| Ewondo | |
|---|---|
| Beti | |
| Region | Cameroon |
Native speakers | (580,000 cited 1982)[1] |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | Cameroon |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | ewo |
| ISO 639-3 | ewo |
| Glottolog | ewon1239 |
A.72[2] | |
Ewondo or Beti is the language of 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.[3]
Distribution[edit]
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).[4]
History[edit]
The Ewondo language originated in the forests south of the Sanaga river.
Phonology[edit]
Consonants[edit]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | k͡p | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ᵑᵐɡ͡b | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | |||||
| voiced | d͡z | ||||||
| prenasal | ⁿd͡z | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | z | |||||
| prenasal | ᶬv | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
Vowels[edit]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Alphabet system[edit]
| Uppercase | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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:
- the high tone is indicated with an acute accent: á é ə́ ɛ́ í ó ɔ́ ú;
- the mid tone is indicated with a macron: ā ē ə̄ ɛ̄ ī ō ɔ̄ ū;
- the low tone, the most frequent tone, is indicated by the absence of diacritics: a e ə ɛ i o ɔ u;
- the rising tone is indicated with a caron: ǎ ě ə̌ ɛ̌ ǐ ǒ ɔ̌ ǔ;
- the falling tone is indicated with a circumflex: â ê ə̂ ɛ̂ î ô ɔ̂ û.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Ewondo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ http://quotidien.mutations-multimedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2962:patrimoine-la-langue-ewondo-a-son-dictionnaire&catid=58:news&Itemid=415[permanent dead link]
- ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Owona, Antoine (2004). L'orthographe harmonisée de l'ewondo. Université de Yaoundé.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
