Mbelime language explained

Mbelime, or Niende, is an Eastern Oti-Volta Gur language of northwestern Benin. Mbelime is spoken by approximately 131,000 people.^{[1] [2]} There is a Mbelime dictionary.^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

!! Labial !! Apical !! Palatal !! Velar !! Labial-
velar !! Glottal

	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Nasal		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Fricative		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Approximant		pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/

• pronounced as /link/ can be realized as pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, or pronounced as /link/ between vowels.
• pronounced as /link/ tends to be realized as pronounced as /[kw]/.
• pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ assimilate to following consonants, e.g., pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as /link/.

Vowels

Mbelime has 7 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels.

Oral vowels! !! Front !! Central !! Back

Close	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Close-mid	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/

Nasal vowels! !! Front !! Central !! Back

Close	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/

References

• Book: Neukom, Lukas . Esquisse grammaticale du mbèlimè, langue voltaïque du Bénin . ASAS . 2004 . Arbeiten des Seminars für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft . 18 . Zürich . 85361935 . fr.

Further reading

• A sociolinguistic survey of the Mbelime language area. . Hatfield . Deborah H. . McHenry . Michael . SIL International . Dallas, TX . 2011-010 . 2011 . SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
• Book: Kombetto . N. N. Simon . Guide de l'orthographe mbèlimè suivant la réforme de 2017 . Taouéma . P. K. Philippe . Sanhouegoua . D. Bernard . Merz . Johannes . Sambiéni . N. Bienvenue . Merz . Sharon . 2017 . 978-99919-818-2-6 . fr.
• Melick . Christina M. . Tone in the Mbelime Verb System . MA . Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics . 978-1-55671-341-5 . 2012.
• Rietkerk . Dieke . 2000 . Tone on Mbelime verbs . Cahiers voltaı̈ques/Gur papers . 5 . 141–147.

Notes and References

1. Roberts . David . Boyd . Ginger . Merz . Johannes . Vydrin . Valentin . 2020 . Quantifying written ambiguities in tone languages: A comparative study of Elip, Mbelime, and Eastern Dan . Language Documentation & Conservation . en-US . 14 . 108–138 . 1934-5275.
2. Frictions et inversion de modernité: Portrait de la Commune de Cobly dans l'Atacora du Bénin . Merz . Johannes . 2017-001 . 2017 . SIL Electronic Working Papers . fr.
3. Encyclopedia: Dictionnaire mbèlimè . SIL International . 2024-08-27 . December 14, 2023 . . Sambiéni . N. Bienvenue . Rough draft . Merz . Johannes . Merz . Sharon.