Jarawa (also known as Jhar, or in

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

: ''Jaranci'') is the most populous of the

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

of northern

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, ...

. It is a dialect cluster consisting of many varieties.

Phonology

* /β/ only appears as a marginal phoneme. * �only appears in non-word-initial syllables. * Sounds /n, t, l, r/ can be heard as palatal or retroflex �, ʈ, ɭ, ɽin word-final position. /k/ can also be heard as uvular in the same position, and may also alternate with �or � * Sounds /k͡x, ɡ͡ɣ/ can be heard as fricatives , ɣor �, ʁin intervocalic position. * Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ only appear after glides.

Dialects

Jarawa dialects are: * Zhár (Bankal) * Zugur (Duguri) * Gwak (Gingwak) * Ndaŋshi * Dòòrì * Mbat (Bada) * Mùùn * Kantana * Dàmùl

Kantana Kantana Group is a production company established in Bangkok, Thailand in 1951 by Pradit and Somsook Kaljaruek. Kantana took its first step from radio dramas to films, television dramas, variety programs, and eventually moved on to become an int ...

may be a distinct language. Blench (2019) lists these varieties as dialects of Jar (Jarawa). *Zhar *Ligri *

*Bobar (?) *Gwak (Gingwak) *Dõõri * Mbat *Mbat-Galamkya

References

Jarawan languages Languages of Nigeria {{nigeria-stub