Oroko language

Oroko
Balondo
Native to	Cameroon
Region	Southwest and Kribi
Native speakers	(110,000 cited 2000) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu (Zone A) Sawabantu (A.10) Oroko
Dialects	Kundu Lue Mbonge Ekombe Londo ba Nanga Londo ba Diko Ngolo Bima Tanga or Batanga Koko
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bdu
Glottolog	orok1266
Guthrie code	A.101 (ex-A.11,12) [2]

Oroko, also Bakundu-Balue or Balundu-Bima, is a Sawa Bantu dialect cluster spoken in Cameroon.

Varieties are Kundu/Nkundu (Lokundu, Bakundu), Lue (Lolue, Balue), Mbonge, Ekombe, Londo (Londo ba Nanga; cf. Londo), Londo ba Diko, Ngolo (Longolo; cf. Ngolo dialect), Bima, Tanga (Lotanga, Batanga), and Koko (Lokoko, Bakoko: distinct from Bakoko language). Maho (2009) treats these as ten distinct languages.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar		Labial- velar
						plain	lab.
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ	k	kʷ [a]	k͡p
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ		ɡʷ
	prenasal	ᵐb		ⁿd	ᶮd͡ʒ	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ [b]	ᵑᵐɡ͡b
Fricative	voiceless	ɸ [c]	f	s
	voiced/pren.	β [d]	ᶬf, ᶬv [e]
	prenasal		ⁿf [f] , ⁿv [g]
Liquid				l ~ r
Approximant					j			w

1. is heard in the dialects of Londo, Lokundu, Longolo, Lokoko, Lotanga.
2. is heard in the Lotanga dialect.
3. is a realization of /f/ across dialects.
4. is a realization of /b/ across dialects.
5. is heard in the Longolo dialect.
6. is heard in the Lokoko dialect.
7. is heard in the Bima and Londo dialects.

• [r] is used interchangeably with /l/ among speakers. ^[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Writing system

Oroko alphabet ^[4]

a

b

c

ɗ

e

ɛ

f

i

j

k

kp

m

mb

n

nd

ng

ngb

nj

ny

ŋ

o

ɔ

s

t

u

w

y

References

1. Oroko at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Friesen, Dan T. (2002). Oroko orthography development: Linguistic and sociolinguistic factors. University of North Dakota.
4. Oroko Language Development Committee (OLDC) (November 2004). ABC wa Oroko - The Oroko alphabet chart. OLDC.