The South Bauchi languages (also called the B.3 West Chadic or Barawa languages) are a branch of West Chadic languages that are spoken in Bauchi State and Plateau State, Nigeria. An extensive lexical survey of the South Bauchi languages had been carried out by Kiyoshi Shimizu from 1974 to 1975. Another early survey was that of Gowers (1907), which included 42 languages of Bauchi.

Languages

The South Bauchi languages include: Roger Blench (2020) counted around 38 South Bauchi languages.

Internal classification

Shimizu (1978)

Shimizu (1978) classifies the South Bauchi languages as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in italics.

Blench (2021)

Roger Blench (2021) classifies the South Bauchi languages as follows.

Names and locations

Below is a comprehensive list of South Bauchi language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).

Phonology

Like the other West Chadic languages, South Bauchi languages have a rich consonant inventory. They also generally have the lateral fricatives /ɬ, ɮ/, whereas the West Chadic A languages have not preserved such consonants. Blench (2020) proposes that Proto-South Bauchi had a 6-vowel system consisting of /i, ɨ, u, ɛ, ɔ, a/, with length contrast. South Bauchi languages have 2-3 tone levels, with Proto-South Bauchi likely having three tones like the nearby A3 West Chadic languages. Some languages also have contour tones (falling or rising).

Morphology

Like the neighbouring A3 West Chadic languages but unlike Hausa, South Bauchi languages do not usually have plural nouns, although certain words for persons such as ‘woman’, ‘child’, and sometimes ‘man/person’ have suppletive nominal forms. Blench (2021) hypothesises that this may be due to contact with Adamawa languages. Stop consonants at the ends of morphemes are underlyingly voiceless.