Bagirmi | |
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ɓarma | |
Native to | Chad, Nigeria |
Native speakers
|
45,000 in Chad (1993 census) |
Nilo-Saharan?
|
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
|
Glottolog | bagi1246 |
Bagirmi (also Baguirmi; autonym: ɓarma) is the language of the Baguirmi people of Chad, belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family. It was spoken by 44,761 people in 1993, mainly in the Chari-Baguirmi Region. It was the language of the Kingdom of Baguirmi.
Baguirmi was given written form, and texts providing basic literacy instruction were composed through the efforts of Don and Orpha Raun late in their Chadian careers, during the 1990s. A font to support the Baguirmi alphabet, and a Keyman input method for Latin keyboards, were developed by Anthony Kimball in 2003, and the body of published Baguirmi literature continues to expand. The majority of this literature is distributed in Chad by David Raun at a token cost, as a service to the Baguirmi-speaking peoples of Chad.