Psikye (Psikya, Kapsiki) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in northern Cameroon and eastern Nigeria. Varieties include Psikyɛ and Zləngə. Blench (2006) classifies it as a dialect of Kamwe.[2]
| Psikye | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Cameroon, Nigeria |
| Region | Far North Province, Adamawa State |
| Ethnicity | Kapsiki |
Native speakers | (52,500 cited 1982–1992)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kvj |
| Glottolog | psik1239 |
| People | Kapsiki |
|---|---|
| Language | Margi |
Names
editIn Cameroon, Psikya speakers use the name Margi to refer to their own language and its three varieties. The prefix ka-, in Kapsiki 'people', marks the plural ethnonym. It is called Higi in Nigeria.[3]
Dialects
editPsikyá covers the entire southwestern part of the arrondissement of Mokolo and Mogodé (department of Mayo-Tsanaga, Far North Region, Cameroon) along the Nigerian border, in the settlements of Roumzou, Mogode, and Roumsiki. The Sara people refer to them as Kamu.[3]
Zléŋé and Wula are spoken in only two neighborhoods in the border village of Oula in Cameroon.[3]
Writing system
editA Psikyɛ spelling was developed by the Biblical Alliance of Cameroon and is used in the translation of the Bible into Psikyɛ, Ghena ta Shala, published in 1988.[4] This uses several additional letters including in particular ⟨ɓ, ɗ, ə, ɛ, ŋ, ’⟩.
Notes
edit- ^ Psikye at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
- ^ a b Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
- ^ a b c Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ van Beek 2012, p. xi-xii.
- van Beek, W. E. A. (2012). The dancing dead : ritual and religion among the Kapsiki/Higi of north Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199858163.
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