Adara language
Plateau language spoken in Nigeria
title: "Adara language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["central-plateau-languages", "north-plateau-languages", "languages-of-nigeria"] description: "Plateau language spoken in Nigeria" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adara_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Plateau language spoken in Nigeria ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Adara |
| nativename | Eda |
| region | Kaduna State; Niger State |
| states | Nigeria |
| speakers | 300,000 |
| date | 2011 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Niger-Congo |
| fam2 | Atlantic–Congo |
| fam3 | Benue–Congo |
| fam4 | Plateau |
| fam5 | Central ? |
| fam6 | North Plateau ? |
| iso3 | kad |
| glotto | kada1284 |
| glottorefname | Kadara |
| :: |
|name=Adara |nativename=Eda |region=Kaduna State; Niger State |states=Nigeria |speakers=300,000 |date=2011 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=Atlantic–Congo |fam3=Benue–Congo |fam4=Plateau |fam5=Central ? |fam6=North Plateau ? |iso3=kad |glotto=kada1284 |glottorefname=Kadara
Adara (also Eda and Kadara), is a Central Plateau language spoken by Adara people of Kaduna state and Niger state of Nigeria. The name Adara is also used to refer to the ethnic group.
Some estimates place the population of the Adara people at around 500,000. About 80% of the Adara are Christians while some also adhere to Islam.
Distribution
Adara is spoken mainly in Kachia and Kajuru Local Government Areas as well as parts of Chikun and Kagarko of Kaduna state. In Paikoro and Munya local governments areas of Niger State in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria.
Dialects
Dialects of the Adara language include the Adara dialect, Eneje, Ada, Ekhwa, and Ajiya.
Blench (2019) lists Eda, Edra, and Enezhe as dialects.
Phonology
Consonants
::data[format=table title="{{rp|3}}"]
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Alveo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | Labial–velar | Glottal | Plosive | Nasal | Tap | Fricative | Affricate | Approximant | Lateral |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [] | ||||||||||||||
| [] | ||||||||||||||
| [] | ||||||||||||||
| :: |
Vowels
::data[format=table title="{{rp|2}}"]
| Front | Central | Back | Close | Close-mid | Open-mid | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
References
References
- Blench, Roger. (2019). "An Atlas of Nigerian Languages". Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- Roger Blench. (5 July 2009). "The Eda [= Kadara] language of Central Nigeria".
- {{Glottolog. kada1284. Kadara
- [https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/12404/NI Joshua project entry on the Adara]
- (27 April 2012). "A Summary of a Sociolinguistic Survey of the Adara of Kaduna and Niger States, Nigeria".
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