Fang language

Fang (Template:IPAc-en) 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.

Under President Macías Nguema, Fang was the official language of Equatorial Guinea, although in 1982, the Third Constitution once again replaced it with 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 Ntumu, Okak, Mekê, Atsi (Batsi), Nzaman and Mveny(Mvaïe).

Distribution

According to ALCAM (2012), Fang is mainly spoken in northern Gabon and also in 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.<ref name="ALCAM2012">Template:Cite book</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)Template:Refn 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.Template:Refn

Consonants

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

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveopalatal	Velar	Labial–velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive	Template:Small	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	Template:Small	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink
Affricate	Template:Small		Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink
	Template:Small		Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink
Fricative	Template:Small	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink
	Template:Small	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:Pad Template:IPAlink
Approximant	Template:Small		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	Template:Small			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Tap			Template:IPAlink

Template:IPA is only used in interjections and loanwords. Words can not start with Template:IPA, except when followed by a velar consonant. Template:IPA and Template:IPA also are restricted from word-initial position. Template:IPA and Template:IPA can only come in word-initial position in words of foreign origin, although in many of these cases, Template:IPA becomes realized as Template:IPA.

The morpheme "gh" is pronounced as Template:IPA 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 Template:IPA 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.

Vowel Phonemes

	Front (short/long)	Back (short/long)
Close	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Close-mid	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Open-mid	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Open	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)

Nasal vowels are allophones of the respective oral vowels, when followed by a nasal consonant Template:IPA or Template:IPA. Words cannot start with Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA or Template:IPA.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs can be a combination of any vowel with Template:IPA or Template:IPA, as well as Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA.

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.Template:Refn

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:

IPA	Gabon	Equatorial Guinea
Template:IPAlink	A	A
Template:IPAlink,Template:IPAlink	B	B
Template:IPAlink	Ts	Ch
Template:IPAlink	D	D
Template:IPAlink	Dz,dj	Dj
Template:IPAlink	É	E
Template:IPAlink	È	E
Template:IPAlink	F	F
Template:IPAlink	G	G
Template:IPAlink	I	I
Template:IPAlink	K	K
Template:IPAlink	L	L
Template:IPAlink	M	M
Template:IPAlink	N	N
Template:IPAlink	Gn,ny	Ñ
Template:IPAlink	Ng,n	Ng,n
Template:IPAlink	Ô	O
Template:IPAlink	O	O
Template:IPAlink,Template:IPAlink	P	P
Template:IPAlink	R	R
Template:IPAlink	S	S
Template:IPAlink	T	T
Template:IPAlink	U	U
Template:IPAlink	V	V
Template:IPAlink	W	W
Template:IPAlink	Y	Y
Template:IPAlink	Z	Z
Template:IPAlink	'	H, '

See also

• Beti-Pahuin

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.