Chadic languages

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Branch of the Afroasiatic languages

title: "Chadic languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["chadic-languages", "afroasiatic-languages"] description: "Branch of the Afroasiatic languages" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadic_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Branch of the Afroasiatic languages ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language family"]

Field	Value
name	Chadic
region	Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon
protoname	Proto-Chadic
familycolor	Afro-asiatic
child1	Biu–Mandara
child2	East Chadic
child3	Masa
child4	West Chadic
iso5	cdc
glotto	chad1250
glottorefname	Chadic
map	Chadic_languages_in_Africa_map.svg
mapcaption	Map of the distribution of the Chadic languages within Africa
map2	Chadic languages map.svg
mapcaption2	Detailed map of the distribution of Chadic languages in Western and Central Africa
speakers
::

| name = Chadic | region = Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon | protoname = Proto-Chadic | familycolor = Afro-asiatic | child1 = Biu–Mandara | child2 = East Chadic | child3 = Masa | child4 = West Chadic | iso5 = cdc | glotto = chad1250 | glottorefname = Chadic | map = Chadic_languages_in_Africa_map.svg | mapcaption = Map of the distribution of the Chadic languages within Africa | ancestor = | glottoname = | notes = | map2 = Chadic languages map.svg | mapcaption2 = Detailed map of the distribution of Chadic languages in Western and Central Africa | speakers = 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 spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland Eastern West Africa, particularly Niger and the northern half of Nigeria. Hausa is the only Chadic language with more than 1 million speakers.

Composition

Paul Newman (1977) classified the languages into the four groups which have been accepted in all subsequent literature. Further subbranching, however, has not been as robust; Roger Blench (2006), for example, only accepts the A/B bifurcation of East Chadic. Subsequent work by Joseph Lovestrand argues strongly that Kujarge is a valid member of East Chadic. The placing of Luri as a primary split of West Chadic is erroneous. Bernard Caron (2004) shows that this language is South Bauchi and part of the Polci cluster. A suggestion for including the language isolate Kujargé as an early-diverged member, which subsequently became influenced by East Chadic, has been made by Blench (2008).

Chadic
- West Chadic
  - the Hausa, Ron, Bole, and Angas languages
  - the Bade, Warji, and Zaar languages
- Biu–Mandara (Central Chadic)
  - the Bura, Kamwe, and Bata languages, among other groups
  - the Buduma and Musgu languages
  - Gidar
- East Chadic
  - the Tumak, Nancere, and Kera languages
  - the Dangaléat, Mukulu, and Sokoro languages
- Masa

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Chadic_Languages.jpg" caption="A chart of the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic languages."] ::

Loanwords

Chadic languages contain many Nilo-Saharan loanwords from either the Songhay or Maban branches, pointing to early contact between Chadic and Nilo-Saharan speakers as Chadic was migrating west.

Although Adamawa languages are spoken adjacently to Chadic languages, interaction between Chadic and Adamawa is limited.

Pronouns

Pronouns in Proto-Chadic, as compared to pronouns in Proto-Afroasiatic (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:351):

::data[format=table]

Pronoun	Proto-Chadic	Proto-Afroasiatic
1	ní	i ~ yi
2M	ka	ku, ka
2F	ki(m)	kim
3M	nì	si, isi
3F	ta
1PL	mun (incl.), na (excl.)	(-na ~ -nu ~ -ni) ?
2PL	kun	kuuna
3PL	sun	su ~ usu
::

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary in different Chadic branches listed in order from west to east, with reconstructions of other Afroasiatic branches also given for comparison:

::data[format=table]

Language	eye	ear	nose	tooth	tongue	mouth	blood	bone	tree	water	eat	name
Proto-Chadic	ydn	km/ɬm	ntn	s₃n; ƙ-d	ls₃-	bk	br	ƙs₃		ymn	hrɗ (hard); twy (soft)	s₃m
Hausa	ido	kunne	hanci	haƙori	harshe	baki	jini	ƙashi	itaci; bishiya	ruwa	ci	suna
Proto-Ron		kumu	*atin	haŋgor	liʃ	fo	ɟɑ̄lɑ̄, tɾɔ̃̄	kaʃ				sum
Proto-South Bauchi	(gwà)yìr(-ŋ)	kə̂m(-si)				bʸak(-ì)	bìràm	gu(ŋ)ul	pit-ə̀			(yì)sûm(-s₃)
Polci	yiir	kəəm	cin	haƙori	shen	bii	buran; bəran	gooloo	pət	maa	ci	suŋ
Proto-Central Chadic	hadaj; tsɨʸ	ɬɨmɨɗʸ	hʷɨtsɨnʸ	ɬɨɗɨnʸ	ɗɨrɨnɨhʸ; ɣanaɗʸ; naɬɨj		maj	ɗiɬ; kɨrakaɬʸ	hʷɨp	ɗɨjɨm	zɨm	ɬɨmɨɗʸ
Proto-Masa	ir	hum	cin	s-	si	vun	vuzur	sok	gu	mb-	ti	sem
Kujarge	kunɟu	kumayo ~ kime	kaata	kiya	aliŋati	apa	ɪbɪrí	(kaɟeɟa), kàyɛ́ya	kaʃíè	ʃia	(tona), tuye [imp. sg.]; tuwona [imp. pl.]	rúwà
Other Afroasiatic branches
Proto-Cushitic	ʔil-		ʔisŋʷ-	ʔiɬkʷ-	caanrab-	ʔaf-/yaf-		mikʷ’-; moc’-			-aħm-/-uħm-; ɬaam-	sim-/sum-
Proto-Maji	ʔaːb	háːy		aːç’u		eːdu		uːs	inču	haːy	um
Tarifiyt Berber	ŧit’t’	aməžžun, aməz’z’uɣ	ŧinzā	ŧiɣməsŧ	iřəs	aqəmmum	iđammən	iɣəss		aman	šš	isəm
Coptic	ia	ma'aje	ša	šol, najhe	las	ro	snof	kas	šēn	mou	wōm	ran
Proto-Semitic	ʕayn-	ʔuḏn-	ʔanp-	šinn-	lišān-		dam-	ʕaṯ̣m-	ʕiṣ̂-	mā̆y-	ʔ-k-l	(šim-)
Proto-Afroasiatic	ʔǐl-	-ʔânxʷ-		sǐn-/sǎn- 'tip, point'	-lis’- 'to lick'	âf-	dîm-/dâm-	k’os-	ɣǎ	âm-; akʷ’-	-mǎaʕ-; -iit-; -kʷ’-̌	sǔm-/sǐm-
::

