Matengo language
| Matengo | |
|---|---|
| Chimatengo | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity | Matengo people |
Native speakers | (150,000 cited 1987)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mgv |
| Glottolog | mate1258 |
N.13[2] | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-rc |
Matengo is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Speakers are mostly monolingual, and neighboring languages are not intelligible.
Matengo language is relatively related to Ngoni language in that the two have similar history of origin.
Phonology
[edit]The phonological inventry in Matengo contains 24 consonants and 7 vowels.
Vowels
[edit]Matengo has a seven-vowel system, and each vowel has a phonemic length contrast.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ | /u/ | |
| Close mid | /e/ | /o/ | |
| Open mid | /ɛ/ | /ɔ/ | |
| Open | /a/ |
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | /p/ [p] | /t/ [t] | /k/ [k] | ||
| voiced | /b/ [b~ɓ] | /g/ [g~ɣ] | ||||
| Fricative | /s/ [s] | /h/ [h] | ||||
| Affriactive | /dʒ/ [dʒ~dz] | |||||
| Nasal | /m/ [m] | /n/ [n] | /ɲ/ [ɲ] | /ŋ/ [ŋ] | ||
| Liquid | /l/ [l~d] | |||||
| Approximant | /w/ [w~u] | /j/ [j~i] | ||||
Further reading
[edit]- Yoneda Nobuko (2026) "マテンゴ語 (Matengo Language)". Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. ISBN 978-4-8011-1035-9
References
[edit]- ^ Matengo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Yoneda (2026:13)
- ^ Yoneda (2026:15)
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