HAUSA LANGUAGE

Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language of the Chadic group. It is the official language of northern Nigeria and is used throughout much of western Africa as a second language. The two most important Hausa dialects are those of the Nigerian cities of Sokoto and Kano. Standard literary Hausa, based on the dialect of Kano, was formerly written in an Arabic-based alphabet but has been written in an orthography based on the Roman (Latin) alphabet since the early decades of the 20th century. The language has borrowed many words from Arabic, especially religious and technological terms. Characteristic of Hausa grammar is the lack of declensional endings for the noun; the relation between a noun and the rest of the words in a sentence is shown by word order and the use of prepositions. See also Chadic languages.