Home to 4 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 4 language families.
also: Shuwa Arabic, Baggara Arabic
Spoken across Chad and adjoining parts of Sudan, north-eastern Nigeria, and northern Cameroon. The main Sahelian Arabic variety, used as a lingua franca well beyond Arab communities.
A Saharan Nilo-Saharan language and the historical court language of the Kanem-Bornu empire. Around 13 million speakers across north-eastern Nigeria, southern Niger, eastern Chad, and northern Cameroon.
also: Tubu, Tebu, Tibbu, Teda, Daza, Gorane
The Saharan Nilo-Saharan cluster of the central Sahara: Teda in the Tibesti and southern Libya, Daza further south in Borkou and Kanem. Sister branch to Kanuri within Saharan; commonly treated as a single Toubou cluster of two closely related varieties, with around half a million speakers across northern Chad, north-eastern Niger, and south-eastern Libya.
also: Sara-Bagirmi cluster, Ngambay, Sar, Mbay
A cluster of closely related Central Sudanic (Nilo-Saharan) varieties across southern Chad and adjoining parts of the Central African Republic. The Sara group is the largest indigenous ethnolinguistic complex of Chad; Ngambay alone counts around 1.5 million speakers, with Sar, Mbay, and other varieties extending the dialect chain.