West Teke language

West Teke is a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

West Teke
Native to	Republic of Congo, Gabon
Ethnicity	Teke, Bongo Pygmies
Native speakers	(120,000 cited ca.2000)[1] (some figures undated)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu (Zone B) Nzebi (B.50) (traditionally Teke, B.70) West Teke
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: tyi – Tsaayi lli – Laali iyx – Yaa tyx – Tyee (Kwe)
Glottolog	west2969  West Kasai-Ngounie
Guthrie code	B.73[2]

West Teke is a dialect continuum. The varieties are Tsaayi (Ge-Tsaya, Tyaye, Tsayi), Laali, Yaa (Yaka), and Tyee (Tee, Kwe). The dominant variety by far is Tsaayi.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋ͡m
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑk͡p
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑɡ͡b
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s
	voiced	b͡v	d͡z
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp͡f	ⁿt͡s
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb͡v	ⁿd͡z
Fricative		f	s		ɣ		h
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant		(ɥ)	l	j		w

• Sounds /k͡p, ᵑk͡p, ᵑɡ͡b/ are sometimes pronounced as labialized sounds [kʷ, ᵑkʷ, ᵑɡʷ].
• /ɡ/ when preceding /w/ or /j/, may labialize or palatalize as [ɡʷ, ɡʲ].
• /s/ may often be pronounced as [ʃ] when before /u/ or /w/.
• /j/ when preceding a /w/ or /u/, is pronounced as a labial-palatal [ɥ].
• /t͡s, ⁿt͡s, d͡z, ⁿd͡z/ may also be pronounced as [t͡ʃ, ⁿt͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ⁿd͡ʒ] when before /u/, /w/ or /j/.^[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ		u ũ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ ɛ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã

• Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ may also be heard as more closed [e, o] in different positions.
• Vowel length is also distinctive.