Jalaa
| Jalaa | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Nigeria | |
| speaker | 0 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 |
cet |
|
Jalaa is an extinct language in northeastern Nigeria that appears to be the last member of an extinct language family. Jalaa was spoken by the Jalabe (also Jaabe) in the heart of the Muri Mountains in the state of Bauchi . The Jalabe have given up their language in recent decades in favor of the Bwilim dialect of Dikaka (the language of their immediate neighbors).
Today there are only a small number of very old people who can still remember words and short phrases in their former language. The last settlement center of the Jalabe was / is Loojaa ("settlement Jaa") on the northern edge of the Muri Mountains. Centúúm or Cen Tuum is probably an alternative name for the Jalabe settlement Loojaa, referring to its position in the west of Mwona, the main town of the Bwilim.
literature
- Crozier, David H. and Roger M. Blench, editors. 1992. An index of Nigerian languages . Abuja, Nigeria and Dallas: Nigerian Language Development Center, Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- Ulrich Kleinewillinghöfer. "Jalaa - an Almost Forgotten Language of Northeastern Nigeria: a Language Isolate?" in Historical Language Contact in Africa , Derek Nurse (ed.), vol. 16/17 of "Language and History in Africa", Koeppe 2001. ISSN 0170-5946 .