ABSTRACT
The earliest attempt-apparently solely on the basis of vocabularies-to classify the languages of this general aggregate was made in 1908 by W. F. Gowers, who suggested tentatively the following distinct groupings: (1) the languages of Zul and Geji (which he thought to be linked with those of the Sayawa and Guruntumawa); (2) the language of Ribina (which he found to have “ traces of connection ” with those of the Butawa, Warjawa, and other peoples of the Ningi region, north of Lame District); (3) the languages of Buji, Gurrum, Jere and the Taurawa of Bauchi (with which he grouped also the language of the Anaguta, adding that that of Ribina was “ possibly related ” to all these); and (4) Rukuba. He did not treat any other members of the Jerawa group.
