Bangwa Language

Yɛmba or Yemba, also Yémba or Bamiléké Dschang, is a major Bamileke language in West Region of Cameroon. It was approximately spoken by 500,000 or so people in the country in 2023.

Despite originally being exclusively a spoken language, Yemba writing was developed by Maurice Tadadjeu (co-creator of the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages) and Steven Bird. Their team developed a small Yemba–French Dictionary covering French translations of over 3,000 Yemba words and expressions. The Mmuock dialect also has a proposed orthography.

Phonology

Consonants

* Sounds /t͡ʃ ʃ ʒ/ are included as phonemes in some analyses. In most analyses, they are considered as allophones of /t͡s s z/.
* Sounds l ɣare consonant alternation sounds between the following consonants /b d ɡ/.
* Alternation sounds of /j w/ are labialized and palatalized sounds �ʲ ɡʷ
* Graphemes of the alterations and allophones ͡ʃ ʃ ʒ p lare noted in the Yemba alphabet as ''c sh j p l''.
*An /r/ sound can also be included in the current language, and written in the Yemba alphabet as ''r''.
* The prosodies of palatalization and labialization � ʷ are written orthographically with lowercase graphemes ''y w''.
*A grapheme for aspiration �among consonants is written as ''h''.

Vowels

* /ʉ/ is included as a phoneme in some analyses. In more abstract analyses, it is considered as a palatalization of /u/.
* Vowel length is distinguished using double vowel sounds (ex. aa ː

Tone

Three tones are marked as high � mid � or low � Low tones are unmarked when written.

References

tp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/sb/papers/dictionary/dictionary.pdf Petit dictionnaire Yemba Francais

External links

Aleco Yemba.net - Online Dictionaries and Learning Tools for the Yemba Language

Languages of Cameroon
Bamileke languages

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