Chadian Arabic (), also known as Shuwa Arabic, Western Sudanic Arabic, or West Sudanic Arabic (WSA), is a

variety of Arabic Varieties of Arabic (or dialects or vernaculars) are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. Arabic is a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. There are considerable variation ...

and the

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

of 1.9 million people in Chad, both town dwellers and nomadic cattle herders. Most of its speakers live in central and southern Chad. Its range is an east-to-west oval in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

. Nearly all of this territory is within

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. It is also spoken elsewhere in the vicinity of

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

in the countries of

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 ...

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, ...

and

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. Finally, it is spoken in slivers of the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

. In addition, this language serves as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

in much of the region. In most of its range, it is one of several local languages and often not among the major ones.

Naming and classification

This language does not have a native name shared by all its speakers, beyond "Arabic". It arose as the native language of nomadic cattle herders (''baggāra'', Standard Arabic ''baqqāra'' , means 'cattlemen', from ''baqar''). In 1913, a French colonial administrator in Chad, Henri Carbou, wrote a grammar of the local dialect of the

Ouaddaï highlands Ouaddaï may refer to: * Ouaddaï highlands, an area in eastern Chad along the border with Sudan * Ouaddaï Prefecture Ouaddaï may refer to: * Ouaddaï highlands, an area in eastern Chad along the border with Sudan * Ouaddaï Prefecture, a for ...

, a region of eastern Chad on the border with Sudan. In 1920, a British colonial administrator in Nigeria,

Gordon Lethem Sir Gordon James Lethem, KCMG (16 September 1886 – 14 August 1962) was a British colonial administrator. Biography He was born in Leith, Scotland, the son of James Lethem and Marian Macintosh. He was Governor of the Seychelles from 1934 to 1 ...

, wrote a grammar of the Borno dialect, in which he noted that the same language was spoken in Kanem (in western Chad) and Ouaddaï (in eastern Chad). Since its publication, this language has become widely cited academically as "Shuwa Arabic"; however, the term "Shuwa" was in use only among ''non-Arab people'' in

Borno State Borno is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered by Yobe State, Yobe to the west, Gombe State, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa State, Adamawa to the south while its ea ...

. Around 2000, the term "Western Sudanic Arabic" was proposed by a specialist in the language, Jonathan Owens. The geographical sense of "Sudanic" invoked by Owens is not the modern country of Sudan, but the

in general, a region Arabs dubbed ''

Bilad al-Sudan Sudan is the geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to Central and Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic ' () and ' (), both meaning "the land of the Blacks", referring to West Africa and nort ...

'' "the Land of the Blacks" as far back as the

medieval era In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

. In the era of British colonialism in Africa, colonial administrators too used "the Sudan" to mean the entire Sahel. Based on population movements and shared genealogical histories, Sudanic and Egyptian varieties of Arabic have traditionally been classified into a larger Egypto-Sudanic grouping. However, alternative analysis of linguistic features supports the general independence of Sudanic Arabic varieties from Egyptian Arabic.

Distribution and varieties

Dialects

Two clear subdialects of Western Sudanic Arabic are discernable: *

Bagirmi Arabic Baguirmi or Bagirmi may refer to: * Baguirmi Department Baguirmi () is a department of Chad, one of three in the Chari-Baguirmi Region. It takes its name from the kingdom of Baguirmi. Its capital is Massenya. Geography The surface of the departm ...

– spoken from eastern Nigeria to Chad in the southern fringe of the area. Characterized by syllable final stress in forms such as ''katáb'' 'he wrote'. * Urban varieties of Chad – spoken in Ndjamena and Abbeche, and characterized by simplification tendencies.

Speakers by country

Chad

The majority of speakers live in southern Chad between 10 and 14 degrees north latitude. In Chad, it is the local language of the national capital,

N'Djamena N'Djamena ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Chad, largest city of Chad. It is also a Provinces of Chad, special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements'', similar to the city of Paris. Originally calle ...

, and its range encompasses such other major cities as

Abéché Abéché (, ''Absha'') is a city in Chad and the capital of the Ouaddaï Region. It is one of the List of cities in Chad, largest cities in the country and has within it the remnants of the ancient capital, including palaces, mosques, and the tom ...

Am Timan Am Timan (Arabic: أم تيمان, ''ʾUmm Tīmān'') is a city in Chad and is the capital of the region of Salamat. Most of economy comes from Salamat region such as fish, vegetables and anomalies meat, etc. In Arabic, Am Timan means "mother o ...

, and Mao. It is the native language of 12% of Chadians. Chadian Arabic's associated

is widely spoken in Chad, so that Chadian Arabic and its lingua franca combined are spoken by somewhere between 40% and 60% of the Chadian population.

Sudan

In Sudan, it is spoken in the southwest, in southern

Kordofan Kordofan ( ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory divided between N ...

and southern

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

, but excluding the cities of al-Ubayyid and al-Fashir.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, it spoken by 10% of the population of Maiduguri, the capital of

, and by residents elsewhere in Borno State. It is locally known as Shuwa Arabic. , a total of 265,000 Chadian Arabic speakers are found in Nigeria.

Other

Its range in other African countries includes a sliver of the Central African Republic, the northern half of its Vakaga Prefecture, which is adjacent to Chad and Sudan; a sliver of

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

at its border with Sudan; and the environs of Lake Chad spanning three other countries, namely part of Nigeria's (

), Cameroon's Far North Region, and in the Diffa Department of Niger's

Diffa Region Diffa is one of the seven regions of Niger, and is located in the southeast of the country. The capital of the region is Diffa. Geography Diffa Region is situated in the extreme southeast of Niger between 10° 30’ and 15° 35’ longitude E ...

. The number of speakers in Niger is estimated to be 12,900 people.

History

How this Arabic language arose is unknown. In 1994, Braukämper proposed that it arose in Chad starting in 1635 by the fusion of a population of Arabic speakers with a population of

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

nomads. During the colonial era, a form of pidgin Arabic known as

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

was used as a lingua franca. There are still Arabic pidgins in Chad today, such as Bongor Arabic, however, most of them have not been described, so it is not known if they descend from Turku.

Phonology

Notes: * Old Arabic * > , * Old Arabic * > * Old Arabic * > * Old Arabic * > () It is characterized by the loss of the pharyngeals and , the interdental fricatives , and , and diphthongs. But it also has , and as extra phonemic emphatics. Some examples of minimal pairs for such emphatics are "he galloped", "he got angry"; "he tore", "he dragged"; "uncle", "mother". In addition, Nigerian Arabic has the feature of inserting an after gutturals ().

Grammar

A notable feature is the change of Standard Arabic Form V from ''tafaʕʕal(a)'' to ''alfaʕʕal''; for example, the word ''taʔallam(a)'' becomes ''alʔallam''. The first person singular perfect tense of verbs is different from its formation in other Arabic dialects in that it does not have a final ''t''. Thus, the first person singular of the verb ''katab'' is ''katáb'', with stress on the second syllable of the word, whereas the third-person singular is ''kátab'', with stress on the first syllable.

Vocabulary

The following is a sample vocabulary:

Notes

References

* The 1954 printing contains the 1913 edition, including the original title page. * * * * * * * 174 pp. * 280 pp. N'Djamena dialect. *

External links

Chadian Arabic videos
{{Authority control Baggara Arabs Arabic languages Languages of Chad Languages of the Central African Republic Languages of Sudan Languages of Nigeria Languages of Cameroon Languages of Niger