Editing Daza language

{{Short description|Saharan language of eastern Niger and northern Chad}}
{{distinguish|Dazawa language}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Goran language|Gorani language|Gora dialect}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Daza
|nativename=Dazaga
|states=[[Chad]] and [[Niger]]<ref name=e26/>
|region=[[Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region|BET Region]], [[Bahr el Gazel (region of Chad)|Bahr el Gazel Region]], [[Batha (region)|Batha]], [[Borkou (region of Chad)|Borkou]], [[Hadjer-Lamis (region)|Hadjer-Lamis]], [[Kanem (region)|Kanem]], [[Lac (region)|Lac]], [[Wadi Fira (region)|Wadi-Fira]], [[Diffa Region|Diffa]], [[Zinder Region|Zinder]]<ref name=e26/>
|ethnicity=[[Toubou people|Toubou]]
|speakers={{sigfig|699,200|2}}
|date=2019–2021
|script= Latin
|ref=e26
|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
|fam2=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|fam3=[[Saharan languages|Western]]
|fam4=[[Tebu languages|Tebu]]
|iso3=dzg
|glotto=daza1242
|glottorefname=Dazaga
|map=Toubou map.svg
|lingua=02-BAA-ab
}}

'''Daza''' (also known as '''Dazaga''') is a [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] language spoken by the Daza people (a sub-group of the [[Toubou people]]) inhabiting northern [[Chad]] and eastern [[Niger]].<ref name=e26/> The Daza are also known as the [[Toubou people|Gouran]] (Gorane) in Chad.<ref name=e26/> Dazaga is spoken by around 700,000 people, primarily in the [[Djurab Desert]] region and the [[Borkou]] region, locally called Haya or [[Faya-Largeau]] northern-central Chad, in Kanem there is a lot of Daza around 300,000, the capital of the Dazaga people. Dazaga is spoken in the [[Tibesti Mountains]] of [[Chad]] (606,000 speakers), in eastern [[Niger]] near [[N'guigmi]] and to the north (93,200 speakers).<ref name=e26/> It is also spoken to a smaller extent in [[Libya]] and in [[Sudan]], where there is a community of 3,000 speakers in the city of [[Omdurman]].{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} There's also a small diaspora community working in [[Jeddah]], [[Saudi Arabia]].

The two primary dialects of the Dazaga language are Daza and Kara, but there are several other mutually intelligible dialects, including Kaga, Kanobo, Taruge and Azza. It is closely related to the [[Tedaga language]], spoken by the [[Teda people|Teda]], the other out of the two [[Toubou people]] groups, who reside primarily in the Tibesti Mountains of northern Chad and in southern Libya near the city of [[Sabha, Libya|Sabha]].

Dazaga is a Nilo-Saharan language and a member of the Western Saharan branch of the [[Saharan languages|Saharan]] subgroup which also contains the [[Kanuri language]], [[Kanembu language]] and [[Tebu languages]].<ref>Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.</ref> Tebu is further divided into Tedaga and Dazaga. The Eastern Saharan branch includes the [[Zaghawa language]] and [[Berti language]].<ref>Cyffer, Norbert. 2000. ''Linguistic properties of the Saharan languages. Areal and Genetic Factors in Language Classification and Description: Africa South of the Sahara'', ed. by Petr Zima, 30–59. Lincom Studies in African Linguistics 47. München: Lincom Europa</ref>

==Vocabulary==
The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some [[French language|French]] influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an [[Arabic]] influence. The Dazaga language was not traditionally a written language but in recent years the [[SIL International|SIL]] had developed an orthography.  The majority of Dazaga speakers are [[bilingual]] or multilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Zarma language|Zarma]], Kanuri or [[Tuareg languages|Tuareg]]. There are thus many borrowings from other languages such as Arabic, Hausa or French. For example, the word for "thank you" is borrowed from Arabic ''shokran'' and incorporated into the language by usually being followed by the suffix ''-num'' marking the second person.

<br/>The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This [[romanisation]] is not standard.

===Numbers===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Dazaga !! English !! Dazaga
|-
| One || Tron|| Eleven || Murdai sa Tron
|-
| Two || Jow || Twelve || Murdai sa Jow
|-
| Three || Aguzo || Thirteen || Murdai sa Aguzo
|-
| Four || Twzo || Fourteen || Murdai sa Twzo
|-
| Five || Foo || Fifteen || Murdai sa Foo
|-
| Six || Disi || Sixteen || Murdai sa Disi
|-
| Seven || Troso || Seventeen || Murdai sa Troso
|-
| Eight || Woso || Eighteen || Murdai sa Woso
|-
| Nine|| Yisi || Nineteen || Murdai sa Yisi
|-
| Ten || Murdum || Twenty || Digiram
|-
| Thirty || Murtta Aguzo || Fifty || Murtta Foo
|-
| Forty || Murtta Twzo || Hundred || Kidri
|}

