The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in Central Africa, in northern Cameroon, north-western Central African Republic, southern Chad, and eastern Nigeria, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 1996). Joseph Greenberg classified them as one branch of the Adamawa–Ubangi family of Niger–Congo languages. They are among the least studied languages in Africa, and include many endangered languages; by far the largest is Mumuye, with 400,000 speakers. A couple of unclassified languages—notably Laal and Jalaa—are found along the fringes of the Adamawa area.
Geographically, the Adamawa languages lie near the location of the postulated Niger–Congo – Central Sudanic contact that may have given rise to the Atlantic–Congo family, and so may represent the central radiation of that family.
Classification Joseph Greenberg postulated the Adamawa languages as a part of Adamawa–Ubangian (then called Adamawa–Eastern), and divided them into 14 numbered groups. Group G3, Daka (or Dakoid), is now known to be a branch of Benue–Congo. The relationships of the other branches has undergone considerable revision.
There have also been recent attempts at computationally classifying the Adamawa languages.Hammarström, Harald and Guillaume Segerer. 2021. Computational experiments in Adamawa sub-classification. Diedrich Westermann-Workshop (West-central African linguistic history between Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo: commemorating Diedrich Westermann’s legacy and the 100th anniversary of the Berlin professorship for African languages), 4–6 November 2021, Humboldt University of Berlin.
Greenberg (1963) Greenberg's 14 numbered Adamawa groups are: (Heavily revised version of Greenberg 1955. From the same publisher: second, revised edition, 1966; third edition, 1970. All three editions simultaneously published at The Hague by Mouton & Co.)
Number Group G1 Tula–Waja G2 Leko G3 Daka G4 Duru G5 Mumuye–Yendang G6 Mbum G7 Bəna–Mboi (Yungur) G8 Nyimwom (Kam) G9 Bikwin–Jen G10 Longuda G11 Fali G12 Nimbari G13 Bua G14 Kim
Boyd (1989) Boyd (1989) added the Day language and classified them as follows:Boyd, Raymond. 1989. Adamawa-Ubangi. In Bendor-Samuel, John (ed.), The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family, 178-215. Lanham MD, New York & London: University Press of America.
Adamawa Leko–Nimbari (or Chamba–Mumuye) Duru: G4 Leko: G2 Mumuye–Yendang: G5 Nimbari: G12 Mbum–Day Bua: G13 Kim: G14 Mbum: G6 Day Waja–Jen Bikwin–Jen (or Jen): G9 Tula–Wiyaa (or Waja): G1 Bəna–Mboi (or Yungur): G7 Baa ( Kwa) Longuda: G10 Nyimwom (or Kam: G8)
He excluded the Fali languages (G11).
Güldemann (2018) Güldemann (2018) recognises 14 coherent Adamawa "genealogical units", but is agnostic about their positions within Niger-Congo.
Tula-Waja Longuda Bena-Mboi Bikwin-Jen Samba-Duru Mumuyic Maya (Yendangic) Kebi-Benue (Mbumic) Kimic Buaic Day Baa = Kwa Nyingwom = Kam Fali
Kleinewillinghöfer (2019) Kleinewillinghöfer (2019), in the Adamawa Languages Project website, recognises the following 17 groups as Adamawa languages.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2019. Adamawa Language Groups. Adamawa Languages Project. Tula-Waja (Waja): G1Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Tula-Waja comparative wordlist (Swadesh 100). (1995 field notes.) Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Tula-Waja pronouns and numbers. Adamawa Languages Project. Bikwin-Jen (Burak, Jen): G9Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Bikwin-Jen Pronouns and Numbers 1-10. Adamawa Languages Project. Kam (Nyiŋɔm, Nyiwom, Nyingwom): G8Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015. Some notes on Nyiŋɔm (aka Nyingwom or Kam). (2011 field notes.) Adamawa Languages Project. Longuda (Nʋngʋra cluster): G10Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Longuda ~ Nʋngʋra wordlist (Swadesh 100). Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Longuda Pronouns and Numbers. Adamawa Languages Project. Baa (Kwa)Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 1993. Baa Wordlist (Swadesh 100). Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Baa pronouns and numbers. Adamawa Languages Project. Mumuye: G5 Yandang (Yendang): G5Blench, Roger; Barau Kato; Zachariah Yoder. 2009. The Maya (Yendang) languages. Samba-Duru (Chamba-Leko, Leko, Duru, Sama-Duru, Samba Leeko): G2, G4Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015. Gimme-Vere-Doyayo wordlists. Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2015. Vere wordlists. Adamawa Languages Project. Ɓəna-Mboi (Yungur): G7Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Ɓəna-Mboi comparative wordlist (Swadesh 100). Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Ɓəna-Mboi pronouns and numbers. Adamawa Languages Project.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 1992 . Evidence of noun classes in languages of the Yungur group. Adamawa Languages Project. Kebi-Benue (Mbum): G6 Kim: G14 Day Bua: G13 Nimbari (Baari, Bari): G12 [extinct]Kastenholz, Raimund; Ulrich Kleinewillinghöfer. 2012. Nimbari as a language name. Adamawa Languages Project. Duli - Gewe (Gey, Gueve) [extinct] ? Fali: G11 ? Chamba-Daka (Daka): G3
Only the Tula-Waja, Longuda, Ɓəna-Mboi, Samba-Duru, and Bua groups have noun classes. The other groups only display vestiges of formerly active noun class systems.Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Adamawa. ‘Linguistisches Kolloquium’, Seminar für Afrikawissenschaften, 04 Februar 2014. Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Blench (2012, 2020) Roger Blench (2012)Blench, Roger. 2012. Niger-Congo: an alternative view. concludes that the Adamawa languages are a geographic grouping, not a language family, and breaks up its various branches in his proposed Savannas family. He places some of the western Adamawa languages closer to the Gur languages than to other Adamawa families. Fali is tentatively excluded from Savannas altogether. Blench (2020) retains a connection between Mumuye and Yendang, but breaks up Kleinewillinghöfer's Samba-Duru.
Unclassified Adamawa languages The Oblo language of Cameroon has been included in several versions of the Adamawa group, but its position within it is unclear.Ayotte, Michael and Charlene Ayotte. 2002. Sociolinguistic language survey of Dama, Mono, Pam, Ndai and Oblo. SIL International.
It has been speculated that the unclassified Laal language of Chad may be Adamawa; the Jalaa language of Nigeria is probably not Adamawa, but shows heavy Adamawa influence. However, both are generally now considered to be language isolates.
Comparative vocabulary
Sample basic vocabulary of Adamawa languages from Kleinewillinghöfer's Adamawa Languages Project website and various other sources:
Note: In table cells with slashes, the singular form is given before the slash, while the plural form follows the slash.