Mpadə is an

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

language spoken in northern

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and southwestern

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

. Dialects are Bodo, Biamo, Digam, Mpade (Makari), Shoe (Shewe), and Woulki. The language is sometimes known as Makari, after one of the towns where it is spoken. Ngala further west (as described by Barth) once spoke a dialect similar to Makari, but it was

moribund Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state near death. Moribund may refer to: * ''Moribund'' (album), a 2006 album by the Norwegian black metal band Koldbrann * " Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel known in English as "Seasons in the Sun ...

by the 1920s, the people having shifted to Kanuri.

Distribution

In Cameroon, Mpade is spoken throughout the northern end of the

Logone-et-Chari Logone-et-Chari is a department of Extreme-Nord Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 12,133 km and at the 2005 Census had a total population of 486,997. The capital of the department is at Kousséri. Most inhabitants of ...

department (Far North Region), adjacent to

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

and centered on Makari (the northern part of Makari arrondissement as well as in

Fotokol Fotokol is a town and Communes of Cameroon, commune in Logone-et-Chari Department, Far North Region (Cameroon), Far North Region, Cameroon. It is home to Fotokol High School. The town is about across a small river from the Nigerian village of Gam ...

and Hilé Alifa arrondissements, and the northern part of Goulfey arrondissement). It is also spoken in Chad and Nigeria, it has a total population of 12,000 speakers (SIL 2000).

Phonology

Consonants

Mpade has the following consonants.Allison 2006.

Vowels

Mpade has the following vowels.

Notes

References

* Allison, Sean. 2006. Alphabet et orthographe de Kotoko de Makary (mpadɨ) (Makary Kotoko Orthography Statement) SIL manuscript, 31 pp
Available on-line
* Allison, Sean. 2020. A Grammar of Makary Kotoko. Leiden: Brill. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Mpade Language Biu-Mandara languages Languages of Chad Languages of Cameroon