Massa language
| Massa | |
|---|---|
| Masana | |
| Native to | Chad, Cameroon |
Native speakers | (230,000 cited 1982–2006)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mcn |
| Glottolog | masa1322 Masanagize1234 Gizeyhama1241 Ham |
Massa (or Masana, Masa) is a Chadic language spoken in southern Chad and northern Cameroon by the Masa people. It has approximately 200,000 speakers.
Dialects are Bongor, Bugudum (Budugum), Domo, Gizay, Gumay, Ham, Walia, Wina (Viri), Yagwa.
Kim, a neighbouring language, was once misclassified as Masa.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Lateral | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ɬ | h | ||
| voiced | v | z | ɮ | ɦ | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
References
- ^ Massa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ De Dominicis, Amedeo (2001). The Masa tonal system. University of Tuscia, Viterbo (Italy).
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