Ndemli language explained

Ndemli
States:Cameroon
Speakers:10,000
Date:1999
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Benue–Congo
Fam4:Southern Bantoid
Fam5:Grassfields
Fam6:Narrow
Iso3:nml
Glotto:ndem1249
Glottorefname:Ndemli

Ndemli, or Bandem, is a language of Cameroon spoken primarily in the Nkam department of the Littoral Region; between Yabassi, Yingui and Nkondjock. Recent classifications such as Nurse (2003)[1] place it in with the Narrow Grassfields languages, though Ethnologue does not reflect this. Ethnologue states that it is "related to Tikar" and that "the Bandobo dialect of Tikar is very similar to Ndemli", though it is not clear if Bandobo actually is Tikar.

Phonology

!Labial!Alveolar!Palatal!Velar!Glottal
Stopvoicelessptckʔ
voicedbdɟg
prenasalizedvoicelessⁿtᶮcᵑk
prenasalizedvoicedᵐbⁿdᶮɟᵑg
Nasalmnɲŋ
Affricatevoicelesstst̠ʃ
voicedd̠ʒ
Trillr
Fricativefsɣh
Approximantwlj
! colspan="2"
FrontCentralBack
UnroundedRounded
Closei(ː)ʉ(ː)u(ː)
Close-mide(ː)ø(ː)o(ː)
Open-midɛ(ː)ɔ(ː)
Opena(ː)
There are five tones; high, mid, low, rising, and falling.

References

  1. Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson, 2003, The Bantu Languages, p 227