Njebi language
Appearance
(Redirected from Ndzabi)
Njebi | |
---|---|
Yinjebi | |
Native to | Gabon, Republic of Congo |
Ethnicity | Banjabi, Bongo |
Native speakers | 140,000 (2000–2007)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nzb |
Glottolog | njeb1242 |
B.52 [2] |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Carte_pays_nzebi.png/220px-Carte_pays_nzebi.png)
Njebi (or Nzebi, Njabi, Ndzabi, Yinjebi, etc.) is a Bantu language spoken in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||
Affricate | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | |
voiced | β | z | (ʒ) | ||
prenasal | ᶬv | ⁿz | ⁿʒ | ||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||
Rhotic | r | ||||
Lateral | l | ||||
Approximant | w | j |
- /z/ is heard as [ʒ] when before /i/.
- /ɡ/ can be pronounced as [ɣ] or [x] in free variation.
- /b/ can be heard as an implosive [ɓ] in free variation in initial position.[3]
Vowels
[edit]Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i iː | u uː | |
Close-mid | e eː | ə | o oː |
Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
Open | a aː |
Vowel sounds may also be heard as tense in different positions.
Example
[edit]Gabonese singer SeBa's writes and sings her songs in the Njebi language.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Njebi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Marchal-Nasse, Colette (1989). De la phonologie à la morphologie du nzèbi, langue bantoue (B52) du Gabon. Université Libre de Bruxelles.
- ^ Andy Steen dit (2016-11-21). "Musique : "Kundu", le retour de SeBa". Gabonreview.com | Actualité du Gabon | (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-07.