Ethnicity Gbaya ISO 639-3 gbv | Native speakers 95,000 (1996) Glottolog gban1260 | |
Language family Niger–CongoAtlantic–CongoSavannasGbayaEasternGbanu–NgbakaGbanu | ||
Gbanu (Gbànù, Banu, Gbanou) is a Gbaya language of the Central African Republic. The people do not consider themselves to be ethnically Gbaya.
Phonology
Gbanu has 14 vowels, oral /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/ and nasal /ĩ ẽ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃ õ ũ/. Syllables may be maximally CVN, where N is /m/ or /n/. There are four tones on CV syllables, high, low, rising, and falling. Words have six tone patterns, those four plus dipping (falling–rising) and peaking (rising–falling).
Intervocallically, the only voicing distinction that is maintained is /s, z/; otherwise only voiceless oral stops and fricatives occur between vowels. Nasal consonants lightly nasalize surrounding vowels, and nasal vowels, including those triggered by nasal consonants, nasalize the glottalized consonants. The approximants /j w/ do not occur with nasal vowels, and so may not be phonemic; /j~ɲ/, /w~mŋ/ may be posited as the underlying phonemes.