Tera is a Chadic dialect cluster spoken in north-eastern Nigeria in the north and eastern parts of Gombe State and Borno State.[2] Blench (2006) believes Pidlimdi (Hinna) dialect is a separate language.[3]
| Tera | |
|---|---|
| Nyimalti | |
| Region | Nigeria |
Native speakers | 101,000 (2000)[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ttr |
| Glottolog | tera1251 |
Varieties
editBlench lists these language varieties as part of the Tera language cluster.[4]
- Nyimatli
- Pidlimdi
- Bura Kokura
Phonology
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Post-al. /Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | palatal. | central | lateral | plain | labial. | ||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | mʲ | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||||||||||
| Stop1 | plain | p | b | t2 | d2 | tʃ2 | dʒ2 | k | ɡ | kʷ | ɡʷ | ||||||
| prenasal. | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | ||||||||||||
| implosive | ɓ | ɓʲ | ɗ | ɠ | |||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | vʲ | s | z | ɬ | ɮ | ʃ | ʒ | x | ɣ | xʷ | ɣʷ | h3 | |||
| Approximant | plain | l | j | w | |||||||||||||
| glottal. | jˀ4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||||||||||
- ^1 Voiceless plosives are lightly aspirated but unreleased before another consonant.[6]
- ^2 /t/ and /d/ formally had /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ respectively as allophones but the two pairs have split; however, the alveolar plosives never precede front vowels and the postalveolar affricates rarely precede anything but front vowels.[6]
- ^3 /h/ is a relatively new phoneme, appearing in loanwords from English and Hausa.[6]
- ^4 /jˀ/ derives from a /ɗʲ/ that has lost its alveolar contact while retaining the palatal and glottal action.[6]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | ɨ | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
- The mid vowels /e, eː, o, oː/ are true-mid [e̞, e̞ː, o̞, o̞ː].[7]
- The open vowels /a, aː/ are central [ä, äː].[7]
Vowel length contrasts are neutralized in monosyllabic words with no coda consonants.[7]
All vowels but /a/ and /aː/ are more open in closed syllables such as in [ɮɛp] ('to plait') and [xʊ́r] ('to cook soup'). /a/ and /aː/ tend to be fronted to [æ, æː] when following palatalized consonants.[8]
Diphthongs, which have the same length as long vowels, consist of a non-high vowel and a high vowel:[8]
| Diphthong | Example | Orthography | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| /eu/ | /ɓeu/ | ɓeu | 'sour' |
| /oi/ | /woi/ | woi | 'child' |
| /ai/ | /ɣài/ | ghai | 'town' |
| /au/ | /ɮàu/ | dlau | 'sickle' |
- Phonetically, these diphthongs are [e̞ʊ, o̞ɪ, ɐɪ, ɐʊ].[8]
Tone
editTera is a tonal language, distinguishing high, mid and low tone. Tone is not indicated orthographically since no minimal trios exist; minimal pairs can be distinguished by context.[9]
Orthography
editThe first publication in Tera was Labar Mbarkandu nu Yohanna Bula Ki, a translation of the Gospel of John, which established an orthographic system. In 2004, this orthographic system was revised.[2]
References
edit- ^ Tera at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b Tench (2007:227)
- ^ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
- ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- ^ Tench (2007:228)
- ^ a b c d Tench (2007:229)
- ^ a b c d Tench (2007:230)
- ^ a b c Tench (2007:231)
- ^ Tench (2007:232)
Bibliography
edit- Tench, Paul (2007), "Tera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 228–234, doi:10.1017/s0025100307002952