Mundang language

Mundang
Mundang
zah Mundaŋ
Native to	Chad, Cameroon
Native speakers	(400,000 cited 1982–2019)
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
Fricative	voiced	v	z	ʒ
Nasal	voiced	m	n		ŋ
Nasal	glottalized	ˀm	ˀn
Tap		ⱱ	ɾ
Lateral			l
Glide	central			j		w
Glide	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

^ Mundang at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
^ 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.
^ Elders, Stefan (2000). Grammaire Mundang. Leiden University.
^ Elders, Stefan (2006). Issues in comparative Kebi-Benue (Adamawa). In Africana Linguistica 12. pp. 37–88.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)