Hausa is a member of theAfroasiatic language family[6] and is the most widely spoken language within theChadic branch of that family. Despite originating from a non-tonal language family, Hausa utilizes differences in pitch to distinguish words and grammar.Ethnologue estimated that it was spoken as a first language by some 58 million people and as asecond language by another 36 million, bringing the total number of Hausa speakers to an estimated 94 million.[7]
In Nigeria, the Hausa film industry is known asKannywood.[8]
Hausa is spoken by approximately 53% of the population of Niger[12] and was declared the country's official language in 2025.[13] It is commonly spoken in the cities ofMaradi,Diffa,Tahoua,Zinder,Tillaberi,Dosso, andAgadez.
In Sudan, Hausa is spoken throughout most ofJazirah,Blue Nile, andKordofan, Darfur States, Gadaref State, Red Sea State, White Nile State, and River Nile.[citation needed]
Hausa is widely used as a lingua franca across much of West Africa and is spoken by people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds across Northern Nigeria and Niger.[18]
Hausa presents a wide uniformity wherever it is spoken.[20] However, linguists have identified dialect areas with a cluster of features characteristic of each one.[21]
Western Hausa dialects includeSakkwatanci inSokoto,Katsinanci inKatsina,Arewanci inGobir,Adar,Kebbi, and Zanhwaranci inZamfara, andKurhwayanci inKurfey in Niger.Katsina is transitional between Eastern and Western dialects.Sokoto is used in a variety of classicalHausa literature, and is often known asClassical Hausa.[23]
Zazzaganci inZazzau is the major Southern dialect.[24]
The Daura (Dauranchi) and Kano (Kananci) dialects are the standard. TheBBC,Deutsche Welle,Radio France Internationale andVoice of America offer Hausa services on their international news web sites using Dauranci and Kananci. In recent language development Zazzaganci took over the innovation of writing and speaking the current Hausa language use.[25]
The western to eastern Hausa dialects ofKurhwayanci, Damagaram andAdarawa, represent the traditional northernmost limit of native Hausa communities.[26] These are spoken in the northernmostsahel and mid-Saharan regions in west and centralNiger in theTillaberi,Tahoua,Dosso,Maradi,Agadez andZinder regions.[26] While mutually comprehensible with other dialects (especiallySakkwatanci, and to a lesser extentGaananci), the northernmost dialects have slight grammatical and lexical differences owing to frequent contact with theZarma,Fula, andTuareg groups and cultural changes owing to the geographical differences between the grassland and desert zones. These dialects also have the quality of bordering on non-tonalpitch accent dialects.
This link between non-tonality and geographic location is not limited to Hausa alone, but is exhibited in other northern dialects of neighbouring languages; example includes differences within theSonghay language (between the non-tonal northernmost dialects ofKoyra Chiini inTimbuktu andKoyraboro Senni inGao; and the tonal southernZarma dialect, spoken from westernNiger to northernGhana), and within theSoninke language (between the non-tonal northernmost dialects ofImraguen andNemadi spoken in east-centralMauritania; and the tonal southern dialects ofSenegal,Mali and theSahel).[27]
TheGhanaian Hausa dialect (Gaananci), spoken inGhana andTogo, is a distinct western native Hausa dialect-bloc with adequate linguistic and media resources available. Separate smaller Hausa dialects are spoken by an unknown number of Hausa further west in parts ofBurkina Faso, and in theHaoussa Foulane, Badji Haoussa, Guezou Haoussa, andAnsongo districts of northeasternMali (where it is designated as a minority language by the Malian government), but there are very little linguistic resources and research done on these particular dialects at this time.
Gaananci forms a separate group from other Western Hausa dialects, as it now falls outside the contiguous Hausa-dominant area, and is usually identified by the use ofc forky, andj forgy. This is attributed to the fact that Ghana's Hausa population descend fromHausa-Fulani traders settled in thezongo districts of major trade-towns up and down the previousAsante,Gonja andDagomba kingdoms stretching from thesahel to coastal regions, in particular the cities ofAccra (Sabon Zango,Nima),Takoradi andCape Coast
Gaananci exhibits noted inflected influences fromZarma,Gur,Jula-Bambara,Akan, andSoninke, as Ghana is the westernmost area in which the Hausa language is a major lingua-franca among sahelian/Muslim West Africans, including both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaianzango migrants primarily from the northern regions, orMali andBurkina Faso. Ghana also marks the westernmost boundary in which theHausa people inhabit in any considerable number. Immediately west and north of Ghana (inCôte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso), Hausa is abruptly replaced withDioula–Bambara as the main sahelian/Muslim lingua-franca of what become predominantlyManding areas, and native Hausa-speakers plummet to a very small urban minority.
