Njebi language

Njebi
Yinjebi
Native to	Gabon, Republic of Congo
Ethnicity	Banjabi, Bongo
Native speakers	140,000 (2000–2007)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu (Zone B) Nzebi languages (B.50) Njebi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nzb
Glottolog	njeb1242
Guthrie code	B.52[2]

Map of Gabon, with Njebi language area in gray

Njebi (or Nzebi, Njabi, Ndzabi, Yinjebi, etc.) is a Bantu language spoken in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

Phonology

Consonants

		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

	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

Gabonese singer SeBa's writes and sings her songs in the Njebi language.[4]

References

1. Njebi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Marchal-Nasse, Colette (1989). De la phonologie à la morphologie du nzèbi, langue bantoue (B52) du Gabon. Université Libre de Bruxelles.
4. Andy Steen dit (2016-11-21). "Musique : "Kundu", le retour de SeBa". Gabonreview.com | Actualité du Gabon | (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-07.