Nizaa is an endangered Mambiloid language spoken in the Adamawa Region of northern Cameroon. 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. In terms of grammar, it is the only Bantoid language that allows multiple verbal suffixes on one verb. It also is neither a head-initial nor head-final language (the head or main element of a clause appears both before and after its modifiers with roughly equal frequency). Nizaa was first extensively documented in the 1980s by Norwegian linguists Rolf Theil Endresen (pictured) and Bjørghild Kjelsvik. The language is endangered, but the exact number of active speakers is unknown, as the last census of speakers took place in 1985, and a 1983 survey reported drastically different figures.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizaa_language> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1805: War of the Third Coalition: The Treaty of Potsdam was signed compelling Prussia to join the coalition if it failed to negotiate peace between Russia and France. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Potsdam_%281805%29> 1848: A new constitution drafted by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was proclaimed, limiting the powers of the Dutch monarchy. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rudolph_Thorbecke> 1935: Almost 98 percent of reported votes in a Greek referendum supported the restoration of George II as King of the Hellenes. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_II_of_Greece> 1956: Suez Crisis: During an invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot and killed hundreds of Palestinian refugees and local inhabitants in Khan Yunis. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Yunis_massacre> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: kigurumi: 1. A full-body costume of a cartoon character (typically a mascot of cartoonish proportions) originating in Japan. 2. (anime) A full-body cosplay of a human cartoon character with realistic proportions paired with an anime-style mask, originating in Japan; also (metonymic), the anime-style mask used in such a cosplay. 3. (fashion) A themed onesie, typically in the style of a cartoon animal. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kigurumi> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: In the course of thousands of years of mechanical development, the mechanistic concept, from generation to generation, has anchored itself deeply in man's biological system. In so doing, it actually has altered human functioning in the sense of the machine-like. In the process of killing his genital function, man has become biologically rigid. He has armored himself against that which is natural and spontaneous within him, he has lost contact with the biological function of self-regulation and is filled with a strong fear of that which is alive and free. --Wilhelm Reich <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
