View source for Fang language

{{Short description|Bantu language of Equatorial Guinea, northwest Gabon and neighbouring areas}}
{{distinguish|Fang language (Cameroon)}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Fang
|altname=Pangwe
|nativename={{lang|fan|Faŋ, Paŋwe}}
|states=[[Equatorial Guinea]], [[Gabon]], [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Cameroon]], and [[São Tomé and Príncipe]]
|ethnicity=[[Fang people|Fang]]
|speakers={{sigfig|1.082|1}} million
|date=2006–2013
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
|fam3=[[Volta-Congo]]
|fam4=[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
|fam5=[[Bantoid]]
|fam6=[[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
|fam7=[[Bantu languages|Bantu]] ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone A|Zone A]])
|fam8=[[Beti language|Beti]]
|dia1=Southwest Fang
|dia2=Ntoumou-Fang
|dia3=Okak-Fang
|dia4=Mekê-Fang
|dia5=Mvaïe-Fang
|dia6=Atsi-Fang
|dia7=Nzaman-Fang
|dia8=Mveni-Fang
|minority={{flag|Equatorial Guinea}}<br>{{flag|Gabon}}
|iso2=fan
|iso3=fan
|glotto=fang1246
|glottorefname=Fang (Equatorial Guinea)
|guthrie=A.75,751
|map = Idioma_fang.png
|mapcaption = Distribution of the Fang language
}}

'''Fang''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|ɒ|ŋ}}) 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 language|Bulu]] and [[Ewondo language|Ewondo]] languages of southern [[Cameroon]].

Under President [[Francisco Macías Nguema|Macías Nguema]], Fang was the official language of [[Equatorial Guinea]], although in 1982, the [[1982 Equatorial Guinea constitution|Third Constitution]] once again replaced it with [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. Since then, each version of the Constitution has recognized Fang and other languages indigenous to the country as integral to the national culture, despite these languages not having official status.

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 Ntoumou, Okak, Mekê, Atsi (Batsi), Nzaman (Zaman), Mveni, and Mvaïe.

==Distribution==
According to ALCAM (2012), Fang is mainly spoken in northern Gabon and also in Equatorial Guinea. Dialects include Ntumu, Mvayn, 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 [[Mvangane|Mvangan]], plus small isolated parts of [[Océan]] department between [[Lolodorf]] and [[Kribi]] where the Okak dialect is spoken. The other dialects, Mvayn and Ntumu, are spoken in [[Vallée-du-Ntem]] department.<ref name="ALCAM2012">{{cite book|editor-last=Binam Bikoi|editor-first=Charles|date=2012|title=Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM)|trans-title=Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon|volume=1: Inventaire des langues|language=fr|location=Yaoundé|publisher=CERDOTOLA|series=Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC)|isbn=9789956796069}}</ref>

==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){{refn|Ella, Edgar Maillard (2007-03). A Theoretical Model For a Fang-French-English Specialized Multi-Volume School Dictionary.}} 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.{{refn|Bibang Oyee, Julián-Bibang (2014). Diccionario Español-Fang/Fang-Español. Akal.}}

===Consonants===
In Fang, there are 24 plain consonants. The majority of them can become [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]]:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Alveopalatal consonant|Alveopalatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Labial–velar consonant|Labial–velar]] 
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| {{IPAlink|ɲ}}
| {{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]
!{{small|plain}}
| {{IPAlink|p}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|t}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|d}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
| {{IPAlink|k͡p}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ɡ͡b}}
| {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
!{{small|prenasal}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵐp}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ᵐb}}
| {{IPAlink|ⁿt}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ⁿd}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵑk}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ᵑg}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵑk͡p}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ᵑɡ͡b}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Affricate]]
!{{small|plain}}
|
| {{IPAlink|t͡s}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|d͡z}}
|
|
|
|
|-
!{{small|prenasal}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ⁿt͡s}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ⁿd͡z}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
!{{small|plain}}
| {{IPAlink|f}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|v}}
| {{IPAlink|s}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|z}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
!{{small|prenasal}}
| {{IPAlink|ᶬf}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ᶬv}}
| {{IPAlink|ⁿs}} {{pad|1em}} {{IPAlink|ⁿz}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
!{{small|plain}}
|
| {{IPAlink|l}}
| {{IPAlink|j}}
| {{IPAlink|w}}
|
|
|-
!{{small|prenasal}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ᶮj}}
| {{IPAlink|ⁿw}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Tap consonant|Tap]]
|
| {{IPAlink|ɾ}}
|
|
|
|
|}

