group of related languages spoken in the border area of Chad, The Sudan (Sudan, The), and the Central African Republic. The Maban languages form a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family (Nilo-Saharan languages). Maba (also called Bura Mabang) is the largest Maban language in terms of number of speakers (more than 250,000). Other members of the group include Karanga, Kibet, Massalat, Masalit (Massalit), Marfa, and Runga. Maban also includes two languages known by the names of their first investigators as Mimi of Nachtigal and Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes (the latter also being referred to as Mime), both spoken in southeastern Chad. (See BTW: The peoples known as Mimi.)