Documentation of the Bantu language Mpiemo of the Central African Republic (A86c)

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Overview Description Data

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

The overall aim of the study has been to document and preserve the minority language Mpiemo as well as to analyse it from a linguistic perspective. The language is spoken in some regions of the Central African Republic and Cameroon. The language is classified as A86c according to the Guthrie system and has approximately 29,000 speakers. When the project started there was a translation of the four gospels with a French-based orthography, but no other texts. The documentation has spanned several projects from 1998 onwards and has resulted in, amongst other things, a number of articles on Mpiemo phonetics, phonology, morphology as well as the publication of recorded speech together with transcripts and annotations and texts about the local wild plant life.

Purpose:

The purpose of the project has been to document and linguistically analyse the Central African language Mpiemo by means of varying subprojects.

Subject area

Language and linguistics (CESSDA Topic Classification)
General Language Studies and Linguistics, Specific Languages (The Swedish standard of fields of research 2011)

Keywords

minority languages, folklore, translation, linguistics, linguistic analysis, speech, literature, Bantu languages, Mpiemo, A86c, Bibel text, fable, proverb, fonemic system, minimal pairs, sound system, nasals, prenasals, endangered languages, word list

Principal organisation

University of Gothenburg

Accessibility status

Access to data through SND
Data are accessible by order

Responsible department/unit

University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Identifiers

SND-ID: SND 0940

Description

Language

English

French

Swedish

Mpiemo

Time period(s) investigated

1998 — 2008

Geographic spread

Geographic location: Central African Republic

Geographic description: Nola, southwestern Central African Republic.

Population

Mpiemo

Funding

Swedish Research Council

Subject area

Language and linguistics (CESSDA Topic Classification)
General Language Studies and Linguistics, Specific Languages (The Swedish standard of fields of research 2011)

Keywords

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Publications

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Thornell, C. ; Ankouma, O. ; Mabessimo, A. et al. (2007). Boulettes de graines de courge, pêche, hospitalité... Enregistrements transcrits et annotés pour une documentation du mpiemo (langue bantoue de la République Centrafricaine et du Cameroun). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Libris Swepub Institutional Repository
ISBN: 978-3-89645-281-8

Thornell Christina & Yasuko Nagano-Madsén. 2004. Preliminaries to the phonetic structure of the Bantu language Mpiemo. In Africa & Asia, nr 4, pp 163-180. (Coauthor:). 17p.
Swepub Institutional Repository
ISSN: 1650-201

Thornell, C. ; Bessamia, R. ; Metekouli, Z. (2005). Des plantes à létat sauvage chez le people mpiemo: leurs noms et leurs usages. Göteborg: Göteborg University.
Libris
ISSN: 1404-8523

Tronnier, M. ; Thornell, C. (2000). On the initial aggregation of nasality and stops in the Bantu language Mpiemo, Proceedings. Fonetik 2000. The Swedish Phonetics Conference. May 24-26 2000-05-21. 2000 pp. 137-140.
Libris Swepub Institutional Repository
ISBN: 91-630-9647-1

Thornell, C. ; Tronnier, M. (1999). Morphological function, syllabic and phonetic form of nasal+plosive combinations in the Bantu language Mpiemo, Proceedings. Fonetik 99. The Swedish Phonetics Conference. June 2-4 1999. (1999) pp. 137-140.
Libris Swepub Institutional Repository
ISSN: 0349-1021

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Version 1.0

2014-03-25
https://doi.org/10.5878/001678

Dataset 1

Word list

Suggested citation

Christina Thornell. University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures (2014). Word list. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1.0. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5878/001678">https://doi.org/10.5878/001678</a>

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

Trilingual word list Mpiemo-French-English containing roughly 1,900 words and grammatical information like word class and noun class. The word list is an updated and extended version of the unpublished lists put together by Laurent Wanabetsina, Keith Beavon and Nkali Lazaro Mbaro (1986) and Lydia Lundström (197?). For the updates a number of native Mpiemo speakers, among others Abel Mabessimo and Zacharie Metekouli, have been consulted. They spoke the Mpiakoumbo and Kwabili dialects. The words i

