Southern Birifor language
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 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2023) |
| Southern Birifor | |
|---|---|
| Birfoɔr | |
| Native to | Ghana, Ivory Coast |
| Ethnicity | Birifor |
Native speakers | 190,000 (2017)[1] |
| Latin (Southern Birifor alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | biv |
| Glottolog | sout2790 |
Southern Birifor is a Gur language of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken by about 200,000 people, mainly in Ghana, particularly in Upper West and Northern regions, with perhaps ten thousand in Zanzan district of Ivory Coast.
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː ĩ ĩː | u uː ũ ũː | |
| Near-close | ɪ ɪː ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː | ʊ ʊː ʊ̃ ʊ̃ː | |
| Close-mid | e eː ẽ ẽː | o oː õ õː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː | ɔ ɔː ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː | |
| Open | a aː ã ãː |
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | c | k | k͡p | |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | ||||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |
| Approximant | plain | l | j | w | |||
| glottal | ˀl | ˀj | ˀw | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
Orthography
[edit]It is written in this alphabet:
| Majuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ã | B | C | D | E | Ẽ | Ɛ | Ɛ̃ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ĩ | Ɩ | Ɩ̃ | J | K | Kp | L | ʹL | M | N | Ny | Ŋ | Ŋm | O | Õ | Ɔ | Ɔ̃ | P | R | S | T | U | Ũ | Ʋ | Ʋ̃ | V | W | ʹW | Y | ʹY | |
| Minuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | g | gb | h | i | ĩ | ɩ | ɩ̃ | j | k | kp | l | ʹl | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋm | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʋ | ʋ̃ | v | w | ʹw | y | ʹy | |
| Phonetic value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | ɡ | ɡ͡b | h | i | ĩ | ɪ | ɪ̃ | ɟ | k | k͡p | l | ˀl | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʊ | ʊ̃ | v | w | ˀw | j | ˀj | |
Long vowels are written double.
References
[edit]- ^ Southern Birifor at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
