Songe language
Bantu language spoken in DR Congo
| Songe | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Region | Kasai-Oriental province |
Native speakers | (1 million cited 1991)[1] |
Language family | Niger–Congo?
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sop |
| Glottolog | song1303 |
L.23[2] | |
Songe, also known as Songye, Kisonge, Lusonge, Yembe, and Northeast Luba, is a Bantu language spoken by the Songye people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ethnologue notes that Songe is "related" to Mbagani, which they do not include in their database. Maho (2009) labels as "Mbagani (Binji)" one of the two geographic areas Ethnologue assigns to Songe, but says that it is closer to Lwalu; he says that it is a different language, Binji, that is close to Songe.
Phonology
Vowels
A five vowel system with vowel length is present:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k |
| vl. prenasal | ᵐp | ⁿt | ⁿtʃ | ᵑk | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| vd. prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | |
| vl. prenasal | ᶬf | ⁿs | ⁿʃ | ||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ||
| vd. prenasal | ᶬv | ⁿz | ⁿʒ | ||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||
- Palatalization [ʲ] and labialization [ʷ] is also present among consonant sounds.[3]
References
- ^ Songe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Stappers, Leo (1964). Morfologie van het Songye. Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit.
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