Kanembu is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Chad by the Kanembu people. It is also spoken by a smaller number of people in Niger. It is closely related to Kanuri.
| Kanembu | |
|---|---|
| Kanembou | |
| كَنٜݦُ | |
| Native to | Chad |
| Region | Barh el Gazel, Hadjer-Lamis |
| Ethnicity | Kanembu |
Native speakers | 880,000 (2019)[1] |
Early form | |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | kbl |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kbl – Kanembutxj – Old Kanembu |
| Glottolog | kane1243 |
| Linguasphere | 02-AAA-b |
Phonology edit
Consonants edit
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
- /f, b/ can also have allophones of [ɸ, β].[2]
Vowels edit
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɜ | ɔ |
| Open | a |
- Vowel length is also distributed.
Writing system edit
Kanembu is written with the Latin script and Ajami alphabets.
In 2009, the Chadian government standardized both Latin and Ajami scripts for all indigenous languages of the country, including Kanembu, in what is known as Chadian National Alphabet.[3][4]
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | Ə ə | F f | G g | H h | I i | J j | K k |
| [a] | [b] | [t͡ʃ] | [d] | [e] | [ə] | [f] | [g] | [h] | [i] | [d͡ʒ] | [k] |
| L l | M m | N n | O o | Pp | R r | S s | T t | U u | W w | Y y | |
| [l] | [m] | [n] | [o] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [u] | [w] | [j] |
The letters ⟨â, ê, î, ô, û⟩ are also used. The orthography also uses the digraphs ⟨ch, mb, nd, ng, nj⟩.
The Ajami script has been used for Kanembu, since the time of Dunama Dabbalemi, and still today in the Tarjumo language or in religious works.
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
أ إ ( - ) [∅]/[ʔ] |
ب (B b) [b] |
ت (T t) [t] |
ث (S s) [s] |
ج (J j) [ɟ] |
ڃ (Nj nj) [ᶮɟ] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
چ (C c) [t͡ʃ] |
ح (H h) [h] |
خ (Kh kh) [x] |
د (D d) [d] |
ڊ (Nd nd) [ⁿd] |
ذ (S s) [s] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ر (R r) [r] |
ز (S s) [s] |
س (S s) [s] |
ش (Ch ch) [ʃ] |
ص (S s) [s] |
ض (D d) [d] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ط (T t) [t] |
ظ (Z z) [z] |
ع ( - ) [ʔ] |
غ (Kh kh) [x] |
ڠ (Ng ng) [ᵑɡ] |
ف (F f) [f] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ق (G g) [g] |
ك (K k) [k] |
ل (L l) [l] |
م (M m) [m] |
ݦ (Mb mb) [ᵐb] |
ن (N n) [n] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] |
ه (H h) [h] |
و (W w) [w] |
ؤ ( - ) [ʔ] |
ي (Y y) [j] |
ئ ( - ) [ʔ] |
| A | E | Ə | I | O | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَ | إٜ | أ٘ | إِ | أٗ | أُ |
| Aa | Ee | Əə | Ii | Oo | Uu |
| آ | إٜيـ | - | إِيـ | أٗو | أُو |
| a | e | ə | i | o | u |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َ | ◌ٜ | ٘◌ | ◌ِ | ٝ◌ | ◌ُ |
| aa | ee | əə | ii | oo | uu |
| ◌َا / ـَا | ◌ٜيـ / ـٜيـ ◌ٜي / ـٜي |
٘◌ا / ـ٘ا | ◌ِيـ / ـِيـ ◌ِي / ـِي |
ٝ◌و / ـٝو | ◌ُو / ـُو |
Notes edit
- ^ Kanembu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Old Kanembu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Jouannet 1982.
- ^ a b Warren-Rothlin, Andy. (2014). West African Scripts and Arabic-Script Orthographies in Socio-Political Context. DOI: 10.1163/9789004256804_013.
- ^ a b Priest, Lorna A.; Hosken, Martin (12 August 2010). Proposal to add Arabic script characters for African and Asian languages (PDF). (Archive)
- ^ SIL Chad 2017a.
- ^ SIL Chad 2017b.
References edit
- Jouannet, Francis (1977). "Essai d'inventaire phonétique du parler kanembou des Ngaldoukou du Sud-Kanem". In Caprile, Jean-Pierre (ed.). Études phonologiques tchadiennes. Paris: SELAF. pp. 129–143. ISBN 2-85297-019-8.
- Jouannet, Francis (1982). Le kanembou des Ngaldoukou : langue saharienne parlée sur les rives septentrionales du lac Tchad : phonématique et prosodie. Paris: SELAF. ISBN 2-85297-129-1.
- Lukas, Johannes (1931). Die Sprache der Káidi-Kanembú in Kanem. Hamburg: C. Boysen.
- SIL Chad (2017a). Kakadu Kanembu Kərânei, Kakadu 1 [Nous lisons le kanembou, livre 2] (PDF) (in French). N’Djamena, Tchad: SIL Tchad.
- SIL Chad (2017b). Kakadu Kanembu Kərânei, Kakadu 2 [Nous lisons le kanembou, livre 2] (PDF) (in French). N’Djamena, Tchad: SIL Tchad.