Ewondo or Kolo is the language of the Ewondo people (more precisely Beti be Kolo or simply Kolo-Beti) of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. The language had 577,700 native speakers in 1982. Ewondo is a

trade language A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

. Dialects include Badjia (Bakjo), Bafeuk, Bamvele (Mvele, Yezum, Yesoum), Bane, Beti, Enoah, Evouzok, Fong, Mbida-Bani, Mvete, Mvog-Niengue, Omvang, Yabekolo (Yebekolo), Yabeka, and Yabekanga. Ewondo speakers live primarily in Cameroon's Centre Region and the northern part of the Océan division in the South Region. Ewondo is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The t ...

. It is a dialect of the

Beti language Beti is a group of Bantu languages, spoken by the Beti-Pahuin peoples who inhabit the rain forest regions of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The varieties, which are largely mutually intell ...

(Yaunde-Fang), and is intelligible with Bulu,

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, and

Fang A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fang ...

. In 2011 there was a concern among Cameroonian linguists that the language was being displaced in the country by French.

Distribution

Ewondo (Beti) covers the whole of the departments of

Mfoundi Mfoundi is a department of Centre Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 297 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 1,881,876. The department forms the Yaoundé capital and greater area. See also *Yaoundé (in French Fre ...

, Mefou-et-Afamba, Mefou-et-Akono, Nyong-et-So'o,

Nyong-et-Mfoumou Nyong-et-Mfoumou is a department of Centre Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 6,172 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 130,321. The capital of the department lies at Akonolinga. Subdivisions The department is divide ...

(Central Region), and part of

Océan Océan is a department of South Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 11,280 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 133,062. The capital of the department lies at Kribi. Subdivisions The department is divided adminis ...

Department (Southern Region).

History

The Ewondo language originated in the forests south of the Sanaga river.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Alphabet system

The tones are indicated with diacritics on the vowels: * the high tone is indicated with an acute accent: ; * the mid tone is indicated with a macron: ; * the low tone, the most frequent tone, is indicated by the absence of diacritics: ; * the rising tone is indicated with a caron: ; * the falling tone is indicated with a circumflex: .

References

External links

Ewondo alphabet and pronunciationDatabase of audio recordings in Ewondo - basic Catholic prayers
{{Authority control Beti languages Languages of Cameroon