The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

, in northern

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, north-western

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

, southern

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

, and eastern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 1996).

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on M ...

classified them as one branch of the Adamawa–Ubangi family of

Niger–Congo languages Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups ...

. They are among the least studied languages in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and include many

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a " dead langua ...

s; by far the largest is Mumuye, with 400,000 speakers. A couple of

unclassified languages An unclassified language is a language whose genetic affiliation to other languages has not been established. Languages can be unclassified for a variety of reasons, mostly due to a lack of reliable data but sometimes due to the confounding inf ...

—notably Laal and Jalaa—are found along the fringes of the Adamawa area. Geographically, the Adamawa languages lie near the location of the postulated Niger–Congo –

Central Sudanic Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nige ...

contact that may have given rise to the Atlantic–Congo family, and so may represent the central radiation of that family.

Classification

postulated the Adamawa languages as a part of Adamawa–Ubangian (then called ''Adamawa–Eastern),'' and divided them into 14 numbered groups. Group G3, Daka (or Dakoid), is now known to be a branch of Benue–Congo. The relationships of the other branches has undergone considerable revision. There have also been recent attempts at computationally classifying the Adamawa languages.

Greenberg (1963)

Greenberg's 14 numbered Adamawa groups are:

Boyd (1989)

Boyd (1989) added the Day language and classified them as follows: * Adamawa ** Leko–Nimbari (or Chamba–Mumuye) *** Duru: G4 ***

Leko Leko may refer to: * Leko (surname) * Leko languages, a small group of African Savanna languages * Leco language, a moribund isolate language of Bolivia * Lekolite or Leko, a type of stage spotlight * Alexandro da Silva Santos or Leko, Brazilian fo ...

: G2 *** Mumuye–Yendang: G5 *** '' Nimbari:'' G12 ** Mbum–Day *** Bua: G13 *** Kim: G14 *** Mbum: G6 *** ''

Day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

'' ** Waja–Jen *** Bikwin–Jen (or Jen): G9 *** Tula–Wiyaa (or Waja): G1 *** Bəna–Mboi (or Yungur): G7 *** '' Baa'' ( Kwa) *** '' Longuda'': G10 ** '' Nyimwom'' (or Kam: G8) He excluded the Fali languages (G11).

Güldemann (2018)

Güldemann (2018) recognises 14 coherent Adamawa "genealogical units", but is agnostic about their positions within Niger-Congo. * Tula-Waja *'' Longuda'' * Bena-Mboi * Bikwin-Jen * Samba-Duru * Mumuyic *

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

(Yendangic) * Kebi-Benue (Mbumic) * Kimic * Buaic *''

'' *'' Baa'' = ''Kwa'' *'' Nyingwom'' = ''Kam'' *'' Fali''

Kleinewillinghöfer (2019)

Kleinewillinghöfer (2019), in the Adamawa Languages Project website, recognises the following 17 groups as Adamawa languages.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2019.
Adamawa Language Groups
'. Adamawa Languages Project. * Tula-Waja ( Waja): G1Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014.
Tula-Waja comparative wordlist (Swadesh 100)
'. (1995 field notes.) Adamawa Languages Project. * Bikwin-Jen (Burak, Jen): G9 *'' Kam (Nyiŋɔm, Nyiwom, Nyingwom)'': G8Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015.
Some notes on Nyiŋɔm (aka Nyingwom or Kam)
'. (2011 field notes.) Adamawa Languages Project. * Longuda (Nʋngʋra cluster): G10Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014.
Longuda ~ Nʋngʋra wordlist (Swadesh 100)
'. Adamawa Languages Project. *'' Baa (Kwa)''Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 1993.
Baa Wordlist (Swadesh 100)
'. Adamawa Languages Project. * Mumuye: G5 * Yandang (Yendang): G5Blench, Roger; Barau Kato; Zachariah Yoder. 2009.
The Maya (Yendang) languages
'. *

Samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

- Duru (Chamba-Leko, Leko, Duru, Sama-Duru, Samba Leeko): G2, G4Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015.
Gimme-Vere-Doyayo wordlists
'. Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015.
Vere wordlists
'. Adamawa Languages Project. * Ɓəna-Mboi (Yungur): G7Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014.
Ɓəna-Mboi comparative wordlist (Swadesh 100)
'. Adamawa Languages Project. *Kebi-Benue ( Mbum): G6 * Kim: G14 *''

'' * Bua: G13 *'' Nimbari (Baari, Bari)'': G12 xtinct*'' Duli - Gewe (Gey, Gueve)'' xtinct*? '' Fali'': G11 *? '' Chamba-Daka ( Daka)'': G3 Only the Tula-Waja, Longuda, Ɓəna-Mboi,

- Duru, and Bua groups have

noun class In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some ...

es. The other groups only display vestiges of formerly active noun class systems.

Blench (2012, 2020)

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...

(2012) concludes that the Adamawa languages are a geographic grouping, not a language family, and breaks up its various branches in his proposed

Savannas A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient li ...

family. He places some of the western Adamawa languages closer to the

Gur languages The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern Ivor ...

than to other Adamawa families. Fali is tentatively excluded from Savannas altogether. Blench (2020) retains a connection between Mumuye and Yendang, but breaks up Kleinewillinghöfer's Samba-Duru.

Unclassified Adamawa languages

The Oblo language of

has been included in several versions of the Adamawa group, but its position within it is unclear.Ayotte, Michael and Charlene Ayotte. 2002
Sociolinguistic language survey of Dama, Mono, Pam, Ndai and Oblo
SIL International. It has been speculated that the unclassified Laal language of

may be Adamawa; the Jalaa language of

is probably not Adamawa, but shows heavy Adamawa influence. However, both are generally now considered to be

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary of Adamawa languages from Kleinewillinghöfer's ''Adamawa Languages Project'' website and various other sources: ''Note'': In table cells with slashes, the singular form is given before the slash, while the plural form follows the slash.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

External links

Adamawa Language Projects
( Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
AdaGram
(

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

- INALCO). Exploring Nigeria’s linguistic wealth: grammatical analysis and linguistic documentation of the Adamawa languages.
List of Adamawa languages
– Blench

– Blench

– Blench

by Roger M. Blench, 2000. Mallam Dendo, Cambridge.
A rapid appraisal survey of Gbete (PDF)
by Jason Diller & Kari Jordan-Diller, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-050.
A sociolinguistic survey of the Mambay language of Chad and Cameroon (PDF)
by Cameron Hamm, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-039.
Rapid appraisal and lexicostatistical analysis surveys of Dama, Mono, Pam, Ndai and Oblo (PDF)
by Michael & Charlene Ayotte, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-048.

– SIL-Cameroon

Vocabulaires comparés des instruments aratoires dans le Nord-Cameroun
Tourneaux * Idiatov, Dmitry. 2017-08-29
Results of the first AdaGram survey in Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria
(with Mark Van de Velde, Tope Olagunju and Bitrus Andrew). 47th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) (Leiden, Netherlands). {{DEFAULTSORT:Adamawa Languages Volta–Congo languages Adamawa State