Bangime language

Not to be confused with the Bangi language of central Africa.

Bangime
Baŋgɛri-mɛ
Native to	Mali
Region	Dogon cliffs
Native speakers	3,500 (2017)
Language family	Language isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dba
Glottolog	bang1363
ELP	Bangime
Bangi-me, among the Dogon languages
Bangime Location in Mali
Coordinates: 14.81°N 3.77°W / 14.81; -3.77

Bangime (/ˌbæŋɡiˈmeɪ/; bàŋɡí–mɛ̀, or, in full, Bàŋgɛ́rí-mɛ̀) is a language isolate spoken by 3,500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali, who call themselves the bàŋɡá–ndɛ̀ ("hidden people"). Bangande is the name of the ethnicity of this community and their population grows at a rate of 2.5% per year. The Bangande consider themselves to be Dogon, but other Dogon people insist they are not. Bangime is an endangered language classified as 6a - Vigorous by Ethnologue. Long known to be highly divergent from the (other) Dogon languages, it was first proposed as a possible isolate by Blench (2005). Heath and Hantgan have hypothesized that the cliffs surrounding the Bangande valley provided isolation of the language as well as safety for Bangande people. Even though Bangime is not closely related to Dogon languages, the Bangande still consider their language to be Dogon. Hantgan and List report that Bangime speakers seem unaware that it is not mutually intelligible with any Dogon language.

Roger Blench, who discovered the language was not a Dogon language, notes,

This language contains some Niger–Congo roots but is lexically very remote from all other languages in West Africa. It is presumably the last remaining representative of the languages spoken prior to the expansion of the Dogon proper,

which he dates to 3,000–4,000 years ago.

Bangime has been characterised as an anti-language, i.e., a language that serves to prevent its speakers from being understood by outsiders, possibly associated with the Bangande villages having been a refuge for escapees from slave caravans.

Blench (2015) speculates that Bangime and Dogon languages have a substratum from a "missing" branch of Nilo-Saharan that had split off relatively early from Proto-Nilo-Saharan, and tentatively calls that branch "Plateau".

Locations

Health and Hantgan report that Bangime is spoken in the Bangande valley, which cuts into the western edge of the Dogon high plateau in eastern Mali. Blench reports that Bangime is spoken in 7 villages east of Karge, near Bandiagara, Mopti Region, central Mali (Blench 2007). The villages are:

• Bara (IPA: [bara])
• Bounou (IPA: [bunu])
• Niana (IPA: [ɲana]) (also called Nani)
• Die'ni (IPA: [jene])
• Digari (IPA: [diɡarɔ]) (also called Digarou)
• Doro (IPA: [dɔrɔ])
• Due (IPA: [ʔjeni])

Morphology

Bangime uses various morphological processes, including clitics, affixation, reduplication, compounding, and tone change. It does not use case-marking for noun phrase subjects and objects. Bangime is a largely isolating language. The only productive affixes are the plural and a diminutive, which are seen in the words for the people and language above.

Affixation

Bangime has both prefixation and suffixation. The following chart provides examples of affixation.

Suffixation				Prefixation
Possessor-of-X Derivative Suffix	Agentive Suffix	Causative Suffix	Pluralization Suffix	'Thing' Prefix to Nouns
sjɛ̀ɛ̀ⁿ-tjɛ́ɛ́ⁿ force, power-possessor-of-X‍ derivative sjɛ̀ɛ̀ⁿ-tjɛ́ɛ́ⁿ {force, power-possessor-of-X‍ derivative} ‘soldier, policeman’	ɲɔ̀ŋɔ̀ndɔ̀-ʃɛ̀ɛ̀ⁿ write-AGT ɲɔ̀ŋɔ̀ndɔ̀-ʃɛ̀ɛ̀ⁿ write-AGT ‘writer, scribe’	twàà-ndà arrive-CAUS twàà-ndà arrive-CAUS ‘deliver (message, object)’	bùrⁿà-ndɛ́ stick-PL bùrⁿà-ndɛ́ stick-PL ‘sticks’	kì-bɛ́ndɛ́ thing-long kì-bɛ́ndɛ́ thing-long ‘something long, a long one’