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

The morpheme "gh" is pronounced as {{IPA|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 {{IPA|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.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Vowel Phonemes
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]] ([[Vowel length|short/long]])!! [[Back vowel|Back]] (short/long)
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}} ({{IPA link|ĩ}})
| {{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}} ({{IPA link|ũ}})
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}} ({{IPA link|ẽ}})
| {{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}} ({{IPA link|õ}})
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛː}} ({{IPA link|ɛ̃}})
| {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔː}} ({{IPA link|ɔ̃}})
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}} ({{IPA link|ã}})
|}

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

====Diphthongs====
Diphthongs can be a combination of any vowel with {{IPA|[j]}} or {{IPA|[w]}}, as well as {{IPA|[ea]}}, {{IPA|[oe]}}, {{IPA|[oa]}}, {{IPA|[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.{{refn|Bibang Oyee, Julián (1990). Curso de lengua fang. Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano}}

==Orthography==
It has no regular orthography, this alphabet is used in some sources:
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Fang alphabet
<ref>  Galley, Samuel (1964) : Dictionnaire fang-français et français-fang, suivi d’une grammaire fang</ref>
<ref>Dictionnaire français-fang, précédé de quelques principes grammaticaux sur cette même langue
by Lejeune, L

.Publication date 1892</ref>
|- align=center
! scope="row" | [[Upper case]]
|A
|B
|Ç
|D
|E
|Ȩ
|F
|G
|I
|J
|K
|L
|M
|N
|Ñ
|Ŋ
|O
|O̧
|P
|R
|S
|T
|U
|V
|W
|Y
|Z
|- align=center
! scope="row" | [[Lower case]]
|a
|b
|ç
|d
|e
|ȩ
|f
|g
|i
|j
|k
|l
|m
|n
|ñ
|ŋ
|o
|o̧
|p
|r
|s
|t
|u
|v
|w
|y
|z
|- align=center
! scope="row" | [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
|{{IPAlink|a}}
|{{IPAlink|b}}
|{{IPAlink|t͡s}}
|{{IPAlink|d}}
|{{IPAlink|e}}
|{{IPAlink|ɛ}}
|{{IPAlink|f}}
|{{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|{{IPAlink|i}}
|{{IPAlink|d͡z}}
|{{IPAlink|k}}
|{{IPAlink|l}} 
|{{IPAlink|m}}
|{{IPAlink|n}}
|{{IPAlink|ɲ}}
|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|{{IPAlink|o}}
|{{IPAlink|ɔ}} 
|{{IPAlink|p}}  
|{{IPAlink|ɾ}}
|{{IPAlink|s}}
|{{IPAlink|t}}
|{{IPAlink|u}}
|{{IPAlink|v}}
|{{IPAlink|w}} 
|{{IPAlink|j}}
|{{IPAlink|z}}
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Africa|Languages}}
*[[Beti-Pahuin]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bantu-languages.com/fr/ 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.

{{Languages of Equatorial Guinea}}
{{Languages of Cameroon}}
{{Languages of the Republic of the Congo}}
{{Languages of Gabon}}
{{Languages of São Tomé and Príncipe}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fang (ethnic group)| ]]
[[Category:Beti languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Equatorial Guinea]]
[[Category:Languages of Cameroon]]
[[Category:Languages of the Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Languages of Gabon]]
[[Category:Languages of São Tomé and Príncipe]]