| Njebi | |
|---|---|
| Yinjebi | |
| Native to | Gabon, Republic of Congo |
| Ethnicity | Banjabi, Bongo |
Native speakers | (140,000 cited 2000–2007)1 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nzb |
| Glottolog | njeb1242 |
B.522 | |
Njebi (or Nzebi, Njabi, Ndzabi, Yinjebi, etc.) is a Bantu language spoken in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||
| Affricate | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | |
| voiced | β | z | (ʒ) | ||
| prenasal | ᶬv | ⁿz | ⁿʒ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||
| Rhotic | r | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | w | j | |||
- /z/ is heard as [ʒ] when before /i/.
- /ɡ/ can be pronounced as [ɣ] or [x] in free variation.
- /b/ can be heard as an implosive [ɓ] in free variation in initial position.3
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | ə | o oː |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
Vowel sounds may also be heard as tense in different positions.
Example
Gabonese singer SeBa's writes and sings her songs in the Njebi language.4
References
References
- Njebi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- Marchal-Nasse, Colette (1989). De la phonologie à la morphologie du nzèbi, langue bantoue (B52) du Gabon. Université Libre de Bruxelles.
- Andy Steen dit (2016-11-21). "Musique : "Kundu", le retour de SeBa". Gabonreview.com | Actualité du Gabon | (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-07.