Maba language

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Wikipedia

Maba
buraa mabaŋ
بُرَا مَبَݝ‎
Native toChad[1]
RegionOuaddaï, Wadi Fira
EthnicityMaba
Native speakers
570,000 (2019)[1]
Dialects
  • Maba
  • Kodroy
  • Kabartu
  • Kondongo
Arabic script
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3mde
Glottologmaba1277

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.

Maba Latin alphabet [4]
A aB bC cCh chD dDr drE e (Ɛ ɛ) F fG gH hI iJ jK kKh khL lM mMb mb
[a][b][c][ʃ][d][ɖ][ɛ][f][g][h][i][ɟ][k][x][l][m][ᵐb]
N nN̰ n̰Nd ndNdr ndrNj njŊ ŋNg ngO o (Ɔ ɔ)Pp R rS sT tTr trU uW wY yZ z
[n][ɲ][ⁿd][ᶯɖ][ᶮɟ][ŋ][ᵑɡ][ɔ][p][ɾ] ([r])[s][t][ʈ][u][w][j][z]
Maba Arabic alphabet[5]
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]
Vowel at beginning of word
AE (Ɛ)IO (Ɔ)U
أَ‎ أٚ‎ إِ‎ أٛ‎ أُ‎
AaEe (Ɛɛ)IiOo (Ɔɔ)Uu
آ‎ أٚيـ‎ إِيـ‎ أٛو‎ أُو‎
Vowel at middle and end of word
ae (ɛ)io (ɔ)u∅
◌َ‎ ◌ٚ‎ ◌ِ‎ ◌ٛ‎ ◌ُ‎ ◌ْ‎
aaee (ɛɛ)iioo (ɔɔ)uu
◌َا / ـَا‎ ◌ٚيـ / ـٚيـ‎
◌ٚي / ـٚي‎		 ◌ِيـ / ـِيـ‎
◌ِي / ـِي‎		 ٛ◌و / ـٛو‎ ◌ُو / ـُو‎

References

  1. 1 2 3 Maba at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ "Maba". Ethnologue. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Weiss, Doris (2009). Phonologie et morphosyntaxe du Maba. Université Lumière - Lyon II.
  4. ↑ 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)
  5. ↑ 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

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