Vengo
(redirected from Languages.Babungo)
Fact corner
- Language: Vengo
- Alternate names: Babungo, Vengoo, Vengi, Pengo, Ngo, Nguu, Ngwa, Nge
- SIL-code: Ethnologue:bav
- Language family: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo,
Bantoid, Southern, Wide Grassfields, Narrow Grassfields, Ring, North - Number of speakers: 13,500
- Script: Latin script
On this page... (hide)
Introduction
Babungo is the language of the Babungo people originating from a village also called "Babungo" located in the Cameroonian Grassfields. In their own language, the Babungo people call their village vengo [vəŋóo] and their language ghang vengo [gháŋ vəŋóo], which means "language of the vengo".
The language is closely related with Kenswei Nsei?, Bamunka, and Wushi?.
The alphabet
a b d e ə f g gh i ɨ j k l m n ny ŋ o ɔ s sh t u v w y z ʼ
The Verb
- Babungo has got a very complex tone system: So for the vowels there are eight distinctive pitch types or pitch sequences: high, mid, low, high-mid, high-low, low-falling, low-high, low-high-mid. The complex aspect system of Babungo is marked generally with the tones.
- Tenses are marked with prefixes.
- Verbs are not inflected in person or number.
| Imperfective aspect | Perfective aspect |
|---|---|
| ŋwə́ ndéynə́ fá | ŋwə́ ndèynə́ fá |
| he look (imperfective) thing | he look (perfective) thing |
| he was looking at something | He looked at something |
References
- Schaub, Willi. Babungo.
Croom Helm. Beckenham, Kent, UK . 1985.
- Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines(approve sites)