Yiwom (Ywom), also known as Gerka or Gerkawa by the

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 ...

, is a

Chadic The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely ...

(

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

) language spoken in

Plateau State Plateau is a northern states of Nigeria, Nigerian state. It is located in the north-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria and includes a range of hills surrounding the Jos Plateau. Plateau State is described as "The Home of Peace and Tourism". Th ...

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, ...

Sociolinguistic background

Ywom was formerly much more widespread, with Ywom toponyms found in southern Tarok-speaking areas.Blench, Roger. 2017
Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages

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 ...

(2013)Blench, Roger. 2013
However did Ywom become so strange?
reports that Ywom is spoken in Hyel Ywom town and nearby hamlets. Many Ywom speak Jukun and Tarok as additional languages. Due to influence from

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 ...

, Ywom has various phonological features that are considered unusual for a

West Chadic The West Chadic languages of the Afro-Asiatic family are spoken principally in Niger and Nigeria. They include Hausa, the most populous Chadic language and a major language of West Africa. Languages The branches of West Chadic go either by ...

language, such as labiovelar consonants.

Phonology

Tones are at least high and low. Mid tone may be allophonic. Rising and falling tones are probably restricted to sequences. Vowels are . There may also be an ?. Three vowels are long, . Consonants are: Syllable-initial consonant clusters are Cw, Cj, Cr and Cl. NC also occurs; the N takes its own tone.

References

External links

*Blench, Roger. 2013
However did Ywom become so strange?
* Paradisec has an open access collection of

’s materials tha
includes Yiwom language materials
West Chadic languages Languages of Nigeria {{WChadic-lang-stub