|
Ubangian Languages
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, including one of its official languages, Sango. They are also spoken in Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. External classification Joseph Greenberg (1963) classified the then-little-known Ubangian languages as Niger–Congo and placed them within the Adamawa languages as "Eastern Adamawa". They were soon removed to a separate branch of Niger–Congo, for example within Blench's Savanna languages. However, this has become increasingly uncertain, and Dimmendaal (2008) states that, based on the lack of convincing evidence for a Niger–Congo classification ever being produced, Ubangian "probably constitutes an independent language family that cannot or can no longer be shown to be related to Niger–Congo (or any other family)." B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central African Republic–South Sudan border, the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Democratic Republic of the Congo border, the south, the Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Republic of the Congo border, the southwest, and Cameroon to Cameroon–Central African Republic border, the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about . As of 2024, it has a population of 5,357,744, consisting of about 80 ethnic groups, and is in the scene of a Central African Republic Civil War, civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012. Having been a Ubangi-Shari, French colony under the name Ubangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linkage (linguistics)
In historical linguistics, a linkage is a network of related dialects or languages that formed from a gradual diffusion and differentiation of a proto-language. The term was introduced by Malcolm Ross in his study of Western Oceanic languages . It is contrasted with a family, which arises when the proto-language speech community separates into groups that remain isolated from each other and do not form a network. Principle Linkages are formed when languages emerged historically from the diversification of an earlier dialect continuum. Its members may have diverged despite sharing subsequent innovations, or such dialects may have come into contact and so converged. In any dialect continuum, innovations are shared between neighbouring dialects in intersecting patterns. The patterns of intersecting innovations continue to be evident as the dialect continuum turns into a linkage. According to the comparative method, a group of languages that exclusively shares a set of innovat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangandu Language
Bangando and Ngombe constitute a Gbaya language of Cameroon and CAR. There are two populations: Bangando proper (''Bàngàndò''), in Cameroon, and Ngombe (''Ba(n)gando-Ngombe'', ''Ngombe-Kaka'') clustered around Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture across the border in the Central African Republic. There are several populations called Ngombe, and it is not clear to which the spurious ISO code for Ngombe belongs. On a global scale, Bangando is considered to be a threatened language with approximately anywhere between 2,700-3,500 speakers. Language status levels can be derived from the Ethnologue ''Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale''. Distribution Bangandu is spoken at the southern end of Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Eastern Region) in the commune of Moloundou, along the road from the main town of Moloundou to Lokomo. Bangandu is also spoken in Congo. In both Cameroon and Congo, there are about 2,700 speakers total (Voegelin & Voegelin 1977). (Bangandu, called ''Bang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gbaya-Mbodomo Language
Mbodomo (Mbódɔ̀mɔ̀, Gbaya-Mbodomo) is a Gbaya language The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ... of Cameroon. References Gbaya languages Languages of Cameroon {{gbaya-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manza Language
Manza (''Mānzā'', Mandja) is a Ubangian language spoken by the Mandja people of the Central African Republic. It is closely related to Ngbaka and may be to some extent mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig .... Phonology The phonology consists of the following: Consonants * Sounds /ɾ/ and /ⱱ/ are very rare in word-initial position. * /ⁿz/ can be heard in free variation as a prenasal affricate sound ��d͡ʒ * is only heard in free variation of /j/. * /j/ can be heard as �when preceding a nasal vowel. Vowels * /a/ can have an allophone of � when in complementary distribution. * The nasalization of /ɛ̃/ may also be heard more lower as �̃in free variation. Writing system The tones are indicated on the letters using diacr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gbeya Language
Gbeya (''Gbɛ́yá'', Gbaya-Bossangoa) is a Gbaya language The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ... of the Central African Republic. ''Ethnologue'' reports it may be mutually intelligible with Bozom. Book reviewed in both and Suma (Súmā) is a language variety closely related to Gbeya. Phonology Consonants Vowels References External linksSuma materials from Raymond Boyd Gbaya languages Languages of the Central African Republic {{VoltaCongo-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biyanda Language
