Tegem language

Tegem, also Jebel Tekeim, is a Niger–Congo language spoken in Kordofan, Sudan. It is sometimes considered a dialect of Lafofa, which is poorly attested.

Tegem
Jebel Tekeim
Region	Nuba Hills, Sudan
Ethnicity	Lafofa
Native speakers	(5,100 all Lalofa cited 1984)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Lafofa Tegem
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(included in Lafofa [laf])
Glottolog	jebe1249

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t̪			ʈ	c	k
	voiced	b	d̪				ɟ	ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪			ᶯɖ	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Nasal		m		n			ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic				r		ɽ
Sonorant		w		l	ɫ		j		h

• Labialization [ʷ] is also said to occur among sounds.
• The following sounds can occur as geminated, [bː, mː, t̪ː, d̪ː, rː, lː, ɫː, ʈː, cː, ɟː, kː].^[2]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ʌ	ɔ
Open	æ	a	ɑ

• Vowel length is also distinctive.