Compounding

Bangime creates some words by compounding two morphemes together. A nasal linker is often inserted between the two morphemes. This linker matches the following consonant's place of articulation, with /m/ used before labials, /n/ before alveolars, and /ŋ/ before velars. Below are examples of compound words in Bangime.

tàŋà-m̀-bógó

ear-(linker)-wide

tàŋà-m̀-bógó

ear-(linker)-wide

‘elephant’

náá-ḿ-bííⁿ

bush/outback-(linker)-goat

náá-ḿ-bííⁿ

bush/outback-(linker)-goat

'wild goat’

Reduplicative compounds

Some compound words in Bangime are formed by full or partial reduplication. The following chart contains some examples. In the chart, v indicates a vowel (v̀ is a low tone, v̄ is a mid tone, v́ is a high tone), C indicates a consonant, and N indicates a nasal phoneme. Subscripts are used to show the reduplication of more than one vowel (v₁ and v₂). The repeated segment is shown in bold. Partial reduplication is also seen alongside a change in vowel quality. The chart also displays a few examples of this.

Reduplicative Compounds in Bangime

Reduplication Structure	Reduplication Type	Example	Loose English Translation
Cv̀Cv̀-Cv́Cɛ̀ɛ̀	Partial	dɔ̀rɔ̀-dɔ̀rɛ̀ɛ̀	'sand fox'
Cv́N-CV(C)ɛ̀ɛ̀	Partial	bóm-bòjɛ̀ɛ̀	'frog'
Cv́1NCv́1-N-Cv́2NCɛ̀(ɛ̀)	Partial	béndé-ḿ-bándɛ̀ɛ̀	'vine'
Cv̀N-Cv̀(C)ɛ̀ɛ̀	Partial	pàm-pàⁿɛ̀ɛ̀	'stirring stick'
Cv̀Cv̀-Cv́Cv́	Full	jɔ̀rɔ̀-jɔ́rɔ́	'herb (Blepharis)'
Cv̀1Cv̀1-Cv́2Cv̀2(C)ɛ̀	Partial	jìgì-jágàjɛ̀	'chameleon'
Cv̀N-Cv́NCv̄	Partial	kɔ̀ŋ-kɔ́mbɛ̄	'pied crow'
Cv́Cv́-NCv́Cv̀	Partial	tímé-ń-tímɛ́ɛ̀	'bush (Scoparia)'
Cv́1Cv́1-NCv́2Cv̀2	Partial	kéré-ŋ́-kɑ́rⁿà	'forked stick'
Càà-Cɛ́ɛ́	Partial	sààⁿ-sɛ́ɛ́ⁿ	'Vachellia tortilis'
Cìì-Cáá	Partial	ʒììⁿ-ʒááⁿ	'tree (Mitragyna)'
Cìì-CáCɛ̀ɛ̀	Partial	ʒììⁿ-ʒáwⁿɛ̀ɛ̀	'bush (Hibiscus)'

Tone changes

Another morphological process used in Bangime is tone changes. One example of this is that the tones on vowels denote the tense of the word. For example, keeping the same vowel but changing a high tone to a low tone changes the tense from future to imperfective 1st person singular.

dɛ́ɛ́ cultivate.FUT dɛ́ɛ́ cultivate.FUT ‘cultivate (future tense)’

dɛ̀ɛ̀ cultivate.IPFV.1SG dɛ̀ɛ̀ cultivate.IPFV.1SG ‘I am cultivating’

Low tone is used for the tenses of imperfective 1st person singular, deontic, imperative singular, and perfective 3rd person singular. They are also used for perfective 3rd person singular along with an additional morpheme. High tone is used for the future tense.

