Doyayo (ethnonym: ''Dowayo'') is a language of the
Duru branch of
Adamawa languages
The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in Central Africa, in northern Cameroon, north-western Central African Republic, southern Chad, and eastern Nigeria, spoken altogether by on ...
spoken in
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
.
''Doyayo'' (Dooya̰a̰yɔ 'man's mouth'; alternatively Doowaaya̰a̰yɔ 'man's child's mouth') is spoken by the Dowayo (or Doowaayɔ 'man's child') ethnic group.
Names
According to ''ALCAM'' (2012), Doayo, which has 18,000 speakers, is the main language of the northern part of
Poli
DNA polymerase iota is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''POLI'' gene. It is found in higher eukaryotes, and is believed to have arisen from a gene duplication from Pol η. Pol ι, is a Y family polymerase that is involved in transl ...
commune (in
Faro department
Faro is a department of North Region in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 11,785 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 81,472. The capital of the department lies at Poli.
Subdivisions
The department is divided administrativ ...
, Northern Region).
Taara is spoken in the mountains west of
Poli
DNA polymerase iota is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''POLI'' gene. It is found in higher eukaryotes, and is believed to have arisen from a gene duplication from Pol η. Pol ι, is a Y family polymerase that is involved in transl ...
, and Marka in the plains further northwest in
Tcheboa commune,
Bénoué
Bénoué is a Departments of Cameroon, department of North Province (Cameroon), 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 ...
department.
The term ''Namchi'', which means "crushed ones" or "those who crush
illet for us in
Fulfulde
Fula ( ),Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student's Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani ( ) or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ; Ajami: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 36.8 million people as a set of various diale ...
, is a cover term that refers not only to the Doayo, but also its neighbors
Duupa and
Dugun (the latter two are both
Dii languages).
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.
Life Early life and education
Joseph Greenberg was born on M ...
's "''Sewe''" is in fact a variety of the Doayo language documented by Griaule. The name comes from the informant's village, Sewe.
Dialects
Doyayo dialects are:
[Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich (2015)]
Doyayo
*Markɛ (spoken in the northwestern plains)
*Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ of Poli
*Southern Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ (spoken in the mountains to the south)
*Sewe (Séwé)
(Note that there are two distinct Tɛ̰ɛ̰rɛ dialects.)
Blench (2004) considers the Sewe dialect to be a separate language, no more closely related to Dowayo than to Koma and Vere.
References
*Roger Blench, 2004
List of Adamawa languages(ms)
{{Authority control
Duru languages
Languages of Cameroon