Ngas language

Ngas
Ngas
Angas
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Plateau State
Ethnicity	Angas people
Native speakers	(400,000 cited 1998)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic West Chadic Bole–Angas Angas (A.3) Ngas; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Hill; Plain;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	anc
Glottolog	ngas1240
	Ethnic territories (tan) of the Ngas-speaking people (Angas) in Nigeria

Ngas, or Angas, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Plateau State, Nigeria. The language has two dialects: Hill Angas and Plain Angas.^[1] Ngas is one of the major languages in Plateau State. The 1952 census puts it as the largest ethnic group in Plateau State. Retired General Yakubu Gowon is a prominent Nigerian who is of Ngas ethnicity.

Neighbouring languages

Bəlnəŋ is an A3 West Chadic language closely related to Angas. It is spoken by about 500 people in the single village of Langung, which is surrounded by Tal villages in the east and Miship villages in the west.^[2]

Speakers of Sur, a Plateau language, are surrounded by Ngas speakers, but Sur nevertheless continues to be a well-maintained language.^[3]

The Ngas language has also undergone extensive influence from Tarok.^[4]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Close-mid	eː	ə əː	oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ə əː	ɔ
Open		a aː

Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ are only heard as short equivalents of /eː, oː/, which are only heard as long.^[5]

Consonants

		Labial			Alveolar		Palato- alveolar		Palatal		Velar			Glottal
		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	pal.	Glottal
Nasal		m	mʷ	mʲ	n	nʷ			ɲ	ɲʷ	ŋ
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p	pʷ	pʲ	t		t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ			k	kʷ		ʔ
	voiced	b	bʷ	bʲ	d		d͡ʒ	d͡ʒʷ			ɡ	ɡʷ
	vd. prenasal	ᵐb			ⁿd		ⁿd͡ʒ				ᵑɡ
	vl. prenasal	ᵐp					ⁿt͡ʃ				ᵑk
	implosive	ɓ	ɓʷ		ɗ						ɠ	ɠʲʷ	ɠʲ
Fricative	voiceless	f	fʷ	fʲ	s		ʃ	ʃʷ						h
	voiced	v	vʷ		z		ʒ	ʒʷ			ɣ
	vl. prenasal						ⁿʃ
	vd. prenasal						ⁿʒ	ⁿʒʷ
Approximant		w			l	lʷ			j
Trill	voiced				r	rʷ
Trill	prenasal				ⁿr

Writing system

Ngas alphabet^[6]
a	b	ɓ	c	d	ɗ	dy	e	ǝ	f	g	h	ḥ	i	j	k	l
m	n	ṇ	ny	o	p	r	s	sh	t	u	v	w	y	z	ẓ	ʼ

Notes

^ ^a ^b Ngas at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Blench, Roger. 2017. Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages.
^ Blench, Roger. 2004. Tarok and related languages of east-central Nigeria.
^ Longtau, Selbut (25–26 March 2004). Some Historical Inferences from Lexical Borrowings and Traditions of Origins in the Tarokoid/Chadic Interface. International Symposium on Endangered Languages in Contact: Nigeria’s Plateau Languages. Hamburg: Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg.
^ Jungraithmayr, Herrmann; Holubová, Miroslava (2016). The Ngas Language (Shik Ngas): Fundamentals of Grammar, Texts, Dictionary. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
^ Hartell 1993.

External links

Litafin Addua: The Book of Common Prayer in the Angas Language (1921) digitized by Richard Mammana

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[e18-1] Ngas at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Blench, Roger. 2017. Current research on the A3 West Chadic languages.

[3] Blench, Roger. 2004. Tarok and related languages of east-central Nigeria.

[Longtau2004-4] Longtau, Selbut (25–26 March 2004). Some Historical Inferences from Lexical Borrowings and Traditions of Origins in the Tarokoid/Chadic Interface. International Symposium on Endangered Languages in Contact: Nigeria’s Plateau Languages. Hamburg: Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg.

[5] Jungraithmayr, Herrmann; Holubová, Miroslava (2016). The Ngas Language (Shik Ngas): Fundamentals of Grammar, Texts, Dictionary. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.

[FOOTNOTEHartell1993-6] Hartell 1993.

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