Introduction

The Wandala language group of Cameroon has a total population of 43,500, of whom 23,500 (1982 SIL) live in the far north region: Mayo-Sava division, east of Mora, north and northwest in a semicircle, to the Nigeria border.

The language is classified as Afro-Asiatic, Chadic, Biu-Mandara, A, A.4, Mandara Proper, Mandara. This explains the alternate names used by some for the language: Mandara, Mandara Montagnard, or Ndara.

The ISO code is [mfi]. There are several dialects of Wandala: Kamburwama, Masfeima, Jampalam, Ziogba, Mazagwa, Gwanje, Wandala (Mandara), Mura (Duwe, Kirdi-Mora, Mora Brousse, Mora Massif), and Gamargu (Gamergou, Gamergu, Malgo, Malgwa).

The people also speak Adamawa Fulfulde [fub], Chadian Spoken Arabic [shu], and French [fra]. Some written materials have been produced in Wandala including a grammar and the New Testament (1988). The writing is done in various scripts: Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab], Naskh style. Latin script.