Fania language explained

Fania
Nativename:	Kulaale
States:	Chad
Speakers:	1,100
Date:	1997
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Niger-Congo
Fam2:	Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:	Mbum–Day
Fam4:	Bua
Iso3:	fni
Glotto:	fani1244
Glottorefname:	Fania

Fania (Fagnan; also called Kulaale) is an Adamawa language of Chad. The northern and southern dialects are rather divergent.

Names

Fania is an exonym. Speakers refer to their own language as Kulaale, their people as Kulaaway, and one person as Kulaanu.^[1]

Names listed in Boyeldieu, et al. (2018:56):^[2]

• Autonym in Khalil Alio: Ɛma [ɛma] / pl. Ɛiwɛ [ɛɪwɛ]
• Autonym in Tilé Nougar: Kulaanum [kʊ̀láːnʊ́m] / pl. Kulaaway [kʊ̀láːwɐ̀y]
• Glossonym: Kulaale [kʊ̀láːlɛ̀] / pl. Kulaaru [kʊ̀láːɽʊ̀]

Villages

Ethnologue (22nd ed.) lists Karo, Malakonjo, Rim, Sengué, and Sisi villages (Mouraye area north of Sarh) as Fania locations. Lionnet also lists the village of Tili Nugar (Tilé Nougar).

Notes and References

1. Lionnet, Florian. Chadic languages.
2. Boyeldieu, Pascal, Raimund Kastenholz, Ulrich Kleinewillinghöfer & Florian Lionnet (2018). The Bua Group languages (Chad, Adamawa 13): A comparative perspective. In Kramer & Kießling (eds.), Current approaches to Adamawa and Gur languages. Cologne: 2018, 53-126.