The Masa languages are a group of closely related
Chadic languages
The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 150 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, the Central African Republic, and northern Cam ...
of southwestern
Chad and northern
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 ...
.
Languages
The Masa languages listed in Blench (2006) are:
*North
**
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
(Masana)
**?
Zumaya (†)
**Musey–Azumeina
***
Musey
***
Azumeina (Marba)
*South
**
Mesmé
**Peve–Kaɗo
***
Pévé
***
Ngeté-Herdé
The exonym ''Zime'' is used for the Herdé, Ngeté, Pévé, and Mesmé. Similarly, ''Kaɗo'' is a generic name for the Peve–Kaɗo languages, a couple of which are called ''Lamé'' as well.
Shryock (1997)
Shryock (1997: 32)
[Shryock, Aaron. 1997. The classification of the Masa group of languages. ''Studies in African Linguistics'' 26(1): 29‒62.] subgroups the Masa languages as:
*
Zumaya
*North:
Masa
''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, '' gorditas'', ''tamales'', '' pupusas'', and many other Latin American dishes. It is dried and powdered into ...
;
Musey;
Marba,
Monogoy
*South:
Zime;
Peve;
Heɗe-Ngiɗe
Numerals
Comparison of numerals in individual languages:
See also
*
List of Proto-Masa reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
External links
Masa Chadic resourcesat africanlanguages.org
{{Masa languages
Chadic languages
Languages of Cameroon
Languages of Chad