Linguistic Survey of Nigerian Languages: A Preliminary Report of the Languages of the North East Geopolitical Zone

Abstract

This paper presents the linguistic situation in the North East Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria. There are six States in the Zone: Adamawa, Bauchi, Boronu, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. However, this paper covers four of the States: Bauchi, Bornu, Gombe and Yobe States. In Bauchi State, there are twenty Local Government Areas with twenty-two linguistic varieties. Hausa and Fulani are the dominant varieties, although Zul is undergoing revitalization. In Borno State, there are forty-four linguistic varieties across the twenty-seven Local Government Areas, although Biu has a religious/political situation where two varieties of Barbu/Bura are spoken depending on the religious/political affiliation of the speaker. Politically, Gombe State is made up of eleven Local Government Areas and twenty linguistic varieties with Bolewa and Karai-Karai being the dominant varieties. Yobe, which was created from the former Borno State with initial seventeen Local Government Areas, has twelve linguistic varieties. Bade is the dominant linguistic variety in the State