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Manza language

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Manza
Mandja
Native toCentral African Republic
EthnicityMandja
Native speakers
(220,000 cited 1996)[1]
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3mzv
Glottologmanz1243

Manza (Mānzā, Mandja) is a Ubangian language spoken by the Mandja people of the Central African Republic. It is closely related to Ngbaka and may be to some extent mutually intelligible.

Phonology

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The phonology consists of the following:[2]

Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-
velar
Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ ŋ͡m
Plosive voiceless p t k k͡p
voiced b d ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑᵐɡ͡b
implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced v z
prenasal ⁿz
Tap ɾ
Approximant (l) j w
  • Sounds /ɾ/ and /ⱱ/ are very rare in word-initial position.
  • /ⁿz/ can be heard in free variation as a prenasal affricate sound [ⁿd͡ʒ].
  • [l] is only heard in free variation of /j/.
  • /j/ can be heard as [ɲ] when preceding a nasal vowel.

Vowels

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Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a
  • /a/ can have an allophone of [ɐ], when in complementary distribution.
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩ ũ
Open-mid ɛ̃ ɔ̃
Open ã
  • The nasalization of /ɛ̃/ may also be heard more lower as [æ̃] in free variation.

Writing system

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Manza alphabet[3]
a b bh d dh e ɛ f g gb h i k kp l m mb n nd ndj ngb ŋ ŋg ŋm o ɔ p r s t u v vb w y z

The tones are indicated on the letters using diacritics:

  • the middle tone is indicated using the umlaut: ⟨ä, ë, ɛ̈, ï, ö, ɔ̈, ü⟩ ;
  • the high tone is indicated using the circumflex accent: ⟨â, ê, ɛ̂, î, ô, ɔ̂, û⟩.


References

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  1. ^ Manza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Moore, Troy C. (2000). Manza Phonology Statement. SIL.
  3. ^ Ngodi, Gounoukon & Moore 2017, p. 34-35.

Works cited

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  • Ngodi, Edmond; Gounoukon, Orphe-Magloire; Moore, Troy (2017). Hârâ nɛ mɛ̈ yɔ̂ rɔ̂ nû mandja [Lire et écrire en mandja] (3 ed.). Bangui: Association centrafricaine pour la traduction de la Bible et d’alphabétisation (ACATBA) et SIL International.