Pronunciation [m̀bè] Region Cross River State Native speakers 65,000 (2011) | Native to Nigeria Ethnicity Mbube people | |
Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic-Congo
Benue-Congo
Southern Bantoid
Ekoid–Mbe
Mbe | ||
Mbe is a language spoken by the Mbube people of the Ogoja, Cross River State, region of Nigeria, numbering about 14,300 people in 1973. As the closest relative of the Ekoid family of the Southern Bantoid languages, Mbe is fairly close to the Bantu languages. It is tonal and has a typical Niger–Congo noun-class system.
Phonology
Vowels are i e ɛ a ɔ o u. Tones are high, low, rising, falling, and a downstep; rising and falling may be tone sequences.
Mbe has a rather elaborate consonant inventory compared to the Ekoid languages, presumably due to contact from neighboring Upper Cross River languages.
All Mbe consonants apart from the labial–velars (kp ɡb w) and n have labialized counterparts. (/jʷ/ is presumably [ɥ].) In addition, the non-labialized peripheral stops (m p b k ɡ; palatalized ŋ would be ɲ) and the liquids (l r) have palatalized counterparts.
There are a few consonants that only occur in ideophones, such as /fʲ hʲ/.
An interesting additional contrast is between fortis and lenis /kʷ/. Fortis (long?) /kʷ̹/ half-rounds a following vowel such as /e/, whereas lenis /kʷ̜/ does not. This distinction may be being lost. (Blench)