Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since March 2007.

Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 24 million people, and as a second language by about 15 million more. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ... The Chadic languages are a language family spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. ... We dont have an article called West Chadic languages Start this article Search for West Chadic languages in. ... The West Chadic A languages are spoken in Nigeria. ... Nigeria is currently divided into 36 states and one federal capital territory. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Chadic languages are a language family spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. ...

Classification

Hausa belongs to the West Chadic languages subgroup of the Chadic languages group, which in turn is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. We dont have an article called West Chadic languages Start this article Search for West Chadic languages in. ... The Chadic languages are a language family spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. ... The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a language family with about 375 languages (SIL estimate) and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia (including some 200 million speakers of Arabic). ...

Geographic distribution

Native speakers of Hausa, the Hausa people are mostly to be found in the African country of Niger and in the north of Nigeria, but the language is widely used as a lingua franca (similar to Swahili in East Africa) in a much larger swathe of West Africa, particularly amongst Muslims. The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West African regions of northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Swahili (also called Kiswahili; see below for derivation) is a Bantu language. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ...

Official status

Hausa is an official language in the north of Nigeria, and a "national language" in Niger. An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. ...

Dialects

Eastern Hausa dialects include Kananci which is spoken in Kano, Zazzaganci in Zaria, Bausanchi in Bauchi, Dauranchi in Daura, Gudduranchi in Katagum Misau and part of Borno and Hadejanchi in Hadejiya. Western Hausa dialects include Sakkwatanchi spoken in Sokoto, Katsinanchi in Katsina Arewanchi in both Gobir and Adar,Kebbi,Zamfara and Kurhwayanchi in Kurfey of Nijer Republic . Katsina is transitional between Eastern and Western dialects. Northern Hausa dialects include Arewa and Arawa. Zaria is the major Southern dialect. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... For other uses of the word Kano see Kano (disambiguation). ... Zaria or Zoria is the Slavic goddess of beauty, very popular in Eastern Slavic mythology. ... Bauchi is the capital of Bauchi State in Nigeria. ... Daura is a city in Katsina State, Nigeria and is the spiritual home of the Hausa people. ... Katagum is a town and traditional emirate of about 4,740 (1972 est. ... Borno may refer to: Borno, Italy Borno State, Nigeria The Kanem-Bornu Empire A Fundamentalist Christian This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Location of Sokoto in Nigeria, Sokoto is a city located in the extreme northwest of Nigeria, near to where the Sokoto River and Rima River meet. ... Katsina is an old city of Northern Nigeria 160 miles South East of the city of Sokoto, and 84 m. ... Gobir was a city-state in what is now Nigeria. ... Adar (אֲדָר, Standard Hebrew Adar, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĂḏār: from Akkadian adaru) is the sixth month of the religious year and the twelfth month of the civil year on the Hebrew calendar. ... Kebbi State is a state in north-western Nigeria. ... Zamfara State is a state in Nigeria. ... Katsina is an old city of Northern Nigeria 160 miles South East of the city of Sokoto, and 84 m. ... In Māori tradition, Arawa was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand. ... Zaria or Zoria is the Slavic goddess of beauty, very popular in Eastern Slavic mythology. ...

The Kano dialect is the 'standard' variety. The BBC offers a Hausa Service on its international news web site. The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion...

Derived languages

Barikanchi is a pidgin formerly used in the military. A pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. ...

Phonology

Consonants

Hausa has between 23 and 25 consonant phonemes depending on the speaker.

In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... Labialisation is secondary articulatory feature of sounds in a language, most usually used to refer to consonants. ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... Ejective consonants are a class of consonants which may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants in a language. ... Implosive consonants are plosives (rarely affricates) with a glottalic ingressive airstream mechanism. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. ... In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the tongue) is thrown against another. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ...

Glottalic Consonants

Hausa has glottalic consonants (implosives and ejectives) at four or five places of articulation (depending on the dialect). They require movement of the glottis during pronunciation and have a staccato sound. A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Places of articulation (passive & active): 1. ... Look up pronunciation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In musical notation, staccato indicates that notes are sounded in a detached and distinctly separate manner with their lengths shortened; that is, a short silence should be between the notes, without affecting the rhythm. ...

They are written with modified versions of Latin letters. They can also be denoted with an apostrophe, either before or after depending on the letter, as shown below. For other uses, see Apostrophe (disambiguation). ...

b' / ɓ, an implosive consonant, IPA [ɓ], or sometimes [ʔb]; Implosive consonants are plosives (rarely affricates) with a glottalic ingressive airstream mechanism. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ...

d' / ɗ, an implosive [ɗ], sometimes [dʔ];

ts', an ejective consonant, [tsʼ] or [sʼ] according to the dialect; Ejective consonants are a class of consonants which may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants in a language. ...

ch', an ejective [tʃʼ] (does not occur in Kano dialect)

k' / ƙ, an ejective [kʼ]; [kʲʼ] and [kʷʼ] are separate consonants;

'y is a glottalized y, found in only a small number of high frequency words. Historically it developed from palatalized [ɗ]. Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ...

Vowels

Hausa has 5 phonemic vowel sounds which are both single and long, giving a total of 10 vowel phonemes which are called Monopthongs and 4 joint vowel sound that are called Dipthongs giving a total numer of 14 vowel phonemes. In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

Monopthongs are:

Single Vowels :/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/. Long Vowles:/aa/, /ee/, /ii/, /oo/, and /uu/.

