Daka language

Daka (Dakka, Dekka, rarely Deng or Tikk) is one of two languages spoken by the Chamba people in Nigeria, the other being Chamba Leko.

Daka
Regionnorthern Nigeria
EthnicityChamba people, others
Native speakers
(120,000 cited 1992–2000)[1]
Dialects
  • Nnakenyare
  • Mapeo
  • Jangani
  • Lamja
  • Dirim
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
ccg – Chamba Daka
dir – Dirim
ldh – Lamja–Dengsa–Tola
Glottologtara1325

Varieties

Daka is a dialect cluster. The Chamba dialect is called Chamba Daka (or Samba, Tsamba, Tchamba, Sama, Jama Daka; also Nakanyare) and constitutes 90% of speakers. Chamba Daka is also called Sámá Mūm.[2]

Other dialects are Dirim (Dirin, Dirrim), Lamja, Dengsa, and Tola. Dirim and Lamja–Dengsa–Tola have separate ISO coding, but Ethnologue notes that they are 'close to Samba Daka and may be a dialect' or 'may not be sufficiently distinct from Samba Daka to be a separate language', and actually lists Dirim as a dialect under Daka. Blench (2011) lists Dirim as coordinate with other Daka varieties: Nnakenyare, Mapeo, Jangani, Lamja, Dirim, suggesting that if Lamja and Dirim are considered separate languages, as in Ethnologue, then Samba Daka itself needs to be broken up into three additional languages.

Blench lists the following varieties as Samba Daka dialects.[3]

  • Samba Jangani
  • Samba Nnakenyare
  • Samba of Mapeo

Classification

Greenberg placed Samba Daka within his Adamawa proposal, as group G3, but Bennett (1983) demonstrated to general satisfaction that it is a Benue–Congo language, though its placement within Benue–Congo is disputed. Blench (2011) considers it to be Bantoid. Boyd (ms), however, considers Daka an isolate branch within Niger–Congo (Blench 2008). Blench (2011) lists Taram as a separate, though closely related, language.

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
plain labial
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k k͡p
voiced b d g ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿt ᵑk ᵑk͡p
Affricate d͡z
Fricative voiceless f s
voiced v (z)
prenasal ⁿs
Tap/Trill ⱱ ɾ ~ r
Approximant lateral l
plain j w
nasalized j̃ w̃
  • /ɾ/ may also occur as trilled [r].
  • /d͡z/ can have an allophone of [z].[4]

References
  1. Chamba Daka at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Dirim at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Lamja–Dengsa–Tola at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Chamba-Daka materials from Raymond Boyd
  3. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  4. Boyd, Raymond. The phonology and tonology of Chamba Daka (Sámá Mūm). Laboratoire Ligérien de Linguistique: Université d’Orléans.

Further reading
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