Nso (''Lamnso'', ''Lamnsɔ’'') is the
Grassfields language
The Grassfields languages (or Wide Grassfields languages) are a branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon and some parts of Taraba state, Nigeria. Better known Grassfields languages include the East ...
of the
Nso people
The Nso people are from the Bamenda grass fields Northwest Region (Cameroon), Northwest Region of Cameroon. Their traditional language is Lamnso (language of Nso) and their capital is Kumbo – where the Palace of the Fon is found.
Summary Hist ...
of western
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
. A few may remain in
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
. It has ten major
noun class
In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some ...
es. The ISO 639-3 code is lns. Nso is spoken by over 100,000 people.
Phonology
Consonants
* Stop sounds /b, t, d, k, ɡ/ may have affricated phonetic variants as
͡v, t͡s, d͡z~ɖ͡ʐ, k͡f, ɡ͡vwhen occurring before /ə/. Sounds /ɣ, m/ may have variants as
�͡v, ᶬvwhen in the same position.
* Sounds /p/ and /h/ only occur in interjections, ideophones or loanwords.
* /p, t, k/ may also have aspirated allophones
ʰ, tʰ, kʰin word-initial positions.
* Prenasal fricative sounds /ᶬf, ⁿs, ᶮʃ/ may also have allophones as prenasal affricate
��p͡f, ⁿt͡s, ᶮt͡ʃsounds.
* Sounds /d͡ʒ, ʃ, k, ɡ, m, ŋ/ may be labialized as
͡ʒʷ, ʃʷ, kʷ, ɡʷ, mʷ, ŋʷwhen before a vowel, and occurring only in the first syllable.
Vowels
* Vowels are lengthened as /iː, eː, əː, aː, oː, uː/.
* Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ may also be heard as close-mid
, o
The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature fille ...
in free variation.
* Vowels /i, a, u/ are heard as
�, ɜ, ʊwhen before /ʔ/ or nasal sounds.
Writing System
Nso uses an orthography based on the
General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages
The General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages is an orthography, orthographic system created in the late 1970s for all Languages of Cameroon, Cameroonian languages.Tadadjeu, Maurice and Etienne Sadembouo. 1979Alphabet Générale des Langues Camerounai ...
(AGLC). An orthography had initially been created before being modified to follow the recommendations of the AGLC.
Nso uses 23 digraphs and 7 trigraphs . Long vowels are indicating by doubling the vowel . Diphthongs are noted .
The high tone is indicated with the acute accent and the low tone with the grave accent on the vowel.
Phrases
* Thank you.
* You are welcome.
* What news? (Greeting).
* No news (Reply) or I am fine.
* Good morning.
* How did you sleep?
* Good afternoon.
* Good evening.
* Sleep well.
* Good bye until tomorrow.
* Sweet dreams.
* And to you.
* God bless you (Greeting).
* Good luck.
* Safe journey.
* Give me.
* Where are you going?
* What is your name?
* My name is Lukong.
* Whose child are you?
* I am Lukong's child.
* Who is the traditional ruler of Nso?
* I am hungry.
* I am thirsty.
* I love you.
* Marry me.
* Where are you going?
* Laisin jaiy wom. Forgive me
* M ker kibam. I have a bag
* Kinga ki te'e. The grass is growing
* Tsehti du šo. Shift it further away
* Dze la ven . Who is this?
* Kikoŋnin ki boŋ. Loving is good
*
Animal names
* : leopard
* : dog
* : monkey
* : elephant
* : lion
* :
duiker
A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophinae ...
* : goat
* : sheep
* : buffalo
* : squirrel
* : serpent
* : cricket
* : spider
* : tarantula
* : hyena
* : chicken
* : he-goat
* : lizard
* : bat
Other nouns
* : sun
* : water
* : book
* : pineapple
* : house
* : roof
* : floor
* : door
* : chair
* : rug
* : cooking pot
* : (typically a small bowl)
* : cup
* : basket
* : farm
* : firewood
* : pepper
* : spoon
* : junction
* : house of worship (church)
* : vehicle
* : rice
* : roof
* : file
* : Irish potato
* :
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...
* :
cocoyam
Cocoyam is a common name for more than one tropical root crop and vegetable crop belonging to the Arum family (also known as Aroids and by the family name ''Araceae'') and may refer to:
* Taro (''Colocasia esculenta'') – old cocoyam
* Mala ...
* : banana
* : meat
* : walking stick
* : mom (mother)
* : dad (father)
* : sister (relative)
* : brother (relative)
* : relative (A general sense. Example: * : I am your relative)
:Stick insect
Adjectives
* : hot
* : cold
* : Heavy.
* : Dark.
* : White
* : Bitter.
* : Sweet
* nyaaŋ: Calm
References
Bibliography
*
* McGarrity, Laura and Botne, Robert (2001)
''Between Agreement and Case Marking in Lamnso'' IUWPL 3: Explorations in African Linguistics: From Lamnso' to Sesotho (2001), edited by Robert Botne and Rose Vondrasek, pp. 53–70. Bloomington, IN: Noun classes and categorization: Proceedings of a symposium on categorization and noun classification, Eugene, Oregon, October 1983''. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
Ring languages
Languages of Cameroon
{{Cameroon-lang-stub