View source for Social:Mangree language

{{Short description|Extinct West African Language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Mangree
|region=West Africa
|extinct=18th or 19th century?
|ref=<ref name=Fodor/>
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam1=Niger–Congo?
|fam2=unclassified; <br/>[[Social:Kru languages|Kru]] ?; Kwa ?; <br/>[[Social:Mande languages|Mande]] ?
|fam3=
|iso3=none
|glotto=mang1422
|glottorefname=Mangree
|script=
}}

'''Mangree''' (pronunciation approximately {{IPA|[maŋɡreː]}}) is a poorly attested, unclassified, and extinct language of the interior of West Africa, possibly from what is now Ivory Coast. It is only attested in a list of a dozen words collected in the late 18th century.<ref name=Fodor>Fodor, István 1975 [1789] ''Pallas und andere afrikanische Vokabularien vor dem 19. Jahrhundert: Ein Beitrag zur Forschungsgeschichte''</ref> There is some indication that it might have been a Kru language, but there is not enough data to classify it.

== Location ==
The Mangree were reported to live adjacent to the Kanga, not far from the Mandinga and Amina. A large river formed the border between the Mangree and the Gien.
Fodor believes that the location was somewhere around 7° north latitude and that the river was either the Sassandra or the Bandama.<ref name=Fodor/>
<!--The Gien appear to be the Tchien, an eastern tribe of the Krahn, which suggests the river may have been the Cavalla, which demarcates the modern Ivorian–Liberian border. Against this, the Kanga, despite Fodor's characterization of them as Kru, might be a tribe of the Mande Guro or Yawle, which would be consistent with the river being the Bandama and with the Mangree being close to the Mandika.-->

== Word list ==
Fodor reports the following 11 words:<ref name=Fodor/>

:god: ''yankombum'' ('jankombum')
:sky: ''tata''
:sun: ''lataa''
:human: ''mia''
:foot: ''trippi''
:head: ''tri''
:man: ''laniu''
:woman: ''auvee'' ('auwee')
:child: ''pikkeninne''
:father: ''amee''
:mother: ''pakkabel''

A brief summary of the source repeats 'head', 'man', 'woman' and adds ''ichi'' ('itchi') 'water'.<ref>R.G. Latham, 1848, 'On the present state and recent progress of Ethnographical Philology', in ''Report of the seventeenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science'', p. 176.</ref>

== Classification ==
The Mangree language was said to be little different from Gien, which would suggest it was Kru. However, the known vocabulary is not obviously Kru, at least as it was recited and transcribed. The informants were Kanga (also Kru) who said they spoke the language well. 

Fodor suggests that the word for God may be the same as Twi ''{{IPA|o-nyàŋkṍpɔŋ}}'' 'God'. The word for 'father' resembles [[Biography:Ewe language|Ewe]] ''ame'' 'human' (and possibly came from a translation of the phrase 'heavenly Father', in which case ''tata'' might be 'father' and ''amee'' 'sky'), while the word for 'human' resembles Gien ''me'' 'human'. The word for 'head' resembles both Twi (with an ''i'' vowel) and several Kru languages (with a ''u'' vowel). Fodor suggests that the word for 'foot' may be a compound, 'head of the leg'. 

The word for 'child' resembles Portuguese ''pequenino'' (and English ''piccaninny''), which is widespread in West Africa pidgins and creoles. Fodor was not able to find parallels for the other words in Kru or Kwa languages. 

The vocabulary that resembles Twi may be loanwords.<ref name=Fodor/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*Mangree section of ''Pallas und andere afrikanische Vokabularien vor dem 19. Jahrhundert''

[[Category:Extinct languages of Africa]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mangree language}}