Mbuʼ, or Ajumbu, is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon. It is traditionally classified as a Western Beboid language, but that has not been demonstrated to be a valid family. Inasmuch as Western Beboid may be valid, Mbuʼ would appear to be the most divergent of its languages.
| Mbuʼ | |
|---|---|
| Ajumbu | |
| Native to | Cameroon |
Native speakers | 200 (2011)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | muc |
| Glottolog | mbuu1238 |
| ELP | Ajumbu |
"Mbuʼ" is the name of the village the language is spoken in.
Phonology
edit| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labial | |||||
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | t̪ | k | kp | ʔ | |||
| voiced | b | d̪ | g | gb | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t̪s̪ | tʃ | |||||
| voiced | d̪z̪ | dʒ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s̪ | ʃ | ||||
| voiced | v | z̪ | ʒ | ɣ | ||||
| Approximant | l̪ | j | ɥ | w | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e ɛ | ə | o ɔ |
| Open | a |
There are three tones; high, mid, and low.
References
edit- ^ Mbuʼ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b Good, Jeff and Lovegren, Jesse and Mve, Jean Patrick and Tchiemouo, Nganguep Carine and Voll, Rebecca and Di Carlo, Pierpaolo. 2011. The languages of the Lower Fungom region of Cameroon: Grammatical overview. Africana Linguistica 17. 101–164.
- Blench, Roger, 2011. 'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu'. Bantu IV, Humboldt University, Berlin.
- Good, Jeff, & Jesse Lovegren. 2009. 'Reassessing Western Beboid'. Bantu III.
- Good, Jeff, & Scott Farrar. 2008. 'Western Beboid and African language classification'. LSA.
External links
edit- ELAR archive of Ajumbu language documentation materials
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