Ngambay (also known as Sara, Sara Ngambai, Gamba, Gambaye, Gamblai and Ngambai) is one of the major languages spoken by
Sara people
The Sara people are a Central Sudanic ethnic group native to southern Chad, the northwestern areas of the Central African Republic, and the southern border of North Sudan. They speak the Sara languages which are a part of the Central Sudanic lan ...
in southwestern
Chad, northeastern
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 ...
and eastern
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, with about a million native speakers. Ngambay is the most widely spoken of the
Sara languages
The Sara languages comprise over a dozen Bongo–Bagirmi languages spoken mainly in Chad; a few are also spoken in the north of the Central African Republic. They are members of the Central Sudanic language family. Greenberg (1966) treats all vari ...
, and is used as a trade language between speakers of other dialects. It is spoken by the
Sara Gambai people.
Ngambay has
Subject–Verb–Object word order.
[The World Atlas of Language Structures Online: Ngambay](_blank)
Accessed November, 2008. Suffixes indicate
case.
There is no
tense;
aspect
Aspect or Aspects may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art
* Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company
* Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England
* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
is indicated by a
perfective–imperfective distinction.
Modifiers
follow
Follow may refer to:
* ''Follow'' (album), the third album by Pakho Chau
*Follow (dancer), one member of a partner dance
*"Follow", a song by Jerry Merrick, popularized by Richie Havens on his 1966 album ''Mixed Bag''
*"Follow", a song by Drowning ...
nouns.
The
numeral system
A numeral system (or system of numeration) is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbo ...
is decimal, but eight and nine are expressed as 10-minus-two and 10-minus-one. It is a
tone language
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emph ...
with three tones: high, mid, and low.
[50 Lessons in Sara-Ngambay, Volume 1.](_blank)
by Linda J. Thayer, James E. Thayer, Noé Kyambé and Adoum Eloi Gondjé. Indiana University, 1971. Accessed November 2008. There are
loan words from both
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and
French.
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels/Nasals
Vowels can be accented or nasalised. Diacritics and accents include high /á/, mid /ā/, low /à/, and nasalised /ã/.
References
External links
The Sara-Bagirmi Language Project – Ngambay
Languages of Chad
Bongo–Bagirmi languages
Languages of Cameroon
Languages of Nigeria
Subject–verb–object languages
Tonal languages
{{Chad-stub