Duvai

In all classifications, the duvai language is included in the western range of the Chadian languages , opposed to the central and eastern ranges . At the same time, the place of the Duvai language within the Western Chadian linguistic association and the circle of its closely related languages ​​in each of the classifications are determined differently.

According to the classification of Chadian languages ​​published in the work of S. A. Burlak and S. A. Starostin, “Comparative Historical Linguistics,” the Duvai language, together with the Bade , Ngizim , Ayyukawa and Shirava languages , is included in the Bade-Ngizim sub-branch of Bauchi-Bade ^{[4 ]} .

According to the classification presented in the Ethnologue World Languages ​​Directory, duvai is part of group B1 of sub-branch B. This group includes two subgroups: one of them, the duvai subgroup, is represented by the same duvai language, the second is the bade subgroup (the bady proper) - includes the badi languages ​​and Ngizim ^[6] .

In the classification of Chadian languages ​​published in the linguistic encyclopedic dictionary in the article by V. Ya. Porhomovsky “Chadian Languages”, dui along with the Bade and Ngizim languages ​​is included in the Bade subgroup directly included in the West Chadian branch ^[3] .

In the classification of the Afrasian languages ​​of the British linguist Roger Blench, a subgroup of languages, including bade, duvai, ngizim, ayuk (ayyukawa), shira (shirava) and , is included in the group of bade-warji sub-branches B ^{[5] [7]} (in one From his later works, the author attributed the Shiraw idiom to the dialects of the Badi language) ^[8] .

In the classification of the Czech linguist Vaclav Blazzek, a subgroup of languages, including bade, ngizim, duvai, shira and tesena, is assigned to the group of northern Bauchi languages ^[9] .

The duvai language has 61% of lexical similarities with the closely related bad language. At the same time, there is no mutual understanding with bada, as well as with the other related language Ngizim ^[10] .

Range and abundance

The Duvai language is distributed in northeastern Nigeria east of the city of . According to the modern administrative-territorial division of Nigeria , the range of the duvai language is located in two states: in the state of Yobe (district of ) and in the state of Jigawa (district of Hadejia ) ^[2] .

From the west, the range of the Duvai language is adjoined by the range of the closely related West Chadian language Bade . In the north, the range of the Duvai language borders on the area of ​​the Western Sahara language manga , in the south and east - on the area of ​​the Western Sahara language is the central Kanuri ^[11] . Despite the fact that the Duvai language range is adjacent to the Bade language range, due to which both languages ​​have closer and longer language contacts , and the Ngizim language range does not border them and is located much south of them, the Bade dialects (including the Gashua dialect, directly in contact with the duvai) are closer to the Nguizim language than to the Duvai language. The largest settlements in which they speak the Duvai language are Gangava, Rinakuna, Gadina and Tsirava. Probably, earlier the area of ​​distribution of the Duvai language was much wider, but as a result of the influence of neighboring languages ​​( Kanuri - in the east and Bad (its Gashua dialect) - in the west), the Duvai range was significantly reduced ^[12] .

According to the Ethnologue Handbook, the number of speakers of the Duvai language is about 11,400 (2000) ^[2] . According to the website number of native speakers of the dui language is 18,000 people (2016) ^[13] .

Sociolinguistic information

Despite the relatively small number of speakers, the position of the duvai language is described in the Ethnologue reference book as quite stable, it is actively used by all generations of its speakers. Meanwhile, the Duvai language is strongly influenced by the large languages ​​of its neighbors, in particular, in the village of Dadigar, the easternmost in the Duvai range, back in the 1970s, the inhabitants spoke mainly Duvai. Currently, the population of Dadigar has switched to the Kanuri language , only a few of the older generation of the village continue to speak the Duvai language. Like all other minor languages ​​of the northern region of Nigeria, the duvai language is strongly influenced by the Hausa language ^{[2] [12]} . Gashua , a dialect of the Bade language, is widespread in the western regions of the range of the duvai ^[14] . The use of the language is limited to everyday communication (there is no standard form ). By faith, native speakers of the Duvai language are Muslims ^{[2] [12]} .

Dialects

The dialect division of the dui language is not well understood. There is information about the dialect of the village of Dadigar and its environs (collected in 1974) - this dialect is significantly different from the Gangava dialect currently being studied. The Dadigar dialect has practically disappeared, supplanted by the Kanuri language, as other peripheral dialects of the duvai language have probably also disappeared ^[12] .

The alphabet of the Duvai language is similar to the alphabet of the Gashua dialect of the Bade language, it consists of 30 letters ^{[15] [16]} :

For lateral fricative consonants in the duvai language, as in the gashua dialect and the western dialect of bad language, the digraphs jl (for voiced ) and tl (for deaf ) are used ^{[15] [17] [18] [19]} .

The duvai language refers to tonal languages , in the vocalism system there is a contrast between long and short vowels and the presence of the phoneme ə ( ɨ in the IPA ). In the consonant system of duvai (as in the consonant systems of the Ngizim language and the Gashua dialect of the Bade language), the consonants r and r̃ are distinguished. The first of them is realized as a retroflex one-shock consonant (ɽ - in MFA), the second - as a trembling consonant ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

For the first time, a list of Duvai words was compiled in the 19th century by the German missionary Sigismund Kölle - this list was included in the 1854 edition of Polyglotta Africana . The first scientific work related to the study of the structure of the duvai language was the work of Russell Schuch in 1977, devoted to the description of the system of and related constructions in the languages ​​of duvai, bade and ngizim. Duvai is currently being studied and documented as part of the large-scale Yobe Languages ​​Research Project led by Russell Schuch ^[12] .

• Duwai (subgroup) (English) (html). MultiTree: A Digital Library of Language Relationships (2009). Archived on November 28, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• Ɗuwai (English) (html). MultiTree: A Digital Library of Language Relationships (2009). Archived July 4, 2013. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• OLAC resources in and about the Duwai language . Language-archives.org. Archived on November 28, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Bank, Sebastian: Language: Duwai . . Jena: (2016). Archived on November 28, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• The Duwai language. Tales and other texts . Aflang Los Angeles: UCLA . Archived on November 28, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• The Duwai language. Papers Aflang Los Angeles: UCLA . Archived December 2, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)
• The Duwai language. Duwai dictionary . Aflang Los Angeles: UCLA . Archived on November 28, 2016. (Retrieved November 28, 2016)