Karai-karai

Karai-karai
كاراي-كاراي (Ajami)
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Bauchi State, Yobe State, Gombe state
Ethnicity	Karai-Karai
Native speakers	1.8 million (2010)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic West Chadic Bole–Angas Bole–Tangale (A.2) Bole (North) Karai-karai
Writing system	Latin (Karai-karai alphabet) Arabic script (formerly)
Official status
Official language in	Nigeria
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kai
Glottolog	kare1348
Ethnic territories (pink) of the Karai-karai-speaking people (Bakwaró) in Nigeria

Karai-karai (Francophonic spelling: Karekare, Kerrikerri, Ajami: كاراي-كاراي)^[2] is a language spoken in West Africa, most prominently North eastern Nigeria. The number of speakers of Karai-karai is estimated between 1,500,000 to 1,800,000 million, primarily spoken by the ethnic Karai-Karai people. It is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken principally in Nigeria with communities in Bauchi State, Yobe State, Gombe State and other parts of Nigeria. Many Karai-karai words share a common origin with the Northwest Semitic languages of Hebrew and Arabic. The Karai-karai language is most closely related to the Ngamo and Bole languages (spoken in north eastern Nigeria) which are both considered derivatives of the Karai-karai language.^[1]