Tarok language
| Tarok | |
|---|---|
| iTárók[1] | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Plateau State, Taraba State |
| Ethnicity | Tarok |
Native speakers | 520,000 (2020)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yer |
| Glottolog | taro1263 |
Tarok (Tarok: iTárók), also known as Yergama or Appa[1] is a language spoken by around 520,000[3] people primarily in the southeast of Nigeria's Plateau State, where it serves as a local lingua franca.[citation needed] Tarok is a member of the Plateau group of the Atlantic–Congo family.
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]Tarok has seven phonemic vowels, /i ɨ u ɛ ə ɔ a/. The IPA symbols are included in the table below along with the orthographic form in angular brackets.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i ⟨i⟩ | ɨ ⟨ə⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ |
| Low-Mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | ə ⟨a̱⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ |
| Low | a ⟨a⟩ |
Consonants
[edit]Tarok has an inventory of twenty-seven phonemic consonants, shown in the table below. Allophones are provided in parentheses.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive / Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | k͡p | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | g͡b | ||||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | ʃ | h | |||||
| voiced | v | ʒ | ɣ | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | (ŋ͡m)* | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||
| Vibrant | r | ||||||||
| Semivowel | j | w | |||||||
* The labiovelar nasal [ŋ͡m] occurs as an allophone of the syllabic nasal consonant before labiovelar plosives /k͡p/ and /g͡b/.[1]
Names for other languages
[edit]As the local lingua franca, the Tarok feature prominently in the local ethnic composition of southeast Plateau State. Many Tarok clans can also trace their ancestries back to Chadic-speaking peoples, pointing to a long history of Chadic peoples assimilating into Tarok society. Some Tarok names for neighbouring languages according to Longtau (2004):[5]
| Language | Classification | Tarok name |
|---|---|---|
| Ngas | West Chadic A.3 | Dúk |
| Boghom | West Chadic B.3 | Burom |
| Duguri | Jarawan | Duguri |
| Goemai | West Chadic A.3 | Lar |
| Jukun-Wase | Jukunoid | Jor |
| Kanam | West Chadic B.3 ? | (not known by Tarok) |
| Kantana | Jarawan | Kantana |
| Tel | West Chadic A.3 | Dwal |
| Pe | Tarokoid | Pe |
| Tal | West Chadic A.3 | Tal |
| Sur | Tarokoid | (not known by Tarok) |
| Yangkam | Tarokoid | Yangkam |
| Yiwom | West Chadic A.3 | Zhan |
| Zaar | West Chadic B.3 | Zhim |
Orthography
[edit]| a | a̲ | b | ɓ | c | d | ɗ | e | ǝ | f | gb |
| gh | i | j | k | kp | l | m | n | ny | ŋ | o |
| p | r | s | sh | t | u | v | w | y | z | zh |
Notes
[edit]^ Variants of this name are Yergəm and Yergum.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Longtau, Selbut (2008). Tarok language : its basic principles and grammar. Archived from the original on 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Tarok | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ "Tarok | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ a b Onah, Patrick El-Kanemi; Israel, T. Gamypal (Dec 2022). "A Phonological Description of Tarok" (PDF). Journal of English and Communication in Africa. 5 (3&4): 1–24. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ 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.
