| Ewondo | |
| Also Known As: | Beti |
| Region: | Cameroon |
| Date: | 1982 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu (Zone A) |
| Fam8: | Beti |
| Minority: | Cameroon |
| Iso2: | ewo |
| Iso3: | ewo |
| Glotto: | ewon1239 |
| Glottorefname: | Ewondo |
| Guthrie: | A.72 |
Ewondo or Beti is a Bantu language spoken by the Beti people (more precisely Beti be Nanga, the people of the forest, or simply Beti) of Cameroon. The language had 577,700 native speakers in 1982. Ewondo is a trade language. Dialects include Badjia (Bakjo), Bafeuk, Bemvele (Mvele, Yezum, Yesoum), Bane, Beti, Enoah, Evouzom, Mbida-Bani, Mvete, Mvog-Niengue, Omvang, Yabekolo (Yebekolo), Yabeka, and Yabekanga. Ewondo speakers live primarily in Cameroon's Centre Region and the northern part of the Océan division in the South Region.
Ewondo is a Bantu language. It is a language of the Beti people, and is intelligible with Eton.
In 2011 there was a concern among Cameroonian linguists that the language was being displaced in the country by French.[1]
Ewondo (Beti) covers the whole of the departments of Mfoundi, Mefou-et-Afamba, Mefou-et-Akono, Nyong-et-So'o, Nyong-et-Mfoumou (Central Region), and part of Océan Department (Southern Region).[2]
The Ewondo language originated in the forests south of the Sanaga river.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |
| Uppercase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | Gb | L | N | Ŋ | U | Ts | Y | Z | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowercase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | b | d | dz | e | ə | ɛ | f | g | gb | h | i | k | kp | l | m | mb | mgb | mv | n | nd | ndz | ng | ny | ŋ | o | ɔ | p | r | u | t | ts | s | v | w | y | z | |
| Phonemes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | b | d | d͡z | e | ə | ɛ | f | ɡ | ɡ͡b | h | i | k | k͡p | l | m | m͡b | mɡ͡b | ɱ͡v | n | n͡d | nd͡z | ŋ͡ɡ | ɲ | ŋ | o | ɔ | p | r | u | t | t͡s | s | v | w | j | z | |
The tones are indicated with diacritics on the vowels: