Kisi language (Tanzania)

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Not to be confused with Kissi language.
Kisi
Kikisi
Native toTanzania
Ethnicity18,000 Kisi (2001?)[1]
Native speakers
10,200 (2001)[2]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3kiz
Glottologkisi1243
Guthrie code
G.67[3]
Linguasphere99-AUS-re

Kisi is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Though only half or so of the Kisi people speak the language, use is vigorous where it is still spoken.

Phonology[]

Consonant phonemes in Kisi
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
prenasalised ᵐb ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced β ʝ ɣ
Affricative tʃ
Liquid l
Consonant phonemes in Kisi that occur only through morphological interaction
Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post alveolar/

palatal

Velar
Prenasalised voiceless

plosives

mph nth ᵑkh
Prenasalised voiceless

fricatives

ᶬf ns
Prenasalized voiceless

affricatives

ntʃ
Aspirated nasals mh nh ɲh

Other phonemes:

  • [ɾ] and [l] are in a free variation.
  • [w] and [j] are not included in a phoneme chart in Kisi because they only occur as glide insertion between historically or morphologically adjacent vowels. [w] does not occur otherwise. For some speakers, [j] occurs as a free variant of [ʝ] which is considered incorrect by other speakers.
Vowels phoneme in Kisi
Front Central Back
High - degree 1 i

i:

u

u:

High - degree 2 ɪ

ɪ:

ʊ

ʊ:

Mid e

e:

o

o:

Low a

a:

Contrastive and obligatory length is marked with /:/. This does not necessarily reflect a difference in the length of production.

Diphthongs in Kisi
Symbol Example words Meaning
[e]-[i] [bei] Swahili: bei 'price'
[a]-[o] [ᵑɡao] Swahili: ngao 'shield'

Swahili: bei, and Swahili: ngao - These Swahili words have been borrowed into Kisi and pronounced with a diphthong in Kisi

References[]

  1. ^ Kisi language (Tanzania) at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
  2. ^ Kisi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  • Gray, Hazel (2018). "Kisi Phonology and Morphology" (PDF). SIL International. (in Kisi). Archived from the original on 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-18.


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