Myene is a cluster of closely related
Bantu varieties spoken in
Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
by about 46,000 people. It is perhaps the most divergent of the Narrow Bantu languages,
Bantu Classification
, Ehret, 2009. though Nurse & Philippson (2003) place it in with the Tsogo languages
The Tsogo languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.30 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the languages form a valid node. They are:
: Tsogo language, Tsogo (Getsogo), Himba language, Himba (Simba), P ...
(B.30). The more distinctive varieties are Mpongwe (''Pongoué''), Galwa (''Galloa''), and Nkomi.
Phonology
* /ɡ/ is also heard as �in free variation when preceding vowels or semivowels depending on articulation.
* Voiced sounds /b, d, dʒ/ may also be heard as implosives �, ɗ, ɗ̠ʲin free variation across dialects.
* In the Adyumba dialect /dʒ/ may also be heard as zin free variation.
* Sounds /ᶮtʃ, ᶮdʒ/ may also be heard as prenasal alveolar affricates ��ts, ⁿdzacross dialects.
* /w/ may be heard as more palatal �when before front vowel sounds.
* A nasalized labio-velar sound /w̃/ may also be attested in the Mpongwe dialect.
Notes
# le myènè en ligne sur :
awanawintche.com'
le myene en ligne : proverbes, contes, cours en audio mp3, histoires, rites et légendes o'myènè.
Bibliography
*Ambouroue, Odette (2007). ''Éléments de description de l'Orungu: Langue bantu du Gabon (B11b)''. Brussels: Université Libre de Bruxelles dissertation.
*Eyang Effa, Edwige (2002). ''Phonologie du myen'orungu, langue bantoue du Gabon B11b''. Libreville: Université Omar Bongo.
*Jacquot, A. (1976) ''Etude de la phonologie et de la morphologie myene'', in ''Etudes Bantoues II', Bulletin SELAF 53, Paris, 13–79.
*Patrick Mouguiama Daouda (1988). ''Éléments de description du mpongwe : Phonologie, morphologie du système nominal et pronominal'' (mémoire de maîtrise). Université Omar Bongo. 154 p
*Philippson, G. & G. Puech (1996)
Tonal domains in Galwa (Bantu, B11c)'
The Bantu languages
*Soumaho Ditoubilianou, Prisca Armelle (2001). ''Esquisse d'une phonologie fonctionnelle du Galwa''. Libreville: Université Omar Bongo.
*Teisseres, Urbain (1957). ''Méthode pratique pour apprendre l'omyènè''. 2nd edn. Paris: Société des Missions Evangéliques
External links
* ELAR archive o
Comparative documentation of the Myene language cluster: Adyumba, Enenga, Galwa, Mpongwe, Nkomi and Orungu
Tsogo languages
Languages of Gabon
{{Gabon-stub