Bangolan is a member of the Eastern Grassfields group of Southern Bantoid languages. It has about 14,000 speakers in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, particularly in in the village of Bangolan in the Babessi subdivision in the northeast of the Ngo-ketunjia Division in the south of the Northwest Region.
Bangolan is also known as Mendenkye. Speakers of Bangolan call themselves ŋgbáŋlɛ and their language sɔ́ŋnə́ ŋgbáŋlɛ, Məndə́ŋkyɛ or Bǎŋgulaŋ. The last name is the most widely-used.
A way to write Bangolan with the Latin alphabet was proposed in 2003 by Njeck Mathaus Mbah of the University of Yaounde in a dissertation entitled A Phonology of Bǎŋgulaŋ and a Proposed Orthography.
Download an alphabet chart for Bangolan (Excel)
Detail of the Bangolan alphabet provided by Wolfram Siegel (PDF)
Mɔʼɔ́ ŋgyaŋ kɛʼɛ jí ŋwaʼlɔ kátsɔ́ mɔʼɔ́ ŋgɔŋ pɔ́ ká ŋgyí nɔ̀ m̀biŋkɔm. A kátsɔ́ nzɔ’ m̀búlúŋ nde mgbɛhɔ yɛ́ la zhí mɔ́yí ló kɛʼɛ mɔ́nɛ’lɔ́ ŋwa’lɔ pə́. A kanyít mɔʼɔ́ mā ndíhí mbá Mbipɛ’ a katsɔ́ nzɔ’ mɔ’ɔ́ ŋgɔŋ tsâŋ səsɛ. Chichɛ ŋkə’ yɛ a nɛ’ɛ́ ŋwa’lə hɛ́ nə lɛ́li nɛ a yí ŋɔ mbɛ’hɔ hɛ̄ yi.
Once upon a time, in a certain village called Mbinkom, there lived a man who was illiterate. He was a member of many Njangi groups but he could never know how to read and write. He had a child call Mbipɛ’ who lived in a distant country. Whenever he wrote a letter to his father, a different person read it for him.
Source: A Phonology of Bǎŋgulaŋ and a Proposed Orthography
Information about Bangolan | Numbers
Information about Bangolan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangolan_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangolan
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/bang1356
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/bgj
https://www.webonary.org/mendenkye/overview/introduction/
Aghem, Ambele, Awing, Baba, Babanki, Bambalang, Bamukumbit, Bamum, Bamunka, Bangolan, Feʼfeʼ, Fut, Ghomalaʼ, Kenswei Nsei, Kom, Kwaʼ, Limbum, Mfumte, Mmen, Ndemli, Ngaʼka, Ngiemboon, Ngomba, Ngombale, Nso, Oku, Vengo, Yamba, Yemba
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 20.10.25. Last modified: 20.10.25
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