Mbaka language
| Mbaka | |
|---|---|
| Ngbaka Ma'bo | |
| Native to | CAR, Republic of Congo |
| Ethnicity | M'Baka |
Native speakers | (200,000 cited 1984–2000)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:nbm – Ngbaka Ma’bogix – Gilima |
| Glottolog | bwak1244 |
The Mbaka or Bwaka language, Ngbaka Ma'bo (also called Gbaka, Ma'bo, Ngbwaka, Ngbaka Limba) is a major Ubangian language spoken by the Mbaka people of CAR and Congo.
It is not clear how distinct the Gilima variety is, or whether it should be considered a separate language. It does have its own ISO 639-3 code.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | k | k͡p | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ᵑᵐɡ͡b | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | z | |||||
| prenasal | ⁿz | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i (ĩ) | u (ũ) | |
| Close-mid | e ẽ | o õ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a ã |
References
- ^ Ngbaka Ma’bo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Gilima at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ van de Weijer, Jeroen (1994). Stem Consonant Cooccurrence Restrictions in Ngbaka. Linguistics in the Netherlands 11: Dutch Linguistics Association (Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap). pp. 256–266.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Thomas, Jacqueline M. C. (1963). Le parler Ngbaka de Bokanga: phonologie, morphologie, syntaxe. Paris, The Hague: Paris: Paillart.