Southern Birifor is a Gur language of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken by about 200,000 people, mainly in Ghana, particularly in Upper West and Northern regions, with perhaps ten thousand in Zanzan district of Ivory Coast.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː ĩ ĩː | u uː ũ ũː | |
| Near-close | ɪ ɪː ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː | ʊ ʊː ʊ̃ ʊ̃ː | |
| Close-mid | e eː ẽ ẽː | o oː õ õː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː | ɔ ɔː ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː | |
| Open | a aː ã ãː |
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | c | k | k͡p | |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | ||||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |
| Approximant | plain | l | j | w | |||
| glottal | ˀl | ˀj | ˀw | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
Orthography
It is written in this alphabet:
| Majuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ã | B | C | D | E | Ẽ | Ɛ | Ɛ̃ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ĩ | Ɩ | Ɩ̃ | J | K | Kp | L | ʹL | M | N | Ny | Ŋ | Ŋm | O | Õ | Ɔ | Ɔ̃ | P | R | S | T | U | Ũ | Ʋ | Ʋ̃ | V | W | ʹW | Y | ʹY | |
| Minuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | g | gb | h | i | ĩ | ɩ | ɩ̃ | j | k | kp | l | ʹl | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋm | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʋ | ʋ̃ | v | w | ʹw | y | ʹy | |
| Phonetic value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | ɡ | ɡ͡b | h | i | ĩ | ɪ | ɪ̃ | ɟ | k | k͡p | l | ˀl | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʊ | ʊ̃ | v | w | ˀw | j | ˀj | |
Long vowels are written double.
References
- ^ Southern Birifor at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
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