Massa language

Massa
Masana
Native to Chad, Cameroon
Native speakers
(230,000 cited 1982–2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mcn
Glottolog masa1322  Manasa[2]
gize1234  Gizey[3]
hama1241  Ham[4]

Massa (or Masana, Masa) is a Chadic language spoken in southern Chad and northern Cameroon by the Masa people. It has approximately 200,000 speakers.

Dialects are Bongor, Bugudum (Budugum), Domo, Gizay, Gumay, Ham, Walia, Wina (Viri), Yagwa.

Kim, a neighbouring language, was once misclassified as Masa.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Lateral Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s ɬ h
voiced v z ɮ ɦ
Nasal m n ŋ
Trill r
Approximant w l j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

[5]

References

  1. Massa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Manasa". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Gizey". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Ham". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. De Dominicis, Amedeo (2001). The Masa tonal system. University of Tuscia, Viterbo (Italy).


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