It is spoken around the oasis of Tabelbala by about 3000 people; its name literally means "village's language".
The sedentary varieties include Sawaq (Tasawaq) in northern Niger (with two dialects, Ingelsi in In-Gall and the extinct Emghedeshie of Agadez) and Korandje far to the north, 150 km east of the Algerian–Moroccan border at Tabelbala.
The inhabitants of several oases, notably Igli, Ouakda, Lahmar and Boukais, speak Berber languages, while the rest speak Arabic; in one oasis, Tabelbala, a Songhay language, Korandje, continues to be spoken.