Login
Login

Berom language

{{Short description|Language spoken by the Berom people of Nigeria}}

{{use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Berom

|altname=Birom

|nativename={{lang|bom|Cèn Bèrom}}

|states=Nigeria

|region=Plateau State

|ethnicity=Berom people

|speakers=1 million

|date=2010

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta-Congo

|fam4=Benue-Congo

|fam5=Plateau

|fam6=Beromic

|iso3=bom

|glotto=bero1242

|glottorefname=Berom

}}

{{Infobox ethnonym|person=Wòrom|people=Berom|language=Cèn Bèrom|root=Berom{{Cite book|title=An Atlas of Nigerian Languages|last=Blench|first=Roger|publisher=Kay Williamson Educational Foundation|year=2019|edition=4th|location=Cambridge}}}}

Berom or Birom ({{lang|bom|Cèn Bèrom}}) is the most widely spoken Plateau language in Nigeria. The language is locally numerically important and is consistently spoken by Berom of all ages in rural areas. However, the Berom are shifting to Hausa in cities. The small Cen and Nincut dialects may be separate languages. Approximately 1 million (2010) people speak in this language.

Berom is spoken in a large area extending from some precolonial settlements embedded within the Jos metropolitan Metropolitan Area to the south of Jos city to Barkin Ladi and Riyom in Plateau State, Nigeria. The Berom population distribution culminates at the edge of the Jos plateau in Sopp chiefdom of Riyom Local Government Area.

History

The Berom have a link to the Nok culture, a civilization that existed between 200 BCE to 1,000 CE.{{Cite web|url=https://thisisafrica.me/lifestyle/berom-people-nigeria/|title=The Berom people of Nigeria|last=Mbamalu|first=Socrates|date=2017-02-16|website=This is Africa|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}} Generally, the Berom speakers are identified to live in the core Jos Plateau and down the low plains of Kaduna State.{{Sfn|Bouquiaux|1970}}

Dialects

The Berom dialect clusters are:{{cite web |last=Blench |first=Roger |year=2021 |url=https://www.academia.edu/48907901 |title=Introduction to Berom: Reading and Writing Guide |version=Draft}}{{self-published source|date=August 2024}}

  • Gyel–Kuru–Vwang
  • Du–Foron
  • Fan–Ropp–Rim–Riyom–Heikpang
  • Bachit
  • Gashish
  • Rahoss-Tahoss

Phonology

= Consonants =

Eastern Berom consists of twenty-four consonant phonemes:{{cite web |last=Blench |first=Roger M. |year=2006 |title=Plural Verb Morphology in Eastern Berom |url=https://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Plateau/Beromic/Berom/Berom%20plural%20verbs.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607002229/http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Plateau/Beromic/Berom/Berom%20plural%20verbs.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-07 |website=rogerblench.info |url-status=live |access-date=2024-03-07}}{{self-published source|date=August 2024}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Consonants

!colspan=2|

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Labio-
velar

!Glottal

rowspan=2|Plosivevoiceless

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|t}}

|

|{{IPAlink|k}}

|{{IPAlink|kp}}

|

voiced

|{{IPAlink|b}}

|{{IPAlink|d}}

|

|{{IPAlink|g}}

|{{IPAlink|gb}}

|

rowspan=2|Affricatevoiceless

|

|({{IPAlink|ts}})

|{{IPAlink|tʃ}}

|

|

|

voiced

|

|

|{{IPAlink|dʒ}}

|

|

|

rowspan=2|Fricativevoiceless

|{{IPAlink|f}}

|{{IPAlink|s}}

|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}

|

|

|{{IPAlink|h}}

voiced

|{{IPAlink|v}}

|{{IPAlink|z}}

|

|

|

|

colspan=2|Nasal

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|{{IPAlink|ɲ}}

|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}

|

|

colspan="2" |Rhotic

|

|{{IPAlink|r}}

|

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

|

|{{IPAlink|w}}

|

  • {{IPAslink|ts}} occurs in the Foron dialect.
  • {{IPAslink|p}} {{IPAslink|b}}, {{IPAslink|m}} are bilabial, while {{IPAslink|f}} and {{IPAslink|v}} are labiodental.
  • {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, {{IPAslink|dʒ}}, and {{IPAslink|ʃ}} are palato-alveolar, while {{IPAslink|ɲ}} and {{IPAslink|j}} are palatal.

In Berom, approximants are found in the last position, for example, orthographic {{lang|bom|rou}} is {{IPA|/ròw/}} and {{lang|bom|vei}} is {{IPA|/vèj/}}.

= Vowels =

This language consists of seven vowel phonemes:

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Vowels

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

Close

|{{IPAlink|i}}

|

|{{IPAlink|u}}

Close-mid

|{{IPAlink|e}}

|

|{{IPAlink|o}}

Open-mid

|{{IPAlink|ɛ}}

|

|{{IPAlink|ɔ}}

Open

|

|{{IPAlink|ä|a}}

|

Berom consists of three type of tones and four glide tones.{{sfn|Bouquiaux|1970}} The glide tones are treated here as rising and falling tones. The tones are as follows:

  • {{IPA|/tút /}} {{gloss|to climb}} {{endash}} high tone
  • {{IPA|/shɛl/}} {{gloss|small}} {{endash}} mid tone
  • {{IPA|/bàsa/}} {{gloss|to teach, read}} {{endash}} low tone
  • {{IPA|/nepâs/}} {{gloss|new}} {{endash}} falling tone
  • {{IPA|/sǎn/}} {{gloss|empty}} {{endash}} rising tone

Orthography

Berom orthography:

a, b, c, d, e, ɛ, f, g, gb, h, i, j, k, kp, l, m, n, ng, o, ɔ, p, r, s, sh, t, ts, u, v, w, y, z

Notes

{{Reflist}}

References

  • {{cite book |last=Bouquiaux |first=L. |year=1970 |title=La langue Birom (Nigéria septentrional) –phonologie, morphologie, syntaxe |location=Paris |publisher=Société d’édition Les Belles Lettres}}

External links

  • [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/BC/Plateau/Beromic/Berom/Berom%20page.htm Roger Blench: Berom page]

{{Platoid languages}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Beromic languages

Category:Languages of Nigeria

Category:Berom people