CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Mofu-Gudur language

language

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ1365132 ↗
Source-derived summary

Mofu-Gudur, or South Mofu, is a Chadic language spoken in northern Cameroon. Dialects are Dimeo, Gudur, Massagal, Mokong, Njeleng, and Zidim.

Mofu-Gudur is spoken in the massifs south of the Tsanaga River as far as Mayo-Louti (Mokong and Mofou cantons of Mokolo commune, Mayo-Tsanaga department, and Gawaza commune, Diamaré department, in the Far North Region) by 60,000 speakers.

Sign language

Mofu-Gudur speakers, who are predominantly hearing, use an extensive repertoire of conventionalized gestures, estimated at around 1,500. These gestures accompany storytelling (including history) and may be used in situations where speech is impractical.

Notes

References

Daniel Barreteau. 1988. Description du mofu-gudur. Paris: Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération. ISBN 2-7099-0841-7.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Mofu-Gudur language” is language. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Mofu-Gudur and language, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1988—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Mofu-Gudur and language is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “language” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1365132. The Library of Congress control number is sh85086481. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1988.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Mofu-Gudur language”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Mofu-Gudur language primary sources, Mofu-Gudur language archive and Mofu-Gudur research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mofu-Gudur language”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Mofu-Gudur language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.