Back Llingües xarawanes AST Jarawoide Sprochn BAR Jarawoide Sprachen German Lenguas jarawanas Spanish Langues jarawanes French Jarawa jezici Croatian Lengas jarawanas Occitan
| Jarawan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Southwest Cameroon (formerly), Southeast Nigeria |
| Linguistic classification | Niger–Congo? |
| Proto-language | Proto-Jarawan |
| Glottolog | jara1262 |
 The Jarawan languages shown within Nigeria and Cameroon | |
Jarawan is a group of languages spoken mostly in Bauchi State, Nigeria, with some also scattered in Plateau State, Taraba State, and Adamawa State in the same country. Two related languages formerly spoken in Cameroon are now extinct but are believed to have belonged to the group. This connection between Nigerian and Cameroonian Jarawan is attributed to Thomas (1925). Whether Jarawan languages are best classified alongside other Bantu languages or among non-Bantu Bantoid languages is a matter of ongoing debate. A number of descriptions and classifications in the early 20th century suggest that they may be historically related to Bantu languages but not necessarily Bantu themselves. Other perspectives based on lexicostatistic modeling and other phylogenetic techniques for language comparison argue instead that Jarawan languages are properly classified alongside Zone A Bantu languages (A31-A40-A60). For classifications based on these more recent studies, see for example Blench (2006), Piron (1997), and Grollemund (2012).