Phonology

Vowels

Bangime has 28 vowels. The chart below lists 7 short oral vowels, each of which can be long, nasalized, or both. All these vowel types can occur phonetically, but short nasalized vowels are sometimes allophones of oral vowels. This occurs when they are adjacent to nasalized semivowels (/wⁿ/ [w̃] and /jⁿ/ [j̃]) or /ɾⁿ/ [ɾ̃]. Long nasalized vowels are more common as phonemes than short nasalized vowels.

Vowels have an ±ATR distinction, which affects neighbouring consonants, but unusually for such systems, there is no ATR vowel harmony in Bangime.

Vowel Phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

Bangime has 22 consonant phonemes, shown in the chart below. Consonants that appear in square brackets are the IPA symbol, when different from the symbol used by A Grammar of Bangime. A superscript "n" indicates a nasalized consonant. Sounds in parentheses are either allophones or limited to use in loanwords, onomatopoeias, etc.

Consonant Phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Stops/ Affricates	plain	p [pʰ]	t [tʰ]	(tʃ)	k [kʰ]
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	g
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s	(ʃ)		h
	voiced		(z)	ʒ	(ɣ)
Sonorants	oral	(ʋ) w	ɾ	j ɥ
	nasal	wⁿ [w̃]	ɾⁿ [ɾ̃]	jⁿ [j̃]
Lateral			l

NC sequences tend to drop the plosive, and often lenite to a nasalized sonorant: [búndà] ~ [búr̃a] ~ [bún] 'finish', [támbà] ~ [táw̃à] ~ [támà] 'chew'.

/b/ and /ɡ/ appear as [ʋ] and [ɣ], depending on the ATR status of the adjacent vowels.

/s/ appears as [ʃ] before non-low vowels, /t/ and /j/ as [tʃ] and [ʒ] before either of the high front vowels. /j/ is realized as [dʒ] after a nasal.

Tone

Bangime uses high, mid, and low tone levels as well as contoured tones (used in the last syllable of a word). There are three tones on moras(short syllables): high, low and rising. In addition, falling tone may occur on long (bimoraic) syllables. Syllables may also have no inherent tone. Each morpheme has a lexical tone melody of /H/, /M/, or /L/ (high, mid, or low, respectively) for level tones or /LH/, /HL/, or /ML/ for contoured tones. Nouns, adjectives, and numerals have lexical tone melodies. Terracing can also occur, giving a single level pitch to multiple words. Stem morphemes (such as nouns and verbs) may contain tonal ablaut/stem-wide tone overlays. For example, in nouns with determiners (definite or possessor), the determined form of the noun uses the opposite tone of the first tone in the lexical melody. A few examples of this process are listed in the chart below.

Tonal Ablaut in Nouns with Determiners

Melody	Undetermined Singular	Determined Plural	Loose English Translation
/L/	bùrⁿà	DET búrⁿá-ndɛ̀	'stick'
/LH/	dʒɛ̀ndʒɛ́	DET dʒɛ́ndʒɛ́-ndɛ̀	'crocodile'
/M/	dījà	DET dìjà-ndɛ́	'village'
/ML/	dāndì	DET dàndì-ndɛ́	'chilli pepper'
/H/	párí	DET pàrì-ndɛ́	'arrow'
/HL/	jáámbɛ̀	DET jàà-ndɛ́	'child'

Phrases and clauses can show tone sandhi.

Syllable structure

Bangime allows for the syllable types C onset, CC onset, and C code, giving a syllable structure of (C)CV(C). The only consonants used as codas are the semivowels /w/ and /j/ and their corresponding nasalized phonemes. Usually, only monosyllabic words end in consonants. The following chart displays examples of these syllable types. For words with multiple syllables, syllables are separated by periods and the syllable of interest is bolded.

