Jju

Jju is a member of the Plateau group of Benue-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 600,000 people mainly in the Zangon Kataf, Jema'a, Kachia, Kaura and Kaduna South Local Government Areas in the south of Kaduna state in central Nigeria. This area is known as Ka̠jju ('land of the Bājju people) by Jju speakers, and they call themselves Ba̠jju, which is short for Ba̠nyet Jju ('Jju people').

Jju is Jhuyo, Kaje, Kache or Diryem Jju. It is written with the Latin script. There is a translation of the New Testament of the Bible in Jju.

Jju alphabet and pronunciation

Download an alphabet chart for Jju (Excel)

Notes

Most consonants have tense / fortis forms indicated by doubling (jj)
A consonant followed by w is labialized [ʷ], and when followed by y, they are palatalized [ʲ].

Sample text (The Lord's Prayer - Luke 11: 2-4)

Yesu a̱ hywa da̱ mba, “Ki yi naa-naat yya a̱duwa yi hywa: ‘A̱tyyi njit: Zi cat ba dyep diyrek nwan ti, dityok nwan ti i ba.
Za ryi kyang a zi ni ya kozan ka̱tuk ni.
Za kaai wwon ka̱ywap njit ka, rot njit zi kaai wwon ba̱nyet ba a̱ za ywap ni I ryok za tyyi i ka̱mak ka a̱ sswa cet njit ni ba.ʼ ”

Source: https://www.bible.com/bible/3396/LUK.11.KAJ

Translation (English)

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.

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

Sample videos

Links

Information about Jju
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jju_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaje
https://kajju.org/
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Jju_phrasebook
http://www.language-archives.org/language/kaj
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/kaj

Benue-Congo languages

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

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 26.06.24. Last modified: 16.06.26

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