Kuk language

Kuk
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
(3,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3kfn
Glottologkukk1239
ELPKuk

Kuk is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Proposed Kumfutu language

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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some people from the village of Kumfutu (traditionally an ethnic Kuk village) were discontent with Kuk leadership and founded the Kumfutu Student Association as a result. The peopole of Kumfutu wanted to become independent from the Kuk, and thus proposed a new "Kumfutu" language. However, by 2010, the people of Kumfutu were no longer in conflict with the Kuk leadership.[2]

Gloss Kumfutu Kuk
fufu kə́bál/kə́bán/kə́bánə́ kə́bá
corn beer zə̀-kə́n-dzɔ̄ŋ káŋ
raffia wine ndzéí-sə̀ fə́bə́-sə́ (white urine) lə̀-m fə̀bə̂-m (white wine)
book kə̀màʼlə̀ kə́ŋwàlə̀
mother nôː nə̂ː
child wéí wāī
market bə́kə́wɛ́í bə́kə́wə́n
let's go á nwô á ŋwô
you (in greetings) gha (plural) wu (singular)
sleep (in greetings) bilə bei

The case of Kumfutu serves as an example of how language change in Africa often closely linked to the need for ethnic differentation.

References

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  1. ^ Kuk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Good, Jeff. 2021. Individual-level lexical variation in the Bantu homeland and its implications for the development of Benue-Congo. Diedrich Westermann-Workshop (West-central African linguistic history between Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo: commemorating Diedrich Westermann’s legacy and the 100th anniversary of the Berlin professorship for African languages), 4-6 November 2021, Humboldt University of Berlin.