Lala-Roba language

Most African history or stories are grounded on oral tradition, most events happened when our ancestors were not literate enough to document some of the stories or ideas, therefore, it was passed down orally from one generation to another, even in the bible history there was a time when the word of God was not in written form but was passed down orally from generation to generation before it was written down. Therefore, the history of Lala is not exceptional, its history also came from oral tradition. Lala stems from the major language group called Bəna and shares common boundaries and cultural similarities. These languages include; Yungur, Lala, Mboi, and Libbo they believed to have the same migration history. C. K Meek affirmed this belief in his report on the tribal studies in Northern Nigeria, he said, “It is noteworthy that Roba like all the other Bəna groups claimed to have come originally from Mokan which is situated near Kante. Mokan was apparently at one time the religious center of the Yungur tribe and was regarded as the source of its seed corn and of its rains. It was suggested that the corn and corn cults were first brought to Mokan by immigrants from Mandara (Meek 1931ː434).”

The oral history of Lala stated that the Lala people as do Yungur and Mboi migrated from East Africa through central Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo) to the Mandara Mountains in Nigeria-Cameroon border areas of what is known today as the Mubi Local Government area of Adamawa State, according to Kubmarawa and Burmamu this assertion was made by Sira Lukta in 1991, (Sira in Lala means an aged person) (Kubmarawa & Burmamu 2014ː19). A local historian and anthropologist Peter H. Kilake in his unpublished work affirmed that in his interview with the aged people in the communities of Lala, they always say they came from “Botira” which means East in English. According to Kubmarawa and Burmamu, the ancestors were peasants who also kept livestock, when the famine hit their supposed homeland, they were compelled to leave their fatherland in search of a better land. After settling for a while in the Mandara Mountains they moved to Lamurde Mountains an area in the present Mubi, from Lamurde mountains they came to Goila and passed through Kwan near Gudu the mountainous and rocky areas in the present Song Local Government where they finally settled in Mukan before their dispersion which is also in Song local government of Adamawa State. Mukan became like a Babel where human tongues were divided because it was in Mukan that they all dispersed forming different language variations that we have today as Lala, Yungur Libbo, and Mboi, they are presently occupying parts of Song, Gombi, Shelleng, and Guyuk, concentrating on the central part of these regions. Note, that these people still refer to themselves even today as Bəna.

During this survey, I visited a village called Yang, one of their major villages, I was unable to meet with their village chief, but I was taken to their village head representative, where he sent for other two elderly individuals, I supposed those were their important stakeholders in the community. We engaged in a participatory discussion about their history, language attitude, and the references dialect, these were Baba Iliya Adamu Wakilin Yang ward a sixty-seven-year-old man, Mr. Zephaniah Yamgana a civil servant, fifty-nine years old, and Mr. Alfred Bishinin a politician and civil servant, fifty-five years old. These were the people I had discussions with, and based on the information I elicited from these individuals I was able to affirm my previous data on the history of this language group as well as establish a new ground for further research.

For instance, when I asked Baba Iliya Adamu where the Lala people came from? He replied with the following words: “Lala people came from gabas (east) in the Hausa language, the people by nature don’t want pressure from any external group, therefore, anytime a group of people moved close to these people they relocate and moved further. They don’t like mixing with another language group. According to him, the name “Biu” the present local government in Borno state was derived from the Lala language because they settled there before moving toward the south-west, he said that “ɓarri” (ɓarri is the name used by Lala people to refer to their neighbor Bura people) moved close to Lala people they said “u wa ka də biu? ndə nii da fadmada.” This means “What is this?” or What do we call this one, let us pack our things and leave” That was how the name “Biu” came about, I have not done further research to assert this statement. 

