Yemba language

Yemba
Yɛmba
Dschang
Region Cameroon
Ethnicity Bamileke
Native speakers
300,000 or more[1] (1992)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ybb
Glottolog yemb1246[3]

Yɛmba or Yemba, also Yémba is a major Grassfields language of Cameroon. It was spoken by 300,000 or so people in the West Region ca. 1990.[2]

Despite originally being a spoken language exclusively, Yemba writing was developed by Maurice Tadadjeu (co-creator of the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages) and Steven Bird. Their team developed a small Yemba - French Dictionary covering French translations of over 3,000 Yemba words and expressions.[4] The Yemba alphabet is a subset of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

A machine backwards transformation of the dictionary was performed by independent scientists who created the French translation of Yemba words. The resulting dictionary was extended with French synonyms from the French version of the WordNet database. Furthermore, over 6,000 English, German, Czech, Spanish, Italian and Chinese words and expressions were translated into Yemba. A major outcome of this project is a collaborative online platform for extending Yemba translations and promoting Yemba learning. [5]

References

  1. Yemba and Ngwe together were 350,000 in 1987. Yemba-Nwe at Ethnologue (11th ed., 1988).
  2. 1 2 Yemba language at Ethnologue (13th ed., 1996).
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Yemba". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Bird, Steven; Maurice, Tadadjeu (1997). Petit Dictionnaire Yémba - Français (PDF). ANACLAC (Association Nationale des Comités de langues du Cameroun).
  5. "Yemba.net - Online Dictionaries and Learning Tools for the Yemba Language". Aleco. 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2012-03-13.

Petit dictionnaire Yemba Francais


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