Longuda language explained

Lunguda
Nativename:Nyà Núngúrá
States:Nigeria
Region:Adamawa State, Gombe State
Ethnicity:Lunguda people
Speakers:40,000
Date:1973
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:? Bambukic
Iso3:lnu
Glotto:long1389
Glottorefname:Lunguda
Root:Nungura

Lunguda (Nʋngʋra) is a Niger–Congo language spoken in Nigeria. They settle western part of Gongola mainly in and around the hills of the volcanic Lunguda Plateau, Adamawa state. Joseph Greenberg counted it as a distinct branch, G10, within the Adamawa family. When Blench (2008) broke up Adamawa, Lunguda was made a branch of the Bambukic languages.[1]

According to the Ethnologue, the current number of speakers is based on an SIL figure of 45,000 from 1973. But recent studies has shown 50,000 in the 2006 census.

Variants of the name Longuda include Languda, Longura, Nunguda, Nungura, Nunguraba.

Dialects

In the Adamawa Languages Project website, Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) lists five dialects in the Longuda dialect cluster.[2]

Partly due to word taboo customs, there is considerable lexical diversity among Longuda dialects.[3]

Geography

The Lunguda settle in the northeastern part of Nigeria, mostly in Guyuk, Adamawa state in Guyuk LGA, Balanga LGA of Gombe state and some parts of Borno. They have approximately 504,000 according to 2006 population census.

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[4]

The largest ward is Chikila ward.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Longuda Group – Nʋngʋra Cluster ADAMAWA LANGUAGE PROJECTS. 2022-01-23. www.blogs.uni-mainz.de.
  2. Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. Longuda group. Adamawa Languages Project.
  3. Book: Güldemann, Tom. The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. Güldemann. Tom. De Gruyter Mouton. Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa. 2018. 978-3-11-042606-9. 10.1515/9783110421668-002. Berlin. 58–444. The World of Linguistics series. 11. 133888593.
  4. Book: Blench, Roger. An Atlas of Nigerian Languages. Kay Williamson Educational Foundation. 2019. 4th. Cambridge.