Vame language

Vame or Pelasla is an Afroasiatic language spoken in northern Cameroon.

Vame
Pəlasla
Native to	Cameroon
Region	Far North Province
Native speakers	(8,500 cited 1992)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara Wandala–Mafa Mafa (A.5) Northeast Vame
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mlr
Glottolog	vame1236

Dialects

Dialects are Dəmwa (Dume?), Hurza, Mayo-Plata (Pəlasla, Gwendele), Mbərem (Vame-Mbreme), and Ndreme (Vame). Pelasla is the name preferred by ALCAM (2012), since Mayo-Plata (Pelasla) is the main market town.^[2]

The Pelasla inhabit the same massif as the Wuzlam, whose customs they have adopted but not their language. Administrative censuses include them as part of the "Ouldeme" people (in the canton of Mayo-Ouldémé, arrondissement of Tokombéré, department of Mayo-Sava, Far North Region).^[2]

The name Vame-Mbreme should be avoided, since "Vame" is a Wandala term, and includes Ndreme and Mbreme.^[2]

The Démwa, Ndreme and Mbérem live in the southern part of Mora-Massif canton (arrondissement of Mora, department of Mayo-Sava, Far North Region), overlooking the Mayo-Plata depression. The Démwa are located to the north, towards the top of the massif, and the Ndreme and Mbérem to the east, in the mountain ranges overlooking the Mayo-Sava plain. The Hurza traditionally lived in the Hurza massif, isolated in the plain between Mayo-Sava and Mayo-Ouldémé and overlooking the market of Mémé (canton of Mémé, arrondissement of Mora). There are 8,500 speakers total, who have now descended to the surrounding plain and are mixed with other ethnic groups.^[2]

Writing system

Vame alphabet^[3]

a

b

ɓ

d

ɗ

dz

j

e

ə

f

g

gw

gh

ghw

h

hw

i

k

kw

l

m

mb

n

nd

ny

nz

nj

ŋ

ŋw

ŋg

ŋgw

p

r

s

sh

sl

t

ts

c

u

v

w

y

z

zh

zl

Vame is a tonal language, but the tones are not marked.

References

• Social Anthropologist and linguist Olivier Nyssens (Belgium) stayed two years (1981–1983) with the Vame people, learned their language and wrote two articles.
• Linguist Daniel Barreteau made a comparative study of Vame along with other Mandara languages.
• French linguist Veronique de Colombel made a brief lexical comparative study of 17 mandara languages including Vame.^[4]
• SIl Linguist William Kinnaird wrote couple of article (2005-2006) on how to write Vame.

References

1. Vame 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. "Proposition d'orthographe pour la langue vamé | Cameroon". www.silcam.org.
4. 1982 COLOMBEL Véronique de -- Esquisse d'une classification de 18 langues tchadiques du Nord-Cameroun : Ce qu'une étude historique et sociale des migrations peut apporter à cette vision de la parenté linguistique -- In : The Chad languages in the Hamitosemitic-Nigritic border area -- Berlin : D. Reimer, 1982.