Zarma language

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Zarma Zarmaciine
Spoken in:	southwest Niger
Total speakers:	2.2 million
Language family:	Nilo-Saharan Songhay Southern Zarma
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`ssa`
ISO 639-3:	`dje`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Zarma is the leading indigenous language of the Francophone West African nation of Niger, spoken in southwestern lobe of that country, where the Niger River flows and the capital city, Niamey, is located. It belongs to the Songhay language grouping. With over 2 million speakers, Zarma is also the most widely spoken of the Songhay languages. The two other major Songhay dialects or languages are spoken upriver in the neighboring Francophone nation of Mali. They are Koyraboro Senni, centered on the city of Gao, with about 400,000 speakers, and yet further upriver from Zarma territory, Koyra Chiini, centered on the eminent ancient university city of Timbuktu, with about 200,000 speakers. According to some reports, speakers of Zarma do not understand Koyraboro Senni.^[1]