Tarok language
Benue-Congo language spoken in northern Nigeria
title: "Tarok language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["tarokoid-languages", "languages-of-nigeria"] description: "Benue-Congo language spoken in northern Nigeria" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarok_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Benue-Congo language spoken in northern Nigeria ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Tarok |
| nativename | iTárók |
| states | Nigeria |
| region | Plateau State, Taraba State |
| ethnicity | Tarok |
| speakers | 520,000 |
| date | 2020 |
| ref | |
| familycolor | Niger-Congo |
| fam2 | Atlantic–Congo |
| fam3 | Benue–Congo |
| fam4 | Plateau |
| fam5 | Tarokoid |
| fam6 | Tarok–Pai |
| iso3 | yer |
| glotto | taro1263 |
| glottorefname | Tarok |
| :: |
| name = Tarok | nativename = iTárók | states = Nigeria | region = Plateau State, Taraba State | ethnicity = Tarok | speakers = 520,000 | date = 2020 | ref = | familycolor = Niger-Congo | fam2 = Atlantic–Congo | fam3 = Benue–Congo | fam4 = Plateau | fam5 = Tarokoid | fam6 = Tarok–Pai | iso3 = yer | glotto = taro1263 | glottorefname = Tarok
Tarok (), also known as Yergam or Appa is a language spoken by around 520,000 people primarily in the southeast of Nigeria's Plateau State, where it serves as a local lingua franca. Tarok is a member of the Plateau group of the Atlantic–Congo family.
Phonology
Vowels
Tarok has seven phonemic vowels, /i ɨ u ɛ ə ɔ a/. The IPA symbols are included in the table below along with the orthographic form in angular brackets. ::data[format=table title="caption |Tarok Vowels"]
| Front | Central | Back | High | Low-Mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Consonants
Tarok has an inventory of twenty-nine phonemic consonants, shown in the table below. Allophones are provided in parentheses. ::data[format=table title="Tarok Consonants{{cite journal |last1=Onah |first1=Patrick El-Kanemi |last2=Israel |first2=T. Gamypal |title=A Phonological Description of Tarok |journal=Journal of English and Communication in Africa |date=Dec 2022 |volume=5 |issue=3&4 |pages=1–24 |url=https://www.jecaoauife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/A-Phonological-Description-of-Tarok.pdf |access-date=27 January 2025 |archive-date=27 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127170628/https://www.jecaoauife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/A-Phonological-Description-of-Tarok.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last=Longtau |first=Selbut |title=Tarok language : its basic principles and grammar |year=2008 |url=https://www.academia.edu/67635781 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127170142/https://www.academia.edu/67635781/Tarok_language_its_basic_principles_and_grammar |archive-date=27 January 2025}}"] | Labial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | Plosive / Affricate | voiceless | voiced | Implosive | Fricative | voiceless | voiced | Nasal | Lateral | Vibrant | Semivowel | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ()* | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
- The labiovelar nasal [ŋ͡m] occurs as an allophone of the syllabic nasal consonant before labiovelar plosives /k͡p/ and /g͡b/.
Names for other languages
As the local lingua franca, the Tarok feature prominently in the local ethnic composition of southeast Plateau State. Many Tarok clans can also trace their ancestries back to Chadic-speaking peoples, pointing to a long history of Chadic peoples assimilating into Tarok society. Some Tarok names for neighbouring languages according to Longtau (2004):
::data[format=table]
| Language | Classification | Tarok name |
|---|---|---|
| Ngas | West Chadic A.3 | Dúk |
| Boghom | West Chadic B.3 | Burom |
| Duguri | Jarawan | Duguri |
| Goemai | West Chadic A.3 | Lar |
| Jukun-Wase | Jukunoid | Jor |
| Kanam | West Chadic B.3 ? | (not known by Tarok) |
| Kantana | Jarawan | Kantana |
| Tel | West Chadic A.3 | Dwal |
| Pe | Tarokoid | Pe |
| Tal | West Chadic A.3 | Tal |
| Sur | Tarokoid | (not known by Tarok) |
| Yangkam | Tarokoid | Yangkam |
| Yiwom | West Chadic A.3 | Zhan |
| Zaar | West Chadic B.3 | Zhim |
| :: |
Orthography
::data[format=table title="Tarok alphabet"]
| p | r | s | sh | t | u | v | w | y | z | zh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Notes
Variants of this name are Yergəm and Yergum.
References
References
- "Tarok {{!}} Ethnologue Free".
- "Tarok {{!}} Ethnologue Free".
- Longtau, Selbut. (25–26 March 2004). "Some Historical Inferences from Lexical Borrowings and Traditions of Origins in the Tarokoid/Chadic Interface". Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg.
::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. ::