Keywords

minority languages, folklore, translation, linguistics, linguistic analysis, Mpiemo, Bantu languages, A86c, endangered languages, word list

Data format / data structure

Text

Audio

Data collection

Time period(s) for data collection: 1998 — 2008

Source of the data: Population group

Time period(s) investigated

1999 — 2008

Version 1.0

2014-03-25
https://doi.org/10.5878/001679

Dataset 2

Nasals and nasal+stop

Suggested citation

Christina Thornell. University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures (2014). Nasals and nasal+stop. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1.0. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5878/001679">https://doi.org/10.5878/001679</a>

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

The phonological system of the Bantu language Mpiemo (A86c) features a combination of nasals and stops both word-initially and medially. These nasals are phonetically more or less opaque. The question is whether these nasals should be interpreted as phonemes of their own or as a prenasalisation of the following stop. The recordings in this dataset form the basis of (acoustic) phonetic studies of this question. The study also takes into account the morphological function of the nasal and the syll

Keywords

minority languages, folklore, linguistics, linguistic analysis, Mpiemo, Bantu languages, A86c, fonemic system, minimal pairs, sound system, nasals, prenasals

Data format / data structure

Text

Audio

Data collection

Time period(s) for data collection: 1998 — 2008

Source of the data: Population group

Time period(s) investigated

1998 — 2000

Version 1.0

2014-03-25
https://doi.org/10.5878/001680

Dataset 3

Texts

Suggested citation

Christina Thornell. University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures (2014). Texts. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1.0. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5878/001680">https://doi.org/10.5878/001680</a>

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

The dataset contains soud recordings of several texts. Matthew chapter 8 is read by a Mpiemo speaker (Mathurin Mpatoumbo). There are also PDF files of the text which follow the translation made by Gilbert Ankouma, Joseph Apang and Lydia Lundström (1978).
The fable Mpi na kubɔ (The dog and the hen) was written down by a native speaker of Mpiemo (Jean-Charles Ankouma) and was then edited together with him and another person (Mathurin Mpatoumbo). The fable was then recorded. Both a sound recording

Keywords

Mpiemo, Bantu languages, A86c, Bibel text, fable, proverb

Data format / data structure

Text

Audio

Data collection

Time period(s) for data collection: 1998 — 2008

Source of the data: Population group

Time period(s) investigated

1998 — 1999

Version 1.0

2014-03-25
https://doi.org/10.5878/001681

Dataset 4

Vowels and tones

Suggested citation

Christina Thornell. University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures (2014). Vowels and tones. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1.0. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5878/001681">https://doi.org/10.5878/001681</a>

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

The dataset contains recordings of elicitation sessions that deal with vowel quality, vowel quantity and tones.

Keywords

Mpiemo, Bantu languages, A86c, fonemic system, minimal pairs, sound system

Data format / data structure

Text

Audio

Data collection

Time period(s) for data collection: 1998 — 2008

Source of the data: Population group

Time period(s) investigated

1999 — 1999

Version 1.0

2014-03-25
https://doi.org/10.5878/001682

Dataset 5

Stops and implosives

Suggested citation

Christina Thornell. University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures (2014). Stops and implosives. Swedish National Data Service. Version 1.0. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5878/001682">https://doi.org/10.5878/001682</a>

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Christina Thornell - University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures

Description

The dataset contains recordings of elicitation sessions that deal with stops and implosives.

Keywords

Mpiemo, Bantu languages, A86c, fonemic system, minimal pairs, sound system

Data format / data structure

Text

Audio

Data collection

Time period(s) for data collection: 1998 — 2008

Source of the data: Population group

Time period(s) investigated

1999 — 1999

Published: 2014-03-25

Last updated: 2019-11-15