Zaːr

Overview & Synopsis

This first publication on Za:r is part of a work that first started in 1991 in Azare and has now taken the shape of a lifelong enterprise. The general purpose of describing the Za:r language is to help put on the linguistic map a language spoken by about 150 000 speakers in the South of Bauchi State, Nigeria, and mainly in the ogoro Local Government Area. The present work is primarily aimed at Za:r speakers. All of them are bilingual, using Za:r locally and Hausa regionally. English is a prerequisite in the Nigerian system of education. Through the use of Za:r, English and Hausa in the dictionary and collection of texts, this book is meant to develop the readers' competence in the three languages and will help Za:r children become more familiar with English. Finally, the local (Bauchi) Hausa has been chosen for the translation of the collection of texts, and to document a non-standard variety of the language.