TheAdamawa/ædəˈmɑːwə/ languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across theAdamawa Plateau inCentral Africa, in northernCameroon, north-westernCentral African Republic, southernChad, and easternNigeria, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 1996).Joseph Greenberg classified them as one branch of theAdamawa–Ubangi family ofNiger–Congo languages. They are among the least studied languages inAfrica, and include manyendangered languages; by far the largest isMumuye, with 400,000 speakers. A couple ofunclassified languages—notablyLaal andJalaa—are found along the fringes of the Adamawa area.

Geographically, the Adamawa languages lie near the location of the postulated Niger–Congo –Central Sudanic contact that may have given rise to the Atlantic–Congo family, and so may represent the central radiation of that family^{[citation needed]}.

Joseph Greenberg postulated the Adamawa languages as a part of Adamawa–Ubangian (then calledAdamawa–Eastern), and divided them into 14 numbered groups. Group G3,Daka (or Dakoid), is now known to be a branch ofBenue–Congo. The relationships of the other branches has undergone considerable revision.

There have also been recent attempts at computationally classifying the Adamawa languages.^[1]

Greenberg's 14 numbered Adamawa groups are:^[2]

Boyd (1989) added theDay language and classified them as follows:^[3]

He excluded theFali languages (G11).

Güldemann (2018) recognises 14 coherent Adamawa "genealogical units", but is agnostic about their positions within Niger-Congo.^[4]

• Tula-Waja
• Longuda
• Bena-Mboi
• Bikwin-Jen
• Samba-Duru
• Mumuyic
• Maya (Yendangic)
• Kebi-Benue (Mbumic)
• Kimic
• Buaic
• Day
• Baa =Kwa
• Nyingwom =Kam
• Fali

Kleinewillinghöfer (2019), in the Adamawa Languages Project website, recognises the following 17 groups as Adamawa languages.^[5]

• Tula-Waja (Waja): G1^[6][7]
• Bikwin-Jen (Burak, Jen): G9^[8][9]
• Kam (Nyiŋɔm, Nyiwom, Nyingwom): G8^[10]
• Longuda (Nʋngʋra cluster): G10^[11][12]
• Baa (Kwa)^[13][14]
• Mumuye: G5
• Yandang (Yendang): G5^[15]
• Samba-Duru (Chamba-Leko, Leko, Duru, Sama-Duru, Samba Leeko): G2, G4^[16][17]
• Ɓəna-Mboi (Yungur): G7^[18][19][20]
• Kebi-Benue (Mbum): G6
• Kim: G14
• Day
• Bua: G13
• Nimbari (Baari, Bari): G12 [extinct]^[21]
• Duli - Gewe (Gey, Gueve) [extinct]
• ?Fali: G11
• ?Chamba-Daka (Daka): G3

Only theTula-Waja,Longuda,Ɓəna-Mboi,Samba-Duru, andBua groups havenoun classes. The other groups only display vestiges of formerly active noun class systems.^[22]

Roger Blench (2012)^[23] concludes that the Adamawa languages are a geographic grouping, not a language family, and breaks up its various branches in his proposedSavannas family. He places some of the western Adamawa languages closer to theGur languages than to other Adamawa families. Fali is tentatively excluded from Savannas altogether. Blench (2020) retains a connection between Mumuye and Yendang, but breaks up Kleinewillinghöfer's Samba-Duru.

TheOblo language ofCameroon has been included in several versions of the Adamawa group, but its position within it is unclear.^[24]

It has been speculated that the unclassifiedLaal language ofChad may be Adamawa; theJalaa language ofNigeria is probably not Adamawa, but shows heavy Adamawa influence. However, both are generally now considered to belanguage isolates.

This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(September 2021)

Sample basic vocabulary of Adamawa languages from Kleinewillinghöfer'sAdamawa Languages Project website and various other sources:^[5]

Note: In table cells with slashes, the singular form is given before the slash, while the plural form follows the slash.

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

• Savannas languages
• Gur languages

• Adamawa Language Projects (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
• AdaGramArchived 2019-09-04 at theWayback Machine (CNRS-INALCO). Exploring Nigeria’s linguistic wealth: grammatical analysis and linguistic documentation of the Adamawa languages.
• List of Adamawa languages – Blench
• Tula-Wiyaa languages – Blench
• Leeko group – Blench
• The Perema (Wom) language of northeastern Nigeria: classification, phonology and noun morphology (PDF) by Roger M. Blench, 2000. Mallam Dendo, Cambridge.
• A rapid appraisal survey of Gbete (PDF) by Jason Diller & Kari Jordan-Diller, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-050.
• A sociolinguistic survey of the Mambay language of Chad and Cameroon (PDF) by Cameron Hamm, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-039.
• Rapid appraisal and lexicostatistical analysis surveys of Dama, Mono, Pam, Ndai and Oblo (PDF) by Michael & Charlene Ayotte, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-048.
• Karang – SIL-Cameroon
• SIL-Cameroon bibliography
• Vocabulaires comparés des instruments aratoires dans le Nord-Cameroun, Tourneaux
• Idiatov, Dmitry. 2017-08-29.Results of the first AdaGram survey in Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria. (with Mark Van de Velde, Tope Olagunju and Bitrus Andrew). 47th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) (Leiden, Netherlands).

• Adamawa languages
• Volta–Congo languages
• Adamawa State

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