Nyimang language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nyimang
Ámá
Native toSudan
RegionSouth Kordofan
EthnicityNyimang people
Native speakers
170,000 (2022)[1]
Dialects
  • Ama
  • Afunj
  • Mandal
  • Tundia
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3nyi
Glottologamas1236

Nyimang, also known as Ama, is an

Nuba people
.

It is spoken in Al Fous, Fuony, Hajar Sultan, Kakara, Kalara, Koromiti, Nitil, Salara, Tundia, and other villages (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

Rilly (2010:182) lists two mutually unintelligible varieties, Ama and Mandal.[2] Blench lists the Mandal dialect separately.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal/
Retroflex
Velar
Plosive voiceless
t
k
voiced b
d
ɟ ɡ
Fricative f s (ʃ)
Nasal m
n
ɲ ŋ
Trill
r
ɽ
Approximant w
l
j
  • /s/ is heard as [ʃ] when before front vowels.
  • /l/ can be heard as a retroflex [ɭ] when before front vowels.
  • /f/ can also be heard as bilabial [ɸ] in free variation.[3]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a
  • /i, u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ʊ] in lax position.
  • /o/ can have an allophone of [ɵ] when in the position of /ɽ/.[4]

References

  1. ^ Nyimang at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Stevenson, Roland C. (1938). A grammar of the Nyimang language (Nuba Mountains).
  3. ^ Tucker, Archibald N.; Bryan, Margaret A. (2017). Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa, 2nd edn. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 312–313.

External links