As a Centre Ring language of Narrow Grassfields, a subdivision of Wide Grassfields within the Southern Bantoid languages, Mmen is part of a cluster including six other languages i.e. Babanki, Bum, Kom, Kuk, Kung and Oku (Lewis 2009).
The name Mmen ([mɛn]) comes from the verb sé mwɛ̀yn [sémɣɛ̀yn] ‘to open up thick bush-covered land’ and is used by the speakers referring to both their language and their land.
Ethnologue (Lewis 2009) and ALCAM, Atlas Linguistique du Cameroon (Dieu and Renaud 1983) use the name and spelling Mmen.
Bafumen is the name of the village where the largest number of speakers is found i.e. 30 000 (Troyer, et al. 1995:8) and the name adopted by German colonizers for the area and formerly used for the language. Other villages where Mmen is spoken are Cha’, Yemgeh, Nyos, Ipalim among others.
Mmen has 9 phonemic tones. There are three level tones (high, mid, and low) and six contour tones (high-low, high-mid, mid-low, mid-high, low-mid, and low-falling).[10]
Referencesedit
^Mmen at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
mmen, language, mmen, bafmeng, grassfields, bantu, language, cameroon, mmenbafmengnative, tocameroonnative, speakers35, 2001, language, familyniger, congo, atlantic, congobenue, congosouthern, bantoidgrassfieldsringcentermmenlanguage, codesiso, href, https, is. Mmen Bafmeng is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon MmenBafmengNative toCameroonNative speakers35 000 2001 1 Language familyNiger Congo Atlantic CongoBenue CongoSouthern BantoidGrassfieldsRingCenterMmenLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code bfm class extiw title iso639 3 bfm bfm a Glottologmmen1238ELPFungomAs a Centre Ring language of Narrow Grassfields a subdivision of Wide Grassfields within the Southern Bantoid languages Mmen is part of a cluster including six other languages i e Babanki Bum Kom Kuk Kung and Oku Lewis 2009 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Phonology 2 1 Consonants 2 2 Vowels 2 2 1 Monophthongs 2 2 2 Diphthongs 2 3 Tone 3 References 4 BibliographyEtymology editThe name Mmen mɛn comes from the verb se mwɛ yn semɣɛ yn to open up thick bush covered land and is used by the speakers referring to both their language and their land Ethnologue Lewis 2009 and ALCAM Atlas Linguistique du Cameroon Dieu and Renaud 1983 use the name and spelling Mmen Bafumen is the name of the village where the largest number of speakers is found i e 30 000 Troyer et al 1995 8 and the name adopted by German colonizers for the area and formerly used for the language Other villages where Mmen is spoken are Cha Yemgeh Nyos Ipalim among others Phonology editConsonants edit Mmen has 27 phonemic consonants 2 Labial Alveolar Palato alveolar Velar Labial velarPlosive voiceless p t k a k p voiced ᵐb ⁿd ᵑg Affricate voiceless p f t s t ʃ voiced ᵐb v ⁿd z ⁿd ʒ Fricative voiceless f s ʃ voiced v z ʒ ɣ Nasal m n ɲ b ŋ Lateral l Approximant j w k is in complementary distribution with ʔ ʔ appears root medially and root finally and k appears elsewhere 3 ɲ sometimes depalatalizes to n between vowels 4 Vowels edit Monophthongs edit Mmen has 9 phonemic monophthongs 5 Front Central BackClose i u Close mid e a b e c o d Open mid ɛ ɜ ɔ Open a e optionally diphthongizes to ei 6 e optionally becomes i at the beginning of a word 6 ɨ is an optional allophone of e 7 ʊ is an optional allophone of o 8 Diphthongs edit Mmen also has six phonemic diphthongs all ending in i 9 Front Central BackClose mid ei oi Open mid ɛi ɜi ɔi Open ai Tone edit Mmen has 9 phonemic tones There are three level tones high mid and low and six contour tones high low high mid mid low mid high low mid and low falling 10 References edit Mmen at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Bjorkestedt 2010 9 Bjorkestedt 2010 11 Bjorkestedt 2010 52 Bjorkestedt 2010 31 a b Bjorkestedt 2010 32 Bjorkestedt 2010 32 33 Bjorkestedt 2010 33 Bjorkestedt 2010 36 Bjorkestedt 2010 44 Bibliography editAgha ah Chiatoh Blasius April 1993 The Noun Class System of Mmen post graduate diploma thesis University of Yaounde Agha Grace Beh September 1987 The Phonology of Mmen post graduate diploma thesis University of Yaounde Bangha George F 2003 The Mmen Noun Phrase Thesis hdl 11858 00 001M 0000 0012 7FC1 6 Bjorkestedt Lena 2010 A Phonological Sketch of the Mmen Language PDF CABTAL Archived from the original PDF on 2018 03 16 Bjorkestedt Lena 2011 Mmen Orthography Guide SIL Huey Paul Mbongue Joseph Troyer Duane May 1995 A rapid appraisal survey of Mmen ALCAM 821 and Aghem dialects ALCAM 810 Menchum Division Northwest Province Report SIL Cameroon nbsp This article about Grassfields Bantu languages is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mmen language amp oldid 1209649665, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
