Bena language
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Bantu language spoken in Tanzania
Not to be confused with Bena language (Adamawa).
Bena | |
---|---|
Ekibena | |
Native to | Tanzania |
Ethnicity | Bena |
Native speakers | 670,000 (2001)[1] |
Language family | Niger–Congo?
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bez |
Glottolog | bena1262 |
Guthrie code | G.63 [2] |
Linguasphere | 99-AUS-ub incl. varieties 99-AUS-uba...-ubg |
Bena is a Bantu language spoken by the Bena people of the Iringa region of Tanzania.
Contents
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
Affricate | ts | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | ||
voiced | v | |||||
prenasal | ⁿs | |||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
Voiceless sounds almost always occur as aspirated stops; [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].
- /v/ can be realized as [ʋ] intervocalically.
- [ɖ] can occur as an allophone of /d/ before long non high vowels.
- [x] can occur as an allophone of /k/, /h/ in the Maswamu dialect.
- [cç, tʃ] can occur as allophones of /ts/, in the Twangabita dialect.
- [ⁿz] can occur as an allophone of /ⁿs/.
- [ɟ] can occur as an allophone of /j/ in the Maswamu dialect.
- [β, ʋ] can occur as allophones of /w/ among some speakers.
- Prenasalised stops may be devoiced when occurring word-finally (ex. /ᵐb/ ~ [ᵐb̥]).
Vowels[]
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i iː | u uː | |
Mid | ɛ eː | o oː | |
Low | a aː |
- /i, u/ before non-rounded vowels are recognized as glides [j, w].[3]
References[]
- ^ Bena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Morrison (2011)
- Morrison, Michelle Elizabeth (2011). A Reference Grammar of Bena (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/70359.
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