Dialects and the standard

Hausa has many regional varieties. The standard used in schools, radio and newspapers is based on the speech of Kano (Kananci), the commercial centre of the Hausa world, but other varieties remain strong, such as Sakkwatanci (Sokoto), Katsinanci, Zazzaganci (Zaria) and varieties spoken in Niger, where French loanwords are more common than Arabic or English ones. In Ghana, the Hausa of the zongos speak a form known as Gaananci, with local vocabulary.

Newman groups the dialects broadly into eastern, western, northern and southern types. Differences are mainly in pronunciation and vocabulary, and speakers understand each other. Hausa has taken many loanwords from Arabic (religion, learning, trade), from English in Nigeria and from French in Niger, and it is used as a lingua franca by millions of speakers of other languages in northern Nigeria and across the Sahel.