Maba language

Maba (Maban, Mabang, or Bura Mabang) is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban branch spoken in Chad and Sudan. It is divided into several dialects, and serves as a local trade language. Maba is closely related to the Masalit language. Most speakers of Maba reside in Chad with 542,000 speakers as of 2019. In 2022 there were 28,000 speakers in Sudan where the language is known as Sulaihab.

Vowels

 * /ɛ, ɛː/ and /ɔ, ɔː/ may be realized as more close [e, eː] and [o, oː], when found in open syllable positions.
 * Vowels may also be marginally realized as nasal when in nasal environments.



Consonants

 * Stop sounds /b, t, k/ are heard as unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚] when in word-final position.
 * Sounds [p, h] are heard mostly as a result of loanwords. [z] is also mostly from Arabic loanwords, but also may occur in some native words as well.
 * /t, d, ⁿd/ when preceding a tap /ɾ/, are then heard as retroflex [ʈ, ɖ, ᶯɖ].
 * /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill [r] in free variation.

Orthography
Maba language is written with the Latin and Arabic Chad Alphabet.

Sample Text
Sample texts from "Mabaan Dictionary".