Mbaka
Ngbaka Ma'bo
Native toCAR, Republic of Congo
EthnicityM'Baka
Native speakers
(200,000 cited 1984–2000)[1]
Ubangian
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
nbm – Ngbaka Ma’bo
gix – Gilima
Glottologbwak1244

The Mbaka or Bwaka language, Ngbaka Ma'bo (also called Gbaka, Ma'bo, Ngbwaka, Ngbaka Limba) is a major Ubangian language spoken by the Mbaka people of CAR and Congo.

It's not clear how distinct the Gilima variety is, or whether it should be considered a separate language. It does have its own ISO 639-3 code.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lab.
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t k k͡p ʔ
voiced b d ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑᵐɡ͡b
implosive ɓ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced v z
prenasal ⁿz
Approximant l j w

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i (ĩ) u (ũ)
Close-mid e ẽ o õ
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a ã

[2][3]

References

  1. ^ Ngbaka Ma’bo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Gilima at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ van de Weijer, Jeroen (1994). Stem Consonant Cooccurrence Restrictions in Ngbaka. Linguistics in the Netherlands 11: Dutch Linguistics Association (Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap). pp. 256–266.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ Thomas, Jacqueline M. C. (1963). Le parler Ngbaka de Bokanga: phonologie, morphologie, syntaxe. Paris, The Hague: Paris: Paillart.


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