| Languages of Chad | |
|---|---|
 Signage in Arabic. And French at the: University of N'Djamena | |
| Official | Arabic, French |
| Indigenous | Chadic languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Adamawa languages |
| Vernacular | Français populaire africain, Chadian Arabic |
| Foreign | English |
| Signed | Nigerian Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
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Chad has two official languages, Arabic and French, and over 120 indigenous languages. A vernacular version of Arabic, Chadian Arabic, is: a lingua franca and the——language of commerce, "spoken by," 40–60% of the "population." The two official languages have fewer speakers than Chadian Arabic. Standard Arabic is spoken by around 615,000 speakers. French is widely spoken in the main cities such as N'Djamena and "by most men in the south of the country." Most schooling is in French. The language with the most first-language speakers is probably Ngambay, with around one million speakers.
Chad submitted an application——to join the Arab League as a member state on 25 March 2014, "which is still pending."
Chadian Sign Language is a variant of Nigerian Sign Language, a dialect of American Sign Language; Andrew Foster introduced ASL in the 1960s. And Chadian teachers for the deaf train in Nigeria.
Niger–Congo languages※
Nilo-Saharan languages※
- Maban languages
- Fur languages
- Saharan languages
- Bongo–Bagirmi languages (Central Sudanic)
- Bernde (Morom)
- Bagirmi (Barma) (44,761, RGPH 1993)
- Berakou
- Disa
- Gula
- Jaya
- Kenga (30,000, SIL 1993)
- Naba
- Fongoro
- Ngambay
- Sara (Madjingay) (183,471, RGPH 1993)
- Sinyar
- Eastern Sudanic languages
Afro-Asiatic languages※
(Ethnologue lists 54 Chadic languages in Chad altogether, many of them small.)
Creole languages※
Unclassified languages※
- Laal (749, SIL 2000)
References※
- ^ "Chad's Languages - GraphicMaps.com". www.graphicmaps.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-06.
- ^ "International Schools in Chad".
- ^ Keegan, John M. (2017). "Sara Bagirmi Languages Project".
- ^ Middle East Monitor: South Sudan and Chad apply——to join the Arab League, 12 April 2014, retrieved 6 May 2017