Editing Jalaa language (section)

{{Short description|Extinct language of northeastern Nigeria}}
{{redirect|Jalaa}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Jalaa
|altname=Centúúm
|nativename={{lang|cet|bàsàrə̀n dà jàlààbè̩}}
|states=[[Nigeria]]
|region=Loojaa settlement in [[Balanga, Nigeria|Balanga]] Local Government Area, [[Gombe State]]
|extinct=likely by 2010
|date=
|ref=<ref name=Kleine2010>{{cite conference |title=Jalaa, the last member of an extinct language family |first=Ulrich |last=Kleinewillinghöfer |date=December 2010 |conference=Workshop Language Isolates in Africa |location=Lyon, France |postscript=;}} which in words of the author is a revised edition of {{cite book |last1=Kleinewillinghöfer |first1=Ulrich |editor1-last=Nurse |editor1-first=Derek |date=2001 |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag |location=Cologne, Germany |isbn=978-3-89645-091-3 |pages=239–271 |url=https://www.academia.edu/42860811 |chapter=Jalaa - An almost forgotten language of NE Nigeria: A language isolate |series=SUGIA Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika |title=Historical Language Contact in Africa |volume=16/17}}</ref>
|familycolor=isolate
|family=[[Language isolate]]
|iso3=cet
|glotto=cent2045
|glottorefname=Jalaa
}}
'''Jalaa''' (autonym: {{lang|cet|bàsàrə̀n dà jàlààbè̩}}), also known as '''Cèntûm''',<ref name="Blench2014">{{cite web |last=Blench |first=Roger |title=African language isolates: Circulation draft |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Africa/General/African%20language%20isolates.pdf |page=9 |date=30 June 2014 |author-link=Roger Blench |location=Cambridge, UK}}</ref> '''Centúúm''' or '''Cen Tuum''', is an [[extinct language]] of northeastern [[Nigeria]] (Loojaa settlement in [[Balanga, Nigeria|Balanga]] Local Government Area, [[Gombe State]]), of uncertain origins, apparently a [[language isolate]]. The Jalabe (as descendants of speakers of the language are called) speak the Bwilim dialect of the [[Dikaka language]]. It is possible (but unconfirmed) that some remembered words have been retained for religious ceremonies, but in 1992 only a few elders remember words that their parents had used, and by 2010 there may not even remain any such rememberers.<ref name=Kleine2010/>

The Jalabe are said to have come to Loojaa from an area a few miles south within the [[Muri Mountains]], where they had shared a settlement with Tso and Kwa clans. (The name of this settlement, Cèntûm or Cùntûm, is used as a name for the language in some sources. Jalaa elders differ in whether they believe Jalaa or Centum/Cuntum was their original name for themselves.) Later, during the nineteenth century, the [[Dikaka language|Dikaka]] arrived in the area, fleeing attacks from the larger [[Waja languages|Waja]] to the north; the Cham intermarried with the Jalabe, and the Jalabe began to adopt the Dikaka language.