Hina language

Not to be confused with Mina (or Gen) language of Togo and Benin.
Not to be confused with Mina language (India) or Hinna language.
Mina
Hina
Besleri
Native to Cameroon
Region Far North Province
Native speakers
11,000 (2000)[1]
Dialects
  • Besleri
  • Jɨŋjɨŋ
  • Gamdugun
Language codes
ISO 639-3 hna
Glottolog mina1276[2]

The Mina language, also known by the names Hina and Besleri, is a Chadic language spoken in Northern Cameroon by 10,000 people. Speakers of Mina are generally bilingual, with Fulfulde (Fula) being the second language. Fulfulde is often joined by French as a third language in educated speakers.[1]

Dialects

Frajzyngier & Johnston (2005) list three Mina dialects: Marbak, Kefedjevreng and Dzundzun. Ethnologue also lists three: Besleri, Jingjing (Dzumdzum), Gamdugun. While the correspondence of "Jingjing" and "Dzundzun" is clear, the identity of the others is not. Mutual intelligibility between dialects is difficult to ascertain, but Frajzyngier & Johnston (2005:3) demonstrate one-way intelligibility between Dzundzun and Mina (presumably meaning the Marbak dialect).

Notes

  1. 1 2 Mina at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mina (Cameroon)". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

References


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