Zarma (language)
Zarma | ||
---|---|---|
Spoken in |
Niger , Burkina Faso , Mali , Nigeria , Ivory Coast , Ghana | |
speaker | approx. 2,188,400 (1998) | |
Linguistic classification |
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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