Guere language

Not to be confused with Neyo language.

Guéré (Gere), also called Wè (Wee), is a Kru language spoken by over 300,000 people in the Dix-Huit Montagnes and Moyen-Cavally regions of Ivory Coast.

Guéré
Wè
Native to	Ivory Coast
Region	Dix-Huit Montagnes, Moyen-Cavally
Native speakers	400,000 (2017)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kru Western Kru Wee Guere–Krahn Guéré
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: gxx – Central Gere (Southern Wee) wec – Neyo (Western Wee)
Glottolog	guer1240
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Phonology

The phonology of Guere (here the Zagna dialect of Central Guere / Southern Wè)^[2] is briefly sketched out below.

Consonants

The consonant phonemes are as follows:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial- velar	Labialized velar
Stops	voiceless	p	t	c	k	k͡p	kʷ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ	ɡ͡b	ɡʷ
	implosive	ɓ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s
	voiced	v	z
Approximant			l	j			w

Allophones of some of these phonemes include:

• [k͡m] is an allophone of /k͡p/ before nasal vowels
• [ŋ͡m] is an allophone of /ɡ͡b/ 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.

Vowels

Like many West African languages, Guere 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

Tones

Guere is a tonal language and contrasts ten tones:

Tone	IPA	Example	Gloss
Low	˩	ɡ͡ba˩	"to scatter"
Mid	˧	ɡ͡ba˧	"to destroy"
High	˦	mɛ˦	"to die"
Top	˥	ji˥	"full"
Low–high rising	˩˦	ɡ͡bla˩˦	"hat"
Low–top rising	˩˥	k͡plɔ̃˩˥	"banana"
Mid–high rising	˧˦	ɓlo˧˦	"wall"
High–top rising	˦˥	de˦˥	"younger brother"
High–low falling	˦˩	ɡ͡ba˩a˦˩	"goat"
Mid–low falling	˧˩	sre˧˩	"penis"

See also

• Wobe a.k.a. Northern Wè

References

1. Central Gere (Southern Wee) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
   Neyo (Western Wee) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Paradis, Carole (1983). Description phonologique du guéré. Abidjan: Institut de Linguistique Appliquée, Université d'Abidjan.