Mambila language

Mambila
Mambila
Region	Nigeria and Cameroon
Native speakers	(130,000 cited 1993)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Northern Bantoid Mambiloid Mambila–Konja Mambila–Vute Mambila; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; mzk – Nigerian Mambila; mcu – Camerounian Mambila
Glottolog	nige1255 Nigeria; came1252 Cameroon

Mambila is a dialect chain stretching across Nigeria and Cameroon. It is one of the Mambiloid languages, a branch of Benue–Congo.

Notable dialects are Barup, Bang, Dorofi, Gembu, Hainari, Kabri, Mayo Ndaga, Mbamnga, Tamien, Warwar (in Nigeria); Sunu Torbi (Torbi), Ju Naare (Gembu), and in Cameroon, Ju Ba and Langa. Mambila goes by numerous names, which, besides the dialectical names, include Bea, Ble, Juli, Lagubi, Nor, Nor Tagbo, Tongbo, and the spellings Mabila, Mambere, Mambilla.

Tep is generally considered a dialect by those in Tep and by speakers of other varieties of Mambila, but though Tep speakers are ethnically Mambila, their speech is not intelligible to other varieties. In terms of linguistic classification it may be more accurate to call it a different Mambiloid language. See Connell references below.

Blacksmiths among the Mambila once spoke Somyev, a related Mambiloid language, though this is nearly extinct.

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