Izere language
| Izere | |
|---|---|
| Afusare | |
| Izarek | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Kaduna State, Bauchi State, Plateau |
Native speakers | 500,000 (2006–2016)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:izr – NE & NW Izerecen – Cèn (Chen)gne – Ganàng (Gashish)fiz – Izere (retired) |
| Glottolog | Noneizer1242 Izeric, incl. Firan |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Izere is a dialect continuum of Plateau languages in Nigeria.[2] According to Blench (2008), it is four languages, though Ethnologue does not distinguish NW and NE Izere. The Cen and Ganang varieties are spoken by only 2000 each. Cen has added Berom noun-class prefixes and consonant alternation to an Izere base.
Dialects
[edit | edit source]Blench (2019) lists the following Izere dialects.[3]
- Fobur
- Northeastern (Federe)
- Southern (Foron)
- Ichèn
- Faishang
- Ganang
Phonology
[edit | edit source]The Izere phonetic inventory includes 29 consonants and seven vowels and distinguishes three tone levels; two additional contour tones appear only rarely, in loanwords and due to onomatopoeia.[4]
Consonants
[edit | edit source]The consonant phonemes of Izere are shown in the following table.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial–velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | t d | c ɟ | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |||
| Trill | (r) | |||||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | h | ||||
| Affricate | ts | |||||||
| Approximant | j, ɥ | w | ||||||
| Lateral | l |
Vowels
[edit | edit source]The vowel phonemes of Izere are shown in the following table.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | |
| Open | a | |
Tonemes
[edit | edit source]There are three level (L, M & H) and two contour tonemes (LM & HL) in Izere; the latter two are found only in loanwords and onomatopoeia.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ NE & NW Izere at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Cèn (Chen) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Ganàng (Gashish) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Izere (retired) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ 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:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Blench (2008) Prospecting proto-Plateau. Manuscript.