Syllables in Bangime

Syllable Type	Example	Loose English Translation
CV	kɛ́	'thing'
CCV	bɔ̀.mbɔ̀.rɔ̀	'hat'
CVC	dèj	'grain'

Syntax

Basic word order

The subject noun phrase is always clause-initial in Bangime, apart from some clause-initial particles. In simple transitive sentences, SOV (subject, object, verb) word order is used for the present tense, imperfective and SVO (subject, verb, object) word order is used for the past tense, perfective.

Examples of SOV word order

S

séédù

S

.

[∅

[3SG

.

dà]

IPFV]

.

[ā

[DEF

O

būrⁿà]

stick]

.

[ŋ̀

[3SG

V

kùmbò]

look.for.IPFV]

S . . . O . V

séédù [∅ dà] [ā būrⁿà] [ŋ̀ kùmbò]

S [3SG IPFV] [DEF stick] [3SG look.for.IPFV]

'Seydou is looking for the stick'

S

séédù

S

.

[∅

[3SG

.

dà]

IPFV]

.

[à

[DEF

O

dwàà]

tree]

.

[ŋ̀

[3SG

V

sɛ̀gɛ̀ɛ̀]

tilt.IPFV]

S . . . O . V

séédù [∅ dà] [à dwàà] [ŋ̀ sɛ̀gɛ̀ɛ̀]

S [3SG IPFV] [DEF tree] [3SG tilt.IPFV]

'Seydou is tilting the tree'

S

[ŋ̀

[1SG

.

bé]

NEG]

O

[làkírí]

[couscous]

.

[ŋ̄

[1SG

V

dìjà]

eat.IPFV]

S . O . V

[ŋ̀ bé] [làkírí] [ŋ̄ dìjà]

[1SG NEG] [couscous] [1SG eat.IPFV]

'I don't eat couscous'

Examples of SVO word order

S

séédù

S

.

[∅

[3SG

V

màà-rā]

build.]

O

kūwò

house

S . V O

séédù [∅ màà-rā] kūwò

S [3SG build.PFV1] house

'Seydou built a house'

S

[ŋ̀

[1SG

V

dʒíí-ndì]

eat-CAUS.]

.

[à

[DEF

O

jāāmbɛ̀]

child]

S V . O

[ŋ̀ dʒíí-ndì] [à jāāmbɛ̀]

[1SG eat-CAUS.PFV2] [DEF child]

'I fed/nourished the child'

S

[ŋ̀

[1SG

V

dɛ́gù]

hit.]

.

[à

[DEF

O

kūrɛ̄ɛ̀]

dog]

S V . O

[ŋ̀ dɛ́gù] [à kūrɛ̄ɛ̀]

[1SG hit.PFV2] [DEF dog]

'I hit the dog'

S

[∅

[3SG

.

kóó]

PFV]

.

[ŋ́

[3SG

V

jāgà]

cut.]

.

[∅

[3SG

.

màā

POSS

O

kwāà]

neck]

S . . V . . O

[∅ kóó] [ŋ́ jāgà] [∅ màā kwāà]

[3SG PFV] [3SG cut.PFV1] [3SG POSS neck]

'He cut her throat'

S

bīīⁿ-ndɛ̄

goat.PL

.

[∅

[3PL

V

tām-bā]

bite.]

O

nīì

3PL

S . V O

bīīⁿ-ndɛ̄ [∅ tām-bā] nīì

goat.PL [3PL bite.PFV1] 3PL

'Some goats bit them'

Intransitive sentences

.

[à

[DEF

S

bùrⁿà-ndɛ̀]

stick-PL]

.

[∅

[3PL

.

kóó]

PFV]

.

[ŋ́

[3PL

V

kɔ̄ndɔ̀]

break.]

. S . . . V

[à bùrⁿà-ndɛ̀] [∅ kóó] [ŋ́ kɔ̄ndɔ̀]

[DEF stick-PL] [3PL PFV] [3PL break.PFV2]

'The sticks broke'

.