Bibliography

Caron, Bernard 2004. Le Luri: quelques notes sur une langue tchadique du Nigeria. In: Pascal Boyeldieu & Pierre Nougayrol (eds.), Langues et Cultures: Terrains d’Afrique. Hommages à France Cloarec-Heiss (Afrique et Language 7). 193–201. Louvain-Paris: Peeters.
Lukas, Johannes (1936) 'The linguistic situation in the Lake Chad area in Central Africa.' Africa, 9, 332–349.
Lukas, Johannes. Zentralsudanische Studien, Hamburg 1937;
Newman, Paul (1977) 'Chadic classification and reconstructions.' Afroasiatic Linguistics 5, 1, 1–42.
Newman, Paul (1978) 'Chado-Hamitic 'adieu': new thoughts on Chadic language classification', in Fronzaroli, Pelio (ed.), Atti del Secondo Congresso Internazionale di Linguistica Camito-Semitica. Florence: Instituto de Linguistica e di Lingue Orientali, Università di Firenze, 389–397.
Newman, Paul (1980) The Classification of Chadic within Afroasiatic. Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Kiyoshi Shimizu: Chadic lexical roots. Reimer, Berlin 1981.
Herrmann Jungraithmayr, Dymitr Ibriszimow: Chadic lexical roots. 2 volumes. Reimer, Berlin 1994
Schuh, Russell (2003) 'Chadic overview', in M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (eds.), Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, LINCOM Europa, 55–60.

;Data sets

References

"Chadic Languages; Ethnologue".
Blench, 2006. [http://rogerblench.info/Language/Afroasiatic/General/AALIST.pdf The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-10-07 (ms))
Blench, Roger. 2008. [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Afroasiatic/General/Blench%20paper%20Cushitic%20symposium%20Paris%202008.pdf Links between Cushitic, Omotic, Chadic and the position of Kujarge] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-12-22 . 5th International Conference of Cushitic and Omotic languages.)
(5 December 2006). "The Nilo-Saharan background of Chadic". Studies in African Linguistics.
Blench, Roger. 2012. ''Linguistic evidence for the chronological stratification of populations South of Lake Chad''. Presentation for Mega-Tchad Colloquium in Naples, September 13–15, 2012.
Vossen, Rainer and Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). 2020. ''The Oxford Handbook of African Languages''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jungraithmayr, Herrmann; Ibriszimow, Dymitr (1994). ''Chadic Lexical Roots: Tentative reconstruction, grading, distribution and comments''. (Sprache und Oralität in Afrika; 20), volume I, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.
Cosper, Ronald. 2015. Hausa dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ids.clld.org/contributions/220 {{Webarchive. link. (2020-01-01 , Accessed on 2019-12-31.))
Blench, Roger. no date. [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Afroasiatic/Chadic/West/Ron/Ron%20comparative%20wordlist.pdf Ron comparative wordlist] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-04-21 .)
Shimizu, Kiyoshi. 1978. ''The Southern Bauchi group of Chadic languages: a survey report''. (Africana Marburgensia: Sonderheft, 2.) Marburg/Lahn: Africana Marburgensia.
Cosper, Ronald. 2015. Polci dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://ids.clld.org/contributions/221 {{Webarchive. link. (2020-01-01 , Accessed on 2019-12-31.))
Gravina, Richard. 2014. ''[https://protocentralchadic.webonary.org/files/Proto-Central-Chadic-Lexicon.pdf Proto-Central Chadic Lexicon] {{Webarchive. link. (2021-01-20 ''. Webonary.)
(June 1997). "The classification of the Masa group of languages". Studies in African Linguistics.
Doornbos, Paul. 1981. Field notes on Kujarge, language metadata, 200-word list plus numerals and pronouns.
(1987). "Proto-Cushitic Reconstruction". Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika.
(2003). "Comparative phonology of the Maji languages". Journal of Ethiopian Studies.
Kossmann, Maarten. 2009. [https://wold.clld.org/vocabulary/6 Tarifiyt Berber vocabulary] {{Webarchive. link. (2024-05-26 . In: Haspelmath, Martin & Tadmor, Uri (eds.) ''World Loanword Database''. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.)
Kogan, Leonid (2012). "Proto-Semitic Lexicon". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). ''The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook''. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 179–258. {{ISBN. 978-3-11-025158-6.
Ehret, Christopher. (1995). "Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): vowels, tone, consonants, and vocabulary". University of California Press.

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