Dendi language
| Dendi | |
|---|---|
| Dandawa | |
| Native to | Benin, Niger, Nigeria |
| Region | West Africa |
Native speakers | (440,000 cited 2000-2021)[1] |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ddn |
| Glottolog | dend1243 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
 | |
Dendi is a Songhay language used as a trade language across northern Benin (along the Niger River). It forms a dialect cluster with Zarma and Koyraboro Senni but it is heavily influenced by Bariba.
Dendi has been described as a four-tone language.[3]
Distribution
[edit | edit source]Dendi is mainly spoken in Northern Benin, but also in other parts of Benin, and neighbouring countries. The Dendi people are the main group in the Departments of Alibori, Borgou, Donga, and Atakora.
In Nigeria, the Dendi people are found in Bordering States (Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, and Sokoto), and in other parts of Nigeria. They are usually referred by the Hausa name Dendawa (which is also used for the Songhai people).
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Consonants
[edit | edit source]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar |
Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | ŋʷ | (ŋ͡m) | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | (p) | t | c | k | k͡p | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | ||||
| voiced | z | |||||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
- /r/ may also be heard as a tap [ɾ].
- /p/ is only a marginal phoneme.
- /k, ɡ/ may be heard as palatal [c, ɟ] when before front vowels.
- /m/ may also be heard with [ŋ͡m] in complementary distribution.[4]
Vowels
[edit | edit source]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
Writing system
[edit | edit source]| Uppercase | A | B | C | D | E | Ɛ | F | G | Gb | H | I | J | K | Kp | L | M | N | NY | Ŋ | Ŋw/Ŋm | O | Ɔ | P | R | S | T | U | W | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minuscules | a | b | c | d | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | h | i | j | k | kp | l | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋw/ŋm | o | ɔ | p | r | s | t | u | w | y | z |
The grave accent, the acute accent and the macron are used on vowels to indicate tones.[6]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Dendi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ^ This map is based on classification from Glottolog and data from Ethnologue.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ CENALA 1990.
- ^ CENALA 2008.
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).