Jina language

Jina (Zina) is an Afroasiatic language of Cameroon. The Muxule variety may be a distinct language.

Jina
Zina
Native to	Cameroon
Native speakers	1,500 (2004)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara East–Central Mida’a Jina
Dialects	Muxule
Language codes
ISO 639-3	jia
Glottolog	jina1244

Jina is spoken in Zina commune, located just to the south of Logone-Birni commune. Muxule is spoken in a few villages to the north of Logone-Birni (department of Logone-et-Chari, Far North Region) by 1,500 speakers. The people of Zina claim to understand Lagwan and Munjuk better than Muxule.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants^[3]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	labialized
Plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g	kʷ gʷ	ʔ
Ejective		s’		k’
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	f v	s z		x ɣ	xʷ ɣʷ
Nasal	m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
Approximant	w	l, r	j

Jina is analysed as only having two phonemic vowels; /a/ and /ə/.^[4]

References

1. Jina at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
3. Tourneux, Henry (October 2001). Le système consonantique des langues dites "kotoko". 1st Biennial International Colloquium on the Chadic Language Family (in French). Leipzig. pp. 115–135.
4. Tourneux, Henry (August 2000). Le système vocalique dans le groupe "kotoko". 3ème Congrès mondial de linguistique africaine (in French). Lomé. pp. 69–77.