Cerma language
(Redirected from Kirma language)
| Cerma | |
|---|---|
| Gouin | |
| Kirma | |
| Region | Burkina Faso, a few in Ivory Coast |
Native speakers | 53,600 (2009)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cme |
| Glottolog | cerm1238 |
Cerma (Kirma) is a Gur language of Burkina Faso. It is spoken by the Gouin people (sometimes called Ciramba or Gouin (Gwe, Gwen)).
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Dorsal/ Laryngeal |
Labial- velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/Affricate | voiceless | p | t̪ | c | k | kp |
| voiced | b | d̪ | ɟ | g | gb | |
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ||||
| Continuant | voiceless | f | s̪ | h | ||
| voiced | v | (z̪) | j | w | ||
| Lateral | l̪ | |||||
| Trill | r̪ | |||||
| Archiphoneme | N | |||||
- Although /w/ is phonetically a labial-velar consonant, Lauber includes it in the dorsal/laryngeal column because its distribution is more like /k/ or /h/ than the labials or labial-velars.[2]
- Lauber excludes /l̪/, /r̪/, and //N// from the continuant section because their distributions are different.[2]
- /l̪/ is nasalized [l̃] "in a nasal context" and a voiceless alveolar lateral [l̥] at the end of an utterance.[3]
- /r̪/ is a nasal tap [ɾ̪̃] "in a nasal context" and a voiceless tap [ɾ̥] at the end of an utterance.[3]
- The archiphoneme //N// has the following allophones:[4]
- /Nj/ also becomes [ɲ].[4]
- Hürlimann and Pike (1985) note that the palatals are affricates, using the symbols ⟨č⟩ and ⟨j⟩.[5]
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
- Lauber treats nasalization as a feature of the syllable, not the vowel.[2]
- In closed syllables, /i, u/ become near-close [ɪ, ʊ].[7]
- In the last syllable of the nuclear element of the phonological word before /r/, /e, ɔ, o/ are lengthened [eː, ɔː, oː].[8]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Cerma at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d Lauber 2006, p. 23.
- ^ a b Lauber 2006, p. 22.
- ^ a b Lauber 2006, p. 12.
- ^ Hürlimann & Pike 1985, p. 60.
- ^ Lauber 2006, p. 26.
- ^ Lauber 2006, p. 24, 26.
- ^ Lauber 2006, p. 24-26.
References
[edit]- Lauber, Ed (November 2006) [1980]. Weber, Maya; Hürlimann, Ruth; Karama, Daniel (eds.). Ébauche d'une description de la phonologie du cerma (PDF) (Report) (in French). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- Hürlimann, Ruth; Pike, Eunice V. (1985). "A note on tone and stress in Cerman". Journal of West African Languages. 15 (2): 56–60. Archived from the original on 31 August 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
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