Editing Duala language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken by the Duala and Mungo peoples of Cameroon}}
{{for| the Australian Aboriginal language sometimes spelt Duala|Dhuwal language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Duala
| states           = Cameroon
| ethnicity        = [[Douala people|Douala]], [[Mungo people|Mungo]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|87,700|3}}
| date             = 1982
| ref              = e18
| speakers2        = Most speakers live in [[Douala]], the biggest city of Cameroon, which has since grown more than four times as big.
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Bantu Zone A|Zone A]]
| fam9             = [[Sawabantu languages|Sawabantu]]
| fam10            = Duala–[[Limba language (Cameroon)|Limba]]
| dia1             = Duala proper
| dia2             = Bodiman
| dia3             = Oli (Ewodi, Wuri)
| dia4             = [[Pongo language|Pongo]]
| dia5             = Mongo (Muungo)
| iso2             = dua
| iso3             = dua
| glotto           = dual1243
| glottoname       = Duala
| glotto2          = olib1234
| glottoname2      = Oli-Bidiman
| guthrie          = A.24–26
| nativename       = {{lang|dua|Duálá}}
}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Jo
| states           = [[Cameroon]]
| region           = around [[Douala]]
| speakers         = none
| familycolor      = Pidgin
| family           = Douala-based pidgin
| iso3             = none
| glotto           = none
| guthrie          = A.20A
}}
'''Duala''' (native name: {{lang|dua|Duálá}}) is a [[dialect cluster]] spoken by the [[Duala people|Duala]] and [[Mungo people]]s of Cameroon. Duala belongs to the [[Bantu languages|Bantu language family]], in a subgroup called [[Sawabantu languages|Sawabantu]]. It is a [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal]] language with [[subject–verb–object word order]]. Maho (2009) treats Duala as a cluster of five languages: Duala proper, Bodiman, Oli (Ewodi, Wuri), [[Pongo language|Pongo]] and Mongo. He also notes a Duala-based pidgin named ''Jo''.

==History==
The origins of Duala come from the migrations of the Duala people during the sixteenth century from the [[Congo River Basin]] to the coastal areas of southern Cameroon.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Africa">{{cite book |last1=Appiah |first1=Anthony |last2=Louis Gates |first2=Henry Jr. |title=Encyclopedia of Africa |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=386}}</ref> While it is a Bantu language, [[Malcolm Guthrie|Guthrie]] estimates that it has only retained as little as 14% of the roots of [[Proto-Bantu]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fage |first1=John |title=A History of Africa. |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |location=Hoboken |isbn=9781317797272 |page=25 |edition=4th}}</ref>

[[Alfred Saker]], a [[British people|British]] [[missionary]] and [[linguist]], completed the first translation of the [[Bible]] into Duala in 1870. After the [[Kamerun|German colonization of Cameroon]] in 1885, the [[Basel Mission]] promoted Duala as a [[lingua franca]] in southern Cameroon with support from the German authorities.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Africa" /> In particular, [[Julius von Soden]], the Governor of Cameroon in the 1880s, supported Duala as a recognized lingua franca in the colony, although he maintained that [[German language|German]] should be the language of instruction in schools for brighter pupils. In 1903, the Basel missionaries launched a monthly journal titled Mulée Ngéa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gérard |first1=Albert S. |title=European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa |date=1986 |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |pages=621}}</ref>

The missionaries' focus on using Duala in areas that did not natively speak it was viewed as dangerous by colonial officials, as they feared the practice would lead to [[ethnic conflict]] by elevating Duala to a [[prestige language]]. Since Duala was also being used by the missionaries in their schools, it was difficult for Cameroonians to become educated and obtain business, teaching, or government positions without knowledge of the language. This reinforced German officials' fears of the Duala ethnic group gaining too much power. Therefore, upon becoming Governor of Cameroon, [[Jesko von Puttkamer]] decided to suppress Duala and other local languages, such as [[Ewe language|Ewe]] in [[Togoland]], and promote German in the colony instead. Puttkamer blamed the Protestant missionaries for the lack of German-language use in Cameroon, and pressured them to stop using Duala in their schools and official communications. In 1897, he began pressuring them to switch to German, and later praised the [[Catholic]] missionaries in the territory for using German.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orosz |first1=Kenneth J. |title=Religious Conflict and the Evolution of Language Policy in German and French Cameroon, 1885-1939 |date=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=9780820479095}}</ref>

In 1910, Governor [[Theodor Seitz]] issued an ordinance establishing governmental control over all educational establishments in the colony, including those run by missionaries. The ordinance enforced the use of German in schools and forbade the use of all other European languages. It also limited the use of Duala by missionaries to the traditional lands of the Duala people in order to prevent the spread of the language, as the German government wanted to prevent communication between local groups in the case of a revolution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gwanfogbe |first1=Mathew B. |title=Changing Regimes and Educational Development in Cameroon |date=30 April 2018 |publisher=Spears Media Press |isbn=9781942876236 |pages=27–33}}</ref>

