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AFIZERE LANGUAGE, DIALECTS AND CLANS
Language is the basic ingredient of a people's identity. An internationally reputable celeberated writer of renown, Chinua Achebe said "Language or their
mother tongue is the very first index by which a people are esteemed."(Tell Magazine, December 27th, 1999, page 47)
Language is an integral part of a people which uniquely identifies them and distinguishes them from
the others like their immediate and remote neighbours among others.
Izere is the language whereas Afizere refer to its speakers The Hausas called them Jarawa
This name was given to those (Afizere) who accepted the Jihad in those days.
Afizere language is one of the most interesting languages in plateau state, Nigeria and Africa at large.
Linguistic researches revealed very importantly significant points about Izere, the language. In a letter addressed
to Saint John's priority on March 9, 1916, one Mr. Arundel stated thus ".....shows Jarawa (Afizere)
to be emphatically one of the most interesting languages to be studied at the present day in Africa
because of its undoubted resemlance to the Bantu language, with distinct though distant affinities
with the semi Bantu languages of the Kaduna District, with those immediately south of the central
Benue with the semi-Bantu languages of Cross River, of South West Togoland and Senegambia."
In 1914, H. H. Johson in his research also noted that the findings of his research in addition to
other practical evidences prove that the original home of the Bantu and of Kindred tongues must have
been in British Nigeria between Benue and the main Niger. Futhermore, Johnson's views corroborated
those of Buchanan and Pugh (Nigeria Land and People) who sugested that "The broken terrain
of the Middle Belt Region, might have served as refuge for the Bantu Negroid."
Racially and Linguistically, the Afizere's kith and kins are the Bantu people of Southern Africa
together with other related groups constituting what later became the Kwarrarafa empire. These other
groups include the Jukuns, Angas, Alago, Ankwai and Mwagavul. Additionally, in establishing the kinship
relationship between Afizere and the Bantus through linguistic affiliation, it is necessary to explore
other common areas between the two groups (Archeological, cultural and botanical) before establishing
a definite common descent of these two groups. The high traditional technology of iron works, terrace
agriculture and hunting which compares favourably with those of the articulate Bantus, suggests that
both have their roots in the famous Nok culture (9000 B.C.) from whence the Afizere emanated in
more recent years
Sadly enough, in this twenty-first century, lanuages are dying all over the world in their hordes. Banji Adeyanju notes that when
a language dies, in large part, the culture of its speakers also dies and subsequently, the victims
hang in a linguistic and cultural limbo. Even UNESCO in 1993 got the United Nations General Assembly
to adopted the Endangered Languages Project. In order to reverse this threat against Izere language,
some eminent personalities have advocated the introduction of Izere language in elementary schools of
Afizere land.
DIALECTS AND CLANS
Afizere dialects can be grouped according to the clan settlements in which they lived those days.
They are :
1. Ibor of Fobur
2. Idere spoken in Federe and Zandi
3. Isum and idos spoken in Fursum
4. Ikyo spoken in Jarawan Kogi and
5. Iganang spoken in Shere
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