The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of

Benue–Congo languages Benue–Congo (sometimes called East Benue–Congo) is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Subdivisions Central Nigerian (or Platoid) contains the Plateau languages, Plateau, Jukunoid languages, Juk ...

spoken by 15 million people on the

Jos Plateau The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages ...

Southern Kaduna Southern Kaduna ( ; Jju language, Jju: ''Ka̱tak Ka̱duna'' ; ; formerly Southern Zaria) is an area of the Nok Culture region inhabited by various related ethnic groups who do not identify as Hausa people, Hausa, living south of Zazzau Emirat ...

, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in 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, ...

. Berom and Eggon have the most speakers. Most Plateau languages are threatened and have around 2,000-10,000 speakers.Blench, Roger. 2007.
Language families of the Nigerian Middle Belt and the historical implications of their distribution
'. Presented to the Jos Linguistic Circle in Jos, Nigeria, July 25, 2007. Defining features of the Plateau family have only been published in manuscript form (Blench 2008). Many of the languages have highly elaborate phonology systems that make comparison with poor data difficult.

Branches and locations

Below is a list of major Plateau branches and their primary locations (centres of diversity) based on Blench (2019). The Plateau languages are highly typologically and lexically diverse. For instance,

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...

(2022) notes that Beromic is more internally diverse than all of West Chadic A3.Blench, Roger (2022).
Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence
'. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.

Classification

Little work has been done on the Plateau languages, and the results to date are tentative.

Blench (2018)

Blench (2018:112) gives the following classification of the Plateau languages.Blench, Roger M. 2018. Nominal affixes and number marking in the Plateau languages of Central Nigeria. In John R. Watters (ed.), ''East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs'', 107–172. Berlin: Language Science Press. *Plateau ** Tarokoid (5) **

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

***Eggonic (2) ***Jilic (2–4) **?

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

(2–3) ***'' Bo-Rukul'' ***'' Horom- Fyem'' ** Ndunic (''Ahwai'') (1–3) ** Alumic (4) ** Ninzic (13–14) **? West-Central area (~20) ***Rigwe ***Tyapic ***Izeric ***Hyamic ***Koro ***Gyongic ** North-West ** Beromic (4) **? '' Eloyi''

Blench (2008)

The following classification is taken from Blench (2008). Most of the branches are discrete constituents, though Central is a residual grouping and there are doubts about some of the purported Ninzic languages. Plateau languages as a whole share a number of isoglosses, as do all branches apart from Tarokoid. *Plateau ** Tarokoid (5) ** ***'' Eloyi'' ***

****Eggonic (2) ****Jilic (2–4) *** Ndunic (''Ahwai'') (1–3) *** Alumic (4) *** Ninzic (13–14) ***?

(2–3) ***? Central (20) *** Beromic (4) Glottolog adds the Yukubenic languages. Blench, however, places Yukubenic in the Jukunoid family, following Shimizu (1980).

Gerhardt (1983)

Classification of Plateau 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 **Plateau 1a, 1b ( Kainji languages) **Plateau 2 ***Yeskwa, Lungu, Koro ***Kamanton, Kagoma, Jaba cluster, Nandu-Tari ***Afuzare, Kaje, Iregwe ***Kagoro, Ataka, Katab (including Kachicheri, Kafanchan), Marwa ***Kadara, Kuturmi, Ikulu, Idong, Doka, Iku-Gora-Ankwa **Plateau 3 ***Migili (?, L. G.) ***Birom (including Aboro, Afango) ***Aten **Plateau 4 ***Ayu ***Kwanka-Boi-Bijim-Shall-Zwall ***Ninzam, Mada, Gwantu, Numana-Nunku, Nindem, Kaningkon, Kanufi ***Rukuba **Plateau 5 ***Yashi ***Eggon, Nungu, Ake, Jidda-Abu **Plateau 6 ***Pyam ***Horom **Plateau 7 ***Tarok (= Yergam) ***Bashar ***Pai **Plateau 8 ***Mabo-Barkul **Plateau 9 ***Eloyi **Plateau 10 ***Turkwam, Arum-Chesu Note: ''Plateau 1'' languages, consisting of Plateau 1a and 1b, are now classified separately as Kainji languages.

Language list

List of Plateau languages given by Blench (2018): *Plateau **Northwest *** Eda *** Edra ***Acro ***Obiro ***Mwaghavul ***Ẹjẹgha (Idon) ***Doka ***Ẹhwa (Iku-Gora-Ankwe) **Beromic *** Berom *** Buji ***Cara ***Iten ***Shall-Zwall **West-Central (area) ***Izeric ****Izere of Fobur ****Icèn, Ganàng, Fəràn ***Rigwe ***Southern Zaria (now Southern Kaduna) ***Tyapic **** Jju **** Tyap ****Gworok ****Takad (Attakar) ****Tyecarak (Kacicere) ****Sholyio ****Fantswam (Kafancan) ****Tyuku ***Koro ****Ashe ****Tinɔr (Waci-Myamya) ****Idũ, Gwara ****Nyankpa-Barde ***Hyamic ****Shamang ****Cori **** Hyam ****Zhire ****Shang ***Gyongic ****Gyong (Kagoma) ****Nɡhan (Kamanton) **Ninzic ***Ninzo ***Ce ***Bu-Niŋkada ***Mada ***Numana-Nunku-Gwantu-Numbu ***Ningye-Ninka ***Anib ***Ninkyob ***Nindem ***Nungu ***Ayu **Ndunic ***Ndun (Tari) **Alumic ***Toro, Alumu-Təsu ***Hasha ***Sambe **Southern ***Eggonic ****Eggon ****Ake ***Jilic ****Jili ****Jijili **Southeastern (?) ***Fyem ***Horom ***Bo-Rukul **Tarokoid ***Tarok ***Pe (Pai) ***Kwang-Ya-Bijim-Legeri ***Yaŋkam (Bashar) ***Sur (Tapshin) **Eloyi Nisam is a presumed Plateau language once spoken in Nince Village, Kaduna State, but its place within the Plateau branch cannot be ascertained due to the lack of linguistic data. In 2005, there was only one speaker of Nisam.Blench, Roger M. 2012
Akpondu, Nigbo, Bəbər and Nisam: moribund or extinct languages of central Nigeria Babur

Morphology

Proto-Plateau nominal prefixes: * *ni- (corresponding to Bantu noun class 9 *n- for animals and inanimate objects) * *V- for person, *bV- for people * *N- prefixes, homorganic with the following consonant * *nV- ~ *mV- (both singular and plural), which mark liquids, mass nouns, and abstract nouns Only some of the languages have nominal classes, as the

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

have, where in others these have eroded. In many Plateau languages, many CV- prefixes have become fossilised, replaced by V- prefixes, or disappeared altogether. The large numbers of consonants in many languages is due to the erosion of noun-class prefixes. In Plateau languages, adjectives and possessive forms generally follow the noun.

Reconstructions

Some Proto-Plateau quasi-reconstructions proposed by

(2008) are:

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

Footnotes

References

*Blench (2008
''Prospecting proto-Plateau''
Manuscript.

External links

from Roger Blench
ComparaLex
database with Plateau word lists {{DEFAULTSORT:Plateau Languages