Mundang language

Mundang
zah Mundaŋ
Native to	Chad, Cameroon
Native speakers	(400,000 cited 1982–2019) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Mbum–Day Mbum Northern Mbum Tupuri–Mambai Mundang
Dialects	Kabi (Kieziere) Zasing (Torrock-Kaélé, Yasing) Gelama
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mua
Glottolog	mund1325

Mundang is an Mbum language of southern Chad and northern Cameroon, spoken by the Mundang people.

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. ^[2]

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

Oral 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]. ^{[3] [4]}

Nasal vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ĩ ĩː		ũː
Near-close	ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː		ʊ̃ː
Open-mid	ɛ̃ː		ɔ̃ː
Open		ã ãː

Writing system

Mundang alphabet

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

1. Mundang at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM)[Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN   9789956796069.
3. Elders, Stefan (2000). Grammaire Mundang. Leiden University.
4. Elders, Stefan (2006). Issues in comparative Kebi-Benue (Adamawa). In Africana Linguistica 12. pp. 37–88.