Ubangian language of the CAR
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
The phonology consists of the following:[ 2]
Consonants
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
/a/ can have an allophone of [ɐ], when in complementary distribution.
The nasalization of /ɛ̃/ may also be heard more lower as [æ̃] in free variation.
Writing system
Manza alphabet
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
^ Manza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Moore, Troy C. (2000). Manza Phonology Statement . SIL.
Works cited
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.
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