Introduction

 

The Zulgo language is spoken by around 26,000 people in the Far-North region of Cameroon. They live in 16 villages north of Maroua on the eastern edge of the Mandara mountains, in the Mayo-Sava division, Tokombéré subdivision, and some parts of Mayo-Tsanaga division.

Alternate names for this group are: Gemjek, Guemjek, Guemshek, Guemzek, and Zoulgo. The linguistic classification of the language is Afro-Asiatic, Chadic, Biu-Mandara, A, A.5. The ISO 639-3 language code is gnd. There are a few dialects: Gemzek (Gaduwa), Mineo (Minew), Zulgo (Zelgwa, Zoulgo, Zulgwa), and some slight dialectal differences between villages.

This ethnic group highly values their language, all ages use it in the home and in the community. A language development project was in progress between 1988 and 1997 resulting in some literature and a New Testament (published in 1997).