Mofu-Gudur, or South Mofu, is a Chadic language spoken in northern Cameroon. Dialects are Dimeo, Gudur, Massagal, Mokong, Njeleng, and Zidim.
Mofu-Gudur is spoken in the massifs south of the Tsanaga River as far as Mayo-Louti (Mokong and Mofou cantons of Mokolo commune, Mayo-Tsanaga department, and Gawaza commune, Diamaré department, in the Far North Region) by 60,000 speakers.
Sign language
Speakers use an estimated 1,500 conventionalized gestures. These are used in story-telling and reciting history, but also in situations not conducive to speech; when children are born deaf, or people go deaf later in life, the members have a system of communication available that will allow them to communicate with the entire community.
Notes
- Daniel Barreteau. 1988. Description du mofu-gudur. Paris: Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération. ISBN 2-7099-0841-7.
- L. Sorin-Barreteau, 1996, Le Langage Gestuel des Mofu-Gudur au Cameroun. PhD dissertation, University of Paris V-Rene' Descartes
References
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 ↩