Mesaka language

Tivoid language spoken in Cameroon
Mesaka
Ugarə
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
(14,000 cited 1982)[1]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta-Congo
      • Benue–Congo
        • Bantoid
          • Southern Bantoid
            • Tivoid
              • Mesaka
Language codes
ISO 639-3iyo
Glottologmesa1245

Mesaka, or Ugarə, is a Tivoid language spoken in Cameroon.

Batomo may be a separate language, or it may be the same as Motomo (Oliti, Matchi), a dialect of Iceve-Maci (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

Phonology

Vowels

Vowel length is often contrastive in sequences of two similar vowels. Sequences of dissimilar vowels are not observed unless there's a consonant in-between.

Vowels of Mesaka
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open ä

Mesaka is also a tonal language with two tones: high and low.[2]

References

  1. ^ Mesaka at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Blench, Roger M. (November 2011). "The Tivoid languages: Classification and Comparative Word List" (PDF). Retrieved 21 July 2022.
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