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Makaa language
Bantu language of Cameroon

Makaa (Maka), or South Makaa, is a Bantu language of Cameroon. It is not intelligible with the other language spoken by the Makaa people, North Makaa.

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Varieties

The central part of the Meka area consists of the three central dialects Bésáp, Bébánde and Mbwas. Byáp in the north and Békol in the south are more geographically peripheral dialects. Byáp and Asón should not be confused with Northern Maka.1

Meka covers essentially the entire northern part of Haut-Nyong department (Eastern Region). Bébánde covers the entire northern part of Abong-Mbang commune and also Bebeng commune. Mbwas covers most of the Doumé area (Mbouang and Doumatang communes), and Bésáp covers the north of Nguélémendouka.2

Byap occupies the eastern part of Diang commune and Bélabo commune (Lom-et-Djerem department, Eastern Region), west of Bertoua. It extends into the Central and Southern Regions in Nyong-et-Mfoumou (in Akonolinga and Endom communes) and Dja-et-Lobo (in Bengbis and Zoétélé communes) departments.3

There are 89,500 speakers.4

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarGlottal
Plosivevoicelesstckkp
voicedbdɟɡ
prenasal vl.ᵐpⁿtᶮcᵑk
prenasal vd.ᵐbⁿdᶮɟᵑɡ
Nasalmnɲŋ
Fricativevoicelessfsʃh
voicedvzʒ
Laterall
Approximantjw

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closeiɨu
Near-closeɪ
Close-mideəo, õ
Open-midɛ, ɛ̃
Opena
  • /o, õ/ may have allophones [ɔ, ɔ̃] which occur in free variation in many environments.5

Writing system

Maka alphabet6
abcdeɛəfghiɨjklm
nnyŋopsshtuʉvwyzzh

Nasal vowels are indicated using the cedilla ‹ ɛ̧, ɔ̧ ›. Tones are indicated using diacritics:

  • the high tone with an acute accent;
  • the descending high-low tone with a circumflex accent;
  • the low-high rising tone with a caron;
  • low tone without accent.

References

  1. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069. 9789956796069 ↩

  2. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069. 9789956796069 ↩

  3. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069. 9789956796069 ↩

  4. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069. 9789956796069 ↩

  5. Heath, Teresa (2003). Makaa (A83). In Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (eds.), The Bantu languages: London & New York: Routledge. pp. 335–348. ↩

  6. Abong, Mbang (2007). "Leçons d'apprentissage de la langue mekaa" (PDF). SIL. p. 3. https://www.makaabible.org/sites/www.makaabible.org/files/uploads/Makaa%20lang%20learn%20lessons%20consec%20A5%20pages.pdf ↩