| Bambalang | |
|---|---|
| Chrambo | |
| Region | Cameroon |
| Ethnicity | Bamileke |
Native speakers | 29,000 (2008)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bmo |
| Glottolog | bamb1265 |
TheBambalang language, also calledChrambo (Chirambo, Tshirambo) orMbawyakum (Mboyakum),[2] is aGrassfields Bantu language ofCameroon.
These phones and phonemes were enumerated by Grove in 2007 and refined by Wright in 2012.[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop/Affricate | Voiceless | /p/ | /pː/ | /t/ | /tː/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /t͡ʃː/ | /k/ | /kː/ | |
| Voiced | /d͡ʒː/ | /gː/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | /f/ | /fː/ | /ʃ/ | /ʃː/ | /h/ | ||||
| Voiced | /v/ | /vː/ | /ɣ/ | |||||||
| Nasal | /m/ | /mː/ | /n/ | /nː/ | /ɲ/ | /ŋ/ | ||||
| Approximant | /l/ | /lː/ | /j/ | /w/ | ||||||
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop/Affricate | Voiceless | [p] | [pʰ] | [t] | [tʰ] | [t͡ʃ] | [t͡ʃː] | [k] | [kʰ] | [ʔ][a] |
| Voiced | [b][b] | [bʰ] | [d][c] | [dʰ] | [d͡ʒ][d] | [d͡ʒː] | [g][e] | [gː] | ||
| Fricative | Voiceless | [f] | [fː] | [ʃ] | [ʃː] | [h] | ||||
| Voiced | [v] | [vː] | [ɣ] | |||||||
| Tap | [ɾ][f] | |||||||||
| Nasal | [m]~[ɱ][g] | [mː] | [n] | [nː] | [ɲ] | [ŋ] | ||||
| Approximant | [l] | [lː] | [j]~[ʒ] | [ɥ][h]~[w] | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i//ĩ/ | /ɨ//ɨ̃/ | /u//ũ/ |
| Close-mid | /e/ | /o//õ/ | |
| Mid | /ə//ə̃/ | ||
| Open-mid | /ɛ//ɛ̃/ | /ɔ/ | |
| Open | /a//ã/ |
In addition to simple oral and nasal vowels, Bambalang also has oral and nasal diphthongs and vowel sequences.[4] Grove and Wright do not specify whether nasal diphthongs are truly diphthongs or vowel sequences.
| Orthographic | Phonemic | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|
| ei | /ei/ | [ei̯] |
| ou | /ou/ | [ou̯] |
| ao | /ao/ | [ao̯] |
| əɨ | /əɨ/ | [ə.ɨ] |
| ie | /ie/ | [i.e] |
| ia | /ia/ | [i.a] |
| ua | /ua/ | [u.a] |
| uo | /uo/ | [u.o] |
| aoŋ | /aõ/ | |
| ɛiŋ | /ɛĩ/ | |
| ieŋ | /iẽ/ | |
| iɛŋ | /iɛ̃/ | |
| iaŋ | /iã/ | |
| uoŋ | /uõ/ |
In addition, Bambalang has both lexical and grammatical tone.[5]
Tones in Bambalang
| Tone | High (H) | Low (L)* | Rising (LH) | Falling (HL) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diacritic | á | à | ā | ǎ | a |
*ā for verbs; à for other types of words[5]
A segmental orthography was created for Bambalang in 2007 and revised in 2012.[6]
| Upper | Lower | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | [a] |
| B | b | [b] |
| Ch | ch | [t͡ʃ] |
| D | d | [d] |
| E | e | [e] |
| Ɛ | ɛ | [ɛ] |
| Ə | ə | [ə] |
| F | f | [f] |
| G | g | [g] |
| Gh | gh | [ɣ] |
| H | h | [h] |
| I | i | [i] |
| Ɨ | ɨ | [ɨ] |
| J | j | [d͡ʒ] |
| K | k | [k] |
| L | l | [l] |
| M | m | [m],[ɱ] |
| N | n | [n] |
| Ŋ | ŋ | [ŋ],[◌̃] |
| O | o | [ɔ] |
| Ɔ | ɔ | [ɔ] |
| P | p | [p] |
| R | r | [ɾ] |
| Sh | sh | [ʃ] |
| T | t | [t] |
| U | u | [u],[y] |
| V | v | [v] |
| W | w | [w],[y] |
| Y | y | [ʒ]~[j] |
| ’ | [ʔ] | |
 | This article aboutGrassfields Bantu languages is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
