Editing Laal language (section)

{{Short description|Language isolate spoken in Chad}}
{{multiple issues|{{No citations|date=May 2024}}
{{Cleanup lang|date=January 2025|iso=gdm}}}}{{Infobox language
|name=Laal
|nativename={{lang|gdm|yəw láàl}}
|states=[[Chad]]
|region=[[Gori, Chad|Gori]], Damtar, Mailao villages in [[Moyen-Chari Prefecture|Moyen-Chari prefecture]]
|speakers=750
|date=2000
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Language isolate
|family=[[Language isolate]]
|dia1=Gori
|dia2=''Laabe''
|iso3=gdm
|glotto=laal1242
|glottorefname=Laal
|map=Laal map.gif
|mapcaption=Location within [[Chad]] where the Laal language is spoken
|notice=IPA
}}

'''Laal''' is an endangered [[language isolate]] spoken by 749 people ({{as of|2000|lc=on}}) in three villages in the [[Moyen-Chari Prefecture|Moyen-Chari]] prefecture of [[Chad]] on opposite banks of the [[Chari River]], 
called [[Gori, Chad|Gori]] (''lá''), Damtar (''ɓual''), and Mailao. It represents an isolated survival of an earlier language group of [[Central Africa]]. It is unwritten except in [[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] by linguists. According to former [[Summer Institute of Linguistics]]-Chad member David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread [[Bagirmi language|Bagirmi]].

This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977 through [[Pascal Boyeldieu]]'s fieldwork<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/17823355/laal-an-unclassified-language-of-southern-chad-linguistics|title= Laal: an isolated language?|author=Lionnet, Florian|date=November 24, 2010|website=Yumpu|access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Africa/General/African%20language%20isolates.pdf|title= AFRICAN LANGUAGE ISOLATES|author=Blench, Roger|format=PDF|access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref> in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based, for the most part, on a single speaker, Djouam Kadi of Damtar.