Nso (''Lamnso'', ''Lamnsɔ’'') is the
Grassfields language
The Grassfields languages (or Wide Grassfields languages) are a branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon and some parts of Taraba state, Nigeria. Better known Grassfields languages include the Easter ...
of the
Nso people
The Nso people are from the Bamenda grass fields Northwest Region of Cameroon. Their traditional language is Lamnso (language of Nso) and their capital is Kumbo – where the Palace of the Fon is found.
Summary History
The Nso’ people migra ...
of western
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 ...
. A few may remain in
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 ...
. It has ten major
noun class
In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some ...
es. The ISO 639-3 code is lns. Nso is spoken by over 100,000 people.
Writing System
Nso uses an orthography based on the
General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages The General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages is an orthographic system created in the late 1970s for all Cameroonian languages. Consonant and vowel letters are not to contain diacritics, though is a temporary exception. The alphabet is not used suf ...
(AGLC). An orthography had initially been created before being modified to follow the recommendations of the AGLC.
Nso uses 23 digraphs et 7 trigraphs . Long vowels are indicating by doubling the vowel . Diphthongs are noted .
The high tone is indicated with the acute accent and the low tone with the grave accent on the vowel.
Phrases
* Thank you.
* You are welcome.
* What news? (Greeting).
* No news (Reply) or I am fine.
* Good morning.
* How did you sleep?
* Good afternoon.
* Good evening.
* Sleep well.
* Good bye until tomorrow.
* Sweet dreams.
* And to you.
* God bless you (Greeting).
* Good luck.
* Safe journey.
* Give me.
* Where are you going?
* What is your name?
* My name is Luckong.
* Whose child are you?
* I am Lukong's child.
* Who is the traditional ruler of Nso?
* I am hungry.
* I am thirsty.
* I love you.
* Marry me.
* Where are you going?
Animal names
* : leopard
* : dog
* : monkey
* : elephant
* : lion
* :
duiker
A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophina ...
* : goat
* : sheep
* : buffalo
* : squirrel
* : serpent
* : cricket
* : spider
* : tarantula
* : hyena
* : chicken
* : he-goat
* : lizard
* : bat
Other nouns
* : sun
* : water
* : book
* : pineapple
* : house
* : roof
* : floor
* : door
* : chair
* : rug
* : cooking pot
* : (typically a small bowl)
* : cup
* : basket
* : farm
* : firewood
* : pepper
* : spoon
* : junction
* : house of worship (church)
* : vehicle
* : rice
* : roof
* : file
* : Irish potato
* :
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
* :
cocoyam
Cocoyam is a common name for more than one tropical root crop and vegetable crop belonging to the Arum family (also known as Aroids and by the family name ''Araceae'') and may refer to:
* Taro (''Colocasia esculenta'') - old cocoyam
* Malanga ('' ...
* : banana
* : meat
* : walking stick
* : mom (mother)
* : dad (father)
* : sister (relative)
* : brother (relative)
* : relative (A general sense. Example: * : I am your relative)
Adjectives
* : hot
* : cold
* : Heavy.
* : Dark.
* : White
* : Bitter.
* : Sweet.
References
Bibliography
*
* McGarrity, Laura and Botne, Robert (2001)
''Between Agreement and Case Marking in Lamnso'' IUWPL 3: Explorations in African Linguistics: From Lamnso' to Sesotho (2001), edited by Robert Botne and Rose Vondrasek, pp. 53–70. Bloomington, IN: Noun classes and categorization: Proceedings of a symposium on categorization and noun classification, Eugene, Oregon, October 1983''. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
Ring languages
Languages of Cameroon
{{Cameroon-lang-stub