The Kainji languages are a group of about 60 related languages spoken in west-central
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, ...
. They form part of the Central Nigerian (Platoid) branch of
Benue–Congo.
Demographics
Four of the most widely spoken Kainji languages are
Tsuvadi (150,000),
Cishingini and
Tsishingini (100,000 each)—all from the
Kambari branch; and
Clela (C'lela, Lela) (100,000), of the
Northwest Kainji branch. In total, there were about one million speakers of Kainji languages (1990s estimate) in
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, ...
.
History
Proto-Kainji is estimated by Blench (2012) to be 3,000 to 4,000 years old. Its broken distribution today is likely due to the historical northward expansion of the
Nupoid languages.
Morphology
Proto-Kainji nominal prefixes:
* *mV- for liquids and other mass nouns
* *u- for person, *ba- for people
* *kV- for diminutive and perhaps also augmentative; also found in some
Plateau languages
The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria.
Berom and Eggon have the most speaker ...
Classification
The most divergent of the Kainji languages are
Reshe,
Laru and
Lopa, which may form a branch together. Subclassification of the other branches is not yet clear. A bipartite division between East Kainji and West Kainji is no longer maintained, with West Kainji now being
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
.
Blench (2018)
Most recent Kainji classification by Blench (2018:64):
[Blench, Roger M. 2018. Nominal affixing in the Kainji languages of northwestern and central Nigeria. In John R. Watters (ed.), East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs, 59–106. Berlin: Language Science Press. ]
* Kainji
** Lake
*** ''
Reshe''
*** Upper Niger
**** ''
Rop''
**** ''
Shen'', ''Shuba''
** Central
***
Northwest Kainji
***
Kambari, ''
Cicipu''
***
East Kainji
***
Kamuku,
Shiroro,
Basa
Blench (2012)
Blench's (2012) classification is:
* Kainji
** Lakes:
Reshe;
Laru (Shen),
Lopa (Rerang)
** Kainji proper (Central)
***
Northwest Kainji (Lela)
***
****
Kambari, ''
Cicipu''
****
Basa,
East Kainji
****
Kamuku,
Shiroro
McGill (2012)
A revised classification of the Kainji languages by McGill (2012) splits Kainji into the ''Lake'' and ''Central'' branches.
[McGill, Stuart. 2012. The Kainji languages. Ms, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 30 August 2012.]
* Kainji
** Lake
***
Reshe
*** Upper Niger
****
Sengwe/
Laru
****
Oleran/
Lopa:
Rop,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
** Central
***
Basa, Eastern
*** Northwest
****
Damakawa
****
C'lela
****
Hun-
Saare/
Duka;
Wuri-
Gwamhi-
Mba
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
,
Ma'in
Ma'in (; ) was an ancient South Arabian kingdom in modern-day Yemen. It was located along the strip of desert called Ramlat al-Sab'atayn, Ṣayhad by medieval Arab geographers, which is now known as Ramlat al-Sab'atayn. Wadd was the national ...
/
Fakai
***
Kambari
****
Cicipu
**** West:
Gaushi/
Auna
Auna is an integrated healthcare provider with operations in Peru and Colombia. It has over 7,500 collaborators in its network.
Auna was absorbed in 2005 by the operator ONO (Spain), ONO.
International operations Peru
In Peru, it operates s ...
,
Kimba,
Wunci/
Agwara
**** East:
Shingini/
Salka,
Va'di,
Bangi Bangi may refer to:
*Bangi (surname), an Indian surname
*Bangi District, Bangi, Afghanistan
*Bangi, Iran (disambiguation)
*Bangi, Nepal
*Bangi, Malaysia
** Bangi Komuter station, Malaysia
* Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia
* Bangi (federal constituency), ...
*** Nuclear
****
Shiroro
*****
Bauchi
Bauchi (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered by Jigawa State, Jigawa to the north, Yobe State, Y ...
: Mun-Wayam, Rubo-Supana
*****
Gurmana
*****
Rin/
Pongu,
Waga
*****
Fungwa/
Ura
****
Kamuku-
Hunwarya/
Ngwoi
*****
Hunwarya/
Ngwoi
*****
Kamuku
******
Regi-
Cinda-
Kuki
******
Rogo-
Shiyabe,
Zubazuba-
East Acipa
******
Shama
Gerhardt (1983)
Classification of ''Plateau 1a'' (now West Kainji) and ''Plateau 1b'' (now East Kainji) languages by Gerhardt (1983), based on Maddieson (1972):
[Maddieson, Ian. 1972. ''The Benue-Congo Languages of Nigeria''. Sheet 1 and 2: ''Plateau''. Mimeographed paper. Ibadan.]
* Plateau 1a
** Laru-Lopa
** Reshe
** Kambari cluster
** Ngwoi, Kamuku cluster, Bassa-Kontagora, Ashaganna
** Bassa-Kaduna, Bassa-Kuta, Gurmana, Pongo, Baushi, Ura, Bassa-Kwomu
** Dakarkari, Duka, Pəku-Kəri-Wipsi cluster, Lyase
* Plateau 1b
** Kuda-Chamo, Butu-Ningi, Gyema, Taura, Lemoro-Sanga, Janji, Shani, Buji-Ibunu-Jere-Gus, Anaguta
** Kuzamaini, Kurama, Rumaya, Ruruma, Binawa, Kono, Surubu
** Kaivi, Kiballo, Kitimi, Kinuku, Dungi, Gure-Kahugu
** Amo
Names and locations
Below is a comprehensive list of Kainji language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).
Note: ''West Kainji'' is geographical rather than genealogical.
East Kainji
West Kainji
Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual languages:
References
*Blench, Roger. 2012
The Kainji languages of northwestern and central Nigeria(Roger Blench)
External links
ComparaLex database with Kainji word lists
{{Niger-Congo branches
Benue–Congo languages