Ngas language

Ngas, or Angas, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Plateau State, Nigeria. The language has two dialects: Hill Angas and Plain Angas.[1] Ngas language is one of the major languages in Plateau State, the 1952 census puts it as the largest ethnic group in Plateau State. Retired General Yakubu Gowon is a prominent Nigerian who is of Ngas extraction.

Ngas
Native toNigeria
RegionPlateau State
Native speakers
(400,000 cited 1998)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3anc
Glottologngas1240
Ethnic territories (tan) of the Ngas-speaking people (Angas) in Nigeria

Neighbouring languages

Bəlnəŋ, an A3 West Chadic language closely related to Angas. It is spoken by about 500 people in the single village of Langung, which is surrounded by Tal villages in the east and Miship villages in the west.[2]

Speakers of Sur, a Plateau language, are surrounded by Ngas speakers, but Sur nevertheless continues to be a well-maintained language.[3]

The Ngas language has also undergone extensive influence from Tarok.[4]

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Close-mid eː ə əː oː
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a aː
  • Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ are only heard as short equivalents of /eː, oː/, which are only heard as long.[5]

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lab. pal. plain lab. plain lab. plain lab. plain lab. pal.
Nasal m mʷ mʲ n nʷ ɲ ɲʷ ŋ
Stop/
Affricate		 voiceless p pʷ pʲ t t͡ʃ t͡ʃʷ k kʷ ʔ
voiced b bʷ bʲ d d͡ʒ d͡ʒʷ ɡ ɡʷ
vd. prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ⁿd͡ʒ ᵑɡ
vl. prenasal ᵐp ⁿt͡ʃ ᵑk
implosive ɓ ɓʷ ɗ ɠ ɠʲʷ ɠʲ
Fricative voiceless f fʷ fʲ s ʃ ʃʷ h
voiced v vʷ z ʒ ʒʷ ɣ
vl. prenasal ⁿʃ
vd. prenasal ⁿʒ ⁿʒʷ
Approximant w l lʷ j
Trill voiced r rʷ
prenasal ⁿr

Writing system
Ngas alphabet[6]
abɓcd ɗdyeǝf ghḥij kl
mnṇnyo prssht uvwyz ẓʼ

Notes
  1. Ngas at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Blench, Roger. 2017. Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages.
  3. Blench, Roger. 2004. Tarok and related languages of east-central Nigeria.
  4. Longtau, Selbut (25–26 March 2004). Some Historical Inferences from Lexical Borrowings and Traditions of Origins in the Tarokoid/Chadic Interface. International Symposium on Endangered Languages in Contact: Nigeria’s Plateau Languages. Hamburg: Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg.
  5. Jungraithmayr, Herrmann; Holubová, Miroslava (2016). The Ngas Language (Shik Ngas): Fundamentals of Grammar, Texts, Dictionary. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
  6. Hartell 1993.

Further reading
  • Donald A. Burquest. 1971. A Preliminary Study of Angas Phonology. Zaria: Institute of Linguistics.
  • Donald A. Burquest. 1973. A Grammar of Angas. University of California at Los Angeles, PhD dissertation.


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