Mbugu language

Mbugu
	Maʼa
Native to	Tanzania
Region	Usambara Mountains
Ethnicity	32,000 (1987)[1]
Native speakers	7,000 (1997)[2]
Language family	mixed Cushitic–Pare
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mhd
Glottolog	mbug1240[3]
Guthrie code	G.20A (mixed register); G.221 (Bantu register)[4]

The Mbugu speak two divergent registers, which have been treated as separate languages by some authorities (e.g. Tucker and Bryan): "Mbugu" or "Normal Mbugu" (autonym kiMbugu) is purely Bantu, with vocabulary closely related to Pare, while "Maʼa" or "Inner Mbugu" (autonym kiMaʼa) consists of an inherited Cushitic vocabulary with Bantu morphology similar to that of Shambala and Pare. They share a grammar, to the point that their syntax is identical and a passage in one can be translated to the other simply by changing the content words.[5]

Mbugu, or Maʼa, is a mixed language of Tanzania.

The Cushitic element was identified as South Cushitic by Ehret. However, Kießling (2001) notes a large East Cushitic admixture.[6] Mous presents the Cushitic element as a register of a Bantu language, and identifies it as largely East Cushitic rather than South Cushitic.[7]

Phonology

Consonants

Normal Mbugu distinguishes 29 consonants. Inner Mbugu distinguishes an additional four: /ʔ ɬ x ^ŋ̊x/, for a total of 33. The table below displays the consonants of Mbugu in IPA format, with consonants only occurring in Inner Mbugu marked in italics, along with Mous' (1995) practical orthography in angle brackets where it differs from IPA.

Table of Mbugu consonants
		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		Labial	Central	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t		c <ch>	k	ʔ <'>
Plosive	Voiced (implosive)	b	d		ɟ <j>	g
Prenasalized plosive	Voiceless	^m̥p <mhp>	^n̥t <nht>			^ŋ̊k <nhk>
Prenasalized plosive
Voiced	^mb <mb>	ⁿd <nd>			^ŋg <ng>
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s	ɬ <hl>	ç <sh>	x	h
	Voiced	v	z			ɣ <gh>

Prenasalized					^ŋ̊x <nhx>
Nasal		m	n		ɲ <ny>	ŋ
Trill/Tap			r
Approximant				l	j <y>	w

Vowels

Both registers of Mbugu distinguish five vowels.

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	a

Tone

Three tones are distinguished in Mbugu: high, low, and falling. Low tone is default (unmarked). High tone is represented with an acute accent <á>, while falling tone is represented with the sequence <áa>.

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References

Mbugu language at Ethnologue (14th ed., 2000).
Mbugu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Mbugu". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Mous, Maarten (2003). The Making of a Mixed Language: the case of Maʼa/Mbugu. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
Roland Kießling, "South Cushitic links to East Cushitic", in Zaborski ed, 2001, New Data and New Methods in Afroasiatic Linguistics
Blench, 2006, Classification of Afroasiatic, ms.