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 (: 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. Tarok is a member of the Plateau group of the Atlantic–Congo family.
Phonology
Vowels
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
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
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
| 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
^ Variants of this name are Yergəm and Yergum.[1]
References
- ^ 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.