According to ALCAM (2012), Doayo, which has 18,000 speakers, is the main language of the northern part of Poli commune (in Faro department, Northern Region).
[2] Taara is spoken in the mountains west of Poli, and Marka in the plains further northwest in Tcheboa commune, Bénoué department.
[2] The term Namchi, which means "crushed ones" or "those who crush [millet for us]" in Fulfulde, is a cover term that refers not only to the Doayo, but also its neighbors Duupa and Dugun (the latter two are both Dii languages).
[2] Joseph Greenberg's "Sewe" is in fact a variety of the Doayo language documented by Griaule.
Blench (2004) considers the Sewe dialect to be a separate language, no more closely related to Dowayo than to Koma and Vere.