Central Kanuri or Yerwa Kanuri, is a variety of the

Kanuri language Kanuri () is a Saharan dialect continuum of the Nilo–Saharan language family spoken by the Kanuri and Kanembu peoples in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as by a diaspora community residing in Sudan. Background At the turn of the ...

spoken mainly in adjacent parts of

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, ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

, as well as by a diaspora community residing in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. It is spoken by the Yerwa Kanuri, who are the largest subgroup of

Kanuri people The Kanuri people (Kanouri, Kanowri, also Yerwa, Barebari and several subgroup names) are an African ethnic group living largely in the lands of the former Kanem and Bornu Empires in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon, as well as a diaspora c ...

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

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 ...

. Yerwa Kanuri is the largest of the Kanuri varieties. It is also used for both oral and written communication in

and is classified within the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Yerwa Kanuri variety of the Kanuri language in Nigeria is written using the

Ajami script Ajami (, ) or Ajamiyya (, ), which comes from the Arabic root for 'foreign' or 'stranger', is an Arabic script, Arabic-derived script used for writing Languages of Africa, African languages, particularly Songhai languages, Songhai, Mandé languages ...

of the

Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...

Geographic distribution

Yerwa Kanuri is a Language of Wider Communication (LWC) and de facto language of provincial identity in Borno, Yobe, and Gombe states of

. It is used in education and is widespread generally. The Kanuri language, serving as the de facto language of provincial identity in Borno, Yobe, and Gombe states, is used in education and widely spoken in those regions. Originating from the central-south

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

area, the

expanded around

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

in the late 7th century. They are the dominant ethnic group in Borno State, and their language became prevalent in the mid-19th century. It is used in trade, daily life, religion and literature in those states but also across Central Africa.

Linguistics

Morphology

In terms of morphology, it exhibits a system of

affixation In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. The main two categories are derivational and inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes, such as ''un-'', ''-ation'', ''anti-'', ''pre-'' et ...

, incorporating prefixes, suffixes and

infixes An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word or the core of a family of words). It contrasts with '' adfix,'' a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix. When marking text for i ...

to convey various grammatical and semantic nuances. Phonologically, Central Kanuri is characterized by a diverse set of consonants and vowels, including

nasalized vowels A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are prod ...

. The language has tone (linguistics), tonal distinctions, which contribute to lexical and grammatical meaning.

Grammar

Grammatically, Central Kanuri follows a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, with the subject typically preceding and the object following the verb. The language features a variety of grammatical features such as gender agreement; noun classes; and a complex system of verbal inflections to mark tense, aspect, and mood. Noun classes play a crucial role in Central Kanuri and influence concord with adjectives, pronouns, and verbs.

Postpositions Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...

in Central Kanuri are used to express relationships between entities and are essential for indicating spatial and temporal relationships. Verbs are highly inflected, reflecting various grammatical categories and providing a nuanced understanding of actions and events. The language incorporates a system of verbal derivation to create new words and convey shades of meaning.

Dialects

Yerwa Kanuri is named after the central dialect of Yerwa, which is spoken in mainly in Nigeria. The language has several dialects, only some of which are mutually intelligible to other speakers of Central Kanuri. The Kwayam dialect is not understood by speakers of other dialects, and the Maiduguri dialect, named after the town of

Maiduguri Maiduguri ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maid ...

, is mutually intelligible with other dialects of Yerwa Kanuri.

References

{{reflist Kanuri language