Schuh R.G. (ed.) Bade-English-Hausa Dictionary (Gashua Dialect)

Potiskum: Ajami Press; Yobe Languages Research Project, 2004. — XIV, 78 p.Author: Tarbutu Muktar Musa.This is the first published dictionary of the Bade language, spoken in northern Yobe State, Nigeria. The original basis for the dictionary was a sizable collection of words assembled in 1973-75 when the editor lived in Gashua and was working as a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages (then a research branch of Ahmadu Bello University, now part of Bayero University Kano). The original vocabulary list came mainly from stories, histories, proverbs, and so forth provided by many speakers, all of which were transcribed and checked with the indispensable help of the Muhammadu Mai Gari and Buba Nasara. The original list has been considerable expanded and many corrections have been made during the current project.Bade is spoken in the northern part of Yobe State, Nigeria, in an area fanning out east and south of Gashua, the current location of the court of the Emir of Bade (Bedde). It is one of seven languages of the Chadic family indigenous to Yobe State, the others being Bole, Duwai, Karekare, Maka, Ngamo, and Ngizim. Bade is a member of the West Branch of Chadic and is hence related to Hausa, the dominant language throughout northern Nigeria. Bade's closest linguistic relatives are, however, Ngizim, spoken to the south, around Potiskum, and Duwai, spoken east of Gashua. Bade is dialectally very diverse, to the extent that one could really speak of several "Bade languages". There are three main dialect varieties: Western Bade, the variety with the largest number of speakers, spoken over the western half to two-thirds of the Bade area, some of the larger Western Bade speaking towns being Amshi, Dagona, Tagali, and, Madamuwa; Southern Bade, spoken to the southeast of the Western area and south of Gashua, with some of the main Southern Bade-speaking towns being Katamma, Katangana, and Gorgoram; and Gashua Bade, spoken in the city of Gashua, by far the largest town in the Bade-speaking area, and villages fanning out around Gashua. There is, moreover, considerable variation within each of these three dialect varieties, with virtually every village having its distinct features. Particulary notable is the town of Karege, more or less at the boundary between the Western and Gashua areas, where the dialect has a unique mix of features from the two dialect varieties.