1 CLASSIFICATION
AND WHERE SPOKEN
Hausa, which belongs to the Hausa-Gwandara subgroup of the Chadic branch of
Afro-Asiatic, is spoken in a very large portion of West Africa. Hausa is a first
language in the northern Nigerian states of Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, and Bauchi.
It is a universal lingua franca in the remainder of the northern states of Nigeria
as well as in Niger. It is a second language for many people in Benin, Chad,
Cameroon, and Togo, and it is also spoken in enclaves in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire,
Burkina Faso, Libya, southern Nigeria, Sudan (Blue Nile Province), and Senegal,
and Congo (Brazzaville).
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Twenty to twenty two million first-language speakers are estimated (UBS 1982; Grimes 1996). Total speakers (L1 and L2) are estimated at 25 to 40 million (Gouffe 1981; Ingawa, personal communication, 1983; World Almanac 1998). Hausa is spoken as a first language by Hausa, many Fula and Tuareg, and as a second language by most neighboring Hausa (Schuh, personal communication, 1985).
3 DIALECT SURVEY
Gouffe (1981) notes the "remarkable unity" of Hausa, even though there are noticeable differences from west to east.
4
USAGE
Schuh (see above) reports that "Hausa is an official language in Nigeria. It
is a main trade language in northern Nigeria and Niger and in common use throughout
Nigeria. It is a subject in Nigerian secondary schools and universities and
is the language of instruction for the elementary grades in Hausa-speaking areas.
More than half of the broadcasting on northern Nigerian radio and television
stations is in Hausa, and Nigeria boasts several Hausa language newspapers as
well as an ever increasing number of publications of all types in Hausa. In
addition to, Nigerian and Cameroonian radio stations, all international broadcasters
with transmissions to West Africa have programs in Hausa. These include the
BBC, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Radio Moscow, and Radio Peking."
5
ORTHOGRAPHIC STATUS
Hausa has both a standardized Romanized and an Arabic
orthography. The former is based primarily around the Kano dialect.
6
SETS OF LEARNING MATERIALS
One set of materials is sufficient.
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