Bambalang language

Last updated
Bambalang
Chrambo
Region Cameroon
Ethnicity Bamileke
Native speakers
29,000 (2008) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bmo
Glottolog bamb1265

The Bambalang language, also called Chrambo (Chirambo, Tshirambo) or Mbawyakum (Mboyakum), [2] is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

These phones and phonemes were enumerated by Grove in 2007 and refined by Wright in 2012. [3]

Phonemes
LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Stop/AffricateVoiceless/p////t////t͡ʃ//t͡ʃː//k///
Voiced/d͡ʒː///
FricativeVoiceless/f////ʃ//ʃː//h/
Voiced/v////ɣ/
Nasal/m////n////ɲ//ŋ/
Approximant/l////j//w/


Phones
LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Stop/AffricateVoiceless[ p ][ ][ t ][ ][ t͡ʃ ][ t͡ʃː ][ k ][ ][ ʔ ] [lower-alpha 1]
Voiced[ b ] [lower-alpha 2] [ ][ d ] [lower-alpha 3] [ ][ d͡ʒ ] [lower-alpha 4] [ d͡ʒː ][ g ] [lower-alpha 5] [ ]
FricativeVoiceless[ f ][ ][ ʃ ][ ʃː ][ h ]
Voiced[ v ][ ][ ɣ ]
Tap[ ɾ ] [lower-alpha 6]
Nasal[ m ]~[ ɱ ] [lower-alpha 7] [ ][ n ][ ][ ɲ ][ ŋ ]
Approximant[ l ][ ][ j ]~[ ʒ ][ ɥ ] [lower-alpha 8] ~[ w ]
  1. [ ʔ ] is the allophone of /k/ in a CVCV structure.
  2. [ b ] is an always prenasalized allophone of /p/.
  3. [ d ] is an always prenasalized allophone of /l/.
  4. [ d͡ʒ ] is an allophone of /j/ before /n/.
  5. [ g ] is an allophone of /ɣ/ after a nasal.
  6. [ ɾ ] is an allophone of /l/ in a consonant cluster or a CVCV structure.
  7. [ ɱ ] is an allophone of /m/ before labiodental consonants.
  8. [ ɥ ] is an allophone of /w/ before /i/.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Close/i//ĩ//ɨ//ɨ̃//u//ũ/
Close-mid/e//o//õ/
Mid/ə//ə̃/
Open-mid/ɛ//ɛ̃//ɔ/
Open/a//ã/

Diphthongs

In addition to simple oral and nasal vowels, Bambalang also has oral and nasal diphthongs and vowel sequences. [4] Grove and Wright do not specify whether nasal diphthongs are truly diphthongs or vowel sequences.

OrthographicPhonemicPhonetic
ei/ei/[ ei̯ ]
ou/ou/[ ou̯ ]
ao/ao/[ ao̯ ]
əɨ/əɨ/[ə.ɨ]
ie/ie/[i.e]
ia/ia/[i.a]
ua/ua/[u.a]
uo/uo/[u.o]
aoŋ/aõ/
ɛiŋ/ɛĩ/
ieŋ/iẽ/
iɛŋ/iɛ̃/
iaŋ/iã/
uoŋ/uõ/

Tone

In addition, Bambalang has both lexical and grammatical tone. [5]

Tones in Bambalang

ToneHigh (H)Low (L)*Rising (LH)Falling (HL)
Diacriticáàāǎa

*ā for verbs; à for other types of words [5]

Orthography

A segmental orthography was created for Bambalang in 2007 and revised in 2012. [6]

Orthography [7]
UpperLowerPhone
Aa[ a ]
Bb[ b ]
Chch[ t͡ʃ ]
Dd[ d ]
Ee[ e ]
Ɛɛ[ ɛ ]
Əə[ ə ]
Ff[ f ]
Gg[ g ]
Ghgh[ ɣ ]
Hh[ h ]
Ii[ i ]
Ɨɨ[ ɨ ]
Jj[ d͡ʒ ]
Kk[ k ]
Ll[ l ]
Mm[ m ], [ ɱ ]
Nn[ n ]
Ŋŋ[ ŋ ], [ ◌̃ ]
Oo[ ɔ ]
Ɔɔ[ ɔ ]
Pp[ p ]
Rr[ ɾ ]
Shsh[ ʃ ]
Tt[ t ]
Uu[ u ], [ y ]
Vv[ v ]
Ww[ w ], [ y ]
Yy[ ʒ ]~[ j ]
[ ʔ ]

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References

Works Cited

Further reading