Mmen language

Mmem (Bafmeng) is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Mmen
Bafmeng
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
35,000 (2001)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bfm
Glottologmmen1238
ELPFungom

As a Centre Ring language of Narrow Grassfields, a subdivision of Wide Grassfields within the Southern Bantoid languages, Mmen is part of a cluster including six other languages i.e. Babanki, Bum, Kom, Kuk, Kung and Oku (Lewis 2009).

Etymology

The name Mmen ([mɛn]) comes from the verb sé mwɛ̀yn [sémɣɛ̀yn] ‘to open up thick bush-covered land’ and is used by the speakers referring to both their language and their land.

Ethnologue (Lewis 2009) and ALCAM, Atlas Linguistique du Cameroon (Dieu and Renaud 1983) use the name and spelling Mmen.

Bafumen is the name of the village where the largest number of speakers is found i.e. 30 000 (Troyer, et al. 1995:8) and the name adopted by German colonizers for the area and formerly used for the language. Other villages where Mmen is spoken are Cha’, Yemgeh, Nyos, Ipalim among others.

Bibliography
  • AGHA-AH, Chiatoh Blasius. "The Noun Class System of Mmen." 1993.
  • AGHA, G.B. "The Phonology of Mmen." 1987.
  • BANGHA, George F. "The Mmen Noun Phrase." 2003.
  • BJÖRKESTEDT, Lena. "Mmen Orthography Guide." 2011.
  • BJÖRKESTEDT, Lena. "A Phonological Sketch of the Mmen Language." 2011.
  • HUEY, Paul; MBONGUE, Joseph; TROYER, Duane, authors. 1995. A rapid appraisal survey of Mmen (ALCAM 821) and Aghem dialects (ALCAM 810), Menchum Division, Northwest Province.

References
  1. Mmen at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)


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