Tikar language
{{Short description|Semi-bantu language in Adamawa Region, Cameroon}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Tikar
|nativename=
|states=Cameroon
|speakers= 110,000
|date=2005
|ref = e18
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=Atlantic–Congo
|fam3=Volta-Congo
|fam4=Benue–Congo
|fam5=Bantoid
|fam6=Northern Bantoid
|dia1=Ndobo
|dia2=Bedzan (Medzan)
|iso3=tik
|glotto=tika1246
|glottorefname=Tikar
}}
Tikar (also called Tigé, Tigré or Tikari) is a Northern Bantoid, semi-Bantu language that is spoken in Cameroon by the Tikar people, as well as by the Bedzan Pygmies, who speak their own dialect of the language. A recent hypothesis by Roger Blench suggests that the Tikar language could be a divergent language in the Niger-Congo language family with an uncertain origin.
Classification
The little evidence available suggests that it is most closely related to the Mambiloid and Dakoid languages.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Bantoid/General/Blench%20Bantu%20IV%20Berlin%20Bantoid%202011.pdf|title='The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu|last=Blench|first=Roger|date=2011|publisher=Humboldt University|location=Berlin|page=16}}
Dialects
The Tikar language has four dialects, including Tikari, Tigé, and Túmú.Stanley, Carol. 1991. Description morphosyntaxique de la langue Tikar (parlée au Cameroun). Ph.D. Sorbonne. SIL International.{{cite journal |last1=PRICE |first1=DAVID |title=Who Are the Tikar Now? |journal=Paideuma |date=1979 |volume=25 |pages=89–98 |jstor=23076439 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Northern Bantoid languages}}
{{Pygmy languages}}
{{Languages of Cameroon}}
{{Niger-Congo branches}}
Category:Northern Bantoid languages
Category:Languages of Cameroon
{{BenueCongo-lang-stub}}