The Maban languages are a small family of languages which have been included in the proposed

Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. ...

family. Maban languages are spoken in eastern

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the C ...

and western Sudan ( Darfur).

Languages

The Maban branch includes the following languages: * Mimi of Nachtigal * Kenjeje (Yaali, Faranga) * Masalit:

Surbakhal Surbakhal is a Maban language of Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan t ...

, Masalit * Aiki (Runga and Kibet, sometimes considered separate languages) * Mabang: Karanga, Marfa, Maba The languages attested in two word lists labelled "

Mimi Mimi or MIMI may refer to: People * Mimi (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Constantin Mimi (1868–1935), Bessarabian politician and winemaker * Mimi (footballer, born 1996), Bissau Guinean footballer * Mohanad Ali (born 2 ...

", collected by Decorse (

Mimi-D Mimi of Decorse, also known as Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes and Mimi-D, is a language of Chad that is attested only in a word list labelled " Mimi" that was collected ca. 1900 by G. J. Decorse and published by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes. Josep ...

) and Nachtigal ( Mimi-N), have also been classified as Maban, though this has been contested. Mimi-N appears to have been remotely related to Maban proper, while Mimi-D appears to have not been Maban at all, with the similarities due to language contact with locally dominant Maba. Blench (2021) gives the following classification: *Proto-Maban **? Mimi of Nachtigal **Aiki-Kibet *** Aiki (= Runga) ***Kibet **core branch ***

Kendeje Kenjeje (or Kendeje) is a Maban language of Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the nort ...

*** Masalit,

***Maban (= Mabang) **** Karanga **** Marfa **** Maba

External relationships

Based on morphological evidence such as tripartite number marking on nominals,

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and wor ...

(2021) suggests that closest relatives of the Maban languages may be the

Eastern Sudanic languages In most classifications, the Eastern Sudanic languages are a group of nine families of languages that may constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Eastern Sudanic languages are spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania. N ...

, especially the Taman languages, which form a branch within Northern Eastern Sudanic. Maban also shares lexical similarities with the Fur languages,

Saharan languages The Saharan languages are a small family of languages across parts of the eastern Sahara, extending from northwestern Darfur to southern Libya, north and central Chad, eastern Niger and northeastern Nigeria. Noted Saharan languages include Kanur ...

, and even

Songhay languages The Songhay, Songhai or Ayneha languages (, or ) are a group of closely related languages/dialects centred on the middle stretches of the Niger River in the West African countries of Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. In particular, ...

, but generally has more lexical matches with

Comparative vocabulary

Blench (2021) posits the following consonants for proto-Maban: Vowels likely were ATR pairs, with at least *a *ɛ *e *i *ɔ *o *u and possibly *ɪ *ʊ, plus length. There were likely two register tones plus the possibility of contour tones on long vowels. Sample basic vocabulary for Maban languages:

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

*Calvain Mbernodji, Katharina Wolf. 2008. ''Une enquête sociolinguistique des parlers Kibet, Rounga, Daggal et Mourro du Tchad''. SIL International.

External links

*G. Starostin, 2011
On Mimi
{{Authority control Language families Languages of Chad Languages of South Sudan Languages of Sudan