Adara language

Adara (also Eda[3] and Kadara), is a Plateau language of Nigeria. The name Adara is also used to refer to the ethnic group.

Adara
Eda
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Kaduna State; Niger State
Native speakers	300,000 (2011)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Plateau Central ? North Plateau ? Adara
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kad
Glottolog	kada1284

Person	Àndara[2]
People	Àdara
Language	Èdrà

Person	Ànda[2]
People	Àda
Language	Èdà

Some estimates place the population of the Adara people at around 350,000. About 55% of the Adara are Christians while some also adhere to Islam.[4]

Distribution

Adara is spoken mainly in Kachia and Kajuru Local Government Areas of Kaduna State and in Niger State in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria.[5]

Dialects

Dialects of the Adara language include the Adara dialect, Eneje, Ada, Ekhwa, and Ajiya.[5]^:1

Blench (2019) lists Eda, Edra, and Enezhe as dialects.[2]

Phonology

Consonants

[3]^:3

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Alveo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Labial–velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b		t d		[c] j	k g	kp gb
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Tap			ɾ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ		[ɣ]		h
Affricate		[bv]
Approximant					y		w
Lateral			l

Vowels

[3]^:2

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

References

1. Adara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
3. Roger Blench (5 July 2009). "The Eda [= Kadara] language of Central Nigeria" (PDF).
4. Joshua project entry on the Adara
5. Hon, Luther; Ajaegbu, Grace; Magnusson, Carol; Nweke, Uche S.; Yoder, Zachariah (27 April 2012). "A Summary of a Sociolinguistic Survey of the Adara of Kaduna and Niger States, Nigeria" (PDF). SIL.

External links

• Listen to a sample of Adara from Global Recordings Network
• Eda wordlist (with English and Hausa)