Tera language

Tera is a Chadic dialect cluster spoken in north-eastern Nigeria in the north and eastern parts of Gombe State and Borno State.[2] Blench (2006) believes Pidlimdi (Hinna) dialect is a separate language.[3]

Tera
Nyimalti
RegionNigeria
Native speakers
101,000 (2000)[1]
Dialects
  • Pidlimdi (Kurba, Hinna and Deba)
Language codes
ISO 639-3ttr
Glottologtera1251

Varieties

Blench lists these language varieties as part of the Tera language cluster.[4]

  • Nyimatli
  • Pidlimdi
  • Bura Kokura

Phonology
Consonants[5]
Labial Alveolar Post-al.
/Palatal		 Velar Glottal
plain palatal. central lateral plain labial.
Nasal m mʲ n ɲ ŋ
Stop1 plain pb t2d2 tʃ2dʒ2 kɡ kʷɡʷ
prenasal. ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ
implosive ɓ ɓʲ ɗ ɠ
Fricative fv vʲ sz ɬɮ ʃʒ xɣ xʷɣʷ h3
Approximant plain l j w
glottal. jˀ4
Trill r
^1 Voiceless plosives are lightly aspirated but unreleased before another consonant.[6]
^2 /t/ and /d/ formally had /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ respectively as allophones but the two pairs have split; however, the alveolar plosives never precede front vowels and the postalveolar affricates rarely precede anything but front vowels.[6]
^3 /h/ is a relatively new phoneme, appearing in loanwords from English and Hausa.[6]
^4 /jˀ/ derives from a /ɗʲ/ that has lost its alveolar contact while retaining the palatal and glottal action.[6]
Monophthongs of Tera, from Tench (2007:230)
Diphthongs of Tera, from Tench (2007:231)
Vowels[7]
Front Central Back
Close i iː ɨ u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

Vowel length contrasts are neutralized in monosyllabic words with no coda consonants.[7]

All vowels but /a/ and /aː/ are more open in closed syllables such as in [ɮɛp] ('to plait') and [xʊ́r] ('to cook soup'). /a/ and /aː/ tend to be fronted to [æ, æː] when following palatalized consonants.[8]

Diphthongs, which have the same length as long vowels, consist of a non-high vowel and a high vowel:[8]

Diphthong Example Orthography Gloss
/eu/ /ɓeu/ ɓeu 'sour'
/oi/ /woi/ woi 'child'
/ai/ /ɣài/ ghai 'town'
/au/ /ɮàu/ dlau 'sickle'
  • Phonetically, these diphthongs are [e̞ʊ, o̞ɪ, ɐɪ, ɐʊ].[8]

Tone

Tera is a tonal language, distinguishing high, mid and low tone. Tone is not indicated orthographically since no minimal trios exist; minimal pairs can be distinguished by context.[9]

Orthography

The first publication in Tera was Labar Mbarkandu nu Yohanna Bula Ki, a translation of the Gospel of John, which established an orthographic system. In 2004, this orthographic system was revised.[2]

References
  1. Tera at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Tench (2007:227)
  3. Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
  4. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  5. Tench (2007:228)
  6. Tench (2007:229)
  7. Tench (2007:230)
  8. Tench (2007:231)
  9. Tench (2007:232)

Bibliography
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