Dakoid languages

Dakoid
(undemonstrated)
Geographic distribution:	Nigeria
Linguistic classification:	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Dakoid
Subdivisions:	(unclear)
Glottolog:	dako1256

The Dakoid languages are a small putative group of languages spoken in Taraba and Adamawa states of eastern Nigeria:

• Gaa–Dong
  • Donga (Dong)
  • Tiba (Gaa)
• Daka–Taram
  • Taram
  • Daka (a dialect cluster of Dirim, Samba, Lamja, Dengsa, & Tola).

Greenberg placed Samba Daka within his Adamawa proposal, as group G3, but Bennett (1983) demonstrated to general satisfaction that it is a Benue–Congo language, though its placement within Benue–Congo is disputed. Blench (2010) considers it to be Benue–Congo. Boyd (ms), however, considers Daka an isolate branch within Niger–Congo (Blench 2008).

Dong, though clearly Niger–Congo, is difficult to classify, there is no published data on Tiba, and Taram (listed as a dialect of Daka by Ethnologue) is only known from data collected in 1931 (Blench 2008).

References

• Blench (2008) Prospecting proto-Plateau. Manuscript.
• Blench, Roger, 2011. 'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu'. Bantu IV, Humboldt University, Berlin.