===Basic words and phrases===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Dazaga !! English !! Dazaga
|-
| man || Agni|| Good Morning || Wasa Nisira
|-
| woman || Ari || Good Night || Kalar Sizoo
|-
| family || Ama tanga || Thank you || alay barkantchân 
|-
| brother || Dagi || My name is... || Tan Sortanjo
|-
| sister || Duroo || What is your name? || Sornuma Jaa? or sornuma eni'
|-
| papa || Abaa || How are you? || neré wasi?
|-
| mama || Aya || I am well || Kala Layy or Tan Wasu or wasa a'
|-
| friend || Lao|| Please || toussowna 
|-
| world || Dina || Country || Ni
|-
| dead || Noso || Religion || Din
|-
|people||Amma ||Better  || Bouré || 
|-
| East || Mah || West || Jeh
|-
| North ||Yallh||South||Onoum
|}

The Azza are a blacksmith class who speak their own dialect of the language, referred to as Azzanga, which is considered by Dagaza speakers to be lower in status then the standard dialect.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Walters |first=Josiah K. |title=A Grammar of Dazaga |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-32391-9 |series=Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
The phonology of Daza is as follows:<ref name=":0" />

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable"
!
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- align="center"
![[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|t}} {{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|tʃ}} {{IPA link|dʒ}}
|{{IPA link|k}} {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|- align="center"
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}} {{IPA link|z}}
|({{IPA link|ʃ}})
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|- align="center"
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|- align="center"
![[Flap consonant|Flap]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
![[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|- align="center"
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|- align="center"
|{{IPA link|ɪ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|- align="center"
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

===Tone===

Dagaza showcases 4 distinct tones, high, low, rising, and falling, although the occurrence of rising and falling tones is limited to just a few specific contexts and no word exists which only contains low tones. For this reason, there is debate as to whether these truly represent 4 distinct tonemes or if instead Dagaza has a pitch accent system.<ref name=":0"/>

== Grammar ==
The Daza language exhibits a subject-object-verb word order, as can be seen in the following example:<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>{{Interlinear|à̰ʊ̰́ áɪ̀ dɪ́lɪ̀mɪ̀ [káá] [sʊ́nà] ɡɔ́ɾʊ̀
| 2 = à̰ʊ̰́ áɪ̀ dɪ́lɪ̀m=ɪ̀ kɛ́ɛ́-a sʊ́n-à Ø-j-kɔ́ɾ
| 3 = man this leprosy=ERG hand-PL 3S.POSS-PL 3.OBJ-3-cut
| 4 = ‘This man, leprosy cut his hands.’
| indent = 1
| glossing-style = span style="font-variant: small-caps;"
| ipa2 = yes
| glossing2 = no
| glossing3 = yes
| small-caps = yes
}}
</blockquote>

There are no [[grammatical gender]]s in Dagaza, and biological gender is indicated with separate lexical items for male and female.<ref name=":0" />

Adding the adjectivalizer suffix -ɾ́ɛ at the end of a word forms adjectives from nouns, verbs, and occasionally even other adjectives.<ref name=":0" />

Verbs are inflected for both subject and object arguments. This inflection is sensitive to [[grammatical person]], but not number, gender, or other features of the subject and object.<ref name=":0" />

To signify presentational [[Possession (linguistics)|possession]] (exemplified by the have verb in English, e.g. "I have a computer"), Dazaga utilizes a transitive "have-verb" strategy where the possessor is the subject and the possessum is the object, similar to how this construction is made in English. The following example shows presentational possession in Dazaga:<ref name=":0" />

{{Interlinear|jɛ́ɡɛ̀ ɡòdúù déì
| 2 = jɛ́ɡɛ̀ ɡòdú=ù Ø-j-téi
| 3 = house clay=GEN.SG 3.OBJ-3-have
| 4 = 'He has a house of clay.’
| indent = 2
| glossing-style = span style="font-variant: small-caps;"
| ipa1 = yes
| ipa2 = yes
| ipa3 = yes
| glossing2 = no
| glossing3 = yes
| small-caps = yes
}}

Dazaga uses clitic case markers for four cases: [[Ergative case|ergative]], [[Accusative case|accusative]], [[Genitive case|genitive]], and [[Dative case|dative]]. The marking of case is sensitive to an [[Animacy|Animacy Hierarchy]]: the accusative enclitic /=ɡà/ encodes the object of a transitive verb when it is a high animacy referent (personal pronouns). For all other object referents, this clitic is optional.<ref name=":0" />

Interrogatives are indicated in two ways; yes/no questions are formed by attaching the clitic -ra to the end of the verb, information questions are indicated by the presence by equivalents to wh- question words in English at the end of the phrase.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*Relative Clauses in Dazaga [http://www.gial.edu/documents/gialens/vol8-2/walters_dazaga.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311232611/http://www.gial.edu/documents/gialens/Vol8-2/Walters_Dazaga.pdf |date=2016-03-11 }}

{{Languages of Chad}}
{{Languages of Niger}}
{{Languages of Sudan}}
{{Saharan languages}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tebu languages]]
[[Category:Saharan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Chad]]
[[Category:Languages of Niger]]
[[Category:Toubou people]]