Ghomalaʼ language

Ghɔmálá’ or Ghomala is a major Bamileke language spoken in Cameroon, originally in the following departments of the West region:

Ghomala
Ghɔmálá’
Region	Cameroon
Ethnicity	Bamileke
Native speakers	350,000 (2005)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Grassfields Eastern Grassfields Mbam-Nkam Bamileke Ghomala
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bbj
Glottolog	ghom1247

- Mifi, Koung-Khi and Hauts-Plateaux: most of the three departments (except extreme south and except pockets in the north and west)

- Menoua: east of the department

- Bamboutos: a corner in the south

It is spoken by an estimated 2 million people in two main population groups.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s	t͡ʃ
	voiced	b͡v	d͡z	d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	(ʃ)		h
	voiced	(v)		(ʒ)	(ɣ)
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Approximant	lateral		(l)
	central	w		j
	centralized			ɥ̈

• The glottal stop /ʔ/ only occurs as word-final.
• Sounds [v l ʃ ʒ ɣ] are alternative consonant sounds of /b͡v d t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ɡ/.
• /t d/, when occurring before close front-central vowel sounds /i ʉ/, can sound palatalized as [tʲ dʲ].
• Sounds /p b t d k/, when preceding a /h/ sound, are realized as affricated [p͡ɸ b͡β t͡θ d͡ð k͡x].
• /ɡ/, when occurring before central vowel sounds /ə ɐ/, may sound affricated as [ɡ͡ɣ].
• A word-final /k/ sound, may be realized as uvular sounds [q χ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ʉ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
	ɛ	ɐ	ɔ
Low		a

• Sounds /ɐ u ɔ/ when occurring with a velar nasal /ŋ/, can be realized as nasalized vowel sounds [ɐ̃ ũ ɔ̃].

Tone

Tones are marked as high [á], low [à], mid (unmarked) [a], rising [ǎ], or falling [â].