Gwari language

Gwari is a Nupoid language spoken by the Gbagyi people, which make up over a million people in Nigeria. There are two principal varieties, Gbari (West Gwari) and Gbagyi (East Gwari), which have some difficulty in communication; sociolinguistically they are distinct languages.

Not to be confused with the Gwara language, also of Nigeria.
Gwari
Native toNigeria.
RegionAbuja, Kaduna State, Niger State, and Nasarawa State.
EthnicityGbagyi people
Native speakers
(700,000 Gbagyi cited 1991)[1]
350,000 Gbari (2002)
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
gbr – Gbagyi
gby – Gbari
Glottologgbag1256

Phonology
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ĩ u ũ
Mid e o
Open a ã
  • /i, e/ can also have allophones [ɪ, ɛ].
Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-
velar		 Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ)
Stop voiceless p t k k͡p
voiced b d g ɡ͡b
implosive ɓ ɗ
ejective kʼ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v z ʒ
Approximant l j w
  • /d/ can also be heard as [ɾ].
  • /n/ when palatalized is heard as a palatal nasal [ɲ].
  • The following sounds may be labialized as [pʷ, bʷ, fʷ, vʷ, kʷ, ɡʷ, mʷ] and palatalized as [pʲ, bʲ, fʲ, vʲ, kʲ, ɡʲ].
  • Stops may also be heard as post-nasalized as [pᵐ, bᵐ, tⁿ, dⁿ, kᵑ, ɡᵑ, k͡pᵐ, ɡ͡bᵐ].[2]

Varieties

Gbagye is also known as Gwari-Matai or Gwarin Ngenge, which are recently adopted cover terms.[3]

There are two separate Gbagyi groups living in:[3]

Gbagye is the only Nupoid language that has the bilabial implosive /ɓ/.[3]

Gbagyi (also known as Gwari) is a cover term for all the Gbari-speaking peoples, and includes many varieties.[3]

Gbari-Yama is a cover term used for all southern Gbari dialects. There are two closely related dialects, which are:[3]

  • Shigokpna
  • Zubakpna

Gbedegi is an extinct language (possibly a Nupe dialect) spoken near Mokwa (Nadel 1941).[3]

References
  1. Gbagyi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Gbari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Rosendall, Elias Patrick (1998). Aspects of Gbari Grammar. University of Texas at Arlington.
  3. Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list.


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