Jalaa language

Template:Short description Template:Redirect {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other Jalaa (autonym: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), also known as Cèntûm,<ref name="Blench2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Centúúm or Cen Tuum, is an extinct language of northeastern Nigeria (Loojaa settlement in 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 arrived in the area, fleeing attacks from the larger Waja to the north; the Cham intermarried with the Jalabe, and the Jalabe began to adopt the Dikaka language.

PhonologyEdit

The phonology of Jalaa is as follows.<ref name="Blench2014" />

Consonants
		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink
Approximant			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Trill			Template:IPAlink

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Near-close	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink

MorphologyEdit

Jalaa morphology (at least in its present form) is almost identical to that of Cham. The main differences in the noun class system are two of the plural suffixes: Jalaa {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} versus Cham {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and (for humans) Jalaa {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} versus Cham {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.

Noun morphology is similar to that of Cham, but with some differences. Some sample singular and plural noun sets in Jalaa and Cham:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Gloss	Jalaa		Cham
Gloss	sg.	pl.	sg.	pl.
mouth	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
tree	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
meat	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
hole	lang}}	lang}}
nose	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
leg	lang}}	lang}}
fish	lang}}	lang}}
wife	lang}}	lang}}
person	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
crocodile			lang}}	lang}}
knot			lang}}	lang}}
dog			lang}}	lang}}
stranger			lang}}	lang}}

LexiconEdit

The Jalaa lexicon is also strongly influenced by Dikaka (which it has in turn influenced); some similarities are also found with the nearby Tso. However, most of its vocabulary is extremely unusual. In Kleinewillinghöfer's words, "The major part of the lexicon seems to differ entirely from all the surrounding languages, which themselves represent different language families."

Both Dikaka and the Tso traditionally avoided using names of the dead. When those names were also words of the language, as often happened, this forced them to change the word, sometimes by replacing it with a word from a neighboring language. Kleinewillinghöfer regards this as a motivation for certain cases of borrowing from Jalaa into Dikaka.