Yambeta language

Yambeta
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
(3,700 cited 1982)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3yat
Glottologyamb1252
A.462[2]

Yambeta or Nigi[3] is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon.

Phonology

There are 20 contrastive consonants in Yambeta.

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p t t͡ʃ k ʔ
Prenasalized Voiceless ⁿt ⁿk
Voiced ⁿb ⁿd ⁿg
Fricatives f s h
Nasals m n ɲ ŋ
Approximants l j w

The glottal stop occurs only in word-final position and is elided intervocalically. All other consonants, except /t͡ʃ/ and /w/ as well as the prenasalized stops, may be word-final. All stops are voiceless word-initial and word-final, and voiced intervocalically or following a nasal.

There are two vowel sets in Yambeta. The most common noun syllable structure is CVC.[4]

+ATR -ATR
Front Mid Back Front Mid Back
Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː i iː u uː
Close-mid ə əː o oː
Open-mid ɔ ɔː
Open a aː

References

  1. ^ Yambeta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
  4. ^ Boyd, V. L. (2015). The phonological systems of the Mbam languages of Cameroon with a focus on vowels and vowel harmony (pp. XVIII+-394). Utrecht: LOT.


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