Ahwai (indùn)

Ahwai is a member of the Plateau branch of the Benue-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 15,000 people around Ahwai mountain in the Sanga Local Government Area in the southeast of Kaduna State in central Nigeria.

Ahwai is also known Ndunic, and Ahwai speakers call their language indùn, and call themselves bener andùn. Dialects include: Ndun, Nyeng and Shakara, which are mutually intelligible, and are regarded as varieties of the Ahwai language by Ahwai people. However, in some sources, they are classified as separate languages.

Ahwai is written with the Latin alphabet, and parts of the Bible have been translated into the language.

Ahwai alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Ahwai (Excel)
Details of the Ahwai alphabet provided by Wolfram Siegel

Notes

Ɛ and Ɔ are used mainly in the Ndun dialect, and sometimes in the Nyeng dialect, but not in the Shakara dialect.
M and N are syllabic before consonants.
Ny is only used in the Ndun dialect.
Sh, V and Zh are used mainly in the Nyeng and Shakara dialects, and otherwise only in loanwords and foreign names.

Sample text

Yesu repa, "Nu kwisiyi rena nyi, eres enai tetani ne té, ntum nai ni tam.
Nangti aminaze tityugi.
Yel eyom enyor nya berem nya ti diyelsi eyom bapaang; kute ne talak ti nu yowi." Y

Source: https://doc-files.bibleineverylanguage.org/1729157173_962918.pdf

Translation

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
The Lord's Prayer - Luke 11: 2-4

Source: https://www.bible.com/bible/1/LUK.11.KJV

Sample video in Ahwai

Links

Information about Awhai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahwai_language
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/ahwa1235
https://rexclarkeadventures.com/ahwai-people-nigeria/

Benue-Congo languages

Ahwai, Akum, Alumu, Anaang, Berom, Cara, Eleme, Eloyi, Firan, Jju

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 15.09.26. Last modified: 15.09.26

[top]

Conversations - learn languages through stories

You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways.

If you find all the adverts annoying, there is now an Ad-free version of Omniglot which you can access for a small monthly or annual donation.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]