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The Bung language is a nearly extinct, endangered language of Cameroon spoken by three people at the village of Boung on the Adamawa Plateau. It is remembered best by one speaker who learned the language at a young age, though it is not his mother tongue. A wordlist shows its strongest resemblance to be with the Ndung dialect of Mambiloid language Kwanja, although that may simply be because this has become the dominant language of the village where Bung's last speakers reside. It also has words in common with other Mambiloid languages such as Tep, Somyev and Vute, while a number of words' origins remain unclear. For lack of data, it is not definitively classified.
The Yeni language is an extinct language of Cameroon, formerly spoken around Djeni Mountain in the Nyalang area. All that remains of the language, apparently, is a song remembered by some Sandani speakers. However, according to Bruce Connell, comparison of the song's words to neighboring languages suggests that "it was closely related to [the Mambiloid languages] Cambap, Njerep, and Kasabe."
Bantoid is a major branch of the Benue–Congo language family. It consists of the Northern Bantoid languages and the Southern Bantoid languages, a division which also includes the Bantu languages that constitute the overwhelming majority and after which Bantoid is named.
SardaunaLocal Government Area is located in the extreme southeast of Taraba State in Nigeria. It is synonymous with the Mambilla Plateau, which is dotted by many towns and villages. The capital of the LGA is Gembu, an ancient Mambilla settlement whose name is a corruption of "Gelmvu", the name of an ancient monarch of the area. Other ethnic groups from the mainstream Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon Republic such as Hausa, Kanuri, Banso, Kambu, Fulani, etc can be found in the commercial centres.
The Mambilla or Mambila people of Nigeria live on the Mambilla Plateau. A small fraction of Mambilla migrants left the Mambilla Plateau for the Ndom Plain on the Cameroon side of the international border as well as in a couple of small villages, such as New Namba, on the Gashaka Plain in the north, and Jiini-Nyalang-Langa area close to the Kwanja. Today, the preferred ethnonym is spelt Mambila in Cameroon and Mambilla in Nigeria. "Norr" is also used.
The twelve Mambiloid languages are languages spoken by the Mambila and related peoples mostly in eastern Nigeria and in Cameroon. In Nigeria the largest group is Mambila. In Cameroon the largest group is Vute.
Wawa is a Mambiloid language spoken in a region of Cameroon and just inside bordering Nigeria used by about 3,000 people in three main dialects.
Mambila is a dialect chain stretching across Nigeria and Cameroon. It is one of the Mambiloid languages, a branch of Benue–Congo.
Tikar is a Northern Bantoid, semi-Bantu language that is spoken in Cameroon by the Tikar people, as well as by the Bedzan Pygmies, who speak their own dialect of the language. A recent hypothesis by Roger Blench suggests that the Tikar language could be a divergent language in the Niger-Congo language family with an uncertain origin.
Kwanja (Konja) is a Mambiloid language of Cameroon. Njanga (Nyanjang) is a distinct dialect.
Suga, also known as Galim, Nyemnyem, and Nizaa, is a Mambiloid language of Cameroon.
Mbongno (Bungnu), also known as Kamkam, is a Mambiloid language of Nigeria, with an unknown number of speakers in Cameroon.
Somyev (Somyewe), also known as Kila, is a nearly extinct Mambiloid language of two villages, one in Nigeria and one in Cameroon, that is spoken by a caste of blacksmiths that live among the Mambila. Although the language is still used for daily communication, the youngest generation of speakers were born in the 1950s. Transmission of the language ceased when the profession of blacksmithing lost its social status, partly due to imports of foreign tools.
Tep is a Mambiloid language of Nigeria. Ethnologue considers it a dialect of Mambila, as speakers identify as Mambila, but it is a distinct language.
Mvanip (Mvano), or Magu, is a minor Mambiloid language of Nigeria. Despite the small number of speakers, language use is vigorous. Ethnologue classifies Mvanip as threatened.
Ndunda is a minor Mambiloid language of Nigeria. It was discovered by Roger Blench near the Mvanip-speaking town of Zongo Ajiya. Ndunda village is situated about 5 kilometers from Yerimaru, to the south of Zongo Ajiya. It is closely related to but distinct from Mvanip.
Njerep (Njerup) is a Mambiloid language spoken in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon. Njerep is essentially extinct, with only 4 people who speak it at home. Though word lists and grammatical information have been collected from these people, the information remains fragmented.
Twendi, or Cambap as it is also known, is a nearly extinct Mambiloid language of Cameroon. Speakers have largely shifted to the closely related language Kwanja, and Twendi has not been passed down to children for decades. The language is spoken in the villages of Cambap and Sanga on the Tikar Plain by no more than 30 people, the youngest of whom were born in the 1940s.
Ndola People are found in Taraba, Nigeria and located in Kurmi and Ngada. Few are also found in Cameroon.
Northern Bantoid is a branch of the Bantoid languages. It consists of the Mambiloid, Dakoid, and Tikar languages of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon.
References
- ↑ Crystal, David (1999-11-20). "Millennium briefing: the death of language". Prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
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