Bana is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in northern Cameroon. Dialects include Gamboura and Gili.[1]
| Bana | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Cameroon |
| Region | Far North Region, Cameroon |
Native speakers | 23,000 (2007)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bcw |
| Glottolog | bana1305 |
| ELP | Bana |
| Bana | |
|---|---|
| Language | koma kabana |
Bana is spoken in the canton of Guili, in the northern part of the commune of Bourrha (department of Mayo-Tsanaga, Far North Region). The speakers call their language koma kabana 'the language of the Bana'.[2]
Phonology
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | ʔʷ | |||
| Voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||||
| Prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | ||||||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||||||
| Affricate | Voiceless | ts | ||||||||
| Voiced | dz | |||||||||
| Prenasalized | ⁿdz | |||||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | χ | χʷ | |||||
| Voiced | v | z | ʁ | ʁʷ | ||||||
| Flap | ⱱ | ɾ | ||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||||
The vowels of Bana are /ɨ ə ɛ/, which can occur with high, falling, low, or rising tone. [3]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Bana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hofmann, Erica (1990). A preliminary phonology of bana (MA thesis). University of Victoria.
References
edit- Hofmann, Erica (1990). A Preliminary Phonology of Bana (PDF) (M.A. thesis). University of Victoria. OCLC 27946722.
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