Semetic ------------------------Nilotic -----------------------Bantu
Nilo-Saharan Languages
Sara,
classified in the Chari-Nile subfamily of the Nilo-Saharan languages,
Sara-Bongo-Baguirmi languages are scattered from Lake Chad to the White
Nile in southwestern Sudan. Unlike Central Saharan languages, when mapped
out they form a patchwork quilt rather than a solid band.
Kouka, Bilala, and Medogo, languages spoken around Lake Fitri in southwestern
Batha Prefecture, are the northernmost members of this subgroup. These
languages are mutually comprehensible, and the peoples who use them are
thought to be descendants of the core ethnic groups of the precolonial
sultanate of Yao (a state founded by the Bulala, who ruled a vast region
extending as far west as Kanem in the fifteenth century). The Kouka, Bilala,
and Medogo populations intermarry and share institutions for the mediation
of disputes. The groups farm and raise animals, which they sometimes entrust
to neighboring Arabs. Their similarities are so striking that they are
sometimes classed together as the Lisi.
Barma
is spoken in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture by the Baguirmi, the core population
of another precolonial state. Today the Baguirmi are concentrated in and
around Massenya, a city southeast of N'Djamena named for their precolonial
capital. The Baguirmi identify themselves as either river Barmi or land
Barmi. The land Barmi farm millet, sorghum, beans, sesame, peanuts, and
cotton. The river Barmi fish along carefully demarcated stretches of the
Chari and Bahr Ergig rivers. Arabic loanwords are numerous in Barma, a
product of the Baguirmi's adoption of Islam and their interaction with
neighboring Arab pastoralists over a long period of time. Long-standing
economic ties with the West have also prompted the incorporation of a
Kanuri commercial vocabulary.
Kenga,
found among the Hajerai in Guéra Prefecture, is closely related
to Barma. Although its speakers are said to have played a prominent role
in the foundation of the Bagirmi Empire, today they resemble their highland
neighbors more closely than their more distant linguistic relatives.
Sara languages of southern Chad constitute the quilt's largest patch,
stretching from Logone Occidental Prefecture to eastern Moyen-Chari Prefecture.
Linguists divide Sara languages into five subgroups. Sara languages seem
to have drifted into southern Chad from the northeast. Eventually, Sara
speakers left behind the northern languages of the group as they made
their way to the richer hunting grounds and agricultural land south of
the Chari River. This must have occurred very long ago, however, because
the Sara languages and those of the northern members of the group are
mutually unintelligible. Moreover, Sara oral traditions record only short-range
migrations of Sara speakers in the south, suggesting that movement from
the north happened earlier.
Boua,
languages are distributed along the middle Chari River in Moyen-Chari
Prefecture and in central Guéra Prefecture. Like the Sara, they
are divided into five subgroups: Boua proper, Neillim, Tounia, Koke, and
Fanian or Mana. Only a few thousand people speak Boua languages, but it
is believed that their ancestors preceded Sara-speaking settlers in the
Chari Valley. Several centuries ago, all the Boua subgroups may have lived
farther north in Guéra Prefecture. Under pressure from slave raiders
along the Islamic frontier, some Boua speakers probably migrated southward.
Although speakers of Boua proper submitted to neighboring slave raiders
from the Bagirmi Empire, they in turn raided their Neillim neighbors to
the southeast. Similarly, the Neillim attacked the Tounia to their southeast.
The Tounia sought refuge among the Kaba (a Sara subgroup) on the site
of the present-day city of Sarh.
Central
Saharan Languages
The distribution and numbers of Central Saharan language speakers probably
have changed dramatically since independence. The Chadian Civil War and
the Chadian-Libyan conflict have disrupted life in the northern part of
the country. Also, the rise to power of two heads of state from the far
north, Goukouni Oueddei and Hissein Habré, may have inspired the
migration of northerners to the national capital and a greater integration
of the region into the life of the country.
Teda
and Daza are related languages
in the Central Saharan group. Teda is spoken by the Toubou people of the
Tibesti Mountains and by some inhabitants of nearby oases in northeastern
Niger and southwestern Libya. Daza speakers live south of the Toubou in
Borkou Subprefecture and Kanem Prefecture, between the Tibesti Mountains
and Lake Chad (see fig. 5).
Despite their shared linguistic heritage, the Toubou and the Daza do not
think of themselves as belonging to a common group. Moreover, each is
further divided into subgroups identified with particular places. Among
the Toubou, the Teda of Tibesti are the largest subgroup. Daza speakers
separate themselves into more than a dozen groups. The Kreda of Bahr el
Ghazal are the largest. Next in importance are the Daza of Kanem. Smaller
and more scattered subgroups include the Charfarda of Ouaddaï; the
Kecherda and Djagada of Kanem; the Doza, Annakaza, Kokorda, Kamadja, and
Noarma of Borkou; and the Ounia, Gaeda, and Erdiha of Ennedi.
About one-third of the Teda are nomads. The remainder, along with all
of the Daza, are seminomadic, moving from pasture to pasture during eight
or nine months each year but returning to permanent villages during the
rains. In general, the Teda herd camels and live farther north, where
they move from oasis to oasis. The Daza often herd camels, but they also
raise horses, sheep, and goats. Their itineraries take them farther south,
where some have acquired cattle (whose limited capacity to endure the
heat and harsh environment of the northern regions has altered patterns
of transhumance). Some cattle owners leave their animals with herders
in the south when they return north; others choose to remain in the south
and entrust their other animals to relatives or herders who take them
north.
Kanembu
is the major language of Lac Prefecture and southern Kanem Prefecture.
Although Kanuri, which derived from Kanembu, was the major language of
the Borno Empire, in Chad it is limited to handfuls of speakers in urban
centers. Kanuri remains a major language in southeastern Niger, northeastern
Nigeria, and northern Cameroon.
In the early 1980s, the Kanembu constituted the greatest part of the population
of Lac Prefecture, but some Kanembu also lived in Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture.
Once the core ethnic group of the Kanem-Borno Empire, whose territories
at one time included northeastern Nigeria and southern Libya, the Kanembu
retain ties beyond the borders of Chad (see Kanem-Borno , ch. 1). For
example, close family and commercial ties bind them with the Kanuri of
northeastern Nigeria. Within Chad, many Kanembu of Lac and Kanem prefectures
identify with the Alifa of Mao, the governor of the region in precolonial
times.
Baele
(also erroneously called Bideyat) is the language of the
Bideyat of Ennedi Subprefecture and the Zaghawa of Biltine Prefecture.
Despite this similarity, the Zaghawa and the Bideyat exhibit diverse life-styles.
Some Zaghawa live in a centralized sultanate, with a ruling family of
Dadjo origin; these Zaghawa are semisedentary and prominent in local and
regional commerce. Other Zaghawa, however, living primarily in the south,
are nomads. The Bideyat also are nomadic.
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