Mabire language

Mabire
Native toChad
RegionGuéra Province
Native speakers
3 (2001)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3muj
Glottologmabi1242
ELPMabire

Mabire is a critically endangered Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Oulek village in Chad.[1]

Speakers

As of a report published in 2001, there were three living speakers of Mabire,[2] two of whom were an elderly brother and sister, named Terab and Balha, living in Oulek. The third speaker, Souleymane Dabanga, was the chief of the Mabire and lived in Katch.[3]

Classification

The Mabire language belongs to the Dangla group of Eastern Chadic, along with Dangaleat (Dangla) and Migaama (Migama).[4]

Decline

Fifty years ago, the Mabire lived in four large villages near Mount Mabire. These villages were Amdjaména, Arga, Mambire. The community disbanded following an epidemic, with the survivors assimilating into neighboring speech communities.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Mabire at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger".
  3. ^ http://www.sil.org/silewp/2012/silewp2112–004FINAL.pdf [dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Endangered Languages Project - Mabire - Mabire: A Dying Language of Chad".
  5. ^ Eric Johnson & Cameron Hamm. 2002. "Mabire: A Dying Language of Chad," SIL Electronic Working Papers 2002-002. online


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