Daka language

Daka (Dakka, Dekka, rarely Deng or Tikk) is one of two languages spoken by the Chamba people in Nigeria, the other being Chamba Leko.

Daka
Region	northern Nigeria
Ethnicity	Chamba people, others
Native speakers	(120,000 cited 1992–2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Northern Bantoid Dakoid Daka–Taram Daka
Dialects	Nnakenyare Mapeo Jangani Lamja Dirim
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: ccg – Chamba Daka dir – Dirim ldh – Lamja–Dengsa–Tola
Glottolog	tara1325

Varieties

Daka is a dialect cluster. The Chamba dialect is called Chamba Daka (or Samba, Tsamba, Tchamba, Sama, Jama Daka; also Nakanyare) and constitutes 90% of speakers. Chamba Daka is also called Sámá Mūm.

Other dialects are Dirim (Dirin, Dirrim), Lamja, Dengsa, and Tola. Dirim and Lamja–Dengsa–Tola have separate ISO coding, but Ethnologue notes that they are 'close to Samba Daka and may be a dialect' or 'may not be sufficiently distinct from Samba Daka to be a separate language', and actually lists Dirim as a dialect under Daka. Blench (2011) lists Dirim as coordinate with other Daka varieties: Nnakenyare, Mapeo, Jangani, Lamja, Dirim, suggesting that if Lamja and Dirim are considered separate languages, as in Ethnologue, then Samba Daka itself needs to be broken up into three additional languages.

Blench lists the following varieties as Samba Daka dialects.

• Samba Jangani
• Samba Nnakenyare
• Samba of Mapeo

Classification

Greenberg placed Samba Daka within his Adamawa proposal, as group G3, but Bennett (1983) demonstrated to general satisfaction that it is a Benue–Congo language, though its placement within Benue–Congo is disputed. Blench (2011) considers it to be Bantoid. Boyd (ms), however, considers Daka an isolate branch within Niger–Congo (Blench 2008). Blench (2011) lists Taram as a separate, though closely related, language.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
					plain	labial
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d		g	ɡ͡b
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑk͡p
Affricate			d͡z
Fricative	voiceless	f	s
	voiced	v	(z)
	prenasal		ⁿs
Tap/Trill		ⱱ	ɾ ~ r
Approximant	lateral		l
	plain			j		w
	nasalized			j̃		w̃

• /ɾ/ may also occur as trilled [r].
• /d͡z/ can have an allophone of [z].

Further reading

• Blench (2008) Prospecting proto-Plateau. Manuscript.
• Blench, Roger, 2011. 'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu'. Bantu IV, Humboldt University, Berlin.

External links

• Chamba-Daka materials from Raymond Boyd