Pinyin language
Pinyin is a Grassfields language spoken by some 27,000 people in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.
| Pinyin | |
|---|---|
| Region | Northwest Region, Cameroon |
Native speakers | 25,000 (2001)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pny |
| Glottolog | piny1238 |
Phonology
Consonants
| Phoneme | Allophones | Environment | Orthography |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | p | ⟨p⟩ | |
| pʰ | Before /u/ in an open syllable. | ||
| b | After /ɴ̩/. | ⟨b⟩ | |
| β | Between vowels within a root. | ||
| t | t | ⟨t⟩ | |
| k | k | Beginning of words and of roots within words, and after /ɴ̩/. | ⟨k⟩ |
| ʔ | Only C found at ends of words. | ⟨’⟩ | |
| kʷ | kʷ | ⟨kw⟩ | |
| l | l | In roots. | ⟨l⟩ |
| ɾ | In suffixes. | ⟨r⟩ | |
| d | After /ɴ̩/. | ⟨d⟩ | |
| ɣ | ɣ | ⟨ɡh⟩ | |
| ɡ | After /ɴ̩/. | ⟨ɡ⟩ | |
| ɣʷ | ɡʷ | After /ɴ̩/. | ⟨ɡw⟩ |
| f | f | ⟨f⟩ | |
| s | s | /ts/ after /ɴ̩/. | ⟨s⟩ |
| ts | ts | ⟨ts⟩ | |
| z | z | ⟨z⟩ | |
| dz | After /ɴ̩/. | ||
| ʃ | ʃ | /tʃ/ after /ɴ̩/. | ⟨sh⟩ |
| tʃ | tʃ | ⟨ch⟩ | |
| ʒ | ʒ | ⟨zh⟩ | |
| dʒ | After /ɴ̩/. | ⟨j⟩ | |
| m | m | ⟨m⟩ | |
| n | n | ⟨n⟩ | |
| ɲ | ɲ | ⟨ny⟩ | |
| ŋ | ŋ | ⟨ŋ⟩ | |
| N̩ | m̩ n̩ ŋ̍ | Homorganic with following C. Carries tone. | ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩ |
| w | w | ⟨w⟩ | |
| ɥ | ɥ | ⟨ẅ⟩ | |
| j | j | ⟨y⟩ |
Sequences are:
- py (mby), ly (ndy), ty, ky, ngy, my, kẅ, ngẅ (= /kʷj, ɡʷj/)
- pw (mbw), lw (ndw), tw, tsw, chw, shw, sw, zw, zhw, nw, nyw, ŋw
All noun and verb roots begin with a consonant; initial vowels are necessarily prefixes. Only /a, ɨ/ occur in prefixes or at the beginning of words, and only /ə/ occurs in suffixes. /ɨ, y/ do not occur at the ends of words.
Vowels
| Phoneme | Orthography |
|---|---|
| i | i |
| y | ʉ |
| ɛ | e |
| a | a |
| ɔ | o |
| u | u |
| ə | ə |
| ɨ | ɨ |
All known long vowels may occur medially or at ends of words, none at the beginning, though long /ɛ, y/ are not attested. Long vowels are written double: aa, əə, ii, ‿ɨɨ, oo, uu. Diphthongs ie, iə, ʉə, ɨə, uə take a single tone.
Tones are high, mid, low, rising, falling. They are written as in IPA, apart from low, which is not written: á ā a ǎ â. Falling tone is largely confined to suffixes, and rising tone is rare, found only on a few nouns such as tǎ 'father'.
References
- Pinyin at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- The Pinyin Orthography Guide (Njeck Mathaus Mbah & Stephen C. Anderson, 2005)