Maba language

This article is about the Nilo-Saharan language. For the Austronesian language, see Maba language (Indonesia).

Maba
buraa mábaŋ بُرَا مَبَݝ‎
Native to	Chad
Region	Ouaddaï, Wadi Fira
Ethnicity	Maba
Native speakers	570,000 (2019)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Maban Mabang Maba
Dialects	Maba Kodroy Kabartu Kondongo
Writing system	Arabic script Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mde
Glottolog	maba1277

Maba (Maban, Mabang, or Bura Mabang) is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban branch spoken in Chad and Sudan. It is divided into several dialects, and serves as a local trade language. Maba is closely related to the Masalit language. Most speakers of Maba reside in Chad with 542,000 speakers as of 2019. In 2022 there were 28,000 speakers in Sudan where the language is known as Sulaihab.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː
Open		a aː

• /ɛ, ɛː/ and /ɔ, ɔː/ may be realized as more close [e, eː] and [o, oː], when found in open syllable positions.
• Vowels may also be marginally realized as nasal when in nasal environments.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	(p)	t	(ʈ)	c	k
	voiced	b	d	(ɖ)	ɟ	g
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd	(ᶯɖ)	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		ʃ		(h)
	voiced		(z)
Rhotic			ɾ
Lateral			l
Approximant					j	w

• Stop sounds /b, t, k/ are heard as unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚] when in word-final position.
• Sounds [p, h] are heard mostly as a result of loanwords. [z] is also mostly from Arabic loanwords, but also may occur in some native words as well.
• /t, d, ⁿd/ when preceding a tap /ɾ/, are then heard as retroflex [ʈ, ɖ, ᶯɖ].
• /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill [r] in free variation.

Orthography

Maba language is written with the Latin and Arabic Chad Alphabet.

Maba Latin alphabet

A a

B b

C c

Ch ch

D d

Dr dr

E e (Ɛ ɛ)

F f

G g

H h

I i

J j

K k

Kh kh

L l

M m

Mb mb

[a]

[b]

[c]

[ʃ]

[d]

[ɖ]

[ɛ]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[i]

[ɟ]

[k]

[x]

[l]

[m]

[ᵐb]

N n

N̰ n̰

Nd nd

Ndr ndr

Nj nj

Ŋ ŋ

Ng ng

O o (Ɔ ɔ)

Pp

R r

S s

T t

Tr tr

U u

W w

Y y

Z z

[n]

[ɲ]

[ⁿd]

[ᶯɖ]

[ᶮɟ]

[ŋ]

[ᵑɡ]

[ɔ]

[p]

[ɾ] ([r])

[s]

[t]

[ʈ]

[u]

[w]

[j]

[z]

Maba Arabic alphabet

Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	أ إ‎ ‌( - ) [∅]/[ʔ]	ب‎ (B b) [b]	پ‎ (P p) [p]	ت‎ (T t) [t]	ث‎ (S s) [s]	ج‎ (J j) [ɟ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ڃ‎ (Nj nj) [ᶮɟ]	چ‎ (C c) [c]	ح‎ (H h) [h]	خ‎ (Kh kh) [x]	د‎ (D d) [d]	ڊ‎ (Nd nd) [ⁿd]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ذ‎ (S s) [s]	ر‎ (R r) [ɾ] ([r])	ڔ‎ (Dr dr) [ɖ]	ز‎ (Z z) [z]	ڗ‎ (Tr tr) [ʈ]	ژ‎ (Ndr Ndr) [ᶯɖ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	س‎ (S s) [s]	ش‎ (Ch ch) [ʃ]	ص‎ (S s) [s]	ض‎ (D d) [d]	ط‎ (T t) [t]	ظ‎ (Z z) [z]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ع‎ ( - ) [ʔ]	غ‎ (Kh kh) [x]	ݝ‎ (Ŋ ŋ) [ŋ]	ڠ‎ (Ng ng) [ᵑɡ]	ف‎ (F f) [f]	ق‎ (G g) [g]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ك‎ (K k) [k]	ل‎ (L l) [l]	م‎ (M m) [m]	ݦ‎ (Mb mb) [ᵐb]	ن‎ (N n) [n]	ݧ‎ (N̰ n̰) [ɲ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ه‎ (H h) [h]	و‎ (W w) [w]	ؤ‎ ‌( - ) [ʔ]	ي‎ (Y y) [j]	ئ‎ ‌( - ) [ʔ]

Vowel at beginning of word

A	E (Ɛ)	I	O (Ɔ)	U
أَ‎	أٚ‎	إِ‎	أٛ‎	أُ‎
Aa	Ee (Ɛɛ)	Ii	Oo (Ɔɔ)	Uu
آ‎	أٚيـ‎	إِيـ‎	أٛو‎	أُو‎

Vowel at middle and end of word

a	e (ɛ)	i	o (ɔ)	u
◌َ‎	◌ٚ‎	◌ِ‎	◌ٛ‎	◌ُ‎
aa	ee (ɛɛ)	ii	oo (ɔɔ)	uu
◌َا / ـَا‎	◌ٚيـ / ـٚيـ‎ ◌ٚي / ـٚي‎	◌ِيـ / ـِيـ‎ ◌ِي / ـِي‎	ٛ◌و / ـٛو‎	◌ُو / ـُو‎

Further reading

• Mabaan dictionary (Archive)