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The Bambalang language, also called Chrambo (Chirambo, Tshirambo) or Mbawyakum (Mboyakum), is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Phonology

Consonants

These phones and phonemes were enumerated by Grove in 2007 and refined by Wright in 2012.

1. [ʔ] is the allophone of /k/ in a CVCV structure.
2. [b] is an always prenasalized allophone of /p/.
3. [d] is an always prenasalized allophone of /l/.
4. [d͡ʒ] is an allophone of /j/ before /n/.
5. [g] is an allophone of /ɣ/ after a nasal.
6. [ɾ] is an allophone of /l/ in a consonant cluster or a CVCV structure.
7. [ɱ] is an allophone of /m/ before labiodental consonants.
8. [ɥ] is an allophone of /w/ before /i/.

Vowels

Diphthongs

In addition to simple oral and nasal vowels, Bambalang also has oral and nasal diphthongs and vowel sequences. Grove and Wright do not specify whether nasal diphthongs are truly diphthongs or vowel sequences.

Tone

In addition, Bambalang has both lexical and grammatical tone.

Tones in Bambalang

*ā for verbs; à for other types of words

Orthography

A segmental orthography was created for Bambalang in 2007 and revised in 2012.

References

1. Bambalang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Binam Bikoi (2012)
3. Grove & Wright (2012:5–8)
4. Grove & Wright (2012:15)
5. ^ Grove & Wright (2012:16)
6. Grove & Wright (2012:3)
7. Grove & Wright (2012:5–7)

Works Cited

• 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.
• Grove, Dan; Wright, Jennifer (June 2012). "Bambalang (Chrambo) Orthography Guide" (PDF) (Revised ed.). SIL.

Further reading

• Ayafor, Vera. The Structural Phonology of Cirambo (Thesis). Yaoundé: University of Yaoundé I.
• Luider, Jennifer (December 2009). "A Phonological Sketch of the Bambalang (Chrambo) Language" (PDF). SIL.
• Wright, Jennifer (2009). "The Noun and Verb Phrase in Chrambo (Bambalang)" (PDF). SIL.
• Wright, Jennifer (2011). "Tone in the Verb Phrase in Chrambo (Bambalang)" (PDF). SIL.
• Wright, Jennifer (June 2012). "Testing and Revising a Tone Orthography Proposal for Chrambo (Bambalang)" (PDF). SIL.

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