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Kabba language

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(Redirected from ISO 639:ksp)
Kaba
Kabba of Gore
Native toCentral African Republic, Chad
EthnicitySara people
Native speakers
(72,000 Kaba in CAR cited 1996, and 11,000 in Chad cited 1971)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ksp
Glottologkaba1281

Kaba (Kabba), or Kabba of Goré, is a language of the Sara people in Central African Republic and Chad, with around 100,000 speakers.

There are several languages named Kaba, which is a local generic term approximately equivalent to Sara. Kaba of Gore is confusing classified as a Sara rather than as a Kaba language.

Kabba is a tonal language. There are three tones, High (H) Mid (M) and Low (L).

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ (ŋ)
Plosive voiceless p t k (ʔ)
voiced b d g
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ
Affricate voiceless (ts)
voiced (dz)
prenasal (ⁿdz) ⁿdʒ
Fricative s (h)
Tap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j
  • The glottal stop [ʔ] is only heard in word-initial position, before vowels.
  • /h/ occurs only in limited distribution.
  • Sounds /t, d, ⁿd/ are heard in complimentary distribution with affricate sounds [ts, dz, ⁿdz] when in word initial position before /i/.
  • /ɗ/ may have a retroflex [ɽ] or trill [r] allophone, when in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɾ/ may also be heard as a retroflex [ɽ] in free variation.
  • [ŋ] occurs as an allophone of /n/ when before a velar stop, or when at the end of root words or morphemes.[2]

Vowels

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Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː (ɨ) u uː
Close-mid e eː ə o oː
Open-mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
  • /ə/ is heard as [ɨ] when in CVCV open syllables.
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩ ũ
Mid ɛ̃ ə̃ ɔ̃
Open ã

References

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  1. ^ Kaba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Moser, Rosmarie (2004). Kabba: A Nilo-Saharan Language of the Central African Republic. München: Lincom.