Afade language

Afade (Afaɗə) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in eastern Nigeria and northwestern Cameroon.[1]

Afade
Afaɗə
Native toCameroon, Nigeria
RegionFar North Province, Cameroon; Borno State, Nigeria
Native speakers
5,000 in Cameroon (2004)[1]
unknown number in Nigeria
Language codes
ISO 639-3aal
Glottologafad1236

Classification

Afade is a member of the Biu-Mandara group of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. It is related to the Cameroonian languages Mpade, Maslam, Malgbe, Mser, and Lagwan.

Phonology
Consonants
LabialDentalAlveolarPostalveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarGlottal
Nasal mn
Tenuis plosive ptkkpʔ
Voiced plosive bdɟɡɡbʔ
Ejective pfʼt̪θʼcʼkʼ
Implosive ɓɗ
Fricative fs ɬʃh
Resonant l rjw

Afade has a large inventory of consonants, including ejectives, implosives, and labial-velar stops. The vowels of Afade are /i u e ɤ o ɛ ɔ a ɑ/. /a/ is front, rather than central.[2]

Geographic distribution

The speakers of Afade are the indigenous Kotoko people of Cameroon and Nigeria. In Cameroon, it is spoken in the far North region: Logone-and-Chari division, south Makari subdivision, Afade area. The language is spoken by 6,700 Cameroon speakers.

In Nigeria, Afade is spoken by 40,000 speakers in Borno state, Ngala LGA, 12 villages.

There are no known dialects.

Notes
  1. Afade at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Bouny, P. 1977. Inventaire phonetique d'un parler Kotoko: le Mandagué de Mara. In Caprile, Jean-Pierre (ed.), Etudes Phonologiques Tschadiennes, 59–77. Paris: Société d'Études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France.

References
  • P. Bouny. 1977. "Inventaire phonetique d'un parler Kotoko: le Mandagué de Mara," Etudes Phonologiques Tschadiennes. Ed. Jean-Pierre Caprile. Paris: SELAF. Pages 59–77.


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