Mangbai language

Mangbai
Native to	Cameroon, Chad
Native speakers	14,000 (2002–2011) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Mbum–Day Mbum Northern Mbum Tupuri–Mambai Mangbai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mcs
Glottolog	mamb1294
ELP	Mambai

Mangbai (Mamgbay, Mambai) is an Mbum language of northern Cameroon and southern Chad.

Distribution

In Cameroon, Mambay is spoken along the Mayo-Kebi River near the Chadian border, in the Djaloumé region (northern end of Bibemi commune, Bénoué department), where there is a massif called Hosséré Mambay. It is also spoken in the extreme southeast of Figuil commune, Mayo-Louti department. In Cameroon and Chad, there is a total of about 2,500 speakers, many of whom also speak Mundang.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants according to Anonby (2008) ^[a]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p [b] [c]	t [d]		k [b] [e]	kp	( ʔ ) [f]
	voiced	b [b] [c]	d		ɡ [b] [e]	gb
Fricative	voiceless	f [b]	s [b]				( h ) [g]
	voiced	v [b]	z [b]
Nasal	plain	m	n		ŋ [h]
	glottalic	ˀm	ˀn		ˀŋ [h]
Flap/Trill		ⱱ̟	r [i]
Glottalic		ɓ [j]	ɗ [k]	ˀj [l] [m]		ˀw [n] [o]	ʔ [f]
Approximant			l	j [p] [m]		w [q] [o]	h [g]

1. The affricate [ dʒ ] and the prenasalized consonants [ᵐbⁿdᵑɡ] are found in loan words from Fula.
2. The bilabial /pb/ and velar /kg/ plosives, as well as the labiodental /fv/ and alveolar /sz/ fricatives, only have a voiced–voiceless contrast in morpheme-initial position; elsewhere, the contrast is absent.
3. In syllable codas, medial and final positions, the bilabial plosives /p~b/ are realized as unreleased voiceless [p̚].
4. In syllable codas, medial and final positions, the voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ is realized as unreleased [t̚].
5. When lacking voicing contrast, the velar plosives /k~g/ are realized as:
   • unreleased voiceless velar plosive [k̚] after front vowels in syllable codas, medial (in careful speech) and final positions
   • unreleased voiceless uvular plosive [q̚] after back vowels in syllable codas, medial (in careful speech) and final positions
   • voiced velar fricative [ ɣ ] after front vowels in medial position (in typical and fast speech)
   • voiced uvular fricative [ ʁ ] after back vowels in medial position (in typical and fast speech)
6. The contrastive status of the glottal stop /ʔ/ as an independent consonant is uncertain.
7. The patterning of the glottal fricative /h/ is uncertain. When preceding long vowels, the semivowels /jw/ alternate with [h] in initial (both morpheme- and syllable-initial) positions.
8. The velar nasal /ŋ/ is realized as palatal [ ɲ ] after front vowels; however, if it is followed by a velar plosive /kg/, then its articulation remains velar. Anonby (2008)'s data did not include any examples of the preglottalized velar nasal /ˀŋ/ after front vowels, so a conclusion about its realizations was not made.
9. The alveolar /r/ is realized as:
   • retroflex flap [ ɽ ] in initial and medial position
   • alveolar trill [r] in syllable coda, and less commonly in initial position
10. The bilabial glottalic /ɓ/ is realized as:
    • voiced implosive [ɓ] in initial position
    • preglottalized voiced implosive [ˀɓ] in medial position
    • preglottalized and unreleased voiceless plosive [ˀp̚] in syllabe coda
11. The alveolar glottalic /ɗ/ is realized as:
    • retroflex implosive [ ᶑ  ] in initial position
    • preglottalized retroflex implosive [ˀᶑ ] in medial position
    • preglottalized and glottalized lateral approximant [ˀl̰ ] in syllable coda
12. If the glottal stop is interpreted as contrastive, then the preglottalized palatal semivowel /ˀj/ is analyzed as a cluster [ʔj]. Before nasalized and pharyngealized close vowels, it is realized as an epiglottal trilled affricate [ ʡʢ ].
13. The palatal nasals [ɲˀɲ] are found in a subset of onset and coda positions, but are realized as nasalized semivowels [j̃ˀj̃] in medial position after nasal segments. Anonby (2008) analyzes these sounds as nasal variants of the palatal semivowels /jˀj/.
14. If the glottal stop is interpreted as contrastive, then the preglottalized labiovelar semivowel /ˀw/ is analyzed as a cluster [ʔw].
15. The labialized velar nasals [ŋʷˀŋʷ] are found in a subset of onset and coda positions, but are realized as nasalized semivowels [w̃ˀw̃] in medial position after nasal segments. Anonby (2008) analyzes these sounds as nasal variants of the labiovelar semivowels /wˀw/.
16. The palatal semivowel /j/ is nasalized [ j̃ ] when adjacent to nasal vowels.
17. Unlike the palatal semivowel /j/, the labiovelar semivowel /w/ does not have a stable nasalized realization [ w̃ ] when adjacent to nasal vowels. However, the nasal labiovelar [ŋʷ~w̃] may behave similarly to [w] when before back vowels, with both merging to [h], suggesting /w/ may be the underlying phoneme.

Vowels

Oral vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Low			a	aː

/e,o/ are heard as [ɛ,ɔ] when in closed syllables.

Nasal vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	ĩ	ĩː			ũ	ũː
Low			ã	ãː

Glottalized

Oral vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	iˀ		uˀ
Mid	eˀ		oˀ
Low		aˀ

Nasal vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	ĩˀ		ũˀ
Low		ãˀ

Pharyngealized

Oral vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Mid	eˤ		oˤ
Low		aˤ

Nasal vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	ĩˤ		ũˤ
Low		ãˤ

Notes

1. Mangbai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

References

• Anonby, Erik John (2008), Phonology and Morphology of Mambay (Niger-Congo, Adamawa), hdl:1887/13045