Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...
. The Daza are also known as the Gouran (Gorane) in Chad. Dazaga is spoken by around 380,000 people, primarily in the Djurab Desert region and the
Borkou
Borku (french: Borkou) or Borgu (') is a region of Central Africa, mostly in Northern Chad, forming part of the transitional zone between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the central Sudan. It is bounded N. by the Tibesti ...
region, locally called Haya or Faya-Largeau northern-central Chad, the capital of the Dazaga people. Dazaga is spoken in the
Tibesti Mountains
The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and is ...
of
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...
(330,000 speakers), in eastern
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesN'guigmi and to the north (50,000 speakers). It is also spoken to a smaller extent in
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
and in Sudan, where there is a community of 3,000 speakers in the city of
Omdurman
Omdurman (standard ar, أم درمان ''Umm Durmān'') is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of th ...
. There's also a small diaspora community working in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
.
The two primary dialects of the Dazaga language are Daza and Kara, but there are several other mutually intelligible dialects, including Kaga, Kanobo, Taruge and Azza. It is closely related to the Tedaga language, spoken by the Teda, the other out of the two
Toubou people
The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya and northeastern Niger. They live either as herders and nomads or a ...
groups, who reside primarily in the Tibesti Mountains of northern Chad and in southern Libya near the city of Sabha.
Dazaga is a Nilo-Saharan language and a member of the Western Saharan branch of the Saharan subgroup which also contains the
Kanuri language
Kanuri () is a dialect continuum spoken in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as in small minorities in southern Libya and by a diaspora in Sudan.
Background
At the turn of the 21st century, its two main dialects, Manga Kanuri and Y ...
Tebu languages
Tebu is a small family of two Saharan languages, consisting of Daza and Teda. It is spoken by the two groups of Toubou people, the ''Daza'' and ''Teda''.
Tebu is predominantly spoken in Chad and in southern Libya by around 580,000 people. Daza ...
. Tebu is further divided into Tedaga and Dazaga. The Eastern Saharan branch includes the
Zaghawa language
Zaghawa is a Saharan language spoken by the Zaghawa people of east-central Chad (in the Sahel) and northwestern Sudan ( Darfur). The people who speak this language call it Beria, from ''Beri'', the endonym of the Zaghawa people, and ''a'', Zagh ...
and
Berti language
Berti is an extinct Saharan language formerly spoken in northern Sudan, specifically in the Tagabo Hills, Darfur, and Kurdufan. Berti speakers migrated into the region with other Nilo-Saharan speakers, such as the Masalit and Daju, who w ...
.
Vocabulary
The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
influence. The Dazaga language was not traditionally a written language but in recent years the SIL had developed an orthography. The majority of Dazaga speakers are
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...
or multilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, Hausa, Zarma, Kanuri or
Tuareg
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...
. There are thus many borrowings from other languages such as Arabic, Hausa or French. For example, the word for "thank you" is borrowed from Arabic ''shokran'' and incorporated into the language by usually being followed by the suffix ''-num'' marking the second person. The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This romanisation is not standard.