The Ngiemboon language, (autonym: ), is one of a dozen
Bamileke languages
The Bamileke languages () are a group of Eastern Grassfields languages spoken by the Bamileke people in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares bounda ...
spoken in
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 ...
. Its speakers are located primarily within the department of
Bamboutos in the
West Region of Cameroon.
Dialects are Batcham (Basham), Balatchi (Balaki) and Bamoungong (Bamongoun).
Alphabet
The alphabet is based on the
General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages
Phonology
Consonants
Anderson (2008)
states the language allows roots of C(S)V(C)(V), with the above consonants being the underlying consonants allowed. do not occur naturally in the role of C, but are allowed as semivowels (S) where they are distinct from . As well, there is a possible syllabic nasal prefix, which assimilates to following consonants, and can carry a high or low tone. It is spelled as before labial consonants and otherwise.
Phonemes are pronounced when word initial, intervocalically, and before the suffix and word finally. When word final, those are unreleased, as well as . are pronounced before . The other coronals, are normally dental, but become retroflex in that environment.
Obstruents become "aspirated" before both a semivowel and either or in an
open syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''ma ...
.
This is realized as a "homorganic voiceless fricative offglide", causing the voiceless fricatives and affricates to become
geminate
In phonetics and phonology, gemination (; from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), or consonant lengthening, is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...
, as well as voiced sounds to form a cluster with the unvoiced sound; for example, becomes , and becomes . However, a number of words also show this "aspiration" in positions without a following semivowel, all with the previous sounds being , , , , , or .
are spelled as . are only present in loanwords. Additionally, certain allophones have separate letters assigned to them, namely , , , , , . Consonants are otherwise spelled as in IPA, except spelled as .
Vowels
Vowels are also distinguished by length and nasalization.
Nasalization
In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation in British English) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is .
...
is present when before , but also sometimes without a following consonant, with the vowel always being long; this is analyzed as a following being
fused with the vowel, since is never found word-finally where it would be expected.
Additionally, the sounds are present, and analyzed as ;
the first can vary, , while the second cannot, always being ; it is spelled as .
Long vowels are simply marked with two of the vowel.
Diphthongs occur and are spelled as sequences of the two vowels would be.
Nasalized vowels are not marked; they are simply implied by the following , or by the long vowel spelling followed by , consistent with the analyses of these being from a phonemic .
Tones
Ngiembɔɔn is a tonal language, and uses the high tone , the low tone , the falling tone , and the rising tone .
Anderson suggests a fifth tone/˨˩/,
low falling. These are marked (using
as an example) as <á a â ǎ ȁ>. It is marked on the first letter of long vowels and diphthongs.
References
External links
Database of audio recordings in Ngiemboon - basic Catholic prayers
Languages of Cameroon
Bamileke languages
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