Chad has two official languages, Arabic and French, and over 120 indigenous languages. A vernacular version of Arabic, Chadian Arabic, is a lingua franca and the language of commerce, spoken by 40–60% of the population.[1] The two official languages have fewer speakers than Chadian Arabic.[citation needed] Standard Arabic is spoken by around 615,000 speakers.[1] French is widely spoken in the main cities such as N'Djamena and by most men in the south of the country. Most schooling is in French.[2] The language with the most first-language speakers is probably Ngambay, with around one million speakers.[3]
| Languages of Chad | |
|---|---|
.png) Signage in Arabic and French at the University of N'Djamena | |
| Official | Arabic, French |
| Indigenous | Chadic languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Adamawa languages |
| Vernacular | Français populaire africain, Chadian Arabic |
| Foreign | English |
| Signed | Nigerian Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
Chad submitted an application to join the Arab League as a member state on 25 March 2014, which is still pending.[4]
Chadian Sign Language is a variant of Nigerian Sign Language, a dialect of American Sign Language; Andrew Foster introduced ASL in the 1960s, and Chadian teachers for the deaf train in Nigeria.
Niger–Congo languages
editNilo-Saharan languages
edit- Maban languages
- Fur languages
- Saharan languages
- Bongo–Bagirmi languages (Central Sudanic)
- Bernde (Morom)
- Bagirmi (Barma) (44,761, RGPH 1993)
- Berakou
- Disa
- Gula
- Jaya
- Kenga (30,000, SIL 1993)
- Naba
- Fongoro
- Ngambay
- Sara (Madjingay) (183,471, RGPH 1993)
- Sinyar
- Eastern Sudanic languages
Afro-Asiatic languages
edit(Ethnologue lists 54 Chadic languages in Chad altogether, many of them small.)
Creole languages
editUnclassified languages
edit- Laal (749, SIL 2000)
References
edit- ^ a b "Chad's Languages - GraphicMaps.com". www.graphicmaps.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-06.
- ^ "International Schools in Chad".
- ^ Keegan, John M. (2017). "Sara Bagirmi Languages Project".
- ^ Middle East Monitor: South Sudan and Chad apply to join the Arab League, 12 April 2014, retrieved 6 May 2017