Firan language

Firan
Fəràn, Fɨràn
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Plateau State
Native speakers	5,000 (2019)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Plateau Central ? Izeric Firan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	fir
Glottolog	fira1238
ELP	Firan

Fɨràn
Person	yes Fɨràn
People	yes Bèfɨràn
Language	Fɨràn

Firan (also Fəràn or Fɨran; also Ibaas) is a Plateau language closely related to Izere. Most Firan speakers are multilingual in Firan, Hausa, English, Iten, and sometimes Berom.

Villages

Fɨran is spoken exclusively in 15 villages of Ganawuri District, Riyom LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria. Kwakwi and Ntosso are the main villages.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants of Firan [SIL]

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labialvelar	Glottal
Plosive	b p		d t			ɡ k	ɡ͡b k͡p
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Sibilant affricate			dz ts	d̠ʒ t̠ʃ
Sibilant fricative			z s	ʃ
Non-sibilant fricative	ɸ	v f			ç	ɣ		h
Approximant					j		w
Tap/flap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Consonants of Firan [Blench]

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labialvelar	Glottal
Plosive	b p		d t			ɡ k	ɡ͡b k͡p
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Sibilant affricate			ts	d̠ʒ t̠ʃ
Sibilant fricative			z~dz s	ʃ
Non-sibilant fricative		f						h
Approximant					j ɥ		w
Tap/flap			ɾ
Lateral approximant			l

/Cj/ and /Cw/ sequences are permitted but are uncommon

Vowels

Vowels of Firan [SIL]

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i		ɨ		u
Near-close		ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e				o
Mid			ə
Open-mid	ɛ		ɜ/ə		ɔ
Open			a/ɑ

Vowels of Firan [Blench]

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i		ɨ		u
Close-mid	e				o
Open-mid	ɛ				ɔ
Open			a

Tones

There are 5 tones -- high, mid, low, rising and falling. The rising and falling tones are described as 'aris[ing] from sequences of level tones', but it is not clear what is meant by that, as there are no long vowels in the language.

Further reading

• A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Firan (fir) Language of Plateau State, Nigeria