Bena language

Bena is a Bantu language spoken by the Bena people of the Iringa region of Tanzania.

Not to be confused with Bena language (Adamawa).
Bena
Ekibena
Native toTanzania
EthnicityBena
Native speakers
670,000 (2001)[1]
Dialects
  • Bena
  • Benamanga
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
bez – Bena
egm – Kidugala
egm – Lupembe
egm – Benemanga
Glottologbena1262
G.63[2]
Linguasphere99-AUS-ub incl. varieties 99-AUS-uba...-ubg

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Affricate ts
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced v
prenasal ⁿs
Approximant l j w

Voiceless sounds almost always occur as aspirated stops; [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].

  • /v/ can be realized as [ʋ] intervocalically.
  • [ɖ] can occur as an allophone of /d/ before long non high vowels.
  • [x] can occur as an allophone of /k/, /h/ in the Maswamu dialect.
  • [cç, tʃ] can occur as allophones of /ts/, in the Twangabita dialect.
  • [ⁿz] can occur as an allophone of /ⁿs/.
  • [ɟ] can occur as an allophone of /j/ in the Maswamu dialect.
  • [β, ʋ] can occur as allophones of /w/ among some speakers.
  • Prenasalised stops may be devoiced when occurring word-finally (ex. /ᵐb/ ~ [ᵐb̥]).

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i iː u uː
Mid ɛ eː o oː
Low a aː
  • /i, u/ before non-rounded vowels are recognized as glides [j, w].[3]

References
  1. Bena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kidugala at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Lupembe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Benemanga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. Morrison (2011)
  • Morrison, Michelle Elizabeth (2011). A Reference Grammar of Bena (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/70359.


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