Because of this, and the presence of surroundingAkan,Gbe,Gur andMande languages, Gaananci was historically isolated from the other Hausa dialects.[28] Despite this difference, grammatical similarities betweenSakkwatanci and Ghanaian Hausa determine that the dialect, and the origin of the Ghanaian Hausa people themselves, are derived from the northwestern Hausa area surrounding Sokoto.[29]
Hausa is also widely spoken by non-nativeGur, andMandé Ghanaian Muslims, but differs from Gaananci, and rather has features consistent with non-native Hausa dialects.
Hausa is also spoken in various parts of Cameroon and Chad, which combined the mixed dialects ofNorthern Nigeria and Niger. In addition, Arabic has had a great influence in the way Hausa is spoken by the native Hausa speakers in these areas.
InWest Africa, Hausa's use as alingua franca has given rise to a non-native pronunciation that differs vastly from native pronunciation by way of key omissions ofimplosive andejective consonants present in native Hausa dialects, such asɗ,ɓ andkʼ/ƙ, which are pronounced by non-native speakers asd,b andk respectively.[30][31] This creates confusion among non-native and native Hausa speakers, as non-native pronunciation does not distinguish words likedaidai ("correct") andɗaiɗai ("one-by-one"). Another difference between native and non-native Hausa is the omission ofvowel length in words and change in the standardtone of native Hausa dialects (ranging from nativeFulani andTuareg Hausa-speakers omitting tone altogether, to Hausa speakers withGur orYorubamother tongues using additional tonal structures similar to those used in their native languages). Use of masculine and femininegender nouns and sentence structure are usually omitted or interchanged, and many native Hausa nouns and verbs are substituted with non-native terms from local languages.
Non-native speakers of Hausa numbered more than 25 million and, in some areas, live close to native Hausa. It has replaced many other languages especially in the north-central and north-eastern part of Nigeria and continues to gain popularity in other parts of Africa as a result of Hausa movies and music which spread out throughout the region.
There are severalpidgin forms of Hausa.Barikanchi was formerly used in thecolonial army of Nigeria. Gibanawa is currently in widespread use inJega in northwestern Nigeria, south of the native Hausa area.[32]
The three-way contrast betweenpalatals/cɟcʼ/, plain velars/kɡkʼ/, and labialized velars/kʷɡʷkʷʼ/ is found only before long and short/a/, e.g./cʼaːɽa/ ('grass'),/kʼaːɽaː/ ('to increase'),/kʷʼaːɽaː/ ('shea-nuts'). Before front vowels, only palatals and labialized velars occur, e.g./ciːʃiː/ ('jealousy') vs./kʷiːɓiː/ ('side of body'). Before rounded vowels, only labialized velars occur, e.g./kʷoːɽaː/ ('ringworm').[34][35]
They are written with modified versions of Latin letters. They can also be denoted with anapostrophe, either before or after depending on the letter, as shown below:
ch', an ejective[tʃʼ] (does not occur in Kano dialect)
ƙ / k', an ejective[kʼ];[kʲʼ] and[kʷʼ] are separate consonants;
ƴ / 'y is apalatalapproximant withcreaky voice,[j̰],[36] found in only a small number of high-frequency words (e.g./j̰áːj̰áː/ "children",/j̰áː/ "daughter"). Historically it developed from palatalized[ɗ].[37]
Hausa vowel chart, fromSchuh & Yalwa (1999:91). The short vowels/i,u,a/ have a much wider range of allophones than what is presented on the chart.
Hausa vowels occur in five different vowel qualities, all of which can be short or long, totaling 10monophthongs. In addition, there are fourdiphthongs, giving a total number of 14 vocalic phonemes.
Hausa is atonal language. Each of its fivevowels may have low tone, high tone or falling tone.[40] In standard written Hausa, tone is not marked. In recent linguistic and pedagogical materials, tone is marked by means of diacritics.
