Kano is the largest Hausa-speaking city in the world and the cultural capital of the Hausa-Fulani sphere.
Major languages#
- Hausa (Kano dialect) — the modern Standard Hausa; BBC Hausa, VOA Hausa and DW Hausa all broadcast in Kano dialect.
- Fulfulde — emirate-class and pastoralists.Climate-Conflict Escalator
- Arabic — Quranic schools and the Emir's court.
Minor and endangered languages#
- Igbo, Yoruba — large migrant communities in Sabon Gari Kano (the oldest 'strangers' quarter in northern Nigeria).
- Tuareg (Tamajaq) — small trans-Saharan trading community.
Lingua francas#
Hausa universal; English in schools and government.
Notable literary and political moments#
- The Kano Chronicle (anon., 17th–19th c.) is one of the most important indigenous African historical documents.
- Standard Hausa orthography (1933, with Ajami parallel) was decided at the Kano-Zaria conferences.
Sources & further reading#
- Ethnologue: Languages of Nigeria (SIL).
- Roger Blench, *An Atlas of Nigerian Languages* (3rd ed., 2019).
- Ayo Bamgbose, *Language and the Nation* (1991).
- UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.