The Hausa–Gwandara languages (also known as the A.1 West Chadic languages) of the Afro-Asiatic family are spoken principally in Niger and Nigeria. They include Gwandara and Hausa, the most populous Chadic language and a major language of West Africa.
Languages The two Hausa–Gwandara languages are:
Hausa Gwandara
Classification within West Chadic Based on nominal morphology and other grammatical patterns, Blench (2021) considers the Hausa–Gwandara branch to have been the first West Chadic branch to have split off from Proto-West Chadic.Blench, Roger. 2021. The erosion of number marking in West Chadic Roger Blench. WOCAL, Leiden.
Non-Chadic influences The Hausa–Gwandara languages have many words that are not found in other Chadic languagesBlench, Roger. 2011. Benue-Congo (and some Nilo-Saharan) etymologies for Hausa words? because they are loans from Adamawa, Plateau, Kainji, Nupoid, and other Benue-Congo languages acquired during its expansion across the Nigerian Middle Belt. While those languages became assimilated, many of their words had changed the lexicon of Hausa. Some likely influence from vanished Nilo-Saharan languages on Hausa has been proposed.
List of Hausa words of likely Benue-Congo origin:
English Hausa nine tárà mother/woman uwaa to wash (body) wankèè bed gado red, bright red jaa year shekara porcupine beguwa agama lizard ƙadangare water ruwaa sun, day rana egg ƙwǎy lion záákii leopard dààmísàà month, moon wátàà hare zóómóó scorpion kunāma want/need/like/love/wish soo gourd (sphincter) kondo, ƙunduu doctor bokaa hunger yúnwàà shoe tākalmi spear grass tofa kind, sort iri dance ráwáá stream rafi ram rago baboon goggo, gwaggo war yāƙi axe gātari good, right dede, daidai bulrush millet maiwa iburu iburu half raabi village/settlement tungaa female breast mààmáá flat rock fā, pā shelter bukka chew tauna, tamna meat náamàa oil mai pumpkin kàbééwàà
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