Mbe is a language spoken by the Mbube people of the Ogoja, Cross River State region of Nigeria, numbering about 65,000 people in 2011.[1] As the closest relative of the Ekoid family of the Southern Bantoid languages,[3] Mbe is fairly close to the Bantu languages. It is tonal and has a typical Niger–Congo noun-class system.
| Mbe | |
|---|---|
| M̀bè | |
| Pronunciation | [m̀bè] |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Ogoja, Cross River State |
| Ethnicity | Mbube people |
Native speakers | 65,000 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mfo |
| Glottolog | mbee1249 |
| People | Mbube[2] |
|---|---|
| Language | M̀bè |
Phonology
editVowels
editVowels are i e ɛ a ɔ o u.
Consonants
editMbe has a rather elaborate consonant inventory compared to the Ekoid languages, presumably due to contact from neighbouring Upper Cross River languages.
All Mbe consonants apart from the labial–velars (kp ɡb w) and n have labialised counterparts. (/jʷ/ is presumably [ɥ].) In addition, the non-labialised peripheral stops (m p b k ɡ; palatalised ŋ would be ɲ) and the liquids (l r) have palatalised counterparts.
| m mʷ mʲ | n | ɲ ɲʷ | ŋ ŋʷ | |
| p pʷ pʲ | t tʷ | k kʷ̜ kʷ̹ kʲ | kp | |
| b bʷ bʲ | d dʷ | ɡ ɡʷ ɡʲ | ɡb | |
| ts tsʷ | tʃ tʃʷ | |||
| dz dzʷ | dʒ dʒʷ | |||
| f fʷ | s sʷ | ʃ ʃʷ | ||
| r rʷ lʲ | ||||
| l lʷ lʲ | j jʷ | w |
There are a few consonants that only occur in ideophones, such as /fʲ hʲ/.
An interesting additional contrast is between fortis and lenis /kʷ/. Fortis (long?) /kʷ̹/ half-rounds a following vowel such as /e/, whereas lenis /kʷ̜/ does not. This distinction may be being lost. (Blench)
Tone
editTones are high, low, rising, falling and a downstep; rising and falling may be tone sequences.
References
edit- Roger Blench, 'Ekoid' (with Mbe)
- ^ a b Mbe at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Ekoid–Mbe". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.