The Lélé language, Lélémrin, also known as Tiagba (Tiagbamrin) after its principal town, is a Kru language spoken by ethnic Aizi (Ahizi) on the shores of Ébrié Lagoon in Ivory Coast. It is not intelligible with Mobu, also spoken by Aizi at the lagoon.
The Lele endonym for all Aizi is Prokpo for the people (or in Tiagba Krokpo), Prokpamrin for the language.[2][3]
Phonology
Consonants
The consonant phonemes are located in the chart below.[4]
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post- | Palatal | Labial–velar | Velar | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | c | ɟ | k͡p | ɡ͡b | k | g | |||||
| Implosive | ɓ | ||||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | |||||||||
| Approximant | Central | j | w | ||||||||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||||||||
Vowels
| Front | Near-front | Near-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | |||
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Close-mid | e | o | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a |
References
- ^ Tiagba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Douglas Boone, Silué Lamine, MaryAnne Augustin. "L'Utilisation du Français et de l'Adoukrou par les Aizi" (2002, Société Internationale de Linguistique, Côte d’Ivoire) online
- ^ "Journal of West African Languages". Erihplus.
- ^ "Phoible".