Mesaka language

{{Short description|Tivoid language spoken in Cameroon}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Mesaka

|nativename=Ugarə

|states=Cameroon

|speakers=14,000

|date=1982

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta-Congo

|fam4=Benue–Congo

|fam5=Bantoid

|fam6=Southern Bantoid

|fam7=Tivoid

|iso3=iyo

|glotto=mesa1245

|glottorefname=Mesaka

}}

Mesaka, or Ugarə, is a Tivoid language spoken in Cameroon.

Batomo may be a separate language, or it may be the same as Motomo (Oliti, Matchi), a dialect of Iceve-Maci (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

Phonology

=Vowels=

Vowel length is often contrastive in sequences of two similar vowels. Sequences of dissimilar vowels are not observed unless there's a consonant in-between.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Vowels of Mesaka

!

! Front

! Central

! Back

Close

| i

| ɨ

| u

Close-mid

| e

|

| o

Open-mid

| ɛ

|

| ɔ

Open

|

| ä

|

Mesaka is also a tonal language with two tones: high and low.{{cite web|last1=Blench |first1=Roger M. |title=The Tivoid languages: Classification and Comparative Word List |date=November 2011 |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Bantoid/Tivoid/General/Tivoid%20comparative.pdf |access-date=21 July 2022}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Languages of Cameroon}}

{{Tivoid languages}}

Category:Languages of Cameroon

Category:Tivoid languages

{{SBantoid-lang-stub}}

{{Cameroon-lang-stub}}