The Rio Nunez (Rio Nuñez) or Nunez River languages constitute a pair of Niger–Congo languages, Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni. They are spoken at the mouth of the Nunez River in Guinea, West Africa.
The Rio Nunez languages have been studied by Fields (2001),Fields, Edda. 2001. Rice farmers in the Rio Nunez region: A social history of agricultural technology and identity in coastal Guinea, ca. 2000 BCE to 1880 CE. Doctoral dissertation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. but otherwise remain sparsely documented.
Classification The two Rio Nunez languages do not subgroup with the Nalu language, contrary to prior classifications. Previously, Fields had proposed a Coastal group consisting of Mbulungish, Mboteni, and Nalu that she considered to be distinct from the surrounding Mel languages. The grouping in its current scope was proposed by Güldemann (2018).
The Rio Nunez languages are currently unclassified within Niger-Congo, and whether or not they are part of the Atlantic languages is also uncertain.
History Speakers of Rio Nunez languages had cultivated African rice (Oryza glaberrima) for thousands of years on the swampy coast of Guinea. Mel speakers were later arrivals on the Guinean coast, as the Proto-Mel homeland is located in the north-central highlands of Sierra Leone just to the south of the Lesser Scarcies River, rather than on the coast (Fields 2008:83).Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Today, both languages are endangered. As of 1998, fewer than 100 people spoke Baga Mboteni fluently, while Mbulungish had fewer than 500 speakers, although both speech communities had a few thousand people. The language endangerment is caused by a shift to Susu, a Mande language that is the lingua franca of coastal Guinea (Fields 2008:33–35).
Vocabulary Basic Comparison of basic vocabulary words of the Rio Nunez languages, and also Nalu, by Fields (2004):
Language eye ear nose tooth tongue mouth blood bone tree water eat name Mbulungish nop pɛn tet / ʃi-tet lim tul yel mboi ti, ki-ti tɔ romba yin Mboteni nʊf ndo, ndoŋdo tʊl / sʊ-rʊl lom sul yɛla loŋ / sa-loŋ tili, li sɔ lamal yin Nalu n-nɛw ɲin m-fef / a-fef n-lem, rim n-sol ɲ-yaak / a-yaak n-hol n-ti / a-ti ngɔl / a-gɔl, ŋol rɛp tahan riiɸ
Comparison of basic vocabulary words of the Rio Nunez languages, and also Nalu, by Wilson (2007):Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Language eye ear nose tooth tongue mouth blood bone tree water name; surname Baga Fore / Mbulungish cet ɔ-nɔp pen ki-tet lem tul bɔl Baga Mboteni cír / si- nǎf / sä-; ɛ-nop ndɔŋ / -lo tǎl / sǎ-r ɛ-ləm / a- sùl / su- yelã, yɛl-əŋ lə̀ŋ / sa- lí / ti- sɔ̀, a-sɔ Nalu n-cɛt / a- nɛw / a- nin / a- n-feθ / a- rim / a- n-sul naak wol n-ti / a- a-ŋɔl riiθ / a-
Vocabulary shared with Atlantic languages:Fields, Edda L. Before "Baga": Settlement Chronologies of the Coastal Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c.1000 CE. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2004), pp. 229–253. Boston University African Studies Center.
English Mbulungish Mboteni Nalu four nɛŋ na bi-nan head kap kap n-ki ear nop nʌf n-nɛw eye syɛt / syi-syɛt eir / si-kir n-cɛt / a-cɛt mouth tul sul n-sol / a-sol tongue lim lɤm n-lem breast / milk m-bin mban m-bem hand / arm tɛ n-tɛ leg luŋ tɛŋk bone mbol / tyʌ-mbol nhol / a-hol moon / month bel pʌl m-bilaŋ tree ti li n-ti dog but wur maa-bet egg in n-yin
Innovated vocabulary differing from Atlantic languages:
English Mbulungish Mboteni Nalu man mɛ-sil o-kw-cel / ngwɛ-cɛl nlam-cel dirty / black bali a-val m-balax long lani m-lanna cold hon m-hon to come batɛ m-ba to kill ka-rame lama m-rama to bite nyɛt nyera m-ŋateŋ to sit ŋo ŋon m-ɲɔh to die ŋu-rip n-ref
Some Mbulungish and Mboteni innovated words that differ from Nalu and other surrounding languages (Fields 2008:74):
English Mbulungish Mboteni mosquito ɔ-bo / ɔ-bolleŋ a-bɔ crab (generic) i-nep, e-nep, ɛnippel / ɛ-nippel a-nep / a-neppel type of crab i-laŋ / ayel-laŋ a-laŋ / alaŋŋel
Cultural A rich set of rice agriculture-related vocabulary in Rio Nunez languages has been documented by Edda L. Fields-Black (2008).