[à

[DEF

S

jìbɛ̀-ndɛ́]

person-PL]

.

[∅

[3PL

.

kóó]

PFV]

.

[ŋ́

[3PL

V

ʃààkā]

disperse]

.

[∅

[3PL

.

wāj̀]

]

. S . . . V . .

[à jìbɛ̀-ndɛ́] [∅ kóó] [ŋ́ ʃààkā] [∅ wāj̀]

[DEF person-PL] [3PL PFV] [3PL disperse] [3PL RSLT]

'The people dispersed'

S

jɛ̀-tɔ́-sì

nobody

.

[∅

[3SG

.

bè]

NEG]

.

[∅

[3SG

V

nóó]

come.PFV]

S . . . V

jɛ̀-tɔ́-sì [∅ bè] [∅ nóó]

nobody [3SG NEG] [3SG come.PFV]

'Nobody came'

S

bùrⁿā

stick

.

[∅

[3SG

.

dà]

IPFV]

.

[∅

[3SG

V

kɔ̄-rⁿɔ̀]

snap.IPFV]

S . . . V

bùrⁿā [∅ dà] [∅ kɔ̄-rⁿɔ̀]

stick [3SG IPFV] [3SG snap.IPFV]

'A stick is snapping'

Word order in phrases

Below are some examples of word order in various phrases.

DETERMINER + NOUN PHRASE

DET

à

DEF

NP

kòròŋgò

donkey

DET NP

à kòròŋgò

DEF donkey

'the donkey'

POSSESSOR + POSSESSEE

.

à

DEF

Possessor

jààmbɛ̀

child

.

màà

POSS

Possessee

nàà

cow

. Possessor . Possessee

à jààmbɛ̀ màà nàà

DEF child POSS cow

'the child's cow'

NOUN PHRASE + ADPOSITION

[

[ā

[DEF

NP]

būwò]

field]

Adposition

kō

in

[ NP] Adposition

[ā būwò] kō

[DEF field] in

'in the field'

Focalization

Bangime allows for the focalization of noun phrases, prepositional phrases, adverbs, and verbs.

Verb focalization

gìgɛ̀ndì

sweep.VblN

[ŋ̀

[1SG

dá]

IPFV]

[ŋ́

[1SG

gìjɛ̀ndɛ̀]

sweep.Deon]

gìgɛ̀ndì [ŋ̀ dá] [ŋ́ gìjɛ̀ndɛ̀]

sweep.VblN [1SG IPFV] [1SG sweep.Deon]

'Sweep(ing) [focus] is what I am doing/what I did'

Noun phrase focalization (Nonsubject)

séédù

Seydou

mí

[ŋ́

[3SG

dɛ̄gɛ̀]

hit.]

séédù mí [ŋ́ dɛ̄gɛ̀]

Seydou 1SGO [3SG hit.PFV1]

'It was me [focus] that I Seydou hit'

Noun phrase focalization (Demonstrative)

séédù

S

kā

Dem

[ŋ̄

[3SG

dījà]

eat.]

séédù kā [ŋ̄ dījà]

S Dem [3SG eat.PFV1]

'That [focus] is what Seydou ate'

Noun phrase focalization (Subject)

séédù

S

[ŋ̀

[FOC

wóré]

go.Pfv1]

séédù [ŋ̀ wóré]

S [FOC go.Pfv1]

'It was Seydou [focus] who went'

Adverbial focalization

ŋìjɛ̀

yesterday

[ŋ̀

[1SG

máá-rà]

build.]

[à

[DEF

kùwò]

house]

ŋìjɛ̀ [ŋ̀ máá-rà] [à kùwò]

yesterday [1SG build.IPFV1] [DEF house]

'It was yesterday [focus] that I built the house'

Prepositional phrase focalization

[kā

[Dem

kò]

with]

[∅

[1SG

ná]

IPFV]

[ŋ́

[1SG

dɛ̀ɛ̀]

cultivate.IPFV]

[kā kò] [∅ ná] [ŋ́ dɛ̀ɛ̀]

[Dem with] [1SG IPFV] [1SG cultivate.IPFV]

'It's with that [focus] that I farm'

Polar interrogatives

Bangime uses [à], a clause-final particle, after a statement to make it a yes/no question. This particle is glossed with a Q. Below are some examples.

