Margi language

Template:Short description Margi, also known as Marghi and Marghi Central, is a Chadic language (a branch of Afroasiatic) spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. It is perhaps the best described of the Biu–Mandara branch of that family. Marghi South language and Putai are closely related and sometimes considered dialects of Margi.

There are several kinds of Marghi language, including Madube, Izge, Lassa, Gulak, Damboa, Mulgwai, Uba and Sukur.

Every kind of these languages were spoken different type of the language and were from different places.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)
Mid	(Template:IPA link)		(Template:IPA link)
Low		Template:IPA link

According to Maddieson (1987), Margi is noted for having a vertical vowel system, with only two phonemic vowels, and , in native vocabulary. Loan words also distinguish and .

Consonants

Margi has a large consonant inventory, with a number of labialised consonants and typologically infrequent speech sounds such as a labiodental flap. Hoffmann (1963) describes 84 consonantal phonemes, a very large number compared to that of most languages. This system, with a great number of non-click consonants, compares to that of the Caucasian language Ubykh, having the largest inventory of any language without clicks. However, Hoffmann's list of consonants includes all sequences of consonant clusters occurring in onsets in the language. Many of these clusters have since been analysed as sequences, such as and . If labialized consonants are counted separately, there are 66 consonants that remain in the analysis, and 54 if it is interpreted as a sequence.

Consonants

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar				Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
						sibilant		lateral
		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink							Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	glot. implosive	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	prenasal vl.	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	prenasal vd.	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Approximant	central							Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	glottalized										Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Vibrant		Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink

The velar may be closer to an approximant . The closely related language Bura is similar but has a palatalised lateral series as well. is used in mimesis rather than in lexical vocabulary. The glottalised consonants have been described as either creaky voiced or implosive; according to Maddieson, they are evidently both, as in Hausa.

The sequences that Hoffmann included in his consonant inventory are all labial–coronal:

See also

• Marghi South
• Marghi West

Further reading

• Hoffmann, C. 1963. A Grammar of the Margi Language. Oxford University Press for International African Institute, London.
• Maddieson, I. 1987. "The Margi vowel system and labiocoronals." Studies in African Linguistics, vol. 18, No. 3, Dec. 1987.