Manza
Mandja
Native toCentral African Republic
EthnicityMandja
Native speakers
(220,000 cited 1996)[1]
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3mzv
Glottologmanz1243

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

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-
velar
Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ ŋ͡m
Plosive voiceless p t k k͡p
voiced b d ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑᵐɡ͡b
implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced v z
prenasal ⁿz
Tap ɾ
Approximant (l) j w
  • 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

Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a
  • /a/ can have an allophone of [ɐ], when in complementary distribution.
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩ ũ
Open-mid ɛ̃ ɔ̃
Open ã
  • The nasalization of /ɛ̃/ may also be heard more lower as [æ̃] in free variation.

Writing system

Manza alphabet[3]
abbhddh eɛfggb hikkpl mmbnndndj ngbŋŋgŋmo ɔprst uvvbwy 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

  1. Manza at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Moore, Troy C. (2000). Manza Phonology Statement. SIL.
  3. Ngodi, Gounoukon & Moore 2017, p. 34-35.

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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