Semetic ------------------------Nilotic -----------------------Bantu
Afro-Asiatic Languages
Two major Afro-Asiatic language are represented in Chad. Chadic
languages stretch from the western borders of Nigeria to Ouaddaï
Prefecture, and Arabic-speaking
populations are scattered throughout the Sahel.
Arabic
There are about thirty different dialects of Arabic in Chad. The Arabs
divide themselves into three major "tribes": the Juhayna,
the Hassuna, and the Awlad Sulayman. In this context, tribe refers to
a group claiming descent from a common ancestor. The Juhayna, who began
arriving from Sudan in the fourteenth century, are by far the most important.
The Hassuna, who migrated to Chad from Libya, live in Kanem Prefecture.
The Awlad Sulayman also hail from Libya, but they arrived in the nineteenth
century, well after the others. Most of the Arabs are herders or farmers.
Among Arabic herdsmen, life-styles vary considerably. The different needs
of camels, cattle, goats, and sheep result in different patterns of settlement
and movement. In addition to herding, many Arabic speakers earn their
livelihoods as small and middle-level merchants. In N'Djamena and in towns
such as Sarh and Moundou, Arabic speakers dominated local commerce up
until the 1970s; however, because of the anti-Muslim violence in the south
in the late 1970s, many moved to central or nothern Chad.
Despite the diversity of dialects and the scattered distribution of Arabic-speaking
populations, the language has had a major impact on Chad. In the Sahel,
Arab herdsmen and their wives frequent local markets to exchange their
animals, butter, and milk for agricultural products, cloth, and crafts.
Itinerant Arab traders and settled merchants in the towns play major roles
in local and regional economies. As a result, Chadian Arabic (or Turku)
has became a lingua franca, or trade language. Arabic also has been important
because it is the language of Islam and of the Quran, its holy book. Quranic
education has stimulated the spread of the language and enhanced its stature
among the non-Arab Muslims of Chad.
Not all Arabic speakers are of Arab descent. The assimilation of local
peoples (both free and slave) into Arabic groups has affected both the
dialects and the customs of Arabic speakers in Chad. Non-Arabs also have
adopted the language. To cite two examples, the Yalna and the Bandala
are of Hajerai and Ouaddaïan origin, respectively, and were probably
originally slaves who adopted the Arabic language of their masters. Among
the Runga, who were not slaves, Arabic is also widely spoken.
Chadic
Languages
Most speakers of Chadic languages, including the 20 million speakers of
Hausa, the major Chadic language, live west of Chad. The peculiar east-west
distribution of Chadic along the southern fringe of the Sahara from western
Nigeria to eastern Chad has led some experts to suggest that ancestral
Chadic languages were spoken by peoples living along the southern shores
of the Paleochadian Sea. The first cluster of languages is closely associated
with water--the lake, the delta, the Chari and Logone rivers, and their
adjacent floodplains. Water also is important to the economies of most
of the populations speaking these languages. In the second cluster, Chadic
speakers are descended from refugee populations who perhaps sought shelter
in the highlands when the contraction of the sea and the increased aridity
of the region allowed the penetration of more aggressive herding populations.
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