Hausa language

Hausa (/ˈhaʊsə/) (Yaren Hausa or Harshen Hausa) is the Chadic language (a branch of the Afroasiatic language family) with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 35 million people, and as a second language by 90  million in Nigeria, and millions more in other countries, for a total of at least 250 million speakers. Originally the language of the Hausa people stretching across southern Niger and northern Nigeria, it has developed into a lingua franca across much of western Africa for purposes of trade. In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has become more commonly published in print and online.

There are a few traditional dialects, differing mostly due to tonality. The language was commonly written with a variant of the Arabic script known as ajami but is more often written with the Latin alphabet known as boko.

Classification

Hausa belongs to the West Chadic languages subgroup of the Chadic languages group, which in turn is part of the Afroasiatic language family.