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
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.
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