Nizaa language
Mambiloid language
Nizaa (Nizaa pronunciation: [nɪ˦zʌː˧˨], practical orthography: Nízɑɑ̀), also known as Galim, Nyamnyam, and Suga, is an endangered Mambiloid language spoken in the Adamawa Region of northern Cameroon, by the Nizaa people. Most of the language's speakers live in and around the village of Galim in the department of Faro-et-Déo.
Nizaa has a complex sound system with 60 consonant phonemes, eleven tones, and a contrast between oral and nasal vowels. It is neither a head-initial nor head-final language (the head or main element of a clause does not prefer to come before or after its modifiers) and uses postpositions instead of prepositions (the adposition follows the noun it modifies).
Nizaa was first extensively documented in the 1980s by Norwegian linguists Rolf Theil Endresen and Bjørghild Kjelsvik. The language is endangered, but the exact number of active speakers is unknown since the last census of speakers took place in 1985.
Name
Nizaa is also referred to as Suga (also spelled Ssuga), Galim, Nyamnyam (also spelled Nyemnyem, Njemnjem, and Jemjem), "Sewe" and "Mengaka". Nizaa is the word the Nizaa call themselves, while Suga comes from Pero súgò 'stranger' or 'not Pero'. 'Nyamnyam' is a pejorative term likely derived from the Fula word nyaamnyaamjo 'cannibal', which may also mean 'sorcerer', though there is no evidence the Nizaa have ever practised cannibalism or sorcery. Because another language exists in Adamawa Region also called "Nyamnyam", linguists have often confused the two languages.
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