Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 29, 2026

Laru language

Laru (Laro), or Shen (Sengwe), is a minor Kainji language of Nigeria. Speakers are shifting to Busa.

Last revised
Jun 29, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
154 w
Citations
4
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Laru
Shen
Native toNigeria
RegionNiger State
Native speakers
(5,000 cited 1995)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3lan
Glottologlaru1238
ELPShen
Laru
PersonShen
LanguageShen gwe

Laru (Laro), or Shen (Sengwe2), is a minor Kainji language3 of Nigeria. Speakers are shifting to Busa.

Dialects

There are three dialects of Shen spoken in the following villages:4

  • Kárábàndéi and Sànsání
  • Sàːgúnú4, Sʷàʃí, Lúmːà, and Barkatai
  • Mɔ̀nːáĩ, Sáŋkʷà, and Màláːlé

The major villages, ordered from largest to smallest, are Sàːgúnú, Kárábàndéi, Sʷàʃí, Lúmːà, and Mɔ̀nːáĩ. There are fewer than 4,000 speakers.

Ethnologue (22nd ed.) lists Laru villages as Karabonde, Leshigbe, Luma, Monnai, Sansanni, and Shagunu.

References

References

  1. Laru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. McGill, Stuart. 2012. The Kainji languages. Ms, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 30 August 2012.
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Laru (Nigeria)". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Blench, Roger (2012). "The Kainji languages of northwestern and central Nigeria" (PDF). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.