Bana language
Bana | |
---|---|
Native to | Cameroon |
Region | Far North Region, Cameroon |
Native speakers | 23,000 (2007)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bcw |
Glottolog | bana1305 |
ELP | Bana |
Bana | |
---|---|
Language | koma kabana |
Bana is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in northern Cameroon. Dialects include Gamboura and Gili.[1]
Bana is spoken in the canton of Guili, in the northern part of the commune of Bourrha (department of Mayo-Tsanaga, Far North Region). The speakers call their language koma kabana 'the language of the Bana'.[2]
Phonology
[edit]Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | |||||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||
Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | ʔʷ | |||
Voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||||
Prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | ||||||
Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||||||
Affricate | Voiceless | ts | ||||||||
Voiced | dz | |||||||||
Prenasalized | ⁿdz | |||||||||
Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | χ | χʷ | |||||
Voiced | v | z | ʁ | ʁʷ | ||||||
Flap | ⱱ | ɾ | ||||||||
Approximant | j | w |
The vowels of Bana are /ɨ ə ɛ/, which can occur with high, falling, low, or rising tone. [3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Bana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Hofmann, Erica (1990). A preliminary phonology of bana (MA thesis). University of Victoria.
References
[edit]- Hofmann, Erica (1990). A Preliminary Phonology of Bana (PDF) (M.A. thesis). University of Victoria. OCLC 27946722.