Manenguba languages

Manenguba
Mbo, Ngoe
Native toCameroon
EthnicityBakossi, Mbo, Bakaka, Bassossi
Native speakers
(180,000 cited 1995–2004)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
mbo – Mbo
bss – Akoose
bqz – Kaka (Central Mbo)
bsi – Sosi
Glottologmane1268
A.15[2]

The Manenguba languages, also known as the Mbo cluster, are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken on and around the Manenguba mountain range in south-western Cameroon.[3]

The people speaking the various Manenguba languages belong to the following tribes or nations: Mienge, Mbo, Basossi, Bakossi, Elung, Nninong, Mousmenam, Manengouba, Bareko, Manehas, Bakaka, Balondo, Babong and Bafun.[4] The population speaking the Manenguba languages was estimated in 1984 to be about 230,000 people.[5]

According to Hedinger (1984a), there are at least 23 different Manenguba languages and dialects.[6] The best known of these, and the first to have a grammar written for it, is Akoose, spoken in a wide area to the west of the mountain.

  1. ^ Mbo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Akoose at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kaka (Central Mbo) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Sosi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Hedinger (1984a), pp. 2, 19.
  4. ^ Hedinger (1984a), p. 23.
  5. ^ Hedinger (1984a), p. 24.
  6. ^ Hedinger (1984a), p. 55.