Laal language

Laal
yəw láàl
Native toChad
RegionGori, Damtar, Mailao villages in Moyen-Chari prefecture
Native speakers
750 (2000)[1]
Dialects
  • Gori
  • Laabe
Language codes
ISO 639-3gdm
Glottologlaal1242
ELPLaal
Location within Chad where the Laal language is spoken
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Laal is an endangered language isolate spoken by 749 people (as of 2000) in three villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori (lá), Damtar (ɓual), and Mailao. It represents an isolated survival of an earlier language group of Central Africa. It is unwritten except in transcription by linguists. According to former Summer Institute of Linguistics-Chad member David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread Bagirmi.

This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977 through Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork[2][3] in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based, for the most part, on a single speaker, Djouam Kadi of Damtar.

  1. ^ Laal at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Lionnet, Florian (November 24, 2010). "Laal: an isolated language?". Yumpu. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Blench, Roger. "AFRICAN LANGUAGE ISOLATES" (PDF). Retrieved January 15, 2022.