Mantsi (also known as Ma’as or Mangas) is an endangered Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Mangas town in Bauchi State, Nigeria.^[1] Blench (2020) reports that it is also called Mantsi. According to Blench, the structure of Mantsi differs significantly from the other South Bauchi languages.^[2]

Word lists of Mantsi had previously been published in Kiyoshi Shimizu's (1978) South Bauchi survey, which first mentioned the existence of the language.^[3] An unpublished word list was also recorded by Ronald Cosper (n.d.).^[4]

Names

Mantsi speakers refer to their language as Pyik Mantsi [pʲìk mántsì], and to themselves as the Mantsi [mántsì] people. Although there are fewer than 1,000 speakers, the language is still being spoken by children.^[2]

Demographics

Mantsi is spoken in the single village of Mantsi (locally known as Maɗana [mánànā] or Ma’as [màʔās]) in the southern part of Bauchi LGA, Bauchi State. The Kir [Kyiir] and Laar peoples, who speak closely related but distinct languages, live just to the northeast of Mantsi village in the nearby villages of Kir and Laar, respectively.^[2]

Classification

Mantsi belongs to the Kir branch of the South Bauchi languages. It is most closely related to Kir and Laar, as shown by the lexical comparisons below.^[2]

Mantsi also has some lexical innovations, which are:

Phonology

Mantsi has 3 level tones, as well as, rising and falling contour tones.^[2]

Grammar

Number is not marked morphologically.^[2]

Lexicon

Notes