Tasawaq language

{{short description|Songhay language}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Tasawaq

|nativename=Tásàwàq

|states=Niger

|ethnicity=Isawaghan/Ingalkoyyu

|region=Agadez

|speakers={{sigfig|20,900|2}}

|date=2021

|ref=e26

|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan

|fam2=Songhay

|fam3=Northern

|dia1=Ingelshi

|dia2=Emghedeshie

|iso3=twq

|glotto=tasa1240

|glottorefname=Tasawaq

|map =Songhay languages.svg

|mapcaption =Location of Songhay languagesThis map is based on classification from Glottolog and data from Ethnologue.

Northwest Songhay:

{{legend|#002b00|Korandje}}

{{legend|#008000|Koyra Chiini}}

{{legend|#00ff00|Tadaksahak}}

{{legend|#55ff55|Tasawaq}}

{{legend|#aaffaa|Tagdal}}

Eastern Songhay:

{{legend|#2b0000|Tondi Songway Kiini}}

{{legend|#800000|Humburi Senni}}

{{legend|#d40000|Koyraboro Senni}}

{{legend|#ff5555|Zarma language}}

{{legend| #ffff00|Songhoyboro Ciine}}

{{legend|#ffaaaa|Dendi}}

}}

{{infobox ethnonym|Asawagh / Ingalkoy|Isawaghan / Ingalkoyyu|Tasawaq / Ingelshi||Sawaq}}

Tasawaq (Tuareg name: Tesăwăq),{{cite book|last1=Ritter|first1=Georg|title=Wörterbuch zur Sprache und Kultur der Twareg II Deutsch-Twareg|date=2009|publisher=Harrassowitz|location=Wiesbaden|page=735}} sometimes also called Ingelshi, is a Northern Songhay language spoken by the Issawaghan or Ingalkoyyu, a community surrounding the town of In-Gall in Niger.Michael J. Rueck; Niels Christiansen. [http://www.sil.org/silesr/1999/008/nsonghay.html Northern Songhay languages in Mali and Niger, a sociolinguistic survey]. Summer Institute of Linguistics (1999).Catherine Taine-Cheikh. [Les langues parlées au sud Sahara et au nord Sahel http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00456346/]. De l'Atlantique à l'Ennedi (Catalogue de l'exposition « Sahara-Sahel »), Centre Culturel Français d'Abidjan (Ed.) (1989) 155–173 A closely related variety called Emghedeshie was spoken in Agadez but is now extinct.

It shares some similarities with Berber languages, e.g. Tamasheq. For example in both languages, the grammatical gender of a noun is female if it begins and ends with the letter t.