Vengo language

Spoken in

• Niger - Congo Atlantic -Congo Volta -Congo Benue -Congo Bantoid Southern Wide Grassfields Narrow Grassfields ring North Babungo

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Bnt

Bav

Babungo is a language that is spoken by members of the tribe of " Babungo ", which originate from the same village " Babungo " in the Cameroon Grasslands.

It is a grassland - language within the family of the Benue - Congo languages ​​. Frequently there is also the spelling Bamungo.

The members of the Babungo tribe called in their own language as their village vengo [ vəŋóo ] and their language as ghang vengo [ Ghan vəŋóo ], ie "Language of vengo ". For this reason, the Babungo language is officially under the terms " Vengo " or " Vengoo " listed. Alternative names for the Babungo language are: Vengi, Pengo, Ngo, Nguu, Ngwa, Nge.

Babungo is spoken by only about 14,000 people. Because the members of the tribe Babungo live very close together and almost only focus on the village Babungo, have only emerged smallest dialectal variants, which are hardly worth mentioning.

Like all other bantoiden languages ​​(except Swahili) used the Babungo language different pitches, which are similar in Chinese, meaning distinctively. The language has an extremely complex Soundsystem: To exist for the vowels eight different pitches and pitch sequences: high, medium, low, high - medium, high-low, low - falling, low-high, low-high - medium.

Babungo is no longer spoken by more and more people who originally come from the Babungo - people. Most of these people then take English as their mother tongue, if they remain in the predominantly Anglophone northwest Cameroon, otherwise French if they orient themselves to the Francophone Cameroon. Most people in western Cameroon also speak anyway Cameroonian Pidgin English. Moreover, since more and more people are distancing themselves from the very traditional Babungo - life and there is considerable socio - culturally -related problems in their region, Babungo should include in the not too distant future to the endangered languages.