Margi language
| Margi | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Margi people |
Native speakers | 240,000 (2020)[1] |
| |
| Latin, Arabic (Ajami) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mrt |
| Glottolog | marg1265 |
 Ethnic territories of the Marghi-speaking people in Nigeria (pinkish red) | |
Margi, also known as Marghi and Marghi Central, is a
There are several kinds of Marghi language, including Madube, Izge, Lassa, Gulak, Damboa, Mulgwai, Uba and Sukur.
Every kind of these languages were spoken different type of the language and were from different places.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
High
|
(i) | ɨ | (u) |
| Mid | (ɛ) | (ɔ) | |
Low
|
a |
According to Maddieson (1987), Margi is noted for having a vertical vowel system, with only two phonemic vowels, /ɨ/ and /a/, in native vocabulary. Loan words also distinguish /ɛ/ and /o/.
Consonants
Margi has a large consonant inventory, with a number of
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sibilant | lateral | |||||||||||||
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||||
| Nasal | m | mʷ | n
|
ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | pʷ | t
|
tʷ | ts | tʃ | c | k | kʷ | ʔ | |||
| voiced | b | bʷ | d
|
dz | dʒ | ɟ | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||||
| glot. implosive | ɓ̰ | ɓ̰ʷ | ɗ̰ | |||||||||||
vl.
|
ᵐp | ⁿt | ⁿtʷ | ⁿts | ⁿtsʷ | ⁿtʃ | ᶮc | ᵑk | ᵑkʷ | |||||
| prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ᵐbʷ | ⁿd | ⁿdz | ⁿdʒ | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | fʷ | s | sʷ | ɬ
|
ɬʷ | ʃ | ç | x | ʍ | |||
| voiced | v | vʷ | z | ɮ
|
ʒ | ʝ | ɣ | |||||||
| Approximant | central
|
l
|
j | w | ||||||||||
| glottalized | j̰ | w̰ | ||||||||||||
| Vibrant | ⱱ | r
|
||||||||||||
The velar /ɣ/ may be closer to an approximant [ɰ].[3] The closely related language Bura is similar but has a palatalised lateral series as well. /ⱱ/ is used in mimesis rather than in lexical vocabulary. The glottalised consonants /ɓ̰ ɓ̰ʷ ɗ̰/ have been described as either creaky voiced or implosive; according to Maddieson, they are evidently both, as in Hausa.[4]
The sequences that Hoffmann included in his consonant inventory are all labial–coronal:
- ps [fs], pɬ, pç [fç], pt, pts, ptʃ, mpt, mpts, mptʃ, bz [vz], bɮ, (bʝ [vʝ]), bd, bdz, bdʒ, mbd, mbdz, mbdʒ, ɓ̰ɗ̰, mn[5]
See also
- Marghi South
- Marghi West
References
- ^ Margi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- are excedingly rare in the languages the world.
- ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
- ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
- ^ There may be a few others, such as pɬ~mɬ, mʃ~mtʃ.
External links
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
Further reading
- Hoffmann, C. 1963. A Grammar of the Margi Language. Oxford University Press for International African Institute, London.
- Maddieson, I. 1987. "The Margi vowel system and labiocoronals." Studies in African Linguistics, vol. 18, No. 3, Dec. 1987.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
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