Limbum language


Limbum is a Grassfields language of Cameroon, with a small number of speakers in Nigeria. It is used as a trade language by some, but is primarily the mother tongue of the Wimbum people, who live in Donga-Mantung division of the Northwest Region, at the top of the Ring Road.

Speakers

The Wimbum consist of three clans: War clan headquartered at Mbot, Tang clan at Tallah, and Wiya clan at Ndu. Scattered around are other Wimbum villages, each associated with one of the three clans. Each village has a chief, also known as fon, who is largely autonomous, and beneath him sub-chiefs or quarter-heads. The three clans are geographically interspersed, but share the language. The people live on the Nkambe Plateau, a dramatic grassy highland cut by wooded ravines, about a mile above sea level. Most are farmers, growing maize, beans, potatoes, yams, vegetable, tomatoes, bananas, and also plantains and coffee in lower, warmer areas. Some conduct trade, primarily in the towns of Nkambé and Ndu. Some work for the government, primarily in Nkambe.
Linguists consider Limbum to have three "dialects," which may be better called accents: a northern, a middle, and a southern dialect. Limbum is closely related to some neighboring languages like Yamba and more geographically distant ones like Bamum, Ngemba and Bamileke. It is quite different from some other neighboring languages like Bebe and Noni.

Grammar

Limbum's grammar is similar to English in some ways, including:
But Limbum differs from English in other ways. Here are a few: