Adara language

Adara
Eda
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Kaduna State; Niger State
Native speakers	300,000 (2011)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Plateau Central ? North Plateau ? Adara
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kad
Glottolog	kada1284

Person	Àndara[2]
People	Àdara
Language	Èdrà

Person	Ànda[2]
People	Àda
Language	Èdà

Adara (also Eda[3] and Kadara), is a language spoken by Adara people of Kaduna state and Niger state of Nigeria. The name Adara is also used to refer to the ethnic group.

Some estimates place the population of the Adara people at around 500,000. About 80% of the Adara are Christians while some also adhere to Islam.[4]

Distribution

Adara is spoken mainly in Kachia and Kajuru Local Government Areas as well as parts of Chikun and Kagarko of Kaduna state. In Paikoro and Munya local governments areas of Niger State in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria.[5]

NOTABLE PEOPLE IN ADARA: Mr. Williams Dogo, Central Bank of Nigeria, Stephen Manya, former INEC Commissioner, Abraham Alabura Katoh PDP Publicity Secretary of Kaduna state, Pharm Patrick Maigari for Commissioner for Health Kaduna state, Dr Everton Peter Yari former commissioner for Health, Mr. Tom Maiyashi, Dr. Maiwada Raphael Galadima, Agom Adara III, Sani Magaji, former Commissioner of Police Ondo state, Late. Mr. Musa Toro Habu legendary Chairman of Kajuru LGA.

Dialects

Dialects of the Adara language include the Adara dialect, Eneje, Ada, Ekhwa, and Ajiya.[5]: 1 

Blench (2019) lists Eda, Edra, and Enezhe as dialects.[2]

Phonology

Consonants

[3]: 3 

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Alveo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Labial–velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b		t d		[c] j	k g	kp gb
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Tap			ɾ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ		[ɣ]		h
Affricate		[bv]
Approximant					y		w
Lateral			l

Vowels

[3]: 2 

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

References

1. Adara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
3. Roger Blench (5 July 2009). "The Eda [= Kadara] language of Central Nigeria" (PDF).
4. Joshua project entry on the Adara
5. Hon, Luther; Ajaegbu, Grace; Magnusson, Carol; Nweke, Uche S.; Yoder, Zachariah (27 April 2012). "A Summary of a Sociolinguistic Survey of the Adara of Kaduna and Niger States, Nigeria" (PDF). SIL.

Further reading

• A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Adara of Kaduna and Niger States, Nigeria

External links

• Listen to a sample of Adara from Global Recordings Network
• Eda wordlist (with English and Hausa)