Massa language

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.

Massa
Masana
Native toChad, Cameroon
Native speakers
(230,000 cited 1982–2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mcn
Glottologmasa1322  Masana[2]
gize1234  Gizey[3]
hama1241  Ham[4]

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 tʃ k ʔ
voiced b d dʒ 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). "Masana". 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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