Mangbai language
Mbum language spoken in Cameroon and Chad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mangbai (Mamgbay, Mambai) is an Mbum language of northern Cameroon and southern Chad.
Native speakers
14,000 (2002–2011)[1]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
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p[b][c] | t[d] | k[b][e] | kp | (ʔ)[f] | |
| voiced | b[b][c] | d[d] | ɡ[b][e] | ɡb | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f[b] | s[b] | (h)[g] | |||
| voiced | v[b] | z[b] | |||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ŋ[h] | |||
| glottalic | ˀm | ˀn | ˀŋ[h] | ||||
| Flap/Trill | ⱱ̟ | r[i] | |||||
| Glottalic | ɓ[j] | ɗ[k] | ˀj[l][m] | ˀw[n][o] | ʔ[f] | ||
| Approximant | l | j[p][m] | w[q][o] | h[g] | |||
- The affricate [dʒ] and the prenasalized consonants [ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ] are found in loan words from Fula.
- The bilabial /p b/ and velar /k ɡ/ plosives, as well as the labiodental /f v/ and alveolar /s z/ fricatives, only have a voiced–voiceless contrast in morpheme-initial position; elsewhere, the contrast is absent.
- In syllable codas, medial and final positions, the bilabial plosives /p ~ b/ are realized as unreleased voiceless [p̚].
- In syllable codas, medial and final positions, the alveolar plosives /t ~ d/ are realized as unreleased voiceless [t̚].
- When lacking voicing contrast, the velar plosives /k ~ ɡ/ are realized as:
- unreleased voiceless velar plosive [k̚] after front vowels in syllable codas, medial (in careful speech) and final positions
- unreleased voiceless uvular plosive [q̚] after back vowels in syllable codas, medial (in careful speech) and final positions
- voiced velar fricative [ɣ] after front vowels in medial position (in typical and fast speech)
- voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] after back vowels in medial position (in typical and fast speech)
- The contrastive status of the glottal stop /ʔ/ as an independent consonant is uncertain.
- The patterning of the glottal fricative /h/ is uncertain. When preceding long vowels, the semivowels /j w/ alternate with [h] in initial (both morpheme- and syllable-initial) positions.
- The velar nasal /ŋ/ is realized as palatal [ɲ] after front vowels; however, if it is followed by a velar plosive /k g/, then its articulation remains velar. Anonby (2008)'s data did not include any examples of the preglottalized velar nasal /ˀŋ/ after front vowels, so a conclusion about its realizations was not made.
- The bilabial glottalic /ɓ/ is realized as:
- voiced implosive [ɓ] in initial position
- preglottalized voiced implosive [ˀɓ] in medial position
- preglottalized and unreleased voiceless plosive [ˀp̚] in syllabe coda
- The alveolar glottalic /ɗ/ is realized as:
- retroflex implosive [ᶑ ] in initial position
- preglottalized retroflex implosive [ˀᶑ ] in medial position
- preglottalized and glottalized lateral approximant [ˀl̰ ] in syllable coda
- The palatal nasals [ɲ ˀɲ] are found in a subset of onset and coda positions, but are realized as nasalized semivowels [j̃ ˀj̃] in medial position after nasal segments. Anonby (2008) analyzes these sounds as nasal variants of the palatal semivowels /j ˀj/.
- If the glottal stop is interpreted as contrastive, then the preglottalized labiovelar semivowel /ˀw/ is analyzed as a cluster [ʔw].
- The labialized velar nasals [ŋʷ ˀŋʷ] are found in a subset of onset and coda positions, but are realized as nasalized semivowels [w̃ ˀw̃] in medial position after nasal segments. Anonby (2008) analyzes these sounds as nasal variants of the labiovelar semivowels /w ˀw/.
- Unlike the palatal semivowel /j/, the labiovelar semivowel /w/ does not have a stable nasalized realization [w̃] when adjacent to nasal vowels. However, the nasal labiovelar [ŋʷ ~ w̃] may behave similarly to [w] when before back vowels, with both merging to [h], suggesting /w/ may be the underlying phoneme.
Vowels
/e, o/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ] when in closed syllables.