The Fanji language, Chuufiè (chufieʼ), is a Grassfields Bantu language and the language of the Bafanji people in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.[1][2] There are approximately 17,000 speakers. The language has a rich system of tonal morphology, including reduplication involving adjectives.
Bafanji speakers, who number 8,500, call their language Chuufi. It is spoken south of Ndop in Ngoketunjia Department, Northwest Region. It is closely related to Bamali, Mengambo, and Bambalang.[3]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | Plain | p | t | t͡ʃ | c͡ç | k |
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡ʃʰ | c͡çʰ | kʰ | |
| Prenasalised[1] | ᵐb | ⁿd | ⁿd͡ʒ | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | |
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ʃ | ç | |
| Voiced | z | ɣ | ||||
| Approximant | Central | j | w | |||
| Lateral | l | ʎ | ||||
- ^ The prenasalised stops may also be considered voiced with redundant prenasalisation.
References
- ^ a b Fanji at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Silverman (1995:57)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Silverman (1995:58)
- Silverman, Daniel (1995), "Optional, conditional, and obligatory prenasalization in Bafanji", Journal of West African Languages, 25: 57–62
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This page was last edited on 9 February 2024, at 07:53