo that school had not been held for a few months since the teacher had not come to teach. We observed that in all of the villages we visited there was no-one who spoke English well enough to interpret for us. How well does each age group read/write in which languages? Reportedly, only a few young men can read and write well in English. Some children are beginning to read and write in English. There are a few old men who can read and write well in Hausa, and a few who read and write Hausa not so well. The literate among the middle-aged men and the young men and women can read and write Hausa well. The children's ability to read and write Hausa ranges from well to just beginning to learn.
Development needs What are the people’s felt needs? People in seven of the villages we visited said that access to clean water was a big need. It seems that many of the people in the villages in this area get all their water from rivers or small holes in the ground near river beds or in low elevations where they fill up their buckets. It is the women’s responsibility to collect this water, which takes a long time and is hard work. In many of the villages we visited there were bore-holes with broken pumps that had not been working for several years. Some communities had paid for the bore- holes to be put in with their own money, seeing it to be a worthwhile investment for the benefit of the whole community. Jeremiah Yongo, working with Partners Worldwide, has a drilling rig that can provide bore-holes for people in the Kambari area at a reasonable cost. Partners Worldwide also trains a committee at each village how to maintain the hand pump, 14
and they also build two latrines in each village where a bore-hole is installed. The office of the Nigerian branch for Partners Worldwide is located in Jos. Mr. Yongo can be reached at 08027873172. Literacy, education and road work were the other main things mentioned as perceived needs in the communities we visited. In all the villages we visited, people expressed an interest in developing their own language.
Conclusions The languages spoken inside the Kontagora-Rijau-Birnin Yauri triangle include Tsuvaɗi, Cishingini, Hausa, Dukawa, Dakarkari and Fulfulde. The primary Kambari languages spoken in the triangle area are Cishingini and Tsuvaɗi, where Tsuvaɗi is divided by the Malendo River into two dialects that might be called Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo (see Map 2). There is a real difference between the northern (Agaɗi) and southern (Azozolo) dialects of Tsuvaɗi. However, the most important part of this difference is probably people’s attitudes, which we see in the results of dialect mapping (see Map 3): the people feel there are two distinct dialects. Based on our wordlist and questionnaire analyses, a northern dialect is clearly defined by higher lexical similarity between speakers in different villages, whereas the people in villages in the south do not have lexical similarities that are as high with each other (see Table 2). It also appears that the two dialects of Tsuvaɗi may be mutually intelligible. Vitality of both Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi and Tsuvaɗi-Azozolo dialects is high. Children throughout the triangle are continuing to learn Kambari from their parents, and everyone expressed a positive attitude towards their language. On the EGIDS language development/endangerment scale, Tsuvaɗi is currently at level 6a, “vigorous”, also described as “sustainable orality”. As one might expect, in the villages closer to a paved road the vitality of the vernacular is lower as Hausa and other languages are spoken more often than Kambari. In all of the villages that we visited, the men speak Hausa more than the women. In fact, in Angu the women reportedly do not speak Hausa at all. In general, young men and women speak Hausa more than the older generation. Only a very small percentage of the population is literate in Hausa or English. There were school buildings in several of the villages we visited, but most of them were not actually in use. People in all of the villages we visited agreed that they were interested in developing their language and having a literacy program in their village. Any future language development work here would require a considerable effort to help people become literate since only a few adults are currently literate. The Agwara villages in the triangle, where they speak Cishingini, can easily use the existing Cishingini literature developed by the KLP. At Filin Jirgi, they had already begun to participate in the KLP literacy program based out of Salka. Tsuvaɗi speakers of either dialect may not be able to use existing literature in other Kambari languages. The lexical similarity percentages shown in Table 3 indicate that Tsuvaɗi-Agaɗi spoken in the northern part of the triangle is the most central geographically, and therefore, may be the best choice as the basis for Tsuvaɗi language development. However, we recommend that phonological and
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grammatical comparisons be made before finalising such a choice. Furthermore, no intelligibility testing has yet been done to demonstrate how well speakers of the different Tsuvaɗi dialects understand each other. We suggest that Tsuvaɗi literature could most easily be developed by adapting either the existing Tsishingini literature developed by the KLP, the Tsuvaɗi materials developed by the CRC mission or a combination of both. Literature that could help to meet the people’s felt need for easier access to clean water might prove popular in the area.
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Bibliography Blair, Frank. 1990. Survey on a Shoestring : a Manual for Small-scale Language Surveys. Dallas TX ;[Arlington]: Summer Institute of Linguistics ;;University of Texas at Arlington. Blench, Roger. 2007. A Sketch of the Phonology and an Extended Wordlist of TsuVaɗi, a Kambari Language of Western Nigeria.
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