Mbuʼ language

Mbuʼ
Ajumbu
Native to	Cameroon
Native speakers	200 (2011)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Western Beboid (geographic) Ajumbu–Lung Mbuʼ
Language codes
ISO 639-3	muc
Glottolog	mbuu1238
ELP	Ajumbu

Mbuʼ, or Ajumbu, is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon. It is traditionally classified as a Western Beboid language, but that has not been demonstrated to be a valid family. Inasmuch as Western Beboid may be valid, Mbuʼ would appear to be the most divergent of its languages.

"Mbuʼ" is the name of the village the language is spoken in.

Phonology

Mbu' Consonant phonemes[2]

		Labial	Dental	Palatal		Velar		Glottal
				Plain	Labialized	Plain	Labial
Nasal		m	n̪	ɲ		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless		t̪			k	kp	ʔ
	voiced	b	d̪			g	gb
Affricate	voiceless		t̪s̪	tʃ
	voiced		d̪z̪	dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s̪	ʃ
	voiced	v	z̪	ʒ		ɣ
Approximant			l̪	j	ɥ		w

Mbu' Vowel Phonemes[2]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y	ɨ	u
Mid	e ɛ	ə	o ɔ
Open		a

There are three tones; high, mid, and low.

References

1. Mbuʼ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Good, Jeff and Lovegren, Jesse and Mve, Jean Patrick and Tchiemouo, Nganguep Carine and Voll, Rebecca and Di Carlo, Pierpaolo. 2011. The languages of the Lower Fungom region of Cameroon: Grammatical overview. Africana Linguistica 17. 101–164.

• Blench, Roger, 2011. 'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu'. Bantu IV, Humboldt University, Berlin.
• Good, Jeff, & Jesse Lovegren. 2009. 'Reassessing Western Beboid'. Bantu III.
• Good, Jeff, & Scott Farrar. 2008. 'Western Beboid and African language classification'. LSA.

External links

• ELAR archive of Ajumbu language documentation materials