Fam language
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| Fam | |
|---|---|
| Koŋa, Kɔŋa, Konga | |
| Awol Fam | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Taraba State |
Native speakers | 500 (2016) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | fam |
| Glottolog | famm1241 |
| ELP | Template:Endangered Languages Project |
| Linguasphere | Template:Infobox language/lingualist |
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Fam ([fám][1]) is an endangered[2] Bantoid language, spoken by less than 500 in Bali LGA, Taraba State, Nigeria.
Name
The speakers call themselves Fam, and their language either Fam or Awol Fam, although outsiders call the language Koŋa, Kɔŋa or Konga.[3][4]
Demographics
Speakers
In 2016, the language had less than 500 speakers.[4]
Fam is recorded as having either 1000, or less than 1000 speakers in 1984.[5][4] However, according to linguist Roger Blench, it did not have more than 500 speakers when it was recorded in 1984.[3]
Area spoken
The language was previously thought to be spoken in the single village of Sabon Gida.[3] However, according to later research, it is actually spoken in multiple villages.[1]
Classification
Fam is unclassified within the Bantoid family.[6]
Blench (1993) classifies Fam as a Mambiloid language, within the Northern Bantoid family. It is classed there as likely related particularly to Ndoro, on the basis of a few cognates.[7][3] Likewise, Dimmendaal and Voeltz (2007) classify it as a member of the Mambiloid group.[8] However, Blench (2014) revises his former opinion, stating there is not enough data for a classification and that the claim of a relation to Ndoro is very weak. He concludes Fam is best treated as an isolated Bantoid language.[3] Still, Blench (2020) lists it as a Mambiloid language, most closely related to Ndoro.[4]
Grammar
A minimal grammar of the language was written by Tope Olagunjo Demilade in 2017.[9]
Wordlist
This wordlist comes from Blench (2014), although note that the words lack tone markers.[3]
Many of the words have no clear etymology. There are cognates with Mambiloid languages, but this cannot be considered proof of a genetic connection as they are often with words that are isolated in Mambiloid languages. For example, "leopard" is Script error: No such module "Lang". in Fam and Script error: No such module "Lang". in Mvanip; this may be evidence of a shared substrate. Many words have a plural suffix -bə, resembling many Mambiloid languages but also many Dakoid languages.[3]
In the phonology, there is evidence of contact with Jukun, but no good evidence for classification as a Jukunoid language. Note the prefix a- found in some plurals, like the Jukunoid languages; many singular nouns also seem to have this prefix. The phone /θ/ is present, characteristic of Jukunoid languages (but unusual for Mambiloid languages).[3]
There are common words shared with Upper Cross River languages (e.g. "one" is Script error: No such module "Lang". in Fam, Script error: No such module "Lang". in Gbo and Script error: No such module "Lang". in Mbembe), but again these are not considered proof of relation here.[3]
The words for 'man' and 'women' both have suppletive-seeming plurals, a common West African areal feature.[3]
| English | Fam |
|---|---|
| man | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| woman | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| head | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| face | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| nose | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| mouth | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| tooth | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| tongue | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| neck | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| arm, hand | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| leg | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| animal | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| meat | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| horse | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| cow, zebu | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| fowl, chicken | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| goat | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sheep | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| dog | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| cat | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| elephant | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| hippopotamus | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| buffalo, "bushcow" | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| lion | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| leopard | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| hyena | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| tortoise | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| crocodile | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| fish | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| bird | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| egg | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| yam | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| millet | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sorghum | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| okra | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| old cocoyam | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sorrel, roselle | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| beans | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| groundnut(s) | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| banana | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| tree | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| leaf | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| locust tree | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sun | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| moon, month | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sand | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| stone | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| water | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| fire | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| go (finally) | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| come | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| eat | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| drink | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| play (games) | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| sing | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| kill | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| beat (drum), flog | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
Numbers
This list of numbers comes from Blench (2014), although note that the words lack tone markers.[3]
| English | Fam |
|---|---|
| one | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| two | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| three | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| four | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| five | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| six | Script error: No such module "Lang". (5+1) |
| seven | Script error: No such module "Lang". (5+2) |
| eight | Script error: No such module "Lang". (5+3) |
| nine | Script error: No such module "Lang". (5+4) |
| ten | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| twenty | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
Further reading
- Tope Olagunjo Demilade, The Fam Language of Taraba State: Basic Description and Grammatical Analysis, 2017
References
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- ^ a b Idiatov, Dmitry, Mark Van de Velde, Tope Olagunju and Bitrus Andrew. 2017. Results of the first AdaGram survey in Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria. 47th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) (Leiden, Netherlands).
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Fam Language (FAM)". Ethnologue.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Glottolog 5.1 - Blench, Roger 2014". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
- ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Blench, Roger (2020). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (PDF). pp. 30, 112.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Fam | Ethnologue". 2019-07-03. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Glottolog 5.1 - Fam". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Blench, Roger M. (1993). "An outline classification of the Mambiloid languages". Journal of West African Languages. 23 (1): 109.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dimmendaal, Gerrit Jan; Voeltz, Erhard. Endangered languages of Africa and the Middle East. p. 613.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Olagunjo Demilade, Tope (2017). The Fam Language of Taraba State: Basic Description and Grammatical Analysis (masters thesis). Malete, Ilorin: Kwara State University.
