Yambeta language

Yambeta or Nigi^[3] is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon.

Yambeta
Native to	Cameroon
Native speakers	(3,700 cited 1982)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Mbam West Mbam Yambeta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	yat
Glottolog	yamb1252
Guthrie code	A.462[2]

Phonology

There are 20 contrastive consonants in Yambeta.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop		p	t	t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
Prenasalized	Voiceless		ⁿt		ⁿk
	Voiced	ⁿb	ⁿd		ⁿg
Fricatives		f	s			h
Nasals		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximants			l	j	w

The glottal stop occurs only in word-final position and is elided intervocalically. All other consonants, except /t͡ʃ/ and /w/ as well as the prenasalized stops, may be word-final. All stops are voiceless word-initial and word-final, and voiced intervocalically or following a nasal.

There are two vowel sets in Yambeta. The most common noun syllable structure is CVC.^[4]

	+ATR						-ATR
	Front		Mid		Back		Front		Mid		Back
	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	ɪ	ɪː			ʊ	ʊː	i	iː			u	uː
Close-mid									ə	əː	o	oː
Open-mid					ɔ	ɔː
Open			a	aː