[kúúⁿ

[market

ŋ́-kò]

Link-in]

[à

[2SG

wóré]

go.]

à

Q

[kúúⁿ ŋ́-kò] [à wóré] à

[market Link-in] [2SG go.PFV1] Q

'Was it to the market [focus] that you-Sg went?'

séédù

S

à

Q

séédù à

S Q

"Is it Seydou?'

[ŋ̀

[1SG

núú]

come.]

má

here

à

Q

[ŋ̀ núú] má à

[1SG come.PFV2] here Q

'Did I come here?'

Wh-questions

Wh-words are focalized in Bangime. Below are some examples for these interrogatives.

já

who

má

SFoc.IPFV

[∅

[FOC

wóré]

go.IPFV]

já má [∅ wóré]

who SFoc.IPFV [FOC go.IPFV]

'Who will go?'

já

who

à

Q

já à

who Q

'Who is it?'

nɛ́-sìⁿ

what

[∅

[FOC

tí-wɔ́]

fall.]

nɛ́-sìⁿ [∅ tí-wɔ́]

what [FOC fall.PFV1]

'What fell?'

kà

Dem

nɛ́-sìⁿ

what

kà nɛ́-sìⁿ

Dem what

'What is that?'

kótè

where

[∅

[3SG

nā]

IPFV]

[∅

[3SG

wōré]

go.IPFV]

kótè [∅ nā] [∅ wōré]

where [3SG IPFV] [3SG go.IPFV]

'Where is he/she going?'

Particles

Topic particle

The topic particle is [hɔ̀ɔ̀ⁿ] and this morpheme follows a noun phrase. The following example shows a topical constituent preceding a clause.

[nɛ̀

[1PL

hɔ̀ɔ̄ⁿ]

TOP]

nɛ̀

1PL

[∅

[1PL

bè]

NEG]

[∅

[1PL

wóré]

go.IPFV]

[nɛ̀ hɔ̀ɔ̄ⁿ] nɛ̀ [∅ bè] [∅ wóré]

[1PL TOP] 1PL [1PL NEG] [1PL go.IPFV]

'As for us, we aren't going'

"Only" particle

The morpheme [pàw] can mean either 'all' or 'only.' The following example shows this morpheme as an 'only' quantifier.

[ŋ̀

[1SG

tí-jè]

sit.]

pàw

only

[ŋ̀ tí-jè] pàw

[1SG sit.PFV2] only

'I merely sat down'

See also

• Bangime word list (Wiktionary)

References

Bibliography

• Blench, Roger (2015). "Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon" (PDF). Mother Tongue (20).
• Blench, Roger, Bangime description and word list (2005)(2007)
• Hantgan, Abbie (2010). "A Grammar of Bangime (draft)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
• Hantgan, Abbie (2013a). Aspects of Bangime phonology, morphology, and morphosyntax (Ph.D. thesis). Indiana University. hdl:2022/18024. OCLC 893980514.
• Hantgan, Abbie (2013b). "An introduction to the Bangande people and Bangime phonology and morphology". Indiana University Bloomington.
• Hantgan, Abbie; List, Johann-Mattis (2018). Bangime: Secret Language, Language Isolate, or Language Island?. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
• Heath, Jeffrey; Hantgan, Abbie (2018). A Grammar of Bangime. Mouton Grammar Library. doi:10.1515/9783110765212. ISBN 9783110557497. OCLC 1015349027.

External links

• Bangime Archived 2018-03-17 at the Wayback Machine at the Dogon languages and Bangime project