Fang language

Fang, (/ˈfɒŋ/) also known as Gabonese or Equatoguinean, is a Central African language spoken by around one million people, most of them in Equatorial Guinea and northern Gabon, where it is the dominant Bantu language; Fang is also spoken in southern Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and small fractions of the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is related to the Bulu and Ewondo languages of southern Cameroon.

Between 1970 and 1979, Fang replaced Spanish as the main language of the administration of Equatorial Guinea under the government of Macías Nguema, although it never became official and was imposed during his term, as an attempt to "Africanize" the country.^[1]

There are many different variants of Fang in northern Gabon and southern Cameroon. Maho (2009) lists Southwest Fang as a distinct language. The other dialects are Ntumu, Okak, Mekê, Atsi (Batsi), Nzaman and Mveny (Mvaïe).

Distribution

According to ALCAM (2012), Fang is mainly spoken in northern Gabon and also Equatorial Guinea. Dialects include Ntumu, Mvany, and Okak. In Cameroon, Fang is spoken in the southern half of Dja-et-Lobo department (Southern Region) south of Djoum. It is also spoken in the southeast of Mvila department: south of Mvangan, plus small isolated parts of Océan department between Lolodorf and Kribi where the Okak dialect is spoken. The other dialects, Mvany and Ntumu, are spoken in Vallée-du-Ntem department.^[2]

Corpus and lexicology

Despite Fang's lack of any well-defined literary corpus, it is of note that linguists have, in the past, made attempts to compile dictionaries and lexicons for the Fang language. The two most notable ones to be proposed or fully compiled were made by Maillard (2007)^[3] and Bibang (2014). Neither created a direct Fang-English dictionary, but opted instead to separate the two languages via third European languages (French and Spanish, respectively) as a bridge for various loanwords.

The translation efforts to English have been done through Romance languages: specifically, Spanish and French. The latter of the two languages would likely have had the most impact on the language, given the occupation of Gabon by the French during the existence of French Equatorial Africa (itself part of French West Africa), which lasted 75 years from 1885 to 1960. To a lesser extent, in São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese also likely has influenced the dialects of Fang present there, due to the country being occupied by Portugal for most of the islands' history of habitation.

Phonology

The phonology of Fang is listed below.^[4]

Consonants

In Fang, there are 24 plain consonants. The majority of them can become prenasalized:

/h/ is only used in interjections and loanwords. Words can not start with /ŋ/, except when followed by a velar consonant. /ɾ/ and /z/ also are restricted from word-initial position. /g/ and /p/ can only come in word-initial position in words of foreign origin, although in many of these cases, /g/ becomes realized as [ŋg].

The morpheme "gh" is pronounced as ɾ in the case of the word "Beyoghe" (the Fang term for Libreville); one of several changes to pronunciation by morphology.

It is also important to note that in Fang, at every "hiatus" (shock of two vowels), such as in "Ma adzi", it is required for one to make the second word an aphetism, dropping the pronunciation of the aː sound at the start of the second word (e.g. "Ma dzi").

Vowels

Fang has seven vowels, each of which can have short or long realizations.

Nasal vowels are allophones of the respective oral vowels, when followed by a nasal consonant [ŋ] or [ɲ]. Words cannot start with [ɛ], [i], [ɔ] or [u].

Diphthongs

Diphthongs can be a combination of any vowel with [j] or [w], as well as [ea], [oe], [oa], [ua].

Tone

Fang distinguishes between at least five lexical tones, conventionally called: high, mid, low, rising and falling. One vowel in a sequences of vowels can be elided in casual speech, though its tone remains and attaches to the remaining vowel.^[5]

Orthography

Fang does not have a standardized orthography, meaning that each Fang speaker writes it as they believe is correct. In Cameroon, Fang is usually written using the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages or in bulu, which is mutually intelligible with Fang. Meanwhile, in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, it depends on the individual writer.

The most common letters used to write the Fang language in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon are:

See also

• Beti-Pahuin

References

1. ^ Igambo, Fernando Muakuku Rondo (2006-01-01). Conflictos etnicos y gobernabilidad / Ethnic conflicts and governance: Guinea Ecuatorial (in Spanish). Carena Editores. ISBN 978-84-96357-38-9.
2. ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles (ed.) (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon] (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC). Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
3. ^ Ella, Edgar Maillard (2007-03). A Theoretical Model For a Fang-French-English Specialized Multi-Volume School Dictionary.
4. ^ Bibang Oyee, Julián-Bibang (2014). Diccionario Español-Fang/Fang-Español. Akal.
5. ^ Bibang Oyee, Julián (1990). Curso de lengua fang. Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano

External links

• Bantulanyi
• http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1229
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080630064631/http://monefang.com/parlons1.html Monefang, archived from the original (2008). Note: This site is mostly in French.