Alumu is a Plateau language spoken by approximately 7,000 people in Nassarawa State, Nigeria. It has lost the nominal affix system characteristic of the Niger–Congo family.
| Alumu-Tesu | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Nassarawa State |
Native speakers | (7,000 cited 1999)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aab |
| Glottolog | alum1246 |
Dialects
editTwo varieties, Alumu and Tesu, differ only in intonation.[1] Information for Alumu and Tesu is listed from Blench (2004).[2]
Alumu (or Arum), with 4,000 speakers, is spoken in the settlements of Arum-Kado (main settlement), Arum-Tsabo, Arum-Sarki, Arum-Tumara, Arum-Chugbu, Arum-Kurmi (Gbira), and Arum-Chine.
Tesu (Təsu) (Hausa: Chessu[3]), with just under 2,000 speakers, is spoken in the two villages of Chessu Sarki and Chessu Madaki, which are about one kilometre apart from each other on the Wamba - Fadan Karshi road.
Akpondu is also closely related (also Babur, Nisam and Nigbo) but moribund or extinct, and its classification as a separate language or as a shifting dialect or sociological group of related dialects is not clear.[4]
Phonology
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Labialized palatal |
Velar | Labialized velar |
Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | p b | t d | tʃ dʒ | k ɡ | kp ɡb | ||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | x | h | ||
| Approximant | l | j | ɥ | w | |||
| Tap | ɾ | ||||||
| Trill | r |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-Close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Close-Mid | e | o | |
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Open | a |
It is unclear whether or not vowel nasality is phonemic in Alumu.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b Alumu-Tesu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2004. Tarok and related languages of east-central Nigeria.
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2010. The Təsu language of Central Nigeria and its affinities.
- ^ Blench, Roger, 2005. Akpondu, Nigbo, Bəbər and Nisam: Moribund or Extinct Languages of Central Nigeria, manuscript, 16 November 2005. 4pp.
- ^ Roger Blench (2012:6)
- ^ Roger Blench: The Təsu language of Central Nigeria and its affinities. (2012:5).
- ^ Roger Blench (2012:5)