The Angas, Angas–Sura, or Central West Chadic languages (also known as A.3 West Chadic) are a branch of

West Chadic languages The West Chadic languages of the Afroasiatic languages, Afro-Asiatic family are spoken principally in Niger and Nigeria. They include Hausa language, Hausa, the most populous Chadic languages, Chadic language and a major language of West Afr ...

spoken in

Plateau State Plateau is a northern states of Nigeria, Nigerian state. It is located in the north-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria and includes a range of hills surrounding the Jos Plateau. Plateau State is described as "The Home of Peace and Tourism". Th ...

, north-central

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, ...

Languages

The Angas languages are:Blench, Roger. 2017
Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages
;Angas *Ngasic: Ngas (Angas), Belnəng; ? Miler *Mwaghavulic: Mwaghavul, Mupun (Mapun), Takas (Toos); Cakfem-Mushere * Miship (Chip) *Pan cluster ** Chakato; Jorto (spurious) ** Jipal, Mernyang (Mirriam), Kwagallak, Kofyar (Doemak), Bwol, Goram, Jibyal * Nteng *Tel (Tɛɛl, Montol) *Talic: Tal, Pyapun, Koenoem *Goemaic: Goemai * Yiwom (Ywom, Gerka) Note that in the language names, orthographic '' oe'' stands for the

mid central vowel The mid central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. A reduced mid central vowel is known as a schwa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents either sound is , a rotated lowercase letter e. ...

ə, a practice that had been adopted by missionaries in the

Shendam Shendam is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Shendam. It is bordered by Ibi Taraba State to the south, Qua'an Pan to the east, Pankshin to the north, and Mikang to the west. Shendam town is ...

area during the 1930s, such as Father E. Sirlinger. Unlike many other

, Angas languages do not have complex nominal and verbal morphology. Ywom is the most divergent language.Blench, Roger. 2021.
West Chadic classification 2021
'. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.

Phonology

Some phonological characteristics that are typical of the Chadic A3 languages: *

Palatalised consonant In phonetics, palatalization (, ) or palatization is a way of pronouncing a consonant in which part of the tongue is moved close to the hard palate. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be palatalized and are transcribed in the Internationa ...

s *

Implosive consonant Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in additi ...

s ɓ, ɗ *Six-vowel system consisting of i, ɨ, u, ɛ, ɔ, a *Three tone levels

Morphology

The West Chadic A3 languages have isolating

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

due to typological convergence with the

Plateau languages The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria. Berom and Eggon have the most speaker ...

. Blench (2022) notes that there are many morphological similarities with Berom, Izere, and

Ninzic languages The dozen or so Ninzic languages are a branch of the Plateau family spoken in central 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 o ...

(such as Mada), although there are no immediately identifiable direct lexical borrowings. Although Hausa and the West Chadic A3 languages share many lexical cognates, Hausa is much more morphologically complex. This is because Hausa originated from outside the Plateau area and had thus not undergone intensive long-term contact with Plateau languages to the extent that West Chadic A3 had.Blench, Roger (2022).
Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence
'. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien. Plurals are marked with an *mV- affix throughout West Chadic A3 languages.

Lexicon

The West Chadic A3 languages are lexically innovative, having lost many common Chadic lexical roots as with the

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

and South Bauchi languages. Blench (2022) suggests that this is due to borrowing from Plateau languages that have since become extinct and/or assimilated.

Names and locations

Below is a comprehensive list of Angas language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).

References

{{Authority control West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria