Mangree language
Mangree | |
---|---|
Region | West Africa |
Niger–Congo ?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
Glottolog | mang1422 |
Mangree (pronunciation approximately [maŋɡreː]) is a poorly attested, unclassified, and extinct language of the interior of West Africa, possibly from what is now
Location
The Mangree were reported to live adjacent to the Kanga, not far from the Mandinga and Amina. A large river formed the border between the Mangree and the Gien. Fodor believes that the location was somewhere around 7° north latitude and that the river was either the Sassandra or the Bandama.[1]
Word list
Fodor reports the following 11 words:[1]
- god: yankombum ('jankombum')
- sky: tata
- sun: lataa
- human: mia
- foot: trippi
- head: tri
- man: laniu
- woman: auvee ('auwee')
- child: pikkeninne
- father: amee
- mother: pakkabel
A brief summary of the source repeats 'head', 'man', 'woman' and adds ichi ('itchi') 'water'.[2]
Classification
The Mangree language was said to be little different from Gien, which would suggest it was Kru. However, the known vocabulary is not obviously Kru, at least as it was recited and transcribed. The informants were Kanga (also Kru) who said they spoke the language well.
Fodor suggests that the word for God may be the same as
The word for 'child' resembles Portuguese pequenino (and English piccaninny), which is widespread in West Africa pidgins and creoles. Fodor was not able to find parallels for the other words in Kru or Kwa languages.
The vocabulary that resembles Twi may be loanwords.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Fodor, István 1975 [1789] Pallas und andere afrikanische Vokabularien vor dem 19. Jahrhundert: Ein Beitrag zur Forschungsgeschichte
- ^ R.G. Latham, 1848, 'On the present state and recent progress of Ethnographical Philology', in Report of the seventeenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 176.