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Daza language
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<h2 id="vocabulary">Vocabulary</h2> <p>The dialects spoken in Chad and Niger have some <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a> influence whereas the dialects spoken in Libya and Sudan have more of an <a href="/facts/Arabic/A1e66hVV">Arabic</a> influence. The Dazaga language was not traditionally a written language but in recent years the <a href="/facts/SIL_International/roscIUKb">SIL</a> had developed an orthography. The majority of Dazaga speakers are <a href="/facts/Bilingual/WgzhSW6h">bilingual</a> or multilingual in their native tongue along with either Arabic, French, Zaghawa, <a href="/facts/Hausa_language/hQF3HW8r">Hausa</a>, <a href="/facts/Zarma_language/oVQ4xXXd">Zarma</a>, Kanuri or <a href="/facts/Tuareg_languages/WrLBF1cn">Tuareg</a>. 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 <i>shokran</i> and incorporated into the language by usually being followed by the suffix <i>-num</i> marking the second person. </p><p>The following tables contain words from the Daza dialect spoken in Omdurman, Sudan. This <a href="/facts/Romanisation/a4fl8fee">romanisation</a> is not standard. </p> <h3>Numbers</h3> <table><tbody><tr><th>English</th><th>Dazaga</th><th>English</th><th>Dazaga</th></tr><tr><td>One</td><td>Tron</td><td>Eleven</td><td>Murdai sa Tron</td></tr><tr><td>Two</td><td>Jow</td><td>Twelve</td><td>Murdai sa Jow</td></tr><tr><td>Three</td><td>Aguzo</td><td>Thirteen</td><td>Murdai sa Aguzo</td></tr><tr><td>Four</td><td>Twzo</td><td>Fourteen</td><td>Murdai sa Twzo</td></tr><tr><td>Five</td><td>Foo</td><td>Fifteen</td><td>Murdai sa Foo</td></tr><tr><td>Six</td><td>Disi</td><td>Sixteen</td><td>Murdai sa Disi</td></tr><tr><td>Seven</td><td>Troso</td><td>Seventeen</td><td>Murdai sa Troso</td></tr><tr><td>Eight</td><td>Woso</td><td>Eighteen</td><td>Murdai sa Woso</td></tr><tr><td>Nine</td><td>Yisi</td><td>Nineteen</td><td>Murdai sa Yisi</td></tr><tr><td>Ten</td><td>Murdum</td><td>Twenty</td><td>Digiram</td></tr><tr><td>Thirty</td><td>Murtta Aguzo</td><td>Fifty</td><td>Murtta Foo</td></tr><tr><td>Forty</td><td>Murtta Twzo</td><td>Hundred</td><td>Kidri</td></tr></tbody></table> <h3>Basic words and phrases</h3> <table><tbody><tr><th>English</th><th>Dazaga</th><th>English</th><th>Dazaga</th></tr><tr><td>man</td><td>Agni</td><td>Good Morning</td><td>Wasa Nisira</td></tr><tr><td>woman</td><td>Ari</td><td>Good Night</td><td>Kalar Sizoo</td></tr><tr><td>family</td><td>Ama tanga</td><td>Thank you</td><td>alay barkantchân</td></tr><tr><td>brother</td><td>Dagi</td><td>My name is...</td><td>Tan Sortanjo</td></tr><tr><td>sister</td><td>Duroo</td><td>What is your name?</td><td>Sornuma Jaa? or sornuma eni'</td></tr><tr><td>papa</td><td>Abaa</td><td>How are you?</td><td>neré wasi?</td></tr><tr><td>mama</td><td>Aya</td><td>I am well</td><td>Kala Layy or Tan Wasu or wasa a'</td></tr><tr><td>friend</td><td>Lao</td><td>Please</td><td>toussowna</td></tr><tr><td>world</td><td>Dina</td><td>Country</td><td>Ni</td></tr><tr><td>dead</td><td>Noso</td><td>Religion</td><td>Din</td></tr><tr><td>people</td><td>Amma</td><td>Better</td><td>Bouré</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>East</td><td>Mah</td><td>West</td><td>Jeh</td></tr><tr><td>North</td><td>Yallh</td><td>South</td><td>Onoum</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="phonology">Phonology</h2> <p>The phonology of Daza is as follows:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h3>Consonants</h3> <table><tbody><tr><th></th><th><a href="/facts/Labial_consonant/bv4MqTMf">Labial</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Alveolar_consonant/B6VkW2EX">Alveolar</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Palatal_consonant/KLcKyXE8">Palatal</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Velar_consonant/blWClp79">Velar</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Glottal_consonant/rMdEdLxH">Glottal</a></th></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Stop_consonant/okC9pztc">Plosive</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_plosive/6ReC9arR">b</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive/1GaDe2Vy">t</a> <a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_plosive/A6hNvmCp">d</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate/14FYMJvN">tʃ</a> <a href="/facts/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate/o7oYJUqz">dʒ</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_velar_plosive/dDppVb6e">k</a> <a href="/facts/Voiced_velar_plosive/f6udTvfQ">ɡ</a></td><td></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Fricative_consonant/1FQuuhfX">Fricative</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative/dUkN8guL">f</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative/WLKtEYDe">s</a> <a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_fricative/TtHwyzp6">z</a></td><td>(<a href="/facts/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative/enUwqS2w">ʃ</a>)</td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiceless_glottal_fricative/lfRB7CPW">h</a></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Nasal_consonant/m6D3cVhe">Nasal</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_nasal/1pd7NK2x">m</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_nasal/0CEs8314">n</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_palatal_nasal/dLa9YG49">ɲ</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_velar_nasal/r6v5q92L">ŋ</a></td><td></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Flap_consonant/5SFjKYlX">Flap</a></th><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_dental_and_alveolar_taps_and_flaps/EvQ781EU">ɾ</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Lateral_consonant/Mcyc1or8">Lateral</a></th><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant/dgbHhqeK">l</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Approximant_consonant/SXrlw7zY">Approximant</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_labial%25E2%2580%2593velar_approximant/HLDqbrvr">w</a></td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Voiced_palatal_approximant/v0NVCbUh">j</a></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <h3>Vowels</h3> <table><tbody><tr><th></th><th><a