Bena_language

Bena language

Bena language

Bantu language spoken in Tanzania

Not to be confused with Bena language (Adamawa).

Bena is a Bantu language spoken by the Bena people of the Iringa region of Tanzania.

Quick Facts Native to, Ethnicity ...

Phonology

Consonants

More information Labial, Alveolar ...

Voiceless sounds almost always occur as aspirated stops; [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].

  • /v/ can be realized as [ʋ] intervocalically.
  • [ɖ] can occur as an allophone of /d/ before long non high vowels.
  • [x] can occur as an allophone of /k/, /h/ in the Maswamu dialect.
  • [cç, tʃ] can occur as allophones of /ts/, in the Twangabita dialect.
  • [ⁿz] can occur as an allophone of /ⁿs/.
  • [ɟ] can occur as an allophone of /j/ in the Maswamu dialect.
  • [β, ʋ] can occur as allophones of /w/ among some speakers.
  • Prenasalised stops may be devoiced when occurring word-finally (ex. /ᵐb/ ~ [ᵐb̥]).

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...
  • /i, u/ before non-rounded vowels are recognized as glides [j, w].[3]

References

  1. [1]
    Bena at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Benemanga (include Kidugala and Lupembe dialects) at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. [2]
    Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. [3]
    Morrison (2011)
  • Morrison, Michelle Elizabeth (2011). A Reference Grammar of Bena (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/70359.


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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Bena_language, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.