Mvanip language

Mvanip (Mvano), or Magu, is a minor Mambiloid language of Nigeria. Despite the small number of speakers, language use is vigorous. Mvanip is classified as a threatened language.^[3]

General Information

As of 1964, Mvanip had 800 speakers in and around the town of Zongo Ajiya, which is located on the Mambila Plateau in Nigeria.^[4] By 1999, however, the language was only spoken by about 100 speakers. Despite this, all of the children of Mvanip speakers still speak the language, meaning that it is still alive.^[5] Many confuse Mvanip with the Kaka language, which is spoken in the southeastern Nigeria and the adjacent areas in Cameroon.^[6] Despite the confusion, these two languages are unrelated. The most closely related language is Ndunda, which is also located on the Mambila Plateau.^[5] Some other languages Mvanip is related to are Fam, Nizaa, Kwanja, Mambila, Vute, and Wawa, which all evolved from proto-Mambiloid.^[6]

Phonology

While not much information exists about the phonology of Mvanip itself, there is information about the phonology of its related languages. For example, labialization is used extensively in both Kwanja and Nizaa, two other Mambiloid Languages. Vowel merger in languages such as Mambila suggest that Mvanip most likely also has less vowels than their common ancestor, proto-Mambiloid. It is unclear whether any vowels or consonants are nasalized in Mvanip, as some of its relatives have nasalized sounds and some do not. All Mambiloid languages seem to have very complex tonal systems. For example, Vute, Kwanja, Atta, and Gembu Mambila all have a variety of level and glide tones that are incorporated into the speech. Mambiloid languages also have noun affix systems.^[6]

References