ABSTRACT
The CHADO-HAMITIC languages are spoken over a wide area extending roughly from the western border of northern Nigeria to Wadai in French Equatorial Africa, mainly between Lat. 14° N. in the north and Lat. 10° N. in the south. The name HAUSA is used by Europeans and others to denote the people as well as the language. The total number of HAUSA-speakers cannot be estimated, in view of the enormous distribution of the HAUSA and the great number of those who speak HAUSA as a second language. Census figures for the HAUSA in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria are 3,604,016. No detailed survey of the dialects of HAUSA and their distribution has yet been made. HAUSA is the most important lingua franca in Nigeria, where it is the official language in the Northern Provinces. It is also widely spoken, and still more widely understood, in other West African countries.
