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Laal language

Laal
yəw láàl
Native to Chad
Region Gori, Damtar, Mailao villages in Moyen-Chari prefecture
Native speakers
750 (2000)
unclassified, possibly a distinct branch of Niger–Congo, Chadic, a language isolate, or mixed
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog laal1242
Laal map.gif
Location within Chad where the Laal language is spoken
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Laal is an unclassified language 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 (), Damtar (ɓual), and Mailao. It may be a language isolate and thus would represent an isolated survival of an earlier language group of Central Africa or alternatively a language descending from a language of a group of Neolithic near eastern farmers who immigrated to Chad, because people speaking this language have significant eurasian admixture similar to Natufians and Neolithic Levantines. 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 in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based, for the most part, on a single speaker, M. Djouam Kadi of Damtar.

The language's speakers are mainly river fishermen and farmers, who also sell salt extracted from the ashes of doum palms and Vossia cuspidata. Like their neighbours, the Niellim, they were formerly cattle herders but lost their herds around the turn of the 19th century. They are mainly Muslims, but until the latter half of the 20th century, they followed the traditional Yondo religion of the Niellim. The area is fairly undeveloped; while there are Qur'anic schools in Gori and Damtar, the nearest government school is 7 km away, and there is no medical dispensary in the region (as of 1995).


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