According to him, the Lala people settled in the part of Borno before moving toward the southwest probably in the historic place of Mukan. I asked them if Lala is also known as Gworam as documented by early linguists. Their answer was yes, there is Lala speaking people known as Gworom living in Nafada North of Shelleng and further West of Gombi toward the border of Borno but Lala as a whole is not known as Gworom but Bəna and later as Lala given to them by Fulani Merchants. I asked them if they have any group speaking Ebode as reflected in the Ethnologue, and their response was no, they only have three dialects namely; Roba spoken in the village areas of Duwa, Bəna spoken in the village areas of Yang, and Siiri spoken in the village areas of Bodwai.

I have done further research by consulting many people in Lala including those living in the cities to ascertain the validity of the existence of the abode dialect claimed by the earlier linguist but there was no positive result, therefore, I draw my conclusion that Ebode must have been a linguistics problem of sound shifting of the name Bodwai the major town where the Siiri dialect is predominantly spoken to Ebode which tends to have no significant at all to Lala speaking people.

I traveled to Nafada in Shelleng to see the Gworom people to research further why they referred to themselves as Gworom people not Just Lala. These people claimed to have a unique migration history different from the conventional migration history of the Lala people despite speaking the same language as Lala.

The name Lala seems to have carried high prestige because it has been used to refer to different cultural groups by the early linguist H.R Palmer, who said the clans that were then referred to as Lala were Ga‘anda, Gabun, Dingai, Roba, and Bəna. Webster added Yungur, Kanakuru, Mboi, Yang, and Tenna (Chifartawa 2009ː184). Some of these clans belong to a particular tribe or ethnic group that have completely different cultures and beliefs. Only a few actually have linguistic and cultural similarities. For example, Dingai, Roba, Bena, Yungur, Mboi, Yang, and Tena have linguistics and cultural similarities, but the rest are distinct clans having nothing in common.

The name Lala has been misconceptualized by some early linguists. For example, G. W Webster as reported by Temple in 1965 said the name Lala is a nickname meaning both "naked" and "an old calabash broken into many parts".

The name Lala as the tradition has it, was born as a result of trade activities between the Lala people and Fulani and Hausa merchants in Shelleng market. Before civilization, the Lala people were known as Bəna. But when the Lala people sold their goods in the Shelleng market and asked if there were still enough goods coming, they replied yes "peːn lala" which literally means yes "there is surplus coming."

The word "Lala" is an indigenous word in Lala meaning surplus, which Fulani and Hausa refer to. Gaanda native historian Chifartawa asserts, "there is a tradition that claims that the name Lala means 'many' or 'uncountable' in both Lala and Gaanda. It seeks to establish that the people in question were uncountable as far as they were concerned at that time (Chifartawa 2009ː183). This assertion was confirmed during my visits to some of the villages in Lala communities, when asked why they were called Lala, some gave details that the name was given to their forefather by a Fulani merchant in Shelleng Market."

• Burmamu, Benjamin. Teach Yourself Lala Language (A Fədkə Ewago Eh Lala ya). Paraclete Publishers, Yola-Nigeria 2010.
• Kubmarawa, Dimas and Benjamin Burmamu. Understanding The History and Traditions of the Lala People. Paraclete Publishers, Yola-Nigeria 2014.
• Musa, D. Joseph. Easy Learning of Lala (Step by Step). Sele Printing and Publishing House, No. 2. Gombe Avenue, Jos Nigeria 2012.
• Temple, O. Notes on the Tribes, Provinces, Emirates and States of the Northern Provinces of Nigeria. Frank Cass& Co. LTD 1965.
• Chifartawa, Polycarp Ayuba. Topics in the History of Ga’anda Volume One. Paraclete Yola, Nigeria 2009.
• Meek, C.K. Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner &Co., LTD. Broadway House: 68-74 Carter Lane E. C 1931.
• Ishaku, Yafadkaniu. Sociolinguitic Survey of Lala Speaking Group of Gombi and Shelleng Local Government of Adamawa State. Department of Linguistics and Bible Translation, TCNN, Jos. 2023.
• Blench, Rodger. An Atlass of Nigerian Languages. Kay Williamson Educational Foundation. 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB12AL United Kingdom, 2014.