Bangi-me
Encyclopedia
The Bangime language, or in full , is spoken by some 1500 ethnic Dogon
in seven villages in southern Mali
, who call themselves the ('hidden people'). Long known to be highly divergent from (other) Dogon languages, it was first proposed as a possible isolate
by Blench (2005). Research since then has confirmed that it appears to be unrelated to neighboring languages.
Roger Blench, who discovered the language was not Dogon, notes,
which he dates to 3000–4000 years ago.
Unlike Dogon languages, which are isolating, Bangime is isolating. The only productive affixes are the plural and a diminutive, which are seen in the words for the people and language above.
distinction, which affects neighboring consonants, but unusually for such systems, there is no ATR vowel harmony
in Bangime. The vowels are /i ɪ e ɛ a ɔ o ʊ u/. Vowels may be long or nasalized.
There are three tones on mora
s (short syllables): high, low, and rising. In addition, falling tone may occur on long (bimoraic) syllables. Syllables may also have no inherent tone.
Bangime has consonant distinctions not found in the Dogon languages.
NC sequences tend to drop the plosive, and often lenite
to a nasalized sonorant: [búndà] ~ [búr̃a] ~ [bún] 'finish', [támbà] ~ [táw̃à] ~ [támà] 'chew'.
/b/ and /ɡ/ appear as [ʋ] and [ɣ], depending on the ATR status of the adjacent vowels.
/s/ appears as [ʃ] before non-low vowels, /t/ and /j/ as [tʃ] and [ʒ] before either of the high front vowels. /j/ is realized as [dʒ] after a nasal.
Dogon people
The Dogon are an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000 The Dogon are best known for their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and...
in seven villages in southern Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, who call themselves the ('hidden people'). Long known to be highly divergent from (other) Dogon languages, it was first proposed as a possible isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
by Blench (2005). Research since then has confirmed that it appears to be unrelated to neighboring languages.
Roger Blench, who discovered the language was not Dogon, notes,
- This language contains some Niger–Congo roots but is lexically very remote from all other languages in West Africa. It is presumably the last remaining representative of the languages spoken prior to the expansion of the Dogon proper,
which he dates to 3000–4000 years ago.
Unlike Dogon languages, which are isolating, Bangime is isolating. The only productive affixes are the plural and a diminutive, which are seen in the words for the people and language above.
Phonology
Vowels have an ±ATRAdvanced tongue root
In phonetics, advanced tongue root and retracted tongue root, abbreviated ATR or RTR, are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in West Africa, but also in Kazakh and Mongolian...
distinction, which affects neighboring consonants, but unusually for such systems, there is no ATR vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
in Bangime. The vowels are /i ɪ e ɛ a ɔ o ʊ u/. Vowels may be long or nasalized.
There are three tones on mora
Mora
-People:* Alberto J. Mora , General Counsel of the United States Navy * Alfonso Mora , Venezuelan former tennis player* Bruno Mora , Italian football player and coach* Cristian Mora , Ecuadorian football goalkeeper...
s (short syllables): high, low, and rising. In addition, falling tone may occur on long (bimoraic) syllables. Syllables may also have no inherent tone.
Bangime has consonant distinctions not found in the Dogon languages.
| m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
| p | t | k | |
| b | d | ɡ | |
| s | ɕ | ||
| l | j ɥ | w |
NC sequences tend to drop the plosive, and often lenite
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
to a nasalized sonorant: [búndà] ~ [búr̃a] ~ [bún] 'finish', [támbà] ~ [táw̃à] ~ [támà] 'chew'.
/b/ and /ɡ/ appear as [ʋ] and [ɣ], depending on the ATR status of the adjacent vowels.
/s/ appears as [ʃ] before non-low vowels, /t/ and /j/ as [tʃ] and [ʒ] before either of the high front vowels. /j/ is realized as [dʒ] after a nasal.