Gwandara is a West Chadic language, and the closest relative of

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 ...

. Its several dialects are spoken in

northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria (or Arewa, Arewancin Nijeriya) was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired t ...

, predominantly in the north central region of Nigeria by the Gwandara people and some settlers who are about 30,000 people. They are found in large numbers in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

, Niger, Kaduna, Kogi and a resettlement town of New Karshi, Karu LGA, Nasarawa State.

New Karshi New Karshi is a town in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria, founded in the 1980s by Muhammadu Bako II. It is a semi-autonomous local government created out of Karu LGA as Karshi Development area with the administrative secreta ...

has a Gwandara first class emir

Muhammadu Bako III Muhammadu Sani Bako III (born April 22, 1972) is a prominent member of Gwandara people and a first-class Emir of New Karshi in Nasarawa State, Nasarawa. He was a career federal civil servant. He is a senior member of Nasarawa State Council of Trad ...

(PhD). The Gwandara people are one of the indigenous tribes of FCT Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. The Nimbia dialect has a

duodecimal The duodecimal system, also known as base twelve or dozenal, is a positional numeral system using twelve as its base. In duodecimal, the number twelve is denoted "10", meaning 1 twelve and 0 units; in the decimal system, this number is i ...

numeral system (they count in base 12), whereas other dialects, such as Karshi below, have decimal systems:Matsushita, 'Decimal vs. Duodecimal'
/ref> It is thought that Nimbia, which is isolated from the rest of Gwandara, acquired its duodecimal system from neighboring

East Kainji languages The East Kainji languages are spoken in a compact area of the Jos Plateau in Nigeria, near Jos. There are more than 20 of them, most of which are poorly studied. History East Kainji languages are less internally diverse than some of the other Pl ...

. It is duodecimal even to powers of base twelve: The Nimbia 12 number set number system is known for making division easier.

References

Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria {{Nigeria-stub