The Nimbari language (also Niam-Niam), which is no longer spoken, was a member of the Leko–Nimbari group of

Savanna languages The Savannas languages, also known as Gur–Adamawa or Adamawa–Gur, is a branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families. History of classification The Gur–Adamawa link was demonstrated in ...

. It was spoken in 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 ...

. ''Ethnologue'' (22nd ed.) lists Badjire, Gorimbari, and Padjara-Djabi villages as Nimbari locations in Bénoué and Mayo-Louti divisions. Nimbari was labeled "G12" in

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on ...

's Adamawa language-family proposal.

Distribution

Nimbari is located near Pitoa (Pitoa commune,

Bénoué Bénoué is a Departments of Cameroon, department of North Province (Cameroon), North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 13,614 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 1,781,955. The capital of the department lies at ...

department) and

Mayo-Louti Mayo-Louti is a Departments of Cameroon, department of North Province (Cameroon), North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of and as of 2001 had a total population of 334,312. The capital of the department is Guider. Subdivision ...

(

Figuil Figuil is a town and commune in Cameroon. See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each province ...

commune), Northern Region. The so-called ''Nyam-Nyam'' of Mayo-Kébi should not be confused with the so-called ''Nyam-Nyam'' of

Tignère Tignère is a town and commune in Cameroon. Climate Tignère has a tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categori ...

and

Galim Galim is a town and commune in the country of Cameroon, in Africa. See also *Communes of Cameroon The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub d ...

(

Adamawa Region The Adamawa Region (french: Région de l'Adamaoua) is a constituent region of the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the Centre and East regions to the south, the Northwest and West regions to the southwest, Nigeria to the west, the Central Afr ...

), whose real name is Nizaa (or Suga), of

Mambiloid The twelve Mambiloid languages are languages spoken by the Mambila and related peoples mostly in eastern Nigeria and in Cameroon. In Nigeria the largest group is Mambila (there is also a small Mambila population in Cameroon). In Cameroon the la ...

affiliation.

History and classification

Kastenholz and Kleinewillinghöfer (2012) note that Nimbari cannot be classified with certainty due to limited data. It is a Fali name meaning 'people of Mbari'. People who identify as Nimbari currently speak Kangou (or Kaangu, Kaang), a variety of Southern Fali, and identify the ethnic name ''Nimbari'' with their village, Gorimbari. Kastenholz and Kleinewillinghöfer (2012) report from a 2008 field trip that the name ''Mbaari'' refers to an

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

(Fali language: ɡɔ́rì) central to the village of Gorimbari (Gorimbaara �óːrímbáːrà. Nimbari is derived from the Fali term ''níí mbáárì'' 'people/person (''niru'') of Mbaari'. Strümpell (1922/23) reported ''Nimbari'' to be the autonym of ''Niam-Niam'' language speakers. Originally, Strümpell (1910) called the language ''Niam-Niam'', and had documented some limited data of questionable quality from elderly rememberers; the language was already no longer in everyday use at the time of data collection.Strümpell, F. 1910. 'Vergleichendes Wörterverzeichnis der Heidensprachen Adamauas , von Hauptmann Strümpell – Garua. Mit Vorbemerkungen von Bernhard Struck – Groß-Lichterfelde', ''Zeitschrift für Ethnologie'' 3/4: 444-488. Kastenholz and Kleinewillinghöfer (2012) note that some items in Strümpell's word list share similarities with

Duru languages The Duru languages are a group of Savanna languages spoken in northern Cameroon and eastern Nigeria. They were labeled "G4" in Joseph Greenberg's Adamawa language-family proposal. Kleinewillinghöfer (2012) also observes many morphological simil ...

(Dii, Duupa, Dugun), and also with

Samba Leko Chamba Leko is one of two languages spoken by the Chamba people, the other being Chamba Daka. It is a member of the Leko branch of Savanna languages, and is spoken across the northern Nigerian–Cameroonian border. ''Chamba'' is also spelled 'S ...

and Kolbila to a lesser extent. However, many words have no clear parallels with other

Adamawa languages The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Chad, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 199 ...

References

{{Adamawa languages Leko–Nimbari languages Languages of Cameroon