Kanembu language

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Nilo-Saharan language of Chad

title: "Kanembu language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["saharan-languages", "languages-of-chad"] description: "Nilo-Saharan language of Chad" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanembu_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Nilo-Saharan language of Chad ::

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

Field	Value
name	Kanembu
nativename	كَنٜݦُ
altname	Kanembou
states	Chad
region	Barh el Gazel, Hadjer-Lamis
ethnicity	Kanembu
speakers
date	2019
ref	e25
dia1	Karkawu
dia2	Mando
dia3	Nguri
script	*Latin
familycolor	Nilo-Saharan
fam2	Saharan
fam3	Western
fam4	Kanuri
ancestor	Old Kanembu
iso2	kbl
lc1	kbl
ld1	Kanembu
lc2	txj
ld2	Old Kanembu
glotto	kane1243
glottorefname	Kanembu
lingua	02-AAA-b
::

Ajami |familycolor=Nilo-Saharan |fam2=Saharan |fam3=Western |fam4=Kanuri |ancestor=Old Kanembu |iso2=kbl |lc1=kbl |ld1=Kanembu |lc2=txj |ld2=Old Kanembu |glotto=kane1243 |glottorefname=Kanembu |lingua=02-AAA-b

Kanembu is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Chad by the Kanembu people. It is also spoken by a smaller number of people in Niger. It is closely related to Kanuri.

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal	Nasal	Plosive	voiceless	voiced	prenasal	Fricative	Trill	Approximant







::

can also have allophones of .

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Near-close	Close-mid	Open-mid	Open





::

Vowel length is also distributed.

Writing system

Kanembu is written with the Latin script and Ajami alphabets.

In 2009, the Chadian government standardized both Latin and Ajami scripts for all indigenous languages of the country, including Kanembu, in what is known as Chadian National Alphabet.

::data[format=table title="Kanembu Latin alphabet {{sfn|SIL Chad|2017a}}{{sfn|SIL Chad|2017b}}"]


::

The letters are also used. The orthography also uses the digraphs .

The Ajami script has been used for Kanembu, since the time of Dunama Dabbalemi, and still today in the Tarjumo language or in religious works.

::data[format=table title="Kanembu Arabic alphabet"] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | ‌( - ) / | (B b) | (T t) | (S s) | (J j) | (Nj nj) | | (C c) | (H h) | (Kh kh) | (D d) | (Nd nd) | (S s) | | (R r) | (S s) | (S s) | (Ch ch) | (S s) | (D d) | | (T t) | (Z z) | ( - ) | (Kh kh) | (Ng ng) | (F f) | | (G g) | (K k) | (L l) | (M m) | (Mb mb) | (N n) | | (H h) | (W w) | ‌( - ) | (Y y) | ‌( - ) | | ::

::data[format=table title="Vowel at beginning of word"] | A || E || Ə || I || O || U | Aa || Ee || Əə || Ii || Oo || Uu | |---|---| | أَ}} | إٜ}} | | آ}} | إٜيـ}} | ::

::data[format=table title="Vowel at middle and end of word"] | a || e || ə || i || o || u | aa || ee || əə || ii || oo || uu | |---|---| | ◌َ}} | ◌ٜ}} | | ◌َا / ـَا}} | ◌ٜيـ / ـٜيـ}} | ::

Notes

References

Warren-Rothlin, Andy. (2014). West African Scripts and Arabic-Script Orthographies in Socio-Political Context. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004256804_013 10.1163/9789004256804_013].
(12 August 2010). "Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::