Ewondo language

"Kolo language" redirects here. For the language of Nigeria also called Kolo, see Ogbia language.

Ewondo
Beti Cameroonian
Ewondo text on a blackboard at a school in Yaoundé, 2019
Region	Cameroon
Ethnicity	Beti people
Native speakers	(580,000 cited 1982)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone A) Beti Ewondo
Official status
Official language in	Cameroon
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ewo
ISO 639-3	ewo
Glottolog	ewon1239
Guthrie code	A.72

Ewondo also known as Beti or Cameroonian is a Bantu language spoken by the Beti people (more precisely Beti be Nanga, the people of the forest, or simply Beti) of Cameroon. The language had 577,700 native speakers in 1982. Ewondo is a trade language. Dialects include Badjia (Bakjo), Bafeuk, Bemvele (Mvele, Yezum, Yesoum), Bane, Beti, Enoah, Evouzom, Mbida-Bani, Mvete, Mvog-Niengue, Omvang, Yabekolo (Yebekolo), Yabeka, and Yabekanga. Ewondo speakers live primarily in Cameroon's Centre Region and the northern part of the Océan division in the South Region.

Ewondo is a Bantu language. It is a language of the Beti people, and is intelligible with Eton.

In 2011, there was a concern among Cameroonian linguists that the language was being displaced in the country by French.

Distribution

Ewondo (Beti) covers the whole of the departments of Mfoundi, Mefou-et-Afamba, Mefou-et-Akono, Nyong-et-So'o, Nyong-et-Mfoumou (Central Region), and part of Océan Department (Southern Region).

History

The Ewondo language originated in the forests south of the Sanaga river.

Phonology

Consonants

Ewondo consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡ͡b
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑᵐɡ͡b
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s
	voiced		d͡z
	prenasal		ⁿd͡z
Fricative	voiceless	f	s				h
	voiced	v	z
	prenasal	ᶬv
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Approximant				j		w

Vowels

Ewondo vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Alphabet system

Alphabet in Ewondo

Uppercase
A	B	D	Dz	E	Ə	Ɛ	F	G	Gb	H	I	K	Kp	L	M	Mb	Mgb	Mv	N	Nd	Ndz	Ng	Ny	Ŋ	O	Ɔ	P	R	U	T	Ts	S	V	W	Y	Z
Lowercase
a	b	d	dz	e	ə	ɛ	f	g	gb	h	i	k	kp	l	m	mb	mgb	mv	n	nd	ndz	ng	ny	ŋ	o	ɔ	p	r	u	t	ts	s	v	w	y	z
Phonemes
a	b	d	d͡z	e	ə	ɛ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	h	i	k	k͡p	l	m	m͡b	mɡ͡b	ɱ͡v	n	n͡d	nd͡z	ŋ͡ɡ	ɲ	ŋ	o	ɔ	p	r	u	t	t͡s	s	v	w	j	z

The tones are indicated with diacritics on the vowels:

• the high tone is indicated with an acute accent: á é ə́ ɛ́ í ó ɔ́ ú;
• the mid-high tone is indicated with a grave accent: à è ə̀ ɛ̀ ì ò ɔ̀ ù;
• the mid tone is indicated with a macron: ā ē ə̄ ɛ̄ ī ō ɔ̄ ū;
• the low tone the most frequent tone, is indicated by the absence of diacritics: a e ə ɛ i o ɔ u;
• the mid-low tone, is also indicated by the absence of diacritics: a e ə ɛ i o ɔ u;
• the rising tone is indicated with a caron: ǎ ě ə̌ ɛ̌ ǐ ǒ ɔ̌ ǔ;
• the falling tone is indicated with a circumflex: â ê ə̂ ɛ̂ î ô ɔ̂ û.

See also

• Ewondo Populaire

External links

• Ewondo alphabet and pronunciation
• Database of audio recordings in Ewondo - basic Catholic prayers