TheMbum orKebi-Benue languages (also known asLakka in narrower scope^[1]) are a group of theMbum–Day branch of theAdamawa languages, spoken in southernChad, northwesternCentral African Republic, northernCameroon and easternNigeria. Their best-known member isMbum; other languages in the group includeTupuri andKare.

They were labeled "G6" inJoseph Greenberg'sAdamawa language-family proposal.

• Southern Mbum:Mbum proper,Mbere,Gbete
• South West Mbum : [Limbum of the Wimbum]
• Central Mbum
  • Karang:Karang (Mbum, Laka),Nzakambay (Njak Mbai),Pana,Ngumi,Kare (Kãrɛ̃)
  • Koh:Kuo (Koh),Sakpu
• Northern Mbum
  • Dama–Galke:Dama,Ndai (Galke, Pormi),Mono,Kali
  • Tupuri–Mambai:Mangbai,Mundang,Tupuri

In addition,Pondo,Gonge,Tale,Laka,Pam andTo are unclassified within Mbum. To is a secret male initiation language of theGbaya. Dek is purported in some sources but apparently unattested.

La'bi, an esotericritual language of male initiation among theGbaya Kara, theMbum, and someSara Laka, is related to Mbum. It has substantial loans from one or moreSara languages.^[2] Other initiation languages in the Mbum family are To (Gbaya, but with partial Mbum origins), Dzel, and Ngarage.^[3]

• List of Proto-Lakka reconstructions (Wiktionary)

• Roger Blench, 2004.List of Adamawa languages (ms)

 This article incorporatestext available under theCC BY 3.0 license.

• A sociolinguistic survey of the Mambay language of Chad and Cameroon (PDF) by Cameron Hamm, 2002. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002–039.

• Mbum languages
• Mbum–Day languages

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