Zarma (language)
| Zarma | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Niger , Burkina Faso , Mali , Nigeria , Ivory Coast , Ghana | |
| speaker | approx. 2,188,400 (1998) | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Official status | ||
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 Niger
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
ssa |
|
| ISO 639-3 | ||
The Zarma , traditionally called Djerma in German , (also called Dyerma , Dyarma , Dyabarma , Adzerma , Zabarma , Zarbarma , Zarmaci in Niger) is a West African Zarma language that originated in southwestern Niger .
It belongs to the group of Songhai languages . Smaller groups of Zarma speakers live in Burkina Faso , Mali , Nigeria , Ivory Coast and Ghana .
One dialect is Kaado . In Niger, dialects from Dendi and other Songhai languages show similarities to Zarma.
Basic vocabulary words
| Word meaning | Zarma | Word meaning | Zarma |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ay | big | beeri |
| you | ni | small | kayna |
| he she it | a, inga | eat | ŋwa |
| we | iri | drink | haŋ |
| her | araŋ | sleep | kani, jirbi |
| she ( plural ) | i | to die | bu |
| who? | may | go | koy, dira |
| What? | ifo | come | ka |
| human | boro, andamize | give | no |
| man | alboro | to take | sambu, za |
| woman | wayboro | speak | salan |
| head | boŋ | love | ba |
| eye | mo, moize | one | afo, fo |
| ear | hanga | two | ihinka |
| nose | niine | three | ihinza |
| mouth | me | four | itaci |
| tooth | hinje | five | igu |
| tongue | deene | six | iddu |
| heart | bine | seven | iyye |
| hand | came | eight | ahaku |
| foot | ce | nine | yegga |
| water | hari | ten | iwey |
| Fire | danji, nuune | twenty | waranka |
| Sun | wayno | hundred | zangu |
| moon | handu | thousand | ? |
See also
literature
- Abdou Hamani : La structure grammaticale du zarma. Essai de systematisation . Thesis. Université Paris VII, 1982.
- Abdou Hamani: Sarrusey ce-diraw sanniizey = Vocabulaire administratif zarma-français . Université de Niamey, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de Linguistique, Niamey 1984.
- Fatimata Mounkaïla : Anthologie de la littérature orale songhay-zarma. Saveurs sahéliennes . Four volumes. L'Harmattan, Paris 2008.
Web links
- Ethnologue entry on Zarma
- Open Language Archives Community
- Entry on the languages of Ghana. Ethnologue
- Private page with learning units, grammar and dictionary on Zarma
- Online Zarma-English-French dictionary