Mangbai (Mamgbay, Mambai) is an Mbum language of northern Cameroon and southern Chad.
Distribution
In Cameroon, Mambay is spoken along the Mayo-Kebi River near the Chadian border, in the Djaloumé region (northern end of Bibemi commune, Bénoué department), where there is a massif called Hosséré Mambay. It is also spoken in the extreme southeast of Figuil commune, Mayo-Louti department. In Cameroon and Chad, there is a total of about 2,500 speakers, many of whom also speak Mundang.
Phonology
Consonants[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | kp | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | gb | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | z | |||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ŋ | |||
| glottalized | ˀm | ˀn | ˀŋ | ||||
| Flap/Trill | ⱱ̟ | r | |||||
| Approximant | plain | l | j | w | |||
| glottalized | ˀj | ˀw | |||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| High | i | iː | u | uː | ||
| Mid | e | eː | o | oː | ||
| Low | a | aː | ||||
/e, o/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ] when in closed syllables.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| High | ĩ | ĩː | ũ | ũː | ||
| Low | ã | ãː | ||||
Glottalized
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iˀ | uˀ | |
| Mid | eˀ | oˀ | |
| Low | aˀ |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | ĩˀ | ũˀ | |
| Low | ãˀ |
Pharyngealized
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | eˤ | oˤ | |
| Low | aˤ |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | ĩˤ | ũˤ | |
| Low | ãˤ |
References
- ^ Mangbai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Anonby, Erik John (2008). "Phonology and Morphology of Mambay (Niger-Congo, Adamawa)". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
This page was last edited on 23 February 2024, at 19:55