Zeem language

{{Short description|Chadic languages spoken in Nigeria}} {{Infobox language |name=Zeem |region=Bauchi State |speakers=400 |date=2003 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Afro-Asiatic |fam2=Chadic |fam3=West |fam4=Barawa (B.3) |fam5=Zaar |lc1=zem|ld1=Zeem |lc2=cxh|ld2=Chaʼari |lc3=dsk|ld3=Dokshi |lc4=dyr|ld4=Dyarim |lc5=tvi|ld5=Tulai |glotto=zeem1242 |glottoname=Zeem |glotto2=dyar1234 |glottoname2=Dyarim |glotto3=dans1239 |glottoname3=Chaari |glotto4=lush1256 |glottoname4=Dokshi |glotto5=nucl1693 |glottoname5=Tulai |dia1=Zeem (†) |dia2=Caari |dia3=Danshe (†) |dia4=Lushi (?) |dia5=Dyarim |dia6=Tule (†) }}

'''Zeem''', or '''Chaari''', is an endangered Chadic dialect cluster of Nigeria, whose speakers are shifting to Hausa.<ref>{{cite book|last=Newman|first=Paul|title=Nominal and verbal plurality in Chadic|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1990|pages=3|isbn=978-90-6765-499-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1w6Fgpo-RQC&dq=Zeem+%22Chadic+language%22&pg=PR9|access-date=2009-07-28}}</ref> '''Dyarim''' is closely related.

The Zeem language is spoken in Toro LGA, Bauchi State. The Tulai and Danshe dialects are no longer spoken.<ref name=e18/> It is also called Chaari, Dokshi, Dyarum, Kaiwari, Kaiyorawa, Lukshi, and Lushi.<ref>[http://www.language-archives.org/language/zua OLAC resources in and about the Zeem language]</ref>

Dyarim had been influenced by Beromic languages during a time when Beromic was more widespread.<ref>Blench, Roger. 2005. [https://www.academia.edu/2775947/The_Dyarim_language_of_Central_Nigeria_and_its_affinities The Dyarim language of Central Nigeria and its affinities].</ref>

==Varieties== Zeem-Caari-Danshe-Dyarim cluster varieties listed by Blench (2019):<ref name="BlenchAtlas4">{{Cite book|title=An Atlas of Nigerian Languages|last=Blench|first=Roger|publisher=Kay Williamson Educational Foundation|year=2019|edition=4th|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

*Zeem (extinct) *Tule (or Tulai, extinct) *Danshe *Chaari *Dyarim *Dokshi (Lukshi, Lushi) *Jimi

Blench reports in 2019 that only 3 very elderly speakers of the '''Dokshi''' (or '''Lukshi'''<ref name="Blench">Blench, Roger. 2020. ''[https://www.academia.edu/43897413/The_South_Bauchi_languages_of_Central_Nigeria_a_fresh_view_based_on_recent_fieldwork The South Bauchi languages of Central Nigeria: a fresh view based on recent fieldwork]''. CALL 50. Leiden University, August 31, 2020.</ref>) language remain in the village of Lukshi, Bauchi State.

==Notes== <references/>

{{West Chadic languages}} Category:Chadic languages