Wè language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wè | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Côte d'Ivoire | |
| Region: | Dix-Huit Montagnes, Moyen-Cavally | |
| Total speakers: | over 300,000 | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Kru Western Kru Wee Wè |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | kro | |
| ISO 639-3: | either: gxx – Wè Southern wec – Wè Western |
|
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Wè (also called Guéré or Gere) is a Kru language spoken by over 300,000 people in the Dix-Huit Montagnes and Moyen-Cavally regions of Côte d'Ivoire.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
The phonology of Wè (based on the Zagna variety of Wè Southern)[1] is briefly sketched out here.
[edit] Consonants
The consonant phonemes of Wè are as follows:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Labial-velar | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labialized velar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | p | b | k͡p | g͡b | t | d | c | ɟ | k | g | kʷ | gʷ | ||
| Implosives | ɓ | |||||||||||||
| Nasals | m | n | ɲ | |||||||||||
| Fricatives | f | v | s | z | ||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | |||||||||||||
| Approximants | j | w | ||||||||||||
Allophones of some of these phonemes include:
- [k͡m] is an allophone of /k͡p/ before nasal vowels
- [ŋ͡m] is an allophone of /g͡b/ before nasal vowels
- [ŋʷ] is an allophone of /w/ before nasal vowels
- [ɗ] is an allophone of /l/ in word-initial position
- [r] is an allophone of /l/ after a coronal consonant (alveolar or palatal)
In addition, while the nasal consonants /m, n/ and contrast with /ɓ/ and /l/ before oral vowels, and are thus separate phonemes, before nasal vowels only the nasal consonants occur. /ɓ/ and /l/ do not occur before nasal vowels, suggesting that historically a phonemic merger between these sounds and the nasals /m, n/ may have occurred in this position.
[edit] Vowels
Like many West African languages, Wè makes use of a contrast between vowels with advanced tongue root and those with retracted tongue root. In addition, nasal vowels contrast phonemically with oral vowels.
| Oral | Nasal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | Front | Back | |
| Close (ATR) | i | u | ĩ | ũ |
| Close (RTR) | ɪ | ʊ | ɪ̃ | ʊ̃ |
| Mid (ATR) | e | o | õ | |
| Mid (RTR) | ɛ | ɔ | ɛ̃ | ɔ̃ |
| Open (RTR) | a | ã | ||
[edit] Tones
Wè is a tonal language and contrasts ten tones. These are indicated by superscript numbers 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the lowest tone and 5 the highest tone. Two numbers indicate a contour tone (falling or rising) that moves from the value of the first number to the value of the second. Examples of the tones are:
| Tone | Number | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Low | 1 | g͡ba1 "to scatter" |
| Mid | 3 | g͡ba3 "to destroy" |
| High | 4 | mɛ4 "to die" |
| Superhigh | 5 | ji5 "full" |
| Low-high rising | 14 | g͡bla14 "hat" |
| Low-superhigh rising | 15 | k͡plɔ̃15 "banana" |
| Mid-high rising | 34 | ɓlo34 "wall" |
| High-superhigh rising | 45 | de45 "younger brother" |
| High-low falling | 41 | g͡ba1a41 "goat" |
| Mid-low falling | 31 | sre31 "penis" |
[edit] References
- ^ Paradis, Carole (1983). Description phonologique du guéré. Abidjan: Institut de Linguistique Appliquée, Université d'Abidjan.
