Laal

Laal is a language isolate spoken in Chad, by about 749 people. Glottolog rates it shifting.

Laal · 10.0°N 17.6°E

An isolate: no relationship to any other known language has been demonstrated.

Laal is an endangered language isolate spoken by 750 people (as of 2025) in two villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori (lá), and Damtar (ɓual). It represents an isolated survival of an earlier language group of Central Africa. It is unwritten except in transcription by linguists. According to former Summer Institute of Linguistics-Chad member David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread Bagirmi.

This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977 through Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based, for the most part, on a single speaker, Djouam Kadi of Damtar.

From Wikipedia · Laal language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Laal

Meaning	Word	Romanization
person	no*
name	mel*
eye	m3la*
ear	s3gal*
nose	p3n*
tooth	yamal*
tongue	mal*
hand	t3m*
blood	suna*
skin	b3gal*
knee	rum*
breast	T3n*
liver	miw*
water	sū
fire	ku*
tree	miadal*
leaf	s3galmiadal*
night	g3y3*
dog	biag*
fish	5um*
I	ja*
you	o*
we	uru*
drink	s3r3*
see	ku*
hear	yira*
die	me*
come	5ini*
new	niar*