Jju Language Alphabet

Jju is written in the Latin script, and its orthography includes underlined vowels a̱ and u̱ as well as plain letters. The grid lists the plain letters in alphabetical order, capital and small. Q and X are not used in standard Jju spelling.

Jju has underlined vowels as well as a rich consonant system. Like its close relative Tyap, it has many consonants that come in a plain form, a form rounded with the lips and a form softened toward y, and the spelling writes them with two or three ordinary letters, adding w or y after the consonant. Doubled letters also matter: the jj in the names Jju and Bajju is written twice because it is pronounced long. So the most useful thing to copy from this page is often just the plain letters in the right order.

Tone marks: acute and grave

Jju is a tonal language: the pitch of a syllable can change which word it is. Everyday writing, including church books and social media posts, often leaves tone unmarked and relies on context. Linguists, dictionaries and teaching materials add tone with accents over the vowel: the acute ( ́ ) for a high tone and the grave ( ̀ ) for a low one.

The accents in the grid are combining marks: type a plain vowel first, then paste the mark straight after it, and the two show as one letter: á, à, ú. For Jju's underlined vowels, add the macron below after the vowel and then the tone accent.

The grid also has the combining macron below ( ̱ ), used in Jju vowels a̱ and u̱ as well as Tyap spellings such as A̱tyap. It belongs to both languages' spelling, so it is included for anyone writing about either language.

How to type the Jju marks and the naira sign

Jju spelling also uses underlined vowels a̱ and u̱, which need the macron below in addition to plain letters. For the tone marks on Windows, in Microsoft Word type the code and press Alt+X straight after the vowel: 0301 gives the acute, 0300 the grave and 0331 the macron below. On a Mac, switch to the Unicode Hex Input layout and hold Option while typing the same codes. On a phone, Gboard and the iPhone keyboard give á and à when you long-press a, e, i, o or u; for the macron below, copy it from this page.

Money in Nigeria is the naira, written ₦ before the amount (₦5,000). In Word the code is 20A6 then Alt+X, in HTML ₦. Where the sign cannot be typed, people write N5,000 or NGN 5,000.

Where Jju is spoken: the Bajju of southern Kaduna

Jju is the language of the Bajju: the people are the Bajju and the language is Jju; Kaje is a Hausa exonym that Bajju community sources describe as pejorative. Their homeland spans Zangon Kataf, Jema'a, Kachia, Kaura and Kaduna South LGAs in southern Kaduna State, with the town of Zonkwa at its centre, and many Bajju also live in Kaduna city, Abuja and other Nigerian cities. CLDR estimates about 500,000 speakers, all in Nigeria 🇳🇬.

Jju belongs to the Plateau branch of the Benue–Congo languages, the large family that covers much of central Nigeria. Its nearest relative is Tyap, the language of the Atyap, and linguists sometimes treat the two as members of one dialect cluster, while Bajju speakers regard Jju as a language of its own. Southern Kaduna is one of the most linguistically varied parts of Nigeria, and most Bajju also speak Hausa, the common language of the north, and English, the official language of school and government. See the Tyap and Hausa collections for those languages' letters, and Nigeria for the flag and the country's emoji.

Bajju life in emoji

Southern Kaduna is one of Nigeria's major ginger-growing areas, and ginger 🫚 is a cash crop for many farming families there, alongside maize 🌽 and grains such as sorghum and acha (fonio) 🌾. Most Bajju are Christians, and the church ⛪ is central to community life; Bible translation and church-sponsored literacy courses have helped bring Jju into writing. Drums 🥁 stand for the music and dancing of weddings, harvest celebrations and cultural days.