Nyingwom language

Nyingwom
Kam
Àngwɔ̀m
Pronunciation[ɲí ŋwɔ̀m]
Regioneastern Nigeria
Native speakers
(5,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3kdx
Glottologkamm1249
Nyí ŋwɔ̀m
Personnyí ŋwɔ̀m
Countryàbìbì nyí ŋwɔ̀m

The Nyingwom or Kam language is a Niger-Congo language spoken in eastern Nigeria. Blench (2019) lists speakers residing in the main villages of Mayo Kam and Kamajim in Bali LGA, Taraba State.[2] Lesage reports that Kam is spoken in 27 villages of Bali LGA. [3]

Nyingwom was labeled as branch "G8" in Joseph Greenberg's Adamawa language family proposal. The precise classification of Kam is a matter of current research.

Speakers refer to themselves and their language as Nyí ŋwɔ̀m. Kamajim (Kam: àngwɔ́g ɲí 'house of the people') is the traditional capital of the Kam at the western foothills of a mountain range situated to the north of the Kam River. The Kam have historically been in extensive contact with the Kororofa Jukun.[3]

  1. ^ Nyingwom at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  3. ^ a b Lesage, Jakob. Kam. AdaGram.