Duala language
Encyclopedia
Duala is the language
spoken by the Duala people
of Cameroon
. The language belonges to the Bantu language family
, and a subgroup of it called the Duala languages. The song "Soul Makossa
", as well as pop songs that repeated its lyrics, internationally popularized the Duala word for "(I) dance", "makossa".http://www.inst.at/trans/13Nr/echu13.htm
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
spoken by the Duala people
Duala people
The Duala are an ethnic group of Cameroon. They primarily inhabit the littoral region to the coast and form a portion of the Sawa, or Cameroonian coastal peoples...
of Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
. The language belonges to the Bantu language family
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
, and a subgroup of it called the Duala languages. The song "Soul Makossa
Soul Makossa
"Soul Makossa" is a 1972 single by Cameroonian makossa saxophonist Manu Dibango. It is often cited as one of the first disco records. In 1972 David Mancuso found a copy in a Brooklyn West Indian record store and often played it at his Loft parties. The response was so positive that the few copies...
", as well as pop songs that repeated its lyrics, internationally popularized the Duala word for "(I) dance", "makossa".http://www.inst.at/trans/13Nr/echu13.htm
Dictionaries
- E. Dinkelacker, Wörterbuch der Duala-Sprache, HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, 1914. - Paul Helmlinger, Dictionnaire duala-français, suivi d'un lexique français-duala. Editions Klincksieck, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1972. - Johannes IttmannJohannes IttmannJohannes Ittmann was a German Protestant missionary in Cameroon between 1911 and 1940.He was born in Groß-Umstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire and died in Gambach, Hesse, West Germany....
, edited by E. Kähler-Meyer, Wörterbuch der Duala-Sprache, Dictionnaire de la langue duala, Dictionary of the Duala Language, Dietrich Reimer, BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 1976. The preface evaluates 1 as terse, but good, while 2 has missing and erroneous tone marks.