Massa language

Not to be confused with Limassa language.

Massa (or Masana, Masa) is a Chadic language spoken in southern Chad and northern Cameroon by the Masa people. It has approximately 200,000 speakers.

Massa
Masana
Native to	Chad, Cameroon
Native speakers	(340,000 cited 1982–2019)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Masa North Massa
Dialects	Yagwa Bongor Wina Walia Domo Gizay Gumay Ham Budugum
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mcn
Glottolog	masa1322  Masana gize1234  Gizey hama1241  Ham

Dialects are Bongor, Bugudum (Budugum), Domo, Gizay, Gumay, Ham, Walia, Wina (Viri), Yagwa.

Kim, a neighbouring language, was once misclassified as Masa.

Distribution

Masa is spoken in the southern part of Mayo-Danay department in the Far North Region, in the arrondissements of Yagoua, Kalfou, Wina, Yele, and Guéré.

Central Masa is spoken along the Logone River, with four varieties. The varieties, as listed from north to south, are: Yagwa (spoken around Yagoua), Domo (in Domo village), Walya, and Buguëum.

Western Masa includes Gizay, spoken around Guéré, and Viri (Wina), former ethnic Tupuri who had shifted to the Masa language.

The Muzuk dialect, which has long been considered a Munjuk dialect (ALCAM 1983), is in fact a Masa dialect since it is clearly mutually intelligible with the other Masa varieties (Ousmanou 2007). The speakers of Muzuk are bilingual, and speaking the Muzuk dialect of Masa, as well as Munjuk. It is spoken in the drier areas of the West (Guidigis, Mayo-Kani, Far North Region).

Masa is spoken in Cameroon and Chad, with 103,000 speakers in Cameroon.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		dʒ	ɡ
	implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ			h
	voiced	v	z	ɮ			ɦ
Nasal		m	n			ŋ
Trill			r
Approximant		w		l	j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː