Language resources
Scholarship on the Bamileke cluster
Medumba is part of the Eastern Group of theLiteracy and orthography
Efforts to develop a Medumba orthography date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and are associated with the following milestones: * 1926: Protestant missionaries develop an orthography for use in primary schools to facilitate the penetration of the Christian Bible in the region. * 1957: The French administration prohibits the use of local languages in the territories of the Union Française. * 1973, 20 December: CEPOM (''Comité de Langue pour l'Etude et la Production des Œuvres Bamiléké-Medumba'') is created; its mission is to promote research on Medumba and develop literacy materials. Currently, educational materials, literature and dictionaries for the language are produced by CEPOM, based in Bangangte. The combined output of missionary and CEPOM work has produced more that 80 publications on Medumba language and culture; these are published in French, English, and Medumba. Over time, publications in Medumba have used six different orthographies: * 1926: published in a collection of 12 songs * 1945: published in a book on religious history (''Nu Yawe Nsi'') and a syllabary * 1967: publication of the New Testament (''Kàn nswe'') and ''Tshô Pangante'' * 1973: publication of ''Cam Medumba'' and ''zi'te nkite''. * 1979: publication of ''Mbwog NkUd MedUmbA'' and ''Tons, Textes''... * 1985, 2 February: adoption of the current orthography at the 4th CEPOM Council The current alphabet is given in Table 1. In addition to simplex consonants, Medumba has numerous complex consonants, and these are represented as digraphs or trigraphs; see Table 2. Nasals, stops, and fricatives can be labialized; in the orthography this is represented as a CW digraph. Stops andMedumba radio station
Radio FM 100 Medumba was established in 2000 by ''Medumba Kum Ntsi''.Phonology
Vowels
According to medumba has 10 phonemic simple vowels given in the following inventory: Additionally medumba has five phonemic diphthongs: , , , ,Consonants
The following table gives the simple phonemic consonants in Medumba according to . Consonants place in parenthesis are phonemic but extremely rare. Only nasals, /b/, /d/, /g/, and /ʙ/ appear in both onset and coda positions. In addition to simple consonants Medumba has a large number of consonants with secondary articulation. Complex consonants only occur in onset position. The inventory of complex consonants according to is:Morphology
Affixation
Medumba has several affixes including: * the suffix -''te'', which attaches to verbs to derive the counterpart iterative form ('to verb regularly or repetitively'). While many -te forms have a counterpart base to which the may or may not transparently related (1-10), many of them seem to be frozen forms, for which the underived no longer exists (11-22). * homorganic nasal prefixal N-, which is found in two contexts: ** it attaches to verbs to derive nouns ** it attaches to verbs to derive non-initial verbs (e.g. after an auxiliary or the non-initial verb of serial verb construction) * suffixal H-tone * prefixal H-toneTonal inflection
Nominal tone classes: LL, HH, HL, LH
Tone on Nouns: : Voorhoeve introduced a non-segment tone in order to distinguish two different low tone noun groups and two different high tone noun groups. For instance, naʔ and mfən both bear a segment low tone, but their tonal realization is different in the context such as ''mə jən mfən ___''. For instance, naʔ in ''mə jən mfən naʔ (I saw the child of the cow)'' bears a non-low tone, whereas mfen in ''mə jən mfən'' ''mfən'' ''(I saw the child of the chief)'' bears a low tone. He proposed a four-way distinction, L(L), L(H), H(L), and H(H) to account for the nominal tone groups (Voorhoeve 1971:44-53).Verbal tone classes: L, H
Tone on Verbs: : The radical of the verb has only one tonal contrast, which is a Low and High contrast. The tone of radical may be realized differently in different contexts. For instance, a low tone verb that has a nasal prefix has a different tone from its non-prenasalized counterpart. Examples are provided to illustrate this phenomenon.Noun classes
