Maba language
| Maba | |
|---|---|
| buraa mabaŋ بُرَا مَبَݝ | |
| Native to | Chad[1] |
| Region | Ouaddaï, Wadi Fira |
| Ethnicity | Maba |
Native speakers | 570,000 (2019)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Arabic script Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mde |
| Glottolog | maba1277 |
Maba (Maban, Mabang, or Bura Mabang) is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban branch spoken in Chad and Sudan. It is divided into several dialects, and serves as a local trade language. Maba is closely related to the Masalit language.[2] Most speakers of Maba reside in Chad with 542,000 speakers as of 2019. In 2022 there were 28,000 speakers in Sudan where the language is known as Sulaihab.[1]
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
- /ɛ, ɛː/ and /ɔ, ɔː/ may be realized as more close [e, eː] and [o, oː], when found in open syllable positions.
- Vowels may also be marginally realized as nasal when in nasal environments.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Stop | voiceless | (p) | t | (ʈ) | c | k | |
| voiced | b | d | (ɖ) | ɟ | g | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | (ᶯɖ) | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | (h) | ||
| voiced | (z) | ||||||
| Rhotic | ɾ | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
- Stop sounds /b, t, k/ are heard as unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚] when in word-final position.
- Sounds [p, h] are heard mostly as a result of loanwords. [z] is also mostly from Arabic loanwords, but also may occur in some native words as well.
- /t, d, ⁿd/ when preceding a tap /ɾ/, are then heard as retroflex [ʈ, ɖ, ᶯɖ].
- /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill [r] in free variation.[3]
Orthography
Maba language is written with the Latin and Arabic Chad Alphabet.
| A a | B b | C c | Ch ch | D d | Dr dr | E e (Ɛ ɛ) | F f | G g | H h | I i | J j | K k | Kh kh | L l | M m | Mb mb |
| [a] | [b] | [c] | [ʃ] | [d] | [ɖ] | [ɛ] | [f] | [g] | [h] | [i] | [ɟ] | [k] | [x] | [l] | [m] | [ᵐb] |
| N n | N̰ n̰ | Nd nd | Ndr ndr | Nj nj | Ŋ ŋ | Ng ng | O o (Ɔ ɔ) | Pp | R r | S s | T t | Tr tr | U u | W w | Y y | Z z |
| [n] | [ɲ] | [ⁿd] | [ᶯɖ] | [ᶮɟ] | [ŋ] | [ᵑɡ] | [ɔ] | [p] | [ɾ] ([r]) | [s] | [t] | [ʈ] | [u] | [w] | [j] | [z] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
أ إ ( - ) [∅]/[ʔ] |
ب (B b) [b] |
پ (P p) [p] |
ت (T t) [t] |
ث (T t) [t] |
ج (J j) [ɟ] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ڃ (Nj nj) [ᶮɟ] |
چ (C c) [c] |
ح (H h) [h] |
خ (Kh kh) [x] |
د (D d) [d] |
ڊ (Nd nd) [ⁿd] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ذ (S s) [s] |
ر (R r) [ɾ] ([r]) |
ڔ (Dr dr) [ɖ] |
ز (Z z) [z] |
ڗ (Tr tr) [ʈ] |
ژ (Ndr Ndr) [ᶯɖ] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
س (S s) [s] |
ش (Ch ch) [ʃ] |
ص (S s) [s] |
ض (D d) [d] |
ط (T t) [t] |
ظ (Z z) [z] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ع ( - ) [ʔ] |
غ (Kh kh) [x] |
ݝ (Ŋ ŋ) [ŋ] |
ڠ (Ng ng) [ᵑɡ] |
ف (F f) [f] |
ق (G g) [g] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ك (K k) [k] |
ل (L l) [l] |
م (M m) [m] |
ݦ (Mb mb) [ᵐb] |
ن (N n) [n] |
ݧ (N̰ n̰) [ɲ] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ه (H h) [h] |
و (W w) [w] |
ؤ ( - ) [ʔ] |
ي (Y y) [j] |
ئ ( - ) [ʔ] |
| A | E (Ɛ) | I | O (Ɔ) | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَ | أٚ | إِ | أٛ | أُ |
| Aa | Ee (Ɛɛ) | Ii | Oo (Ɔɔ) | Uu |
| آ | أٚيـ | إِيـ | أٛو | أُو |
| a | e (ɛ) | i | o (ɔ) | u | ∅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َ | ◌ٚ | ◌ِ | ◌ٛ | ◌ُ | ◌ْ |
| aa | ee (ɛɛ) | ii | oo (ɔɔ) | uu | |
| ◌َا / ـَا | ◌ٚيـ / ـٚيـ ◌ٚي / ـٚي |
◌ِيـ / ـِيـ ◌ِي / ـِي |
ٛ◌و / ـٛو | ◌ُو / ـُو |
References
- ^ a b c Maba at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ "Maba". Ethnologue. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Weiss, Doris (2009). Phonologie et morphosyntaxe du Maba. Université Lumière - Lyon II.
- ^ Maass, Antje; Mahamat, Abdoulaye Issaakha; Ali, Ousman Timsa; Adam, Duudeen Ali (2017) [2000]. Buraa mabaŋnu jiŋ ger mirni! (Kitab 1) (in Maba) (3 ed.). N’Djaména: SIL Tchad. (PDF Archived 2024-04-18 at the Wayback Machine dead link)
- ^ Oumar, Alkassim; Hicham, Fathimat Al-Zahra; Dahab, Abdoulaye Ali; Ali, Ousman Timsa; Zürcher, Evodie; Weiss, Doris (2007) [2000]. بُرَا مَبَݝْنُ، جِݝ قٚر مِرْنِ! (كِتَب ١) (Buraa mabaŋnu jiŋ ger mirni! (Kitab 1)) (in Maba) (4 ed.). N’Djaména: SIL Tchad.
Further reading
- "Mabaan dictionary" (PDF). Roger Blench. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-04-17.
- Weiss, Doris (2009). Phonologie et morphosyntaxe du Maba [Phonology and Morphology of Maba] (Thesis). Université Lumière - Lyon II. HAL tel-01540280. Archived from the original on 2024-04-18.
† indicates the language is no longer written using Arabic | |
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