Biyanda (''Ɓìyàndà'') and Buli (''Ɓùlì'') constitute a Gbaya language The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ... of the Central African Republic. ''Ethnologue'' groups them as Southwest Gbaya, but it is not clear how many of the Southwest varieties are part of the same language; Toongo and Mbodomo, for example, are not closely related, though Toongo speakers identify ethnically as Buli, and ''Ethnologue'' also lists Mbodomo as a separate language. Phonology There are also four tones; high, low, falling, and rising. References Gbaya languages Languages of the Central African Republic {{gbaya-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northwest Gbaya Language
Northwest Gbaya is a Gbaya language The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ... spoken across a broad expanse of Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The principal variety is Kara (Kàrà, Gbaya Kara), a name shared with several neighboring languages; Lay (Làì) is restricted to a small area north of Mbodomo, with a third between it and Toongo that is not named in Moñino (2010), but is influenced by the Gbaya languages to the south. For male initiation rites, the Gbaya Kara use a language called '' La'bi''. Phonology The following information is based on the 'Bodoe (Kàrà) and northern dialects: Consonants * The labio-dental flap /ⱱ/ appears only in ideophonic adverbs within word-initial or intervocalic position. Vowels * /w/ can be heard as centrali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngbaka Language
Ngbaka (''Ngbàkà'') is a Gbaya language spoken by just over a million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a regionally important language, used by the Gilima, Ngbundu, Mbandja and Mono peoples, and is taught in primary schools; 10% are literate in Ngbaka. ''Ngbaka'' is a common local ethnic name; the language may be distinguished from other languages called "Ngbaka" as Ngbaka Gbaya or Ngbaka Minagende. There are no significant dialectal differences within Ngbaka, and it may be mutually intelligible with members of the Manza dialect cluster. Phonology Consonants * The trill /r/ mainly occurs in ideophones, in both initial and final position. When it occurs in loanwords, it is often pronounced as a lateral * The glottal stop /ʔ/ mostly occurs before word-initial vowels. * Sounds /ŋ͡m, ʔ, h, w/, do not appear in intervocalic position. * /ŋ/ does not appear in word-initial position * The fricative /f/ can be pronounced in the western dialects as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngombe Language (Central African Republic)
Bangando and Ngombe constitute a Gbaya language of Cameroon and CAR. There are two populations: Bangando proper (''Bàngàndò''), in Cameroon, and Ngombe (''Ba(n)gando-Ngombe'', ''Ngombe-Kaka'') clustered around Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture across the border in the Central African Republic. There are several populations called Ngombe, and it is not clear to which the spurious ISO code for Ngombe belongs. On a global scale, Bangando is considered to be a threatened language with approximately anywhere between 2,700-3,500 speakers. Language status levels can be derived from the Ethnologue ''Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale''. Distribution Bangandu is spoken at the southern end of Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Eastern Region) in the commune of Moloundou, along the road from the main town of Moloundou to Lokomo. Bangandu is also spoken in Congo. In both Cameroon and Congo, there are about 2,700 speakers total (Voegelin & Voegelin 1977). (Bangandu, called ''Bang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adamawa Languages
The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in Central Africa, in northern Cameroon, north-western Central African Republic, southern Chad, and eastern Nigeria, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 1996). Joseph Greenberg classified them as one branch of the Adamawa–Ubangi family of Niger–Congo languages. They are among the least studied languages in Africa, and include many endangered languages; by far the largest is Mumuye, with 400,000 speakers. A couple of unclassified languages—notably Laal and Jalaa—are found along the fringes of the Adamawa area. Geographically, the Adamawa languages lie near the location of the postulated Niger–Congo – Central Sudanic contact that may have given rise to the Atlantic–Congo family, and so may represent the central radiation of that family. Classification Joseph Greenberg postulated the Adamawa languages as a part of Adamawa–Ubang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on May 28, 1915, to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York. His first great interest was music. At the age of 14, he gave a piano concert in Steinway Hall. He continued to play the piano frequently throughout his life. After graduating from James Madison High School, he decided to pursue a scholarly career rather than a musical one. He enrolled at Columbia College in New York in 1932. During his senior year, he attended a class taught by Franz Boas concerning American Indian languages. He graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree. With references from Boas and Ruth Benedict, he was accepted as a graduate student by Melville J. Herskovits at Northwestern University in Chicago and graduated in 1940 with a doctorate degree. During the cours ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