Dipthongs are: /ai/, /au/, /iu/ and /ui/.

Tones

Hausa is a tone language. Each of its five vowels a, e, i, o and u may have low tone, high tone and falling tone. Tone refers to the use of pitch in language to distinguish words. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

For representing tones the French accented vowels may be used:

à è ì ò ù (low tone)

á é í ó ú (high tone)

â ê î ô û (falling tone)

In standard written Hausa, tone is not marked. However it is needed for disambiguation and thus it is marked in dictionaries and other scientific works.

Writing systems

Boko (Latin)

Hausa's modern official orthography is a Latin-based alphabet called boko, which was introduced in the 1930s by the British colonial administration. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

The letter ƴ is used only in Niger; in Nigeria it is written ʼy. Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... (minuscule: ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, used in Hausa to represent an ejective k (IPA: ). Category: ... Sh is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. ... Ts is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of T and S. // European languages English Ts occurs in English, but it is just a combination of the separate letters T and S, not a digraph. ... (minuscule: ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, formed from Y with the addition of a hook. ... For other uses, see Apostrophe (disambiguation). ... (minuscule: ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, formed from Y with the addition of a hook. ...

Tone, vowel length, and the distinction between /r/ and /ɽ/ (which does not exist for all speakers) are not marked in writing. So, for example, /daɡa/ "from" and /daːɡaː/ "battle" are both written daga.

Ajami (Arabic)

Hausa has also been written in ajami, a variant of the Arabic script, since the early 19th century. There is no standard system of using ajami, and different writers may use letters with different values. The term Ajami, or Ajamiyya, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign or stranger has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing Arabic and various other languages, together with various closely related scripts that typically differ in the presence or absence of a few letters. ...

In the following table, vowels are shown with the Arabic letter for t as an example.

For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Bet or Beth is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Syriac and Arabic alphabet . Its value is a voiced bilabial plosive, IPA . ... Bet or Beth is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Syriac and Arabic alphabet . Its value is a voiced bilabial plosive, IPA . ... is an additional letter of the Arabic alphabet, derived from (ب) with an additional dot. ... () is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being , , , , ). It represents the voiceless dental fricative (IPA ). In name and shape, it is a variant of . ... Dalet (, also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order; 8th in modern order). ... Dalet (, also spelled Daleth or Daled) is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order; 8th in modern order). ... (also Teth, Tet) is the ninth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order, 16th in modern order). ... Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎ (in abjadi order). ... () is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being , , , , ). It represents the voiced velar fricative (IPA ). In name and shape, it is a variant of . ... He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎. Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative (). The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Epsilon, Etruscan , Latin E and Cyrillic Ye. ... Gimel is the third letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order; 5th in higai order). ... Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its value is IPA: . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Kappa (Κ), Latin K, and the equivalent in the Cyrillic alphabet (К). // Kaph is thought to have been derived... Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its value is IPA: . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Kappa (Κ), Latin K, and the equivalent in the Cyrillic alphabet (К). // Kaph is thought to have been derived... Qaf may mean: Qaf (Cyrillic) (Қ,қ), a letter in the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Abkhaz alphabets Qaf (sura), from the Quran Qāf (ق), a letter in the Arabic alphabet; see qoph This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Lamed or Lamedh is the twelfth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its sound value is IPA: . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Lambda (Λ), Latin L, and Cyrillic El (Л). // Lamedh is believed to have come from a pictogram of an ox goad... Mem (also spelled Meem or Mim) is the thirteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its value is IPA: . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Mu (Μ), Etruscan , Latin M, and Cyrillic М. // Mem is usually assumed to come from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol... Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎ (in abjadi order). ... Resh is the twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its sound value is one of a number of rhotic consonants: usually IPA: or but also or in Hebrew. ... Shin (also spelled Sin or Sheen) is the twenty-first letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order, 12th in modern order). ... Shin (also spelled Sin or Sheen) is the twenty-first letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order, 12th in modern order). ... Taw or Tav is the twenty-second and last letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its original value is an voiceless alveolar plosive, IPA , The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Tau (Τ), Latin T, and Cyrillic Te (Т). // Origins of Taw Taw is believed... (also Teth, Tet) is the ninth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic ‎ (in abjadi order, 16th in modern order). ... Waw (, also spelled vav or vau) is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac , and Arabic (in abjadi order; it is 27th in modern Arabic order). ... Zayin (also spelled Zain or Zayn) is the seventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎, Syriac and Arabic alphabet ‎. It represents a voiced alveolar fricative, IPA . ... ( ‎) is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being , , , , ). It represents the voiced dental fricative (IPA: ). In name and shape, it is a variant of . ... or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order). ...

See also

• Kanem-Bornu Empire
• Swadesh list of Hausa words

The Kanem-Bornu Empire existed in modern Chad and Nigeria. ...

External links

Hausa language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• kasahorow Hausa Dictionary
• Ethnologue report on Hausa
• Omniglot
• Hausa at UCLA
• Kofar Hausa dictionary at University of Vienna
• Bargery's Hausa Dictionary Online
• Learning Hausa Online
• Hausa Wiktionary
• Hausa phrasebook
• PanAfriL10n page on Hausa