Editing Kanuri language (section)

==Background==
At the turn of the 21st century, its two main dialects, Manga Kanuri and Yerwa Kanuri (also called Beriberi, which its speakers consider to be pejorative), were spoken by 9,700,000 people in [[Central Africa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kanuri-language|title=Kanuri language|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> It belongs to the Western [[Saharan languages|Saharan]] subphylum of [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]]. Kanuri is the language associated with the [[Kanem Empire|Kanem]] and [[Bornu Empire|Bornu]] empires that dominated the [[Lake Chad]] region for a thousand years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kanuri: Bornu's most dominant culture {{!}} Pulse Nigeria |url=https://www.pulse.ng/articles/lifestyle/food-and-travel/kanuri-bornus-most-dominant-culture-2024080217223603983 |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=www.pulse.ng |language=en}}</ref>

The basic word order of Kanuri sentences is [[subject–object–verb]]. It is typologically unusual in simultaneously having [[postposition]]s and post-nominal modifiers – for example, 'Bintu's pot' would be expressed as {{Lang|kr|nje Bintu-be}}, 'pot Bintu-of'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pulse |first=Pulse |date=2021-11-15 |title=Kanuri: Bornu's most dominant culture |url=https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/kanuri-bornus-most-dominant-culture/s2e7f1v |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=Pulse Nigeria |language=en}}</ref>

Kanuri has three tones: high, low, and falling. It has an extensive system of consonantal [[lenition]]; for example, {{lang|kr|sa-}} 'they' + {{lang|kr|-buma}} 'have eaten' → {{lang|kr|za-wuna}} 'they have eaten'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=School |first=Live Lingua-Online Language |title=Learn Kanuri Free: 2 Online Kanuri Courses |url=https://www.livelingua.com/courses/Kanuri |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=Live Lingua |language=en}}</ref>

Traditionally a local [[lingua franca]], its usage has declined in recent decades. Most first-language speakers speak [[Hausa language|Hausa]] or [[Arabic]] as a second language.{{cn|date=November 2021}}