Saharan · ISO 639-3 knc
Central Kanuri Language
Central Kanuri is a Saharan language spoken by about 9.3 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Central Kanuri is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
About the Central Kanuri language
Central Kanuri is spoken by about 9.3 million people, which makes it the 131st most spoken language in the world — just behind Hebrew (9.3 million) and ahead of Hiligaynon (9.2 million). It belongs to the Saharan language family and, more precisely, to the East Kanuri group within the Kanuri-Kanembu branch.
Where is Central Kanuri spoken?
Central Kanuri is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Nigeria (3.2 million).
Central Kanuri is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Central Kanuri is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Kanuri.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 knc.
Frequently asked questions about Central Kanuri
How many people speak Central Kanuri?
Where is Central Kanuri spoken?
What language family does Central Kanuri belong to?
Is Central Kanuri an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.