| Also Known As: Zabarma,Dyabarma,Dyerma,Dyarma,Zarbarma,Zerma,Zarma,Adzerma,Zarmaci,Djerma
Description:
Zarma is the leading indigenous language of the southwestern part of the Francophone West African nation of Niger, where the Niger River flows and the capital city, Niamey, is located. (Hausa is the leading language of eastern Niger.) Zarma belongs to the Songhay language grouping. With over 2 million speakers, Zarma is the most widely spoken of the Songhay languages. The two other major Songhay dialects or languages are spoken upriver in the neighboring Francophone nation of Mali. They are Koyraboro Senni, centered on the city of Gao, with about 400,000 speakers, and yet further upriver from Zarma territory, Koyra Chiini, centered on the eminent ancient university city of Timbuktu, with about 200,000 speakers. According to some reports, speakers of Zarma do not understand Koyraboro Senni.
The Zarma alphabet uses the following letters. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ɲ or ny, ŋ, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
Zarma people..... full article at Wikipedia |