Except for theZaria andBauchi dialects spoken south ofKano, Hausa distinguishes between masculine and feminine genders.[23]
Hausa, like the rest of theChadic languages in particular andAfro-Asiatic languages in general, is known for its complex, irregular pluralization of nouns. Noun plurals in Hausa are derived using a variety of morphological processes, such as suffixation, infixation, reduplication, or a combination of any of these processes. There are 20 plural classes proposed by Newman (2000).[41]
Hausa marks tense differences by different sets of subject pronouns, sometimes with the pronoun combined with some additional particle. For this reason, a subject pronoun must accompany every verb in Hausa, regardless of whether the subject is known from previous context or is expressed by a noun subject.[42] Thus Hausa is anon pro-drop language.
The letterƴ (y with a right hook) is used only inNiger; inNigeria it is writtenʼy.
Tone and vowel length are not marked in writing. So, for example,/dàɡà/ "from" and/dáːɡáː/ "battle" are both writtendaga. The distinction between/r/ and/ɽ/ (which does not exist for all speakers) is not marked in orthography, but may be indicated with R̃ r̃ for the trill in linguistic transcription.
Hausa has also been written inajami, anArabic alphabet, since the early 17th century. The first known work to be written in Hausa is Riwayar Nabi Musa by Abdullahi Suka in the 17th century.[46][these early texts were written in Arabic] There is no standard system of usingajami, and different writers may use letters with different values. Short vowels are written regularly with the help ofvowel marks, which are seldom used in Arabic texts other than the Quran. Many medieval Hausa manuscripts inajami, similar to theTimbuktu Manuscripts, have been discovered recently; some of them even describeconstellations andcalendars.[47]
AsHausa Ajami script was never recognized and regulated officially, there has never been a top down imposition of a unified convention. Standardization of letters in Ajami has happened over time and in various stages, in synch with neighbouring Ajami traditions, as well as external factors.[48][49]
InNiger andNigeria, there exists two general orthographic traditions, each derived from two Quranic orthographic practices.[50] One of these is based on the Quran recitation and inscription of the 8th century religious scholarHafs ibn Sulayman, the other based on the Quran recitation and inscription of another 8th Century scholar,Warsh.Hafs tradition is the most popular across theMuslim world, and especially inEgypt, theLevant, and theArabian Peninsula.Warsh tradition is the second most popular tradition across theMuslim world, and has been especially popular inNorth Africa,West Africa, andAndalusia.
For example, vowels in Hausa Ajami script, including representation of vowel [e], and differentiation of short versus long vowels, were one of the first aspects to be unified and standardized. Consonants on the other hand, especially consonant letters for representing sounds that don't exist in Arabic, took longer to become standardized. Some new letters were even coined in the late 19th and early 20th century, and because of the direct influence of theBoko alphabet (Latin alphabet). For example, whereas previously in writing, sounds [b] and [ɓ] may have usually been written with a singe letterba 'ب', it was the innovation of introducing the separate letter in Latin alphabet that created an impetus for scholars writing in Ajami script, to innovate and introduce a separate Ajami letter for the distinct sound as well.[49]
Below is the list of letters of Hausa Ajami, in bothWarsh andHafs traditions. Beige highlight marks letters that are only used for writing of loan words of Arabic or European origin. Green highlight marks letters that are innovations of Hausa orthography and are not used inArabic language.
In 1905, George Charleton Merrick (a British army officer and Hausa interpreter)[59] publishedHausa Proverbs, a collection of over 400 proverbs in Hausa (Roman script) with English translations.[60] Here are some of those proverbs:
"Fawa biu tana bata hankali'n kuda." "Two pieces of meat confuse the mind of the fly (i.e to hesitate between two things)." (#18)
"Da ayi jiranka ga abinchi, gara akayi ka jira'n abinchi." "Better that you should be made to wait for food than that food should be made to wait for you." (#26)
"Kunkurru ya so dambe, ba shi da yasa." "The tortoise wishes to fight with his fists, but he has no fingers (i.e. impotent wrath)." (#45)
"Komi ya ke chikkin dan kaza, shafu ya deddi da sanninshi." "Whatever there is inside a chicken, the hawk has been familiar with it for a very long time (i.e. there is not much that you can teach me about that)." (#47)
"Kaffa'n woni ba ta wa woni taffia." "The legs of one man are no good to another for walking." (#61)
Charles Henry Robinson'sHausa Grammar, also published in 1905, contains a selection of proverbs in Hausa (Roman script) with English translations; here are a few of those proverbs:[61]
"Giwa awani gari zomo." "An elephant is a hare in another town (i.e. a great man is a nobody where no one knows him)."
