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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.
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 |
Phonology
editVowels
editFront | 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
editLabial | 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
editIt 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)