Naba language

Last updated
Naba
Tar Melbene
Native to Chad
Region Batha, Chari-Baguirmi prefectures
Ethnicity Lisi
Native speakers
510,000 (2019) [1]
Dialects
  • Bilala
  • Kuka
  • Mendogo
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mne
Glottolog naba1253

Naba is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by approximately 500,000 people in Chad. [1] Those who speak this language are called Lisi, a collective name for three closely associated ethnic groups, the Bilala, the Kuka and the Medogo, that represent the three dialects in which Naba is subdivided. They live mainly in the Batha Prefecture, but the Kuka also reside in Chari-Baguirmi. Ethnologue estimates the lexical similarity among the three dialects to be no less than 99%. [1] Arabic is often spoken as a second language. [1]

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate
plain(p)btdkɡ
prenasal ᵐbⁿdⁿdʒᵑɡ
implosive ɓɗ
Fricative fszh
Nasal mnɲŋ
Rhotic r/ɻ
Approximant wlj

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close iu
Mid eo
Open a

Related Research Articles

The Saho language is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. It belongs to the family's Cushitic branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiga language</span> Language of the Kiga people

Kiga is a Great Lakes Bantu language of the Kiga people (Bakiga). Kiga is a similar and partially mutually intelligible with the Nkore language. It was first written in the second half of the 19th century. Kiga is largely spoken in the ancient Kigezi region which includes about 5 districts, namely Rubanda, Rukiga, Kabale, Kanungu and some parts of Rukungiri. As of 2021, Kiga is spoken natively by about 1.3 million people in Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanöma language</span> Language of Venezuela and Brazil

Sanöma or Sanumá is a Yanomaman language spoken in Venezuela and Brazil. It is also known as Sanema, Sanima, Tsanuma, Guaika, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari and Chirichano. Most of its speakers in Venezuela also speak Ye'kuana, also known as Maquiritare, the language of the Ye'kuana people the Sanumá live alongside in the Caura River basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun language</span> Language spoken in West Africa

Gun is a language in the Gbe languages group. It is spoken by the Ogu people in Benin, as well as in south-western Nigeria. Gun is part of the Fon dialectal cluster within the Eastern Gbe languages; it is close to other Fon dialects, especially its Agbome and Kpase varieties, as well as to the Mahi and Weme (Ouémé) languages. It is used in some schools in the Ouémé Department of Benin.

Akwáwa is a Tupi–Guarani dialect cluster spoken in Pará in western Brazil.

Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South African border. It is spoken by about 40,000 people. In the language, it is known as Shekgalagari.

Mambila is a dialect chain stretching across Nigeria and Cameroon. It is one of the Mambiloid languages, a branch of Benue–Congo.

Central Asmat is a Papuan language of West New Guinea, spoken by the Asmat people.

The Maringarr language is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language spoken along the northwest coast of the Northern Territory.

Kemberano is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of West Papua, Indonesia.

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

Buglere, also known as Bugle, Murire and Muoy, is a Chibchan language of Panama closely related to Guaymi. There are two dialects, Sabanero and Bokotá (Bogota), spoken by the Bokota people.

Gwari is a Nupoid language spoken by the Gbagyi people, which make up over a million people in Nigeria. There are two principal varieties, Gbari and Gbagyi, which have some difficulty in communication; sociolinguistically they are distinct languages.

Cebaara (Tyebala), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a major Senufo language, spoken by a million people in Ivory Coast.

Yamdena is an Austronesian language of Yamdena and surrounding islands in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. In 1991 there were an estimated 25,000 speakers of the language. Current BPS data has the present number of speakers at 69,000.

Kayan is a dialect cluster spoken by the Kayan people of Borneo. It is a cluster of closely related dialects with limited mutual intelligibility, and is itself part of the Kayan-Murik group of Austronesian languages.

Mengen and Poeng are rather divergent dialects of an Austronesian language of New Britain in Papua New Guinea.

Ot Danum is a Barito language of the central Borneo, Indonesia, spoken by the Ot Danum people. Dialects include Cihie and Dohoi.

Bunama is an Austronesian language spoken in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands of Papua New Guinea.

Rajbanshi is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in Nepal. It is related to, but distinct from Rangpuri/Kamta in Bangladesh and India, which is also known by the alternative name "Rajbanshi", with which it forms the KRNB cluster.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Naba at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Scherrer, Elaine Marie (2022). A phonological description of Naba. Afrika und Übersee 95. pp. 76–134.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)