Mundang language
| Mundang | |
|---|---|
| zah Mundaŋ | |
| Native to | Chad, Cameroon |
Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1982–2019)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mua |
| Glottolog | mund1325 |
Mundang is an Mbum language of southern Chad and northern Cameroon, spoken by the Mundang people.
The Gelama dialect of Cameroon may be a separate language.
Distribution
[edit]Mundang, spoken in Cameroon by 44,700 speakers (SIL 1982), is mainly spoken in Mayo-Kani department, Far North Region, in the communes of Mindif, Moulvouday, and Kaélé. It is also spoken to a lesser extent in the south of Mayo-Kebi, in the east of Bibemi commune (Bénoué department, Northern Region), towards the Chadian border. Mundang of Lere (in Chad) and Mundang of Cameroon (centered in Lara and Kaélé) are highly similar.[2]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | k͡p | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ᵑᵐɡ͡b | ||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ||||
| Nasal | voiced | m | n | ŋ | |||
| glottalized | ˀm | ˀn | |||||
| Tap | ⱱ | ɾ | |||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Glide | central | j | w | ||||
| glottalized | ʔj | ʔw | |||||
- /ɓ, ɗ/ may also be heard as laryngealized [ɓ̰, ɗ̰] among speakers.
- /ʔw/ can also be heard as two laryngealized allophones [ʔv̰, ʔw̰].
- Sounds /ɓ, k/ may be heard as fricatives [β, ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
- /h, w/ may be heard as palatal [ç, ɥ] when preceding /i/.
- /ɾ/ can also range to a retroflex [ɽ] among dialects or a trill [r] when geminated.
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | ə | u uː |
| Near-close | ɪ ɪː | ʊ ʊː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ ĩː | ũː | |
| Near-close | ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː | ʊ̃ː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ̃ː | ɔ̃ː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
Writing System
[edit]| Majuscules | A | B | Ɓ | C | D | Ɗ | E | Ə | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | Ŋ | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minuscules | a | b | ɓ | c | d | ɗ | e | ə | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | ŋ | o | p | r | s | t | u | v | w | y | z |
Nasalization is marked by a tilde: ã, ẽ, ə̃, ĩ, õ
References
[edit]- ^ Mundang at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Elders, Stefan (2000). Grammaire Mundang. Leiden University.
- ^ Elders, Stefan (2006). Issues in comparative Kebi-Benue (Adamawa). In Africana Linguistica 12. pp. 37–88.
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