The Dii language is a

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

in the Duru branch of

Savanna languages The Savannas languages, also known as Gur–Adamawa or Adamawa–Gur, is a branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families. History of classification The Gur–Adamawa link was demonstrated in ...

. ''Yag Dii'' is the ethnonym. ''Ethnologue'' lists ''Mambe’, Mamna’a, Goom, Boow, Ngbang, Sagzee, Vaazin, Home, Nyok'' as dialects, and notes that Goom may be a separate language. Blench (2004) lists them all, as well as ''Phaane'', as separate languages, no closer to each other than they are to the other Dii languages, Duupa, Dugun (Panõ).

Varieties

The Duupa (5,000 speakers) used to live in the mountains to the east of Poli (in Poli commune,

Faro department Faro is a department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative di ...

, North Region). Today, the vast majority have descended from the mountains and now live in the Lobi River plains (around the junction where the

Ngaoundéré Ngaoundéré, or N'Gaoundéré (Fula: N'gamdere 𞤲'𞤺𞤢𞤥𞤣𞤫𞥅𞤪𞤫𞥅) is the capital of the Adamawa Region of Cameroon. It had a population of 152,700 at the 2005 census. According to the film ''Les Mairuuwas – Maitre de l'e ...

Garoua Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...

road passes) and in Poli. The Dugun, also called Pa'no (7,000 speakers (Lars Lode 1997)), live southeast of Poli in the North Region (in Poli commune, Faro commune, and Lagdo commune in

Bénoué Bénoué is a department of North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 13,614 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 1,781,955. The capital of the department lies at Garoua. Subdivisions The department is divided ad ...

department). The ''Dugun'' live in the plains, and the ''Saa'' in the center of a massif that is difficult to access. Lars Lode, a missionary linguist, estimated a lexical similarity of 95% between the two varieties using a 100-word list. The Dugun consider themselves to be a subgroup of the Dii (or Duru) people. Their language, although closely related to Dii, is distinct. The Dii (47,000 speakers (SIL 1982)) live east of the Dugun. They live in a large part of the

Bénoué River The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its b ...

plains, including in the departments of Mayo-Rey (

Tcholliré Tcholliré is a town and commune in Cameroon. Tcholliré Prison Designed in 1965, the main prison of Tcholliré II was known as the Centre de Rééducation Civique (CRC) (Civic re-education Centre) until the reform of the prison regime in Camero ...

commune, North Region) and Vina (

Mbé A town in the Republic of the Congo, Mbé is located in the Ngabe District of the Department of Pool, approximately 200 km northeast of Brazzaville. A village in Cameroon, Adamoua region, Vina North Site Description The royal domain o ...

and

communes, Adamaoua Region). They are predominantly located to the east of Poli in the plains of Mayo-Sala and Mayo-Rey (in

commune) as well as in the upper

Benue River The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...

region (in

Lagdo Lagdo is a town and community in Cameroon. See also * Communes of Cameroon References Site de la primature - Élections municipales 2002 Contrôle de gestion et performance des services publics communaux des villes camerounaises Thèse de Dona ...

commune) and the upper Vina River region (in Nganha and

communes), on the edge of the Adamaoua cliff (Ngaoundéré commune). Nyok, considered by other Dii speakers to be a secret language (the language of sorcerers), may be a distinct language. Furthermore, not much is known about Goom, which ''ALCAM'' (2012) considers to be a dialect of Dii.

Writing System

Nasalisation is indicated with a cedilla : ‹a̧, ȩ, ə̧, i̧, o̧, u̧› ; The vowels ‹ɨ, ɔ, ʉ› cannot be nasalized. The tones are indicated by accents: * The high tone is indicated by an acute accent: ‹á, á̧, é, ȩ́, ə́, ə̧́, í, í̧, ɨ́, ó, ó̧, ɔ́, ú, ú̧, ʉ́› ; * The low tone is indicated by a grave accent: ‹à, à̧, è, ȩ̀, ə̀, ə̧̀, ì, ì̧, ɨ̀, ò, ò̧, ɔ̀, ù, ù̧, ʉ̀› ; * The average tone is indicated by no diacritic: ‹a, a̧, e, ȩ, ə, ə̧, i, i̧, ɨ, o, o̧, ɔ, u, u̧, ʉ›.

References

*Roger Blench, 2004
List of Adamawa languages
(ms) Duru languages Languages of Cameroon {{AtlanticCongo-lang-stub