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Feʼfeʼ language

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Grassfields language spoken in Cameroon
Feʼfeʼ
Nufi, Fotouni, Bafang
Fèʼéfěʼè
Native toCameroon
RegionHaut-Nkam (Upper Nkam)
EthnicityBamileke Feʼefeʼe
Native speakersc. 140,000 (2005)
Language familyNiger–Congo?
Writing systemLatin
Language codes
ISO 639-3fmp
Glottologfefe1239

Feʼfeʼ or commonly Feʼefeʼe, also known as Nufi or Bafang (Fe'fe': Nufi), is a Bamileke language spoken in Cameroon, around the town of Bafang. It was one of the four languages selected for option at the Collège Libermann at Douala (along with Duala, Basaa and Ghɔmálá').

Writing system

Feʼfeʼ alphabet
Uppercase A B C D E Ə F G Gh H I J K L M N Ŋ O P S Sh T U Ʉ V W Y Z Zh ʼ
Lowercase a ɑ b c d e ə f g gh h i j k l m n ŋ o p s sh t u ʉ v w y z zh ʼ

Phonology

Consonants

Allophones are given in brackets.

Consonants
Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ
Plosive voiceless (p) t t͡ʃ k ʔ
voiced b d d͡ʒ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s (ʃ) x
voiced v z (ʒ) (ɣ)
Approximant (w) (l) (j)


Vowels

Vowels
Front Mid Back
High i ɨ u
Mid e (ə) o
(ɛ) (ɔ)
Low a ɑ
  1. Hyman (1972) uses /ɯ/, represented by ⟨ʉ⟩.
  2. Hyman (1972) uses /ɤ/.

Tone

Tone Low Raised-Low Mid High
Diacritic à a á
Example
Translation bag to bend over to go crazy two (2)

The language has a complex tone system, carefully described, along with other aspects of the phonology and morphology, in Hyman (1972).

References

  1. OLAC resources in and about the Feʼfeʼ language. Open Language Archives.
  2. Feʼfeʼ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. Renaud, Patrick (1979). "Le Français au Cameroun". In Valdman, A. (ed.). Le Français hors de France. Paris: Editions Honoré Champion.
  4. ^ Hyman, Larry (1972). A Phonological Study of Feʼfeʼ-Bamileke (PDF) (PhD thesis). Los Angeles: University of California.
  5. ^ Hyman 1972, p. 32.

External links

Languages of Cameroon
Official languages
Major languages
Pidgins
Indigenous languages
Sign languages
Immigrant languages
See also: General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages
Grassfields languages
Ring
Central
Southern
Western
Other
Eastern
Grassfields
Bamileke
Western
Eastern
Ngemba
Nkambe
Nun
Momo
Others


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