"Idan ka rubuta ya tabbatta, idan ka kiyaye ya gudu." "If you write, the writing remains; if you keep a thing in your mind, it flees away."
"Alberkachin kaza kadangari shi kan sha ruan kasko." "Thanks to the fowl, the lizard finds water to drink in the pot (i.e. if there were no fowls, there would be no water put out; this is said when a man gains some benefit through no virtue of his own)."
"Karambanin akwai ta gaida kura." "It is no business of the goat to salute the hyena; i.e. if a man meddles with that which does not concern him, he has only himself to thank for his misfortune."
"Haukan kaza amren musuru." "It is madness for the fowl to marry a cat (i.e. the meaning is practically the same as the preceding)."
A collection of over 100 Hausa proverbs in both Hausa and English translation appears in Volume 2 ofR. S. Rattray'sHausa Folklore, Customs, Proverbs, etc. by Malam Shaihu.[62] The Hausa text is printed both in Arabic script as provided by Malam Shaihu, aKano-born Hausa teacher,[63] and in Roman transliteration provided by Rattray. Here are some of those proverbs:
"Hanchi bai san dadin gishiri ba." "The nose does not know the flavor of the salt." (#7)
"Kinwa che ba ta gida, domin hakanan bera ke gada." "The cat is not at home, because of that the mice are playing." (#15)
"Kaza mai-yaya, ita ke tsoro shirwa." "It is the hen with chicks that fears the hawk." (#21)
"Gingidin kunama, kowa ya taba, shi sha kashi." "The snoozing scorpion, whoever touches it (quickly) gets a blow." (#39)
"Harara bai mari ba." "A frown is not a slap (it does not hurt)." (#43)
Cover of AJN Tremearne's Hausa Folktales (1914) showing Gizo the Spider
Rattray also includes 30 stories told in Hausa by Malam Shaihu: 21 stories with human characters in volume 1,[64] and 9 animal stories in volume 2,[65] featuring a cycle of stories about Gizo, thetrickster spider of Hausa tradition.
There are several other collections of traditional Hausa tales available in both Hausa and English translation.J.F. Schon'sMagana Hausa of 1885 includes the Hausa text of 83 tales with an English translation available in some, but not all, editions.[66] In 1914,A.J.N. Tremearne published the Hausa texts of over 170 Hausa stories inHausa Folktales,[67] which features Gizo the trickster spider on its cover, with English translations having appeared earlier in Tremearne'sHausa Superstitions and Customs[68] and other publications. More recently, Neil Skinner'sHausa Tales and Traditions[69] provides English translations of the stories that first appeared in 1924 in Frank Edgar’sTatsuniyoyi na Hausa.[70]
^Dobronravine, N., Philips, J.E., 2004. Hausa ajami literature and script: colonial innovations and post-colonial myths in northern Nigeria. Lang. Africa 15, 85–110. Retrieved from.[1]. (PDF Access)
^abcBondarev, Dmitry and Dobronravin, Nikolay and Bondarev, Dmitry and Gori, Alessandro and Souag, Lameen. Standardisation Tendencies in Kanuri and Hausa Ajami Writings. 2019. DOI: 10.1515/9783110639063-010
^A.Brockett,Studies in Two Transmission of the Qur'an, doctorate thesis, University of St. Andrews,Scotland, 1984, p.138
Philips, John Edward. “Hausa in the Twentieth Century: An Overview.” inSudanic Africa,vol. 15, 2004, pp. 55–84.online, on Romanization of the language.
Bauer, Laurie (2007).The Linguistics Student's Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-0-7486-2758-5.
Schuh, Russell G.; Yalwa, Lawan D. (1999). "Hausa".Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 90–95.ISBN0-521-63751-1.
Charles Henry Robinson; William Henry Brooks; Hausa Association, London (1899).Dictionary of the Hausa Language: Hausa–English. The Oxford University Press.
