Ngbaka Minagende language

Not to be confused with Ngbaka Ma'bo or Ngbaka languages.

Ngbaka
Ngbaka Minagende
Ngbaka Gbaya
Native to	Democratic Republic of Congo
Native speakers	1.02 million (2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Savannas Gbaya Eastern Gbanu–Ngbaka Ngbaka
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nga
Glottolog	ngba1285

Ngbaka (Ngbàkà) is a Gbaya language spoken by just over a million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a regionally important language, used by the Gilima, Ngbundu, Mbandja and Mono peoples, and is taught in primary schools; 10% are literate in Ngbaka.

Ngbaka is a common local ethnic name; the language may be distinguished from other languages called "Ngbaka" as Ngbaka Gbaya or Ngbaka Minagende.

There are no significant dialectal differences within Ngbaka, and it may be mutually intelligible with members of the Manza dialect cluster.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋ͡m
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Implosive	voiced	ɓ	ɗ			ɠ͡ɓ
	voiceless					ɠ̊͡ɓ̥
	prenasal					ᵑᵐɠ͡ɓ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s				h
	voiced	v	z
	prenasal		ⁿz
Trill			(r)
Tap		ⱱ	ɺ
Approximant			l	j		w

• The trill /r/ mainly occurs in ideophones, in both initial and final position. When it occurs in loanwords, it is often pronounced as a lateral [l].
• The glottal stop /ʔ/ mostly occurs before word-initial vowels.
• Sounds /ŋ͡m, ʔ, h, w/, do not appear in intervocalic position.
• /ŋ/ does not appear in word-initial position
• The fricative /f/ can be pronounced in the western dialects as a voiceless stop [p].
• The voiceless stop /k/ can be pronounced as a voiced stop [ɡ] in the western dialects.

Vowels

	Oral vowels			Nasal vowels
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː	ĩ		ũ
Close-mid	e eː		o oː
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː	ɛ̃		ɔ̃
Open		a aː			ã

Writing system

Alphabet ngbaka

Uppercase
A	B	ʼB	D	ʼD	E	Ɛ	F	G	Gb	H	I	K	Kp	L	M	N	Ng	Ngg	O	Ɔ	S	T	U	V	W	Z
Lowercase
a	b	ʼb	d	ʼd	e	ɛ	f	g	gb	h	i	k	kp	l	m	n	ng	ngg	o	ɔ	s	t	u	v	w	z

Nasalisation is indicated with a tilde on the vowel : ⟨ã, ɛ̃, ĩ, ɔ̃, ũ⟩.

The tones of the syllables are shown with diacritics to prevent ambiguity :

• the high tone is indicated with the acute accent : ⟨á, é, ɛ́, í, ó, ɔ́, ú, ã́, ɛ̃́, ĩ́, ɔ̃́, ṹ⟩ ;
• the low tone is indicated with the grave accent  : ⟨à, è, ɛ̀, ì, ò, ɔ̀, ù, ã̀, ɛ̃̀, ĩ̀, ɔ̃̀, ũ̀⟩ ;
• the following tones are not usually indicated in the spelling but may be indicated in some linguistic works :
  • the medium tone with the vertical line above : ⟨a̍, e̍, ɛ̍, i̍, o̍, ɔ̍, u̍, ã̍, ɛ̃̍, ĩ̍, ɔ̃̍, ũ̍⟩ ;
  • the falling tone with the circumflex accent : ⟨â, ê, ɛ̂, î, ô, ɔ̂, ã̂, ɛ̃̂, ĩ̂, ɔ̃̂, ũ̂⟩ ;
  • the rising tone with the caron/hacek : ⟨ǎ, ě, ɛ̌, ǐ, ǒ, ɔ̌, ã̌, ɛ̃̌, ĩ̌, ɔ̃̌, ũ̌⟩.

External links

• Ngbaka at Ghent University