Nupe (language)

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Nupe Tako (Bassa Nge)

Spoken in

Nigeria
speaker 800,000 (1990)
Linguistic
classification

Niger-Congo

Language codes
ISO 639-3

nup

Nupe (also Nufawa , Nupeci , Nupecidji , Nupenchi or Nupencizi ) is a West African language spoken by the Nupe people in the central belt region of Nigeria .

It is one of the nupoid languages and has no official status, which is why it cannot be subsidized by the state and is therefore superseded by English, the only official language in the country since the British colonial era. Nupe was, however, the official language of the former state of Nupe .

Its geographical distribution of the speakers is limited to the west-central part of this central belt region and is predominant in the state of Niger .

Demographics

Nupe is the language of the Nupe ethnic group , who mainly live in the Nigerian state of Niger and occupy an approximately 6,950 square miles (18,000 square kilometers) large lowland area in the Niger Basin, which lies mainly north of the river between the confluences of Kontagora and Guara from Kainji to below Baro , as well as in Kwara State, Kogi State, and the Federal Capital Territory .

Nupe is mainly spoken in Bida , a large city in the state of Niger and the surrounding areas. It is also spoken in villages on the Benue River near Ibi and east of Lafia. Nupe has assimilated earlier ethno-linguistic groups such as the Benu of Kutigi (originally Kanuri language) and the Gbagye in Lemu.

Nupe Tako (means 'The Nupe below'; also known as Bassa-Nge ) is lexically most closely related to the central Nupe.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Roger Blench: The Nupoid languages ​​of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list. Retrieved January 25, 2020 .

Web links