After [[World War I]], eastern Cameroon was [[League of Nations mandate|mandated by the League of Nations]] to [[France]] and western Cameroon was mandated to the [[United Kingdom]]. The French government ordered that only [[French language|French]] could be used in schools in 1920. The British allowed the use of Duala by missionaries and schools, but English-medium schools became the norm due to the colonial governmental influence and the lack of written materials in Duala. By the 1950s, this meant that Cameroonians were using [[English language|English]] as an instructional language and Duala as a "church" language, even if Duala was not their mother tongue. Through the 1960s and 1970s, as Cameroon gained independence, Duala remained in use only in religious and informal contexts, as the missionaries continued to use it and develop Duala texts for religious use.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Clinton D. W. |title=Language Use in Rural Development: An African Perspective |date=31 July 2013 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=9783110869040 |pages=114–117}}</ref>

== Usage ==
University programs in the cities of [[Yaoundé]] and [[Douala]], as well as many local [[lycée]]s, offer classes in Duala and other local languages. Duala is also used on an unofficial ad hoc basis in other schools as a medium of primary instruction to facilitate understanding. The television channel Dan Broadcasting System airs programs in Duala. However, it has been observed that attempts to introduce Duala and other local languages into schools have received some resistance from locals, as they do not view it as helpful for socio-economic development.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Mari C. |title=Policy and planning for endangered languages |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=9781107099227 |page=199}}</ref>

=== Popular culture ===
The song ''[[Soul Makossa]]'', as well as pop songs that repeated its lyrics, internationally popularized the Duala word for "(I) dance", "makossa".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inst.at/trans/13Nr/echu13.htm |title=TRANS Nr. 13: George Echu (Yaounde): Multilingualism as a Resource: the Lexical Appropriation of Cameroon Indigenous Languages by English and French |website=Inst.at |access-date=2017-07-06}}</ref> The song ''[[Alane (song)|Alane]]'' by artist [[Wes Madiko]] is sung in Duala and reached the #1 chart position in at least 10 European countries.

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="4" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>prenasal vl.</small>
|{{IPA link|ᵐp}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿt}}
|
|{{IPA link|ᵑk}}
|
|-
!<small>prenasal vd.</small>
|{{IPA link|ᵐb}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd͡ʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|{{IPA link|l}}
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}
Sounds /b, d, ᵐb, ⁿd/ are heard as implosives [ɓ, ɗ], [ᵐɓ, ⁿɗ] when before close vowels /i, u/.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paulian |first=Christiane |title=Esquisse phonologique du duala (République Fédérale du Cameroun) |publisher=Paris: Société des Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France (SELAF) |year=1971 |location=In Jacquot, André and Paulian, Christiane and Roulon-Doko, Paulette and Moñino, Yves (eds.), Etudes bantoues I |pages=53–88}}</ref>

[r] is heard as a variant of /l/ in loanwords.<ref>Helmlinger (1972)</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|- align="center"
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

==Alphabet==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Uppercase
| A || B || Ɓ || C || D
|Ɗ
| E ||Ɛ
| F || G
| H || I || J || K || L
| M || N ||Ŋ 
| Ɲ || O
|Ɔ
| P || Q || R || S
| T || U || V || W || X
|| Y || Z
|+ Duala alphabet
|-
! Lowercase
| a || b || ɓ || c || d
|ɗ
| e ||ɛ
| f || g
| h || i || j || k || l
| m || n || ŋ || ɲ || o
| ɔ || p || q || r || s
| t || u || v || w ||x
| y|| z
|}

==Bibliography==

#E. Dinkelacker, ''Wörterbuch der Duala-Sprache,'' [[Hamburg]], 1914. [Duala - German dictionary]
# Paul Helmlinger, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104427/http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/projets/clhass/PageWeb/ressources/duala.pdf Dictionnaire duala-français, suivi d'un lexique français-duala.]'' Editions Klincksieck, [[Paris]], 1972. [Duala - French dictionary]
# [[Johannes Ittmann]], edited by Emmi Kähler-Meyer, ''Wörterbuch der Duala-Sprache, Dictionnaire de la langue duala, Dictionary of the Duala Language,'' Dietrich Reimer, [[Berlin]], 1976. [Duala - German - French - English dictionary. The preface evaluates ref. 1 above as terse, but good, while ref. 2 has missing and erroneous tone marks.]
# [[Johannes Ittmann]], ''Grammatik des Duala (Kamerun),'' Verlag Dietrich Reimer, [[Berlin]], 1939. [A grammar of Duala.]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{incubator|dua}}
* [https://www.omniglot.com/writing/duala.php Duala alphabet], Omniglot
* [http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/sites/divers/584.php DUALA SUN : language and culture]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140619122858/http://duala.kazeo.com/lexique-duala/lexique-duala,r84555.html Ya Jokwa Duala] (short dictionary of the French – Duala)
* [http://philippe.litou.free.fr/duala/langue_duala.htm la langue Duala]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121005120624/http://llmap.org/languages/dua.html Map of Duala language from the LL-Map project]
* [https://www.jesusfilm.org/film-and-media/watch-the-film Christian films in Douala] (video)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090509190430/http://fr.dooh.org/ Portail Douala-douala]
*[https://www.resulam.com Résurrection des langues minoritaires]
*[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.resulam.lalphabam_new&hl=en Alphabet camerounais]

{{Languages of Cameroon}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Duala]]
[[Category:Sawabantu languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Cameroon]]