North Teke language
Bantu dialect continuum of Central Africa
| North Teke | |
|---|---|
| Tɛgɛ | |
| Native to | Congo, Gabon |
Native speakers | 140,000 (2000–2011)[1] |
Language family | Niger–Congo?
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | teg |
| Glottolog | teke1275 |
B.71[2] | |
North Teke, or Tɛgɛ (Tege, Teghe, Itege), is a member of the Teke languages dialect continuum of the Congolese plateau.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| prenasal vl. | ᵐp | ⁿt | ᵑk | ||
| prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||
| Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | |
| voiced | b͡v | (d͡z) | d͡ʒ | ||
| prenasal vl. | ᶬp͡f | (ⁿt͡s) | ⁿt͡ʃ | ||
| prenasal vd. | (ⁿd͡z) | ⁿd͡ʒ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | |
| voiced | v | (ɣ) | |||
| prenasal vl. | ᶬf | ||||
| prenasal vd. | ᶬv | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Rhotic | tap | ɾ | |||
| trill | r | ||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||
- /b/ can also be heard as [ɓ] in free variation.
- /ɡ/ can be heard as [ɣ] when in between vowels.[3]
- Sounds /d͡ʒ, ⁿt͡ʃ, ⁿd͡ʒ/ can also be heard as alveolar [d͡z, ⁿt͡s, ⁿd͡z] in free variation.
- The following sounds can be labialized as [bʷ, kʷ, fʷ, sʷ, d͡zʷ, ɲʷ, lʷ, mʷ, ᵐbʷ, ⁿt͡ʃʷ, ⁿd͡ʒʷ, ᵑkʷ, ᵑɡʷ].
- The labialized sounds /kʷ, ᵑkʷ/ can also be heard as [ᵑk͡p, ᵑk͡p].
- The following sounds can be palatalized as [pʲ, bʲ, kʲ, fʲ, sʲ, t͡sʲ, lʲ, mʲ, ᵐpʲ, ᵐbʲ, ⁿt͡ʃʲ].
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
- Sounds /i, a, u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ə, ʊ] in lax position.[4]
Alphabet
| Uppercase | A | B | D | DZ | E | F | G | I | K | L | M | N | NY | Ŋ | O | P | PF | R | S | T | TS | U | V | W | Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase | a | b | d | dz | e | f | g | i | k | l | m | n | ny | ŋ | o | p | pf | r | s | t | ts | u | v | w | y |
References
- ^ North Teke at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Tsoue, Pamela C. (2017). Etude des marqueurs verbaux du lètὲɣὲ: langue bantu parlee au Gabon (B71a). Université François Rabelais de Tours.
- ^ Linton, Pauline (2016). L’Orthographe du Latege.
- ^ Linton 2013.
Works cited
- Linton, Pauline (2013). "L'alphabet latege". Dictionnaire latege.
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