scholarly journals Kejom (Babanki)

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Matthew Faytak ◽  
Pius W. Akumbu
Keyword(s):  
Central Ring ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Northwest Region ◽  
Fluent Speakers

Kejom [k̀ɘd͡ʒɔ́m], the preferred autonym for the language more commonly known as Babanki, is a Central Ring Grassfields Bantu language (ISO 693-3: [bbk]) spoken in the Northwest Region of Cameroon (Hyman 1980, Hammarström et al. 2017, Simons & Fennig 2017). The language is spoken mainly in two settlements shown in Figure 1, Kejom Ketinguh [k̀ɘd͡ʒɔ́m ↓kɘ́tÍⁿɡ̀uʔ] and Kejom Keku [k̀ɘd͡ʒɔ́m ↓kɘ́k̀u], also known as Babanki Tungoh and Big Babanki, respectively, but also to some extent in diaspora communities outside of Cameroon. Simons & Fennig (2017) state that the number of speakers is increasing; however, the figure of 39,000 speakers they provide likely overestimates the number of fluent speakers in diaspora communities. The two main settlements’ dialects exhibit slight phonetic, phonological, and lexical differences but are mutually intelligible. The variety of Kejom described here is the Kejom Ketinguh variant spoken by the second author; all data and examples which we take into account are based on his speech.

scholarly journals On the aspectual system of Wushi (Babessi), a Ring Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Liliane Hodieb
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Time ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Past Tenses

One of the characteristics of Bantu languages, including Grassfields Bantu languages, is their multiple time distinctions. Within the Ring Grassfields group, multiple tenses are also well attested. For example, Aghem has three past and two future tenses (Anderson 1979), Babanki has four past tenses and three future tenses (Akumbu & Fogwe 2012), as well as Lamnso’ (Yuka 2012). Oku has three past tenses and two future tenses (Nforbi 1993) and Babungo has four past and two future tenses (Schaub 1985). These tenses represent different degrees of remoteness in time such as hordienal, immediate, distant, etc. However, in spite of the indisputable lexical unity of Ring Grassfields Bantu languages (Stallcup 1980; Piron 1997), Wushi strikingly stands apart: it does not mark tense morphologically. As a matter of fact, the aspectual system of Wushi is based on five aspects: perfective, imperfective, retrospective or anterior, potential, and the distal or dissociative marker kə̀ that is analyzed in the light of Botne & Kershner (2008). This paper sets out to analyze these verb forms.

scholarly journals The conditional mood in Ghomálaʼ

2017 ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
Gaston Bessala ◽  
Francine Moguo
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Western Region ◽  
Focus Particle ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Western Region ◽  
Past Tenses

This paper sets out to examine the conditional mood in Ghɔmálá’, a Grassfields Bantu language spoken in the Western Region of Cameroon. This article shows that the elements used to build conditionals can play other roles in the language; they can play the role of focus particle, relativizer and even copula. Two main conditional markers are used in Ghɔmálá’ and are found at clause initial position. Contrary to other languages where the future and present tenses express unreal conditionals and past tenses express reality conditionals, Ghɔmálá’ uses past tenses for unreality conditionals and present and future tenses for reality conditionals. Conditionals in Ghɔmálá’ have many pragmatic uses and their use must be judicious due to the numerous functions they assume.

scholarly journals Babanki verb tone

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-26
Author(s):  
Pius W. Akumbu
Keyword(s):  
High Tone ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Phonological Rule ◽  
Tonal Patterns ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Tonal System

In Babanki, a Grassfields Bantu language of northwestern Cameroon, several tonal patterns can be found on a single verb root depending on the construction in which the verb is used. An underlying high tone may surface normally as high, but unexpectedly as low, or high-falling; while underlying low tones surface as high, high-falling, or normally as low. For this reason the low tone verb can have a L(L), HL, or even H(H) surface melody while the high tone verbs can be L(H), HL, or H(H). Accounting for these melodies in order to reconstruct the underlying forms is necessary for a proper understanding of the Babanki verb tone in particular and the tonal system of Centre Ring Grassfields Bantu languages in general. This paper demonstrates that five tone rules (Downstep, Tone Docking, High Tone Spread, Low Tone Spread, and Upstep) and one phonological rule (Schwa Insertion) are required to account for the complex tonal system of Babanki verbs.

scholarly journals Uncovering Tonal and Temporal Correlates of Phrasal Prominence in Medʉmba

2019 ◽  
pp. 002383091988799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Franich
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Relative Timing ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Temporal Alignment ◽  
Tone Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Tonal Patterns ◽  
Prosodic Boundaries ◽  
Phonological Phrase

Characterizing prosodic prominence relations in African tone languages is notoriously difficult, as typical acoustic cues to prominence (changes in F0, increases in intensity, etc.) can be difficult to distinguish from those which mark tonal contrasts. The task of establishing prominence is further complicated by the fact that tone, an important cue to syllable prominence and prosodic boundaries cross-linguistically, plays many roles in African languages: tones often signal lexical contrasts, can themselves be morphemes, and can also interact in key ways with prosody. The present study builds on phonological generalizations about tonal patterns in Medʉmba, a Grassfields Bantu language, and uses the speech cycling paradigm to investigate relative timing of syllables varying in phrase-level prominence. Specifically, we investigate timing asymmetries between syllables hypothesized to occur at the edge of a phonological phrase, which carry a high phrase accent, and those in phrase-medial position, which do not. Results indicate significant differences in the temporal alignment of accented versus non-accented syllables, with accented syllables occurring significantly closer to positions established as prominence-attracting in previous speech cycling research. We show that these findings cannot be attributed to differences in tone alone. Findings demonstrate the importance of relative temporal alignment as a correlate of prosodic prominence. Findings also point to increased duration as a phonetic property which distinguishes between syllables bearing phrasal prominence from those which do not.

scholarly journals An argument analysis of cognate objects in Dschang (Yemba)

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 913
Author(s):  
Zhuo Chen ◽  
Blake Lehman
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Argument Analysis ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Wh Questions

Focusing on the Foto dialect of Dschang (Yemba), an understudied Grassfields Bantu language spoken in Cameroon, this paper offers a cross-linguistic perspective on Cognate Objects (CO). An argument analysis of Dschang COs is supported by both cross-linguistic comparison, e.g. forms of corresponding wh-questions, the compatibility with strong determiners, quantifiers and possessors, and the ability to be pronominalized and relativized, and Dschang-internal evidence including word order variations and tonal marking in object position.

scholarly journals NCs in Moghamo prenasalized onsets or heterosyllabic clusters

1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-165
Author(s):  
Roderic F. Casali
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Grassfields Bantu

This paper is concerned with the analysis of nasal-plus-oral-stop sequences in Moghamo, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon. Although Stallcup [1978] tentatively analyzed these sequences as heterosyllabic clusters, the evidence suggests that they are actually prenasalized syllable onsets. First, the distribution of NCs closely parallels that of unambiguous onsets: they occur both initially and medially in words of several grammatical categories. Instances of unambiguous heterosyllabic clusters, by contrast, are rare. Second, while the nasal portion of noun-initial NCs was historically a prefix, it appears to be part of the root synchronically. Third, the nasal portion of an Niger-Congo does not appear to be phonologically tone-bearing. Finally, the contention that NCs are on-sets is supported by native speaker intuitions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document