"It is now spoken by fewer than five elderly people, though it was once the language spoken by the blacksmiths of the region... [Sombə] has given way not to a colonial language, nor have its speakers adopted a regional lingua franca as their primary language. Rather, the local variety of Mambila, known as Maberem, has taken on this role... The language is no longer used on a daily basis, in any domain. Younger people don’t know the language, though some middle-aged people have a passive knowledge... A language which was once the primary language of daily use for the Somyev is now reduced to its last handful of speakers, despite an apparent substantial increase in numbers of the Somyev, and is no longer a language of daily use... In 1996, I met with some 15-20 fluent speakers of the language, all of whom used it on a daily basis, and some of whom had not, or only partially, adopted Maberem. All were elderly blacksmiths, the youngest being about 60.1 was told at the time that they were the only remaining speakers. A few members of the next generation, i.e. some of the male children of this group, had acquired a passive knowledge of the language. A decade later, in 2006, only three speakers of Sombo were left in Kila Yang, one an elderly woman (said to be around 100), and with another in the neighbouring village of Kuma (both the woman and the Kuma resident have since died)."

"It is a language which apparently was only ever used by the blacksmiths of the region and their families... Sombə is the language of a blacksmith group. It is not a trade jargon or sociolect, but is (or rather, was) the primary language of daily use for the smiths and their families, both in the home and outside. The traditional blacksmithing trade has now vanished, bringing substantial change to the lifestyle of this group... Today, everyone in the village [Kila Yang village] speaks Maberem and Fulfulde; to a lesser extent people also speak Hausa (perhaps increasingly a lingua franca, though it is too soon to tell whether Hausa will replace Fulfulde). Many people speak or at least have some familiarity with Tungba (the variety of Mambila spoken at Gembu the largest urban centre on the Mambila Plateau), and many, especially the young and those who have been to school, also speak English... Sombə remains a part of the heritage of the Somyev, but it is no longer a viable language. It has been replaced in all its normal daily functions in the home and in the village by Maberem Mambila. Fulfulde serves as a language of wider communication. English, normally the language of official business (governmental, legal, etc) in Nigeria is not spoken by any of the remaining speakers of Sombə"

"The language is variously known in the literature or locally as 'Kila', 'Kilayen', 'Kila Yang', 'Somyev', or 'Fur'. The first two of these are the Fulfulde words for 'blacksmith', singular and plural; the last is the Sombə own word for 'person'... Somyev, however, the speakers’ own name for themselves and their language is'Sombə'..."

"Fufulde is a lingua franca. The primary language of their community is a Mambila lect, Maberem."

"The youngest of [the speakers] is in his late forties though some younger people in the community may have a limited understanding of the language. Depending to some extent on social situation, the language is used on a daily basis..."

"[The] language [was] used only by blacksmiths... Now, in the face of important goods and changing customs, the local blacksmith trade has lost its earlier importance. In earlier times... a prospective husband was required to provide his future wife's family with... 10 hoes... The loss of traditions such as this, together with the almost exclusive use of imported hoes, has ultimately affected the status of the language. Like the most people in the general region, the Somyewe use Fulfulde as a lingua franca; however the primary language of their community... is Maberem, a Mambila lect, and it is this which the younger people - the sons and daughters of the former blacksmiths - know as their first language. In the Cameroon village where Somyev is spoken, the Somyewe have similarly adopted the language of the village, Torbi, also a Mambila lect."

"Although the village may originally have been populated by blacksmiths, the people there now regard themselves as Mambila, although Somyewe is spoken among older people. The younger generation speaks only Mambila"

"The correct name of the people and language is Somyewe."