Kwaʼ language
| Kwaʼ | |
|---|---|
| Region | Cameroon |
| Ethnicity | Bamileke |
Native speakers | (1,000 cited 2000)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bko |
| Glottolog | kwaa1265 |
Kwaʼ (Bakwa) is a minor Bamileke language of Cameroon.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Labial-velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | |||||
| voiced | b | d | g | ||||||
| prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑg | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||
| Affricate | voiceless | pf | tʃ | kx | |||||
| voiced | bv | dʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||||
| voiced | v | ɣ | |||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||
This analysis differs from that of Tientcheu Tchameni (2008), who did not find /ʔ/, /pf/, /bv/, or /ɣ/. In contrast, Tientcheu Tchameni (2008) found /p/, /gɣ/, /ɰ/, /kf/, and /x/, which Talla Sandeu did not.[3]
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [-round] | [+round] | |||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i | ʉ | ʉː | u | uː | |||
| Close-mid | e | eː | ø | øː | ə | əː | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ɔː | |||||
| Open | a | aː | ||||||
Tientcheu Tchameni (2008) did not include /ə/ or /əː/[4] but did include /ɨ/, /o/, and /ɛː/.[5]
Tones
[edit]Talla Sandeu (2020) and Tientcheu Tchameni (2008) agree on the number and characteristics of the tones. There are three simple tones (high, mid, and low) and two complex tones (rising and falling).[6] Syllabic nasals can only carry simple tones, e.g., [m̀fū] 'leaf'.[7]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Kwaʼ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Talla Sandeu 2020, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Talla Sandeu 2020, p. 25, citing Tientcheu Tchameni 2008
- ^ a b Talla Sandeu 2020, p. 30.
- ^ Talla Sandeu 2020, p. 20, citing Tientcheu Tchameni 2008, p. 40
- ^ Talla Sandeu 2020, pp. 21, 29.
- ^ Talla Sandeu 2020, p. 29.
References
[edit]- Talla Sandeu, Cyrille (February 2020). De la standardisation du kwáʔ: D'une esquisse morphologique à l'orthographe (Master's thesis) (in French). University of Yaoundé I. HAL dumas-04283636.
- Tientcheu Tchameni, N. N. (2008). Ésquisse phonologique du kwá' (code ALCAM 990) et proposition d'une orthographe (Master's thesis) (in French). Dschang: Université de Dschang.
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