Voorhoeve identifies two characteristics of noun classes that surface in Medumba: * Systems of pairings between singular and plural prefixes * Concording nominal and prenominal prefixes Voorhoeve also assumes that pronominal prefixes exist within the noun class system, with these prefixes consisting of inherent tone morphemes such as the left-edge floating tone. The added prenominal tone creates a tonal difference between singular and plural noun class pairs, with generation of the plural form created by the singular. Noun classes can be detached by singular and plural pairs. Voorhoeve ascertains that the nasal prefix serves as a distinguishing factor between singular and plural noun pairs. As seen in Table 19, this nasal prefix does not surface in all constructions, especially with singular nouns that are already nasal word-initially. Other noun classes in Medumba, however, exhibit derivation from Proto-Bantu language">Proto-BantuPronouns: simplex, possessive, complex, reciprocal
Bamileke distinguishes four sets of personal pronouns: simplex, possessive, complex, and reciprocal.Simplex pronouns
Simplex pronouns are differentiated according to syntactic position: * subject forms are V, CV, or CVC, and surface with Low tone or High tone * object forms are V, CV, or CVC, and surface with Low toner or High tone * elsewhere forms occur as indirect object, object of P, or in non-argument position (e.g. when topicalized by ''kí'' or focus-marked by ''á'') Almost all plural pronouns often begin with ''b''-, which is a marker of plurality; see Table 15. The only exception to this is the 2pl pronoun ''jin'', which is the elsewhere form (i.e. it is used with indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and for topicalization and focalization). The tone simplex pronouns depends on the following verb or auxiliary (for subject pronouns) or the preceding verb (for object pronouns). Examples of tone variation of pronoun in subject position (provide fuller description and edit examples). Example (1) illustrates 1st ''me;'' 2sg ''u'', 3sg o, and 3pl ''bu'' also behave as in (1). Example (2) illustrate 1pl ''bag''; 2pl ''bin'' also behaves as in (2). ive orthography and IPA : Examples of tone variation of pronoun in object position ((provide fuller description, edit examples put both IPA and orthography). Example (3) illustrates 1sg ''am''; example (4) illustrates 1pl ''jag''(''e''). [give orthography and IPA :Possessive and appositional pronouns
The tonal structure of possessive pronouns depends on the tonal structure of the preceding noun. Provide examples (see Voorhoeve 1967:426); use template from subject and object pronouns above.Complex plural pronouns
Complex plural pronouns specify the composition of the group of participants denoted by the pronoun. [Provide fuller description; give examples form Voorhoever 1967:428); regularize IPA transcription] :Reduplicated reciprocal pronouns
[Provide description] (say where there examples are from)Syntax
CP: clausal syntax
Medumba has a rich inventory of temporal and aspectual auxiliaries, and makes productive use of serial verb constructions. ive examplesTense-marking
Medumba has finely articulated temporal contrasts, with up to 9 distinct past tense auxiliaries, and 5 distinct future tense auxiliaries.Bracketed clause-typing
Medumba makes use of numerous clause-typing particles that occur at the beginning or end of the sentence: they are used to mark yes/no questions, content questions, relative clauses, as well as embedded clauses. In addition, there are two forms of negation, according to whether negation has scope over VP or CP: VP-scope negation is contrastive (e.g. He bought some books, but he did not sell pens); CP-scope negation denies the truth of a proposition ''p'' (e.g. NOT-p = it is not the case that ''p''). ive examplesDP: nominal syntax
Associative N of NP construction
Associative noun constructions, which usually translated as 'Noun1 of Noun2', as in ''bǎm'' ''mɛ́n'' (‘belly of the child’), are analyzed with a floating tone interposed between the two nouns. The presence of this floating tone is reflected by the tone melodies borne by the nouns that precede or follow it. This associative tone, first hypothesized by Jan Voorhoeve, may be high or low depending on the class and tone pattern of the preceding noun. The tone may lower the pitch-level of Noun2 (a phenomenon called down step); or it may combine with the final vowel of Noun1, resulting in a (rising LH or falling HL) contour tone. For example, in (1), the first line represents the theorized underlying tonal melody of the two nouns, with the L tone associative marker in bold. The second line shows the two tones which are actually pronounced at the surface, with the pitch level shown in brackets (a very low pitch followed by a mid-range pitch). Likewise in (2), the first line shows the theoretical tonal melody of what at the surface are pronounced as a LH contour on Noun1 and a down-stepped high tone on Noun2. Thus, in brackets we see a slash indicating a rise