Daza language

Daza
Dazaga
Native to Chad, Niger, Sudan, Libya
Region Chad, BET Region, bahr el Gazel Region, eastern Niger
Ethnicity Daza people/Gouran people
Native speakers
 380,000 (2006–2007)[1]
Nilo-Saharan?
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 dzg
Glottolog daza1242[2]
Linguasphere 02-BAA-ab

Daza (also known as Dazaga) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Daza people inhabiting northern Chad. The Daza are also known as the Gouran (Gorane) in Chad.[1] Dazaga is spoken by around 380,000 people, primarily in the Djurab Desert region and the Borkou region, locally called Haya or Faya-Largeau northern-central Chad, the capital of the Dazaga people. Dazaga is spoken in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad (330,000 speakers), in the eastern Niger near N'guigmi and to the north (50,000 speakers). It is also spoken to a smaller extent in Libya and in Sudan, where there is a community of 3,000 speakers in the city of Omdurman. There's also a small diaspora community working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The two primary dialects of the Dazaga language are Daza and Kara, but there are several other mutually intelligible dialects, including Kaga, Kanobo, Taruge and Azza. It is closely related to the Tedaga language, spoken by the Teda, the other out of the two Toubou people groups, who reside primarily in the Tibesti Mountains of northern Chad and in southern Libya near the city of Sabha.

Dazaga is a Nilo-Saharan language and a member of the Western Saharan branch of the Saharan subgroup which also contains the Kanuri language, Kanembu language and Tebu languages.[3] Tebu is further divided into Tedaga and Dazaga. The Eastern Saharan branch includes the Zaghawa language and Berti language.[4]

Vocabulary

The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some French influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an Arabic influence. The Dazaga language is not a literary language and has a limited vocabulary. It adjusts to this by borrowing from other languages such as Arabic or French. For example, the word for "thank you" did not exist in Dazaga so the Arabic word shokran was incorporated into the language and is usually followed by the suffix -num which acknowledges the second person. The majority of Dazaga speakers are bilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, Hausa, Zarma, Kanuri or Tuareg.
The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This romanisation is not standard.

Numbers

EnglishDazagaEnglishDazaga
OneTronElevenMurdai sa Tron
TwoJowTwelveMurdai sa Jow
ThreeAguzoThirteenMurdai sa Aguzo
FourTwzoFourteenMurdai sa Twzo
FiveFooFifteenMurdai sa Foo
SixDisiSixteenMurdai sa Disi
SevenTrosoSeventeenMurdai sa Troso
EightWosoEighteenMurdai sa Woso
NineYisiNineteenMurdai sa Yisi
TenMurdumTwentyDigiram
ThirtyMurtta AguzoFiftyMurtta Foo
FortyMurtta TwzoHundredKidri

Basic words and phrases

EnglishDazagaEnglishDazaga
ManAnjiGood MorningWasa Nisira
WomanAriGood NightKalar Sizoo
FamilyAma YagaThank youShukran Num
BrotherDagiMy name is...Tan Sortanjo
SisterDurooWhat is your name?Sornuma Jaa?
FatherAbaaHow are you?Inta wWsura?
MotherAyiI am wellKala Layy or Tan Wasu
FriendSarduPleasejinda
LifeDinaCountryNi
DeathNosoReligionDin

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive b t d tʃ dʒ k ɡ
Fricative f s z (ʃ) h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Flap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
ɪ ʊ
Mid e o
ɛ ɔ
Open a

[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Daza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Dazaga". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.
  4. ↑ Cyffer, Norbert. 2000. Linguistic properties of the Saharan languages. Areal and Genetic Factors in Language Classification and Description: Africa South of the Sahara, ed. by Petr Zima, 30-59. Lincom Studies in African Linguistics 47. München: Lincom Europa
  5. ↑ Walters, Josiah (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga.
  • Relative Clauses in Dazaga
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