Daza language

Daza
Dazaga
Native to	Chad, Niger, Sudan, Libya
Region	Chad, BET Region, bahr el Gazel Region, eastern Niger
Ethnicity	Daza people/Gouran people
Native speakers	380,000 (2006–2007)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Saharan Western Saharan Tebu Daza
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dzg
Glottolog	daza1242[2]
Linguasphere	02-BAA-ab

Daza (also known as Dazaga) is the language of the Daza people of northern Chad. The Daza are also known as the Gouran(Gorane) in Chad.^[1] Dazaga is spoken by about 380,000 people primarily in the Djurab desert region and the Tibesti Mountains of Chad (330,000 speakers) and in the eastern Niger, near N'guigmi and to the north (50,000 speakers). It is also spoken to a smaller extent in Libya and in Sudan where there is a community of 3000 speakers in Omdurman. There's also a small diaspora community working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two primary dialects of the Dazaga language are Daza and Kara, but there are several other mutually intelligible dialects including Kaga, Kanobo, Taruge and Azza as well. It is closely related to the Tedaga language, spoken by the Teda, the other Toubou people who reside primarily in the Tibesti Mountains of Northern Chad and in Southern Libya near the city of Sabha.

Dazaga is a Nilo-Saharan language and a member of the Western Saharan branch of the Saharan subgroup which also contains the Kanuri language, Kanembu language and Tebu languages.^[3] Tebu is further divided into Tedaga and Dazaga. The Eastern Saharan branch includes the Zaghawa language and Berti language.^[4]

Vocabulary

The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some French influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an Arabic influence. The Dazaga language is not a literary language and has a limited vocabulary. It adjusts to this by borrowing from other languages such as Arabic or French. For example, the word for "thank you" did not exist in Dazaga so the Arabic word "shokran" was incorporated into the language and is usually followed by the suffix "num" which acknowledges the second person. The majority of Dazaga speakers are bilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, Hausa, Zarma, Kanuri or Tuareg.
The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This romanization is not standard.

Numbers

English	Dazaga	English	Dazaga
One	Tron	Eleven	Murdai sa Tron
Two	Jow	Twelve	Murdai sa Jow
Three	Aguzo	Thirteen	Murdai sa Aguzo
Four	Twzo	Fourteen	Murdai sa Twzo
Five	Foo	Fifteen	Murdai sa Foo
Six	Disi	Sixteen	Murdai sa Disi
Seven	Troso	Seventeen	Murdai sa Troso
Eight	Woso	Eighteen	Murdai sa Woso
Nine	Yisi	Nineteen	Murdai sa Yisi
Ten	Murdum	Twenty	Digiram
Thirty	Murtta Aguzo	Fifty	Murtta Foo
Forty	Murtta Twzo	Hundred	Kidri

Basic words and phrases

English	Dazaga	English	Dazaga
Man	Anji	Good Morning	Wasa Nisira
Woman	Ari	Good Night	Kalar Dizoo
Family	Ama Yaga	Thank you	Shukran Num
Brother	Dinga	My name is...	Tan Sortango
Sister	Duroo	What is your name?	Sornuma Jaa?
Father	Abaa	How are you?	Inta wWsura?
Mother	Ayi	I am well	Kala Layy or Tan Wasu
Friend	Lwa	Please	jinda
Life	Dina	Country	Ni
Death	Nas	Religion	Din

References

1. Daza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Dazaga". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.
4. Cyffer, Norbert. 2000. Linguistic properties of the Saharan languages. Areal and Genetic Factors in Language Classification and Description: Africa South of the Sahara, ed. by Petr Zima, 30-59. Lincom Studies in African Linguistics 47. München: Lincom Europa

External links

• Relative Clauses in Dazaga