Daza language

Daza
	Dazaga
Native to	Chad, Niger, Sudan, Libya
Region	Chad, BET Region, bahr el Gazel Region, eastern Niger
Ethnicity	Daza people/Gouran people
Native speakers	380,000 (2006–2007)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Saharan Western Saharan Tebu Daza; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dzg
Glottolog	daza1242
Linguasphere	02-BAA-ab

Daza (also known as Dazaga) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Daza people inhabiting northern Chad. The Daza are also known as the Gouran (Gorane) in Chad.^[1] Dazaga is spoken by around 380,000 people, primarily in the Djurab Desert region and the Borkou region, locally called Haya or Faya-Largeau northern-central Chad, the capital of the Dazaga people. Dazaga is spoken in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad (330,000 speakers), in the eastern Niger near N'guigmi and to the north (50,000 speakers). It is also spoken to a smaller extent in Libya and in Sudan, where there is a community of 3,000 speakers in the city of Omdurman. There's also a small diaspora community working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The two primary dialects of the Dazaga language are Daza and Kara, but there are several other mutually intelligible dialects, including Kaga, Kanobo, Taruge and Azza. It is closely related to the Tedaga language, spoken by the Teda, the other out of the two Toubou people groups, who reside primarily in the Tibesti Mountains of northern Chad and in southern Libya near the city of Sabha.

Dazaga is a Nilo-Saharan language and a member of the Western Saharan branch of the Saharan subgroup which also contains the Kanuri language, Kanembu language and Tebu languages.^[2] Tebu is further divided into Tedaga and Dazaga. The Eastern Saharan branch includes the Zaghawa language and Berti language.^[3]

Vocabulary

The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some French influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an Arabic influence. The Dazaga language was not traditionally a written language but in recent years the SIL had developed an orthography. The majority of Dazaga speakers are bilingual or multilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, Hausa, Zarma, Kanuri or Tuareg. There are thus many borrowings from other languages such as Arabic, Hausa or French. For example, the word for "thank you" is borrowed from Arabic shokran and incorporated into the language by usually being followed by the suffix -num marking the second person.
The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This romanisation is not standard.

Numbers

English	Dazaga	English	Dazaga
One	Tron	Eleven	Murdai sa Tron
Two	Jow	Twelve	Murdai sa Jow
Three	Aguzo	Thirteen	Murdai sa Aguzo
Four	Twzo	Fourteen	Murdai sa Twzo
Five	Foo	Fifteen	Murdai sa Foo
Six	Disi	Sixteen	Murdai sa Disi
Seven	Troso	Seventeen	Murdai sa Troso
Eight	Woso	Eighteen	Murdai sa Woso
Nine	Yisi	Nineteen	Murdai sa Yisi
Ten	Murdum	Twenty	Digiram
Thirty	Murtta Aguzo	Fifty	Murtta Foo
Forty	Murtta Twzo	Hundred	Kidri

Basic words and phrases

English	Dazaga	English	Dazaga
Man	Anji	Good Morning	Wasa Nisira
Woman	Ari	Good Night	Kalar Sizoo
Family	Ama tanga	Thank you	alay barkantchân
Brother	Dagi	My name is...	Tan Sortanjo
Sister	Duroo	What is your name?	Sornuma Jaa? or sornuma eni'
Father	Abaa	How are you?	neré wasi?
Mother	Ayi	I am well	Kala Layy or Tan Wasu or wasa a'
Friend	Lao	Please	toussowna
Life	Dina	Country	Ni
Death	Noso	Religion	Din

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	b	t d	tʃ dʒ	k ɡ
Fricative	f	s z	(ʃ)		h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Flap		ɾ
Lateral		l
Approximant	w		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	e		o
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Daza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
^ Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.
^ Cyffer, Norbert. 2000. Linguistic properties of the Saharan languages. Areal and Genetic Factors in Language Classification and Description: Africa South of the Sahara, ed. by Petr Zima, 30–59. Lincom Studies in African Linguistics 47. München: Lincom Europa
^ Walters, Josiah (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga.

External links

Relative Clauses in Dazaga [1]

[e18-1] Daza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[2] Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.

[3] Cyffer, Norbert. 2000. Linguistic properties of the Saharan languages. Areal and Genetic Factors in Language Classification and Description: Africa South of the Sahara, ed. by Petr Zima, 30–59. Lincom Studies in African Linguistics 47. München: Lincom Europa

[4] Walters, Josiah (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga.

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