href="/facts/Front_vowel/htKQs3AT">Front</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Central_vowel/IFSaKUe9">Central</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Back_vowel/gyHoGCH0">Back</a></th></tr><tr><th rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Close_vowel/Ne6tHQHR">Close</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Close_front_unrounded_vowel/rSUdlCPU">i</a></td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Close_back_rounded_vowel/gqlQLfse">u</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowel/1eQAfkDy">ɪ</a></td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Near-close_near-back_rounded_vowel/4taYcT5v">ʊ</a></td></tr><tr><th rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Mid_vowel/uzjGLRhf">Mid</a></th><td><a href="/facts/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel/e9YNLF97">e</a></td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel/VwS9cKWJ">o</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel/aDRvwE46">ɛ</a></td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel/yMNUClGt">ɔ</a></td></tr><tr><th><a href="/facts/Open_vowel/roS0Y7lA">Open</a></th><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Open_front_unrounded_vowel/s80pvmYh">a</a></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <h3>Tone</h3> <p>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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="grammar">Grammar</h2><p> The Daza language exhibits a subject-object-verb word order, as can be seen in the following example:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></p><blockquote><p>à̰ʊ̰́</p><p>à̰ʊ̰́</p><p>man</p><p>áɪ̀</p><p>áɪ̀</p><p>this</p><p>dɪ́lɪ̀mɪ̀</p><p>dɪ́lɪ̀m=ɪ̀</p><p>leprosy=ERG</p><p>[káá]</p><p>kɛ́ɛ́-a</p><p>hand-PL</p><p>[sʊ́nà]</p><p>sʊ́n-à</p><p>3S.POSS-PL</p><p>ɡɔ́ɾʊ̀</p><p>Ø-j-kɔ́ɾ</p><p>3.OBJ-3-cut</p><p>à̰ʊ̰́ áɪ̀ dɪ́lɪ̀mɪ̀ [káá] [sʊ́nà] ɡɔ́ɾʊ̀</p><p>à̰ʊ̰́ áɪ̀ dɪ́lɪ̀m=ɪ̀ kɛ́ɛ́-a sʊ́n-à Ø-j-kɔ́ɾ</p><p>man this leprosy=ERG hand-PL 3S.POSS-PL 3.OBJ-3-cut</p><p>‘This man, leprosy cut his hands.’</p> </blockquote> <p>There are no <a href="/facts/Grammatical_gender/2hEshpnP">grammatical genders</a> in Dagaza, and biological gender is indicated with separate lexical items for male and female.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> </p><p>Adding the adjectivalizer suffix -ɾ́ɛ at the end of a word forms adjectives from nouns, verbs, and occasionally even other adjectives.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>Verbs are inflected for both subject and object arguments. This inflection is sensitive to <a href="/facts/Grammatical_person/PfUA43oU">grammatical person</a>, but not number, gender, or other features of the subject and object.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p><p>To signify presentational <a href="/facts/Possession_(linguistics)/2hpTQmxo">possession</a> (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:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <p>jɛ́ɡɛ̀</p><p>jɛ́ɡɛ̀</p><p>house</p><p>ɡòdúù</p><p>ɡòdú=ù</p><p>clay=GEN.SG</p><p>déì</p><p>Ø-j-téi</p><p>3.OBJ-3-have</p><p>jɛ́ɡɛ̀ ɡòdúù déì</p><p>jɛ́ɡɛ̀ ɡòdú=ù Ø-j-téi</p><p>house clay=GEN.SG 3.OBJ-3-have</p><p>'He has a house of clay.’</p> <p>Dazaga uses clitic case markers for four cases: <a href="/facts/Ergative_case/Duj9SL9D">ergative</a>, <a href="/facts/Accusative_case/HA1Q81qd">accusative</a>, <a href="/facts/Genitive_case/nMXh3StK">genitive</a>, and <a href="/facts/Dative_case/bBjY0RVf">dative</a>. The marking of case is sensitive to an <a href="/facts/Animacy/mr4xbcdG">Animacy Hierarchy</a>: 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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> </p><p>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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li>Relative Clauses in Dazaga <a href="http://www.gial.edu/documents/gialens/vol8-2/walters_dazaga.pdf">[1]</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160311232611/http://www.gial.edu/documents/gialens/Vol8-2/Walters_Dazaga.pdf">Archived</a> 2016-03-11 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Daza at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg" target="_blank">https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Daza at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg" target="_blank">https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Daza at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg" target="_blank">https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dzg</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. The languages of Africa. International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1. Repr. The Hague: Mouton, 1966. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>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 <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Walters, Josiah K. (2016). A Grammar of Dazaga. Grammars and sketches of the world's languages Africa. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32391-9. <a href="978-90-04-32391-9" target="_blank">978-90-04-32391-9</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>