Manjak language

Manjak
Manjáku
Native to	Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia
Ethnicity	Manjack
Native speakers	320,000 (2021–2022) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Bak Manjaku–Papel Manjak
Dialects	Bok Ulekes Ucur Ulund Uyu Unuab Uteer Uyool Uyanga Undin Ubuey Uguejan Utimats Uroongaan
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mfv
Glottolog	mand1419

Manjak or Manjack (French : Manjak, Manjaque; Portuguese : Manjaco) or Njak is a Bak language of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. The language is also known as Kanyop.

In 2006, the total number of speakers was estimated at 315,300, including 184,000 in Guinea-Bissau, 105,000 in Senegal and 26,300 in The Gambia.

Dialects

The Manjak dialects below are distinct enough that some might be considered separate languages.^{[ citation needed ]}

• Bok (Babok, Sarar, Teixeira Pinto, Tsaam)
• Likes-Utsia (Baraa, Kalkus)
• Cur (Churo)
• Lund
• Yu (Pecixe, Siis, Pulhilh)
• Unhate (Binhante, Bissau)

The Manjak dialects listed by Wilson (2007) are ^[2]

• Canchungo (kancuŋuʔ) – central dialect
• Baboque (babɔk) (formerly Teixeira Pinto) – eastern dialect
• Churo (cuur) – northern dialect
• Pecixe (locally called pəhlihl; otherwise pəsiis), on an island to the south
• Calequisse (kaləkiis), to the west of Canchungo

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t̠͡ɹ̠̊˔	t͡ɕ	k
	voiced	b	d		d͡ʑ	ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt	ⁿt̠͡ɹ̠̊˔	ᶮt͡ɕ	ᵑk
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᶮd͡ʑ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		( ɕ )
	voiced				( ʑ )
Lateral			l
Approximant		w			j

• Sounds [ɕ,ʑ] are heard in free-fluctuation with affricates /t͡ɕ,d͡ʑ/ in all positions except following nasals.
• Sounds /b,d,ɡ/ may also be lenited as [β,ɾ,ɣ] when in intervocalic or word-final positions. /d/ can also be heard as a trill [r] in free variation with [ɾ] when in word-final positions.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	ɪ ~ e	ə	ʊ ~ o
Open-mid	ɛ	ɐ	ɔ
Open		a

Only vowels /u/ and /a/ may also have lengthened equivalents; /uː/ and /aː/.

• Sounds /ɪ,ʊ/ may also range to more mid sounds [e,o] in free variation.
• /ɐ/ may have a central allophone as [ʌ̈].

Diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close-mid	iə	uə
Open-mid	iɐ	uɐ

• Sounds /iə,uə/ may have some fluctuation with lengthened sounds [eː,oː]. ^[3]

Writing system

The official spelling system for Manjak established by the Senegalese government is regulated by Decree No. 2005-983 of 21 October 2005.

Manjak alphabet (Senegal)

A

B

C

D

E

Ë

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

Ñ

Ŋ

O

P

R

S

Ŝ

T

[illegible]

U

W

Y

Z

a

b

c

d

e

ë

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

ñ

ŋ

o

p

r

s

ŝ

t

[illegible]

u

w

y

z

References

1. Manjak at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
3. Karlik, Jan (1972). A Manjako grammar with special reference to the nominal group. University of London.

Further reading

• Karlik, Jan (1972). A Manjako Grammar with Special Reference to the Nominal Group (PhD thesis). University of London.

External links

• Decree no. 2005-983 of 21 October 2005 relating to the spelling and the separation of words in Manjakú Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine via the website of the Journal officiel.