A Grammar of Mambay

An Adamawa Language of Chad and Cameroon

Author: Erik John Anonby. Series edited by: Roger M. Blench.

Series: KWEF Kay Williamson Educational Foundation – African Languages Monographs Volume 4

2011
22 pp. Roman, 571 pp.
2 maps, 1 dendrogram, 2 sonagrams, 25 b/w photos, 1 figure, 44 tables, numerous charts
Text language(s): English
Format: 170 x 240 mm
1100 g
Paperback
€ 69.80

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This book provides a window into the lives and language of the Mambay, a group of 15,000 people on the banks of the Kebbi River in south-western Chad and north-western Cameroon.

The study first situates the Mambay language, a member of the Adamawa-Ubangi division of Niger-Congo, within its historical and sociolinguistic context. This is followed by a thorough description of the phonology, where special consideration is given to nasality and an underlyingly two-level tone system exhibiting downstep as well as pragmatic employment of intonational register shift.

Other striking phenomena include a profoundly phonologized labial flap and a rich vowel inventory with contrastive length, nasalization, glottalization and pharyngealization. In the discussion of morphology, attention is dedicated to a pervasive “free vs. linked” distinction in noun forms and a series of innovative noun prefixes unrelated to wider Niger-Congo noun class prefixes. Additional highlights include logophoric pronouns, a rich system of TAM (tense/aspect/mood) inflection marked on both pronouns and verbs, and an array of ideophones generated by morphological templates.

A section on clauses and clause combinations concludes the grammar, situating word classes within the context of syntax and discourse. Inter­linearized texts rich in cultural detail are presented from a variety of genres: song, legend, fable and proverb.

Table of contents

Five interlinearized Mambay Texts (see PDF documents below)

As a complement of the grammar, a Dictionnaire Mambay–Français has been published in the same series, see the link below.

Under cross-references you will find further analyses of Adamawa languages and cultures, as well as contributions to paper collections:

Accompanying material:

• A Study of Mambila – Emmi Meyer’s Mambila-Studie (ISBN 978-3-89645-234-4)
• Afrikanische Sprachen im Fokus (ISBN 978-3-89645-196-5)
• Contes des Bakas (Sud-Est Cameroun) (ISBN 978-3-89645-272-6)
• Dictionnaire mambay-français. Index français-mambay (ISBN 978-3-89645-430-0)
• Die Sprache der Fali in Nordkamerun (ISBN 978-3-89645-561-1)
• Historical Perspectives on Chamba Daka (ISBN 978-3-927620-47-6)
• Linguistische Beschreibung des Kolbila (ISBN 978-3-89645-569-7)

Cross-reference:

• Vorkoloniale Geschichte und Expansion der Avungara-Azande (ISBN 978-3-89645-209-2)

PDF documents:

Five interlinearized Mambay Texts

(≈ 602 kB)

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