Karai-karai

Karai-karai is a language spoken in West Africa, most prominently North eastern Nigeria. The number of speakers of Karai-karai is estimated between 1,500,000 and 1,800,000 million, primarily spoken by the ethnic Karai-Karai people. It is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken principally in Nigeria with communities in Bauchi State, Yobe State, Gombe State and other parts of Nigeria. Many Karai-karai words share a common origin with the Northwest Semitic languages of Hebrew and Arabic. The Karai-karai language is most closely related to the Ngamo and Bole languages which are both considered derivatives of the Karai-karai language.

Distribution

Karai-karai is a well-spoken language in the following northern Nigerian states:

Classification

Karai-karai is classified among the Bole-Tangale languages, together with Bure, Deno, Gero, Geruma, Galambu, Giiwo, Kubi, Maaka, Ɓeele, Daza, Pali, Ngamo, Bole and the isolate Tangale form the BoleTangale group of languages within the West Chadic branch of the Chadic family. In present-day Nigeria, it is estimated that there are over 2 million Karai-karai primary and secondary language speakers within Nigeria, it is the second most widely spoken language in North eastearn Nigeria.

Bole-Tangale languages

Below is a comprehensive list of Bole–Tangale languages names, populations, and locations from Blench. It is the subgroup which the Karai-karai language belongs

	Language	Cluster	Dialects	Alternate spellings	Own name for language	Endonym	Other names	Other names for language	Exonym	Speakers
Daza			Daza						a few villages	Bauchi State, Darazo LGA
Bole		Bara, Fika		Bòò Pìkkà, Bopika	Am Pìkkà, Ampika	Fika, Piika	Bolanci	Anika, Bolewa	32,000 ; est. >100,000	Bauchi State, Dukku, Alkaleri, and Darazo LGAs; Borno State, Fika LGA
Bure				BuBure	Bure		Bure		A single village southeast of Darazo town	Bauchi State, Darazo LGA
Ɓeele			Bele	Àɓéelé	bòhé áɓéelé sg., Àɓéelé pl.		Bellawa		120 ; a few villages	Bauchi State
Deno									9,900	Bauchi State, Darazo LGA; 45 km northeast of Bauchi town
Galambu			Galembi, Galambe	Galambu	Galambu				8505 ; 2020 ; 1000	Bauchi State, Bauchi LGA, at least 15 villages
Dera		Shani, Shellen and Gasi		Bo Dera	na Dera sg., Dera pl.	Kanakuru			11,300	Adamawa State, Shellen LGA; Borno State, Shani LGA
Fyandigeri				Fyandigere	sg. laa Fyandigeri, pl. Fyandigeri			Gerawa, Gere, Gera	13,300 ; at least 30 villages. Many Gera villages no longer speak the language. A 2018 survey suggested there are only 4 villages where the language is being passed on to children.	Bauchi State, Bauchi and Darazo LGAs
Geruma		Sum, Duurum, possibly Gamsawa/Gamshi	Gerema, Germa	Geerum ; Gyeermu	Geerum ; sg. na Gyeermu, pl. Gyeermu				4,700	Bauchi State, Toro and Darazo LGAs. At least 10 villages
Giiwo			Kirifi	Bu Giiwo	sg. Ba Giiwo, pl. Ma Giiwo				3,620 ; 14,000	Bauchi State, Alkaleri, Bauchi and Darazo LGAs, 24 villages
Karai-karai		Western Jalalúm, northern Bíŕkaí, southern Pakaró /Matací and eastern Ngwajum	Kәrekәre, Kerekere, Karaikarai, Kerikeri	Bo Karai-karai	Sg. Bakarkare, Pl. Karaikarai	Jalamawa	Karkanci, Karekaranci, Bo Saban	Bakwaráu, Bakwaró	1,000,000	Bauchi State; Dambam, Gamawa and Misau LGAs; Yobe State; Nangere, Potiskum, Fune and Fika LGAs Gombe State; Nafada and Deba LGAs
Kholok						Kode, Koode, Kwoode, Widala, Pia, Wurkum, Pitiko			2,500	Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA, near Didango
Kubi			Kuba						1,090 ; 500	Bauchi State, Darazo LGA, 40 km. N.E. of Bauchi town
Kulung (Chadic)				Kulung		Wurkum			2000?	Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA
Kutto			Kupto	Kúttò	Kúttò				Two villages. 3000	Bauchi State, Bajoga LGA, Yobe State, Gujba LGA
Maaka		Two dialects; Maaka and Maha	Magha, Maga, Maha						More than 4,000	Yobe State, Gujba LGA. Gulani and Bara towns and associated hamlets. Northeast of Dadin Kowa Reservoir.
Ngamo			Gamo						17,800	Borno State, Fika LGA; Bauchi State, Darazo LGA, Darazo district and Dukku LGA, Nafada district
Pero		Dialects associated with three major settlements	Walo	Péerò	sg. Péerò, pl. Pìpéerò	Filiya			6,664 ; 20,000	Gombe State, Shongom LGA, around Filiya. 3 main villages: Gwandum, Gundale and Filiya.
Piya–Kwonci cluster	Piya–Kwonci		Pia			Wurkum, Pitiko			2,500	Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA, near Didango
Piya	Piya–Kwonci		Pia			Wurkum
Kwonci	Piya–Kwonci	Kunshenu							More than 4000
Goji				Fo Goji	Nya Goji pl. Memme Goji	Kushe, Kushi	Chong'e		4000 ; 5000. ca. 20 villages	Gombe State, Shongom LGA
Kwaami		Kafarati, Ɗolli	Kwami, Kwom	Kwáámì	Kwáámì	Komawa			10,000	Bauchi State, Kwami LGA
Nyam					Nyambolo				A single village	Taraba State, Karim Lamido LGA, at Andami village
Tangale		Ture, Kaltungo, Shongom, Billiri	Tangle	Táŋlɛ̀		Billiri			36,000 ; 100,000	Gombe State, Kaltungo, Alkaleri and Akko LGAs

Literary Karai-karai

Standard Karai-karai has its origin in the 1950s, when Northern Region Literary Agency worked on the book Ndar Ma Karatu which is the earliest publication in Karai-karai published by Gaskiya Corporation.

Writing system

Alphabets

Karai-karai language is written with the basic Latin script, with four diacritics appearing on vowels and the cedilla appearing in "ç" and "ş". The Latin letters ⟨q⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩ are not used as part of the official orthography of Standard Karai-karai.

Capital Letters

R̃

ʼW

ʼY

Small Letters

r̃

ʼw

ʼy

Orthography

Digraphs: dl, hn, tl, zh, lh, lz, zh, sh, ny, nz, nd, nt, nc, nk, nj, ng, mp, mb. mɓ, kw, gw, ƙw, zh, sh.
Trigraphs: nlz, nzh, ngw, nkw
Accents: à, â, á, ā, è, ê, é, ē, ì, í, ī, î, ò, ō, ó, ù, ū, ú, ā̀, ḕ, ī̀, ṑ, ū̀, ā́, ḗ, ī́, ṓ, ū́.

Vowels

The Karai-karai language has five long vowels, a, e, i, o, u and five long vowels these five long vowels are written as ā, ē, ī, ō, ū or with double letters as follows: aa, ee, ii, oo, and uu as used by some dialects.
The diphthongs: au and ai.