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Cerma language
Gur language of Burkina Faso From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cerma (Kirma) is a Gur language of Burkina Faso. It is spoken by the Gouin people (sometimes called Ciramba or Gouin (Gwe, Gwen)).
Phonology
Consonants
- Although /w/ is phonetically a labial-velar consonant, Lauber includes it in the dorsal/laryngeal column because its distribution is more like /k/ or /h/ than the labials or labial-velars.[2]
- Lauber excludes /l̪/, /r̪/, and //N// from the continuant section because their distributions are different.[2]
- /l̪/ is nasalized [l̃] "in a nasal context" and a voiceless alveolar lateral [l̥] at the end of an utterance.[3]
- /r̪/ is a nasal tap [ɾ̪̃] "in a nasal context" and a voiceless tap [ɾ̥] at the end of an utterance.[3]
- The archiphoneme //N// has the following allophones:[4]
- /Nj/ also becomes [ɲ].[4]
- Hürlimann and Pike (1985) note that the palatals are affricates, using the symbols ⟨č⟩ and ⟨j⟩.[5]
Vowels
- Lauber treats nasalization as a feature of the syllable, not the vowel.[2]
- In closed syllables, /i, u/ become near-close [ɪ, ʊ].[7]
- In the last syllable of the nuclear element of the phonological word before /r/, /e, ɔ, o/ are lengthened [eː, ɔː, oː].[8]
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Notes
References
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