from low to high pitch, and a mid-level line indicating a mid-range pitch. (1) L-(H) (L) (L)-H-(L)) (2) L-(L) (H) (L)-H-(L) L H _ – LH ↓ H / – ''nzwi mɛn bǎm mɛn'' nzwí mɛ́n bàám ↓ mɛ́n woman of child belly of child 'the woman of the child' 'the belly of the child' (adapted from Voorhoeve 1971:50) Examples (3) to (6) illustrate the realization of the associative in contexts where Noun1 is L-tone and Noun2 is H-tone. Whether or not Noun1 is theorized to be followed by a floating L or H tone has no effect on the surface form (i.e., the difference between (3) and (5), and (4) and (6)). What does have an effect is the tone of the associative marker—in (3) and (5) it is H, while in (4) and (6) it is L, resulting in an LH contour on Noun1. The effect that the associative tone has on either of the two nouns may be dependent on which floating tones accompany those nouns, which in turn is decided by their noun class. Examples (7) to (10) illustrate the realization of the associative in contexts where Noun1 is H-tone and Noun2 is H-tone. As with (3) to (6), in examples (7) and (9) we can see that the floating tone following the noun has no effect on the surface form—if the associative marker is H, then the surface form will always be two level H tones, or else an HL contour followed by an H tone, varying by speaker or dialect. In the case of (8) and (10), the floating tone which follows the noun does have a perceptible effect. In (8), the surface form is either an H tone followed by an L tone, or else an HL contour followed by a L tone (again, varying by speaker or dialect). However, in (10) the only available choice is a H tone followed by down-stepped H, demonstrating that the theorized underlying tones do have an effect on the pitch at which tones are actually pronounced. Resolution of associative tone: L-tone Noun1 + H-tone Noun2 (tones in brackets () are floating) (3) L-(L) (L) (L)-H-(L) (4) L-(L) (H) (L)-H-(L) L H _ – L H ↓ H / – ''mfə̀n mɛn'' ''bàm mɛn'' ᵐfə̀n mɛ́n bàá ↓ mɛ́n 1.chief of child 5.belly of child 'the chief of the child' 'the belly of the child' (5) L-(H) (L) (L)-H-(L) (6) L-(H) (H) (L)-H-(L) L H _ – L H ↓ H / – ''nà mɛn kɔ̀ mɛn'' nà mɛ́n kɔ̀O ↓ mɛ́n 3.cow of child 5.spear of child 'the cow of the child' 'the spear of the child' (adapted from Voorhoeve 1971:50) Resolution of associative tone: H-tone Noun1 + H-tone Noun3 (tones in brackets () are floating) (7) H-(L) (L) (L)-H-(L) (8) H-(L) (H) (L)-H-(L) YPO?, check H H ¯ ¯ or H L ¯ _ or H L H \ ¯ H L L _ ''mɛn mɛn ju mɛn'' mɛ́(ɛ)n mɛ́n ʒú(ù) mɛ́n 1.child of 1.child 3.thing of 1.child 'the child of the child' 'the thing of the child' (9) H-(H) (L) (L)-H-(L) (10) H-(H) (H) (L)-H-(L) H H ¯ ¯ H ↓ H ¯ – H L H \ ¯ ''cʉ mɛn'' ''nzwi mɛn'' tɨ́ ↓ mɛ́n ⁿʒʷí(ì) mɛ́n 3.tree of 1.child ⁿzʷí(ì) mɛ́n 'the tree of the child' 1.woman of 1.child 'the woman of the child' (adapted from Voorhoeve 1971:50)Post-nominal and pre-nominal demonstratives
MedumbaCombining Nouns with Adjectives, Numerals and Demonstratives
Within the DP, there are 8 possible word order variations, taking into account the order of nouns, adjectives, demonstratives, and numerals. These are divided by Kouankem (2011) into post-nominal and pre-nominal variations. The possible word orders are: ; Post-nominal word order variation : (adapted from Kouankem 2011:234-236; identify pp. & example nos.) ; Pre-nominal word order variation : (adapted from Kouankem 2011:234-236; identify pp. & example nos.)AP: adjectival syntax
There are three kinds of adjective classes in Medumba, which differ in their order relative to the noun they modify. IVE EXAMPLESPure adjectives
There are a limited number of pure adjectives. These are further divided into two classes. Class 1 pure adjectives always appear before their noun. Class 2 pure adjectives typically appear after the noun, but can appear before the noun in a contrastive context. IVE EXAMPLESNominal adjectives
IVE EXAMPLESVerbal adjectives
IVE EXAMPLESPP: Prepositional Syntax
Medumba has four locative prepositions: ''mbàŋ'' (next to), ''mʙəә́'' (in front of), ''ɲàm'' (behind), and ''nùm'' (on). While there are several strategies for forming prepositional phrases involving overt prepositions or “locative specifications”, there are no overt locative prefixes which correspond to the Bantu locative classes (16), (17), and (18) (pa-, ku-, and mu- respectively). However, there is aConventions for presenting Medumba language data
The following conventions are used to present Medumba language data * symbols in square brackets ..give theNotes
References
{{Authority control Languages of Cameroon Bamileke languages