Sukur language

Sukur
Sakwun
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Adamawa State
Native speakers	(15,000 cited 1992)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara Wandala–Mafa Wandala (A.6) Sukur
Language codes
ISO 639-3	syk
Glottolog	suku1272
ELP	Sukur

Sukur (Adikimmu Sukur, Gemasakun, Sakul, Sugur, Sakun) is a Biu–Mandara language of Madgali LGA, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		plain	lateral
Plosive	p b	t d			k g, kʷ	ʔ
Affricate		ts dz		tʃ dʒ
Prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd, ⁿz		ⁿdʒ	ᵑg
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	f v	s z	ɬ ɮ	ʃ ʒ	x ɣ
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Approximant	(ⱱ)	r	l	j	w

• /ⱱ/ is only found intervocalically in ideophones.
• /ɬ/ is often pronounced [x] word-initially.
• /tʃ dʒ/ are often lenited to [ʃ ʒ] in fast speech.
• /k/ can vary to [x~kʷ~w~g].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid		(ə)
Low		a

• /a/ can be raised to either [e] or [o].
• /ə/ is epenthetic. It is heard as [ə̥] if following an unvoiced consonant and if it does not bear any tone, and can also unpredictably be realized as [u̥] in fast speech.

Sukur also has two tones; high and low.

External links

• ELAR archive of Sakun (Sukur) Language Documentation