Mundang Language
Mundang is an Mbum language of southern Chad and northern Cameroon.
| Mundang | |
|---|---|
| MUNDAŊ | |
| Native to | Chad, Cameroon |
Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1982–2019) |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mua |
| Glottolog | mund1325 |
The Gelama dialect of Cameroon may be a separate language.
Distribution
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.
Phonology
Consonants
| 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
| 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 |
- /ə/ may also range to a close [ɨ].
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ ĩː | ũː | |
| Near-close | ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː | ʊ̃ː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ̃ː | ɔ̃ː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
Writing System
| 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