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
RegionNuba Hills, Sudan
EthnicityLafofa
Native speakers
(5,100 all Lalofa cited 1984)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3(included in Lafofa [laf])
Glottologjebe1249

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p ʈ c k
voiced b 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.

References

  1. Tegem at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Sosal Altayeb Mohammed Ali, Ahmed (2018). A Phonological Study of the Tegem Language. University of Cape Town.

Sources

  • Roger Blench, 2011 (ms), "Does Kordofanian constitute a group and if not, where does its languages fit into Niger-Congo?"


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