Karai-Karai

About

Background Karai-Karai (also spelled Karekare, Kerrikerri) is spoken in West Africa, most prominently in northeastern Nigeria. It is a West Chadic language spoken mainly in Yobe State, particularly to the north and west of Potiskum, with additional speakers in Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Jigawa, and Kano states. Native speakers call it Bòo Karai-karai, and it is closely related to the Bole and Ngamo languages spoken in the same area. The Karai-Karai people themselves use the autonyms Bakarkarai (male) and Bakarkariya (female). Karai-Karai is considered an endangered language. Contributors The data in this dictionary was collected by Musaddam Idriss Musa, an independent researcher and language activist. Data Sources Data was collected through fieldwork interviews, audio recordings, and community consultations. In addition, this dictionary draws on the Karekare-English-Hausa Dictionary (2nd edition, 2009), produced by the Yobe Languages Research Project (UCLA Department of Linguistics), available at: https://aflang.humanities.ucla.edu/language-materials/chadic-languages/yobe/dictionaries-yobe-languages/ Audience and Use This dictionary is intended for the Karai-Karai community, students, researchers, linguists, and language activists. Contact For questions about this project, please contact: realmusaddam@gmail.com From the Karekare-English-Hausa Dictionary (second edition, 2009) Most of the entries in this dictionary, together with their Hausa equivalents, grammatical categories, plural forms and example sentences, come from the Karekare-English-Hausa Dictionary, second edition (Yobe Languages Research Project, Ajami Press, Potiskum, 2009), by Abubakar Idris Tikau and Ibrahim Yusuf, with the late Malam Kariya Gambo, Umaru Manu Karofi, the late Dauda Mamu and Rifkatu I. Bumi, edited by Russell G. Schuh. The sections below are adapted from that book's introduction so that its readers' key is available here; the words are the authors' and editor's, lightly…

Grammar

Karekare uses the same spelling system as Hausa for the most part, but it has a few sounds not found in Hausa, and a few spelling problems of its own. The notes below are adapted from the introduction to the Karekare-English-Hausa Dictionary (2009, edited by Russell G. Schuh).