Tupuri (or Toupouri) is a language mostly spoken in the Mayo-Kebbi Est Region of southern Chad and in small parts of northern Cameroon. It is an Mbum language spoken by the Tupuri people with approximately 300,000 speakers.
| Tupuri | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Chad, Cameroon |
| Ethnicity | Tupuri people |
Native speakers | 320,000 (2005–2019)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tui |
| Glottolog | tupu1244 |
Tupuri was erroneously classified as a Chadic language by Joseph Greenberg, due to a vocabulary list that is actually that of Kera (cf. K. Ebert 1974).[2]
Distribution
editTupuri is predominantly spoken in the southeastern part of the Moulvouday plain, in:[2]
- Kaélé, Porhi, Taibong villages in Moulvouday commune
- Guidigis commune, in Mayo-Kani department
- Kar-Hay, Kalfou, Datcheka, Tchatibali communes in Mayo-Danay department
The Viri or Wina are ethnically Tupuri, but today they speak a Massa dialect.[2]
Tupuri is also spoken in Chad. In Cameroon, it has about 125,000 speakers (SIL 2000).[2]
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ ĩː | ũ ũː | |
| Close-mid | ẽ ẽː | õ õː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
References
edit- ^ Tupuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Ruelland, Suzanne (1988). Dictionnaire Tupuri-Français-Anglais (Région de Mindaoré- Tchad). Paris: SELAF.
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