Berta_language
Berta language
Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Berta in Sudan and Ethiopia
Berta proper, a.k.a. Gebeto, is spoken by the Berta (also Bertha, Barta, Burta) in Sudan and Ethiopia. As of 2006 Berta had approximately 180,000 speakers in Sudan.[2]
Quick Facts Native to, Region ...
| Berta | |
|---|---|
| Gebeto | |
| Native to | Sudan and Ethiopia |
| Region | Benishangul-Gumuz |
| Ethnicity | Berta people, Wetawit |
Native speakers | 380,000 all Berta languages (2006–2007)[1] 100,000 monolinguals in Ethiopia[1] |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wti (all Berta languages) |
| Glottolog | bert1248 |
Close
The three Berta languages, Gebeto, Fadashi and Undu, are often considered dialects of a single language. Berta proper includes the dialects Bake, Dabuso, Gebeto, Mayu, and Shuru; the dialect name Gebeto may be extended to all of Berta proper.
Consonants
More information Labial, Dental ...
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | ||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | (cʼ) | kʼ | (ʔ) | ||
| implosive | ɗ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ʃ | h | |
| ejective | sʼ | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | ŋ | |||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
Close
- Voiced plosives /b, d, ɡ/ may be heard as voiceless [p, t, k] in free variation, word-initially or word-finally.
- A glottal stop [ʔ] mainly occurs between vowels, and may also be heard before word-initial vowel sounds.
- Nasal-stop sequences may occur morpheme-initially as [mb, nd, ŋɡ, ŋkʼ].
- /ŋ/ is heard as [ɲ] when preceding a front vowel /i/ or /e/.
- /kʼ/ is heard as a palatal [cʼ] when before front vowels.
- /ɡ/ can be heard as voiced palatal [ɟ] or as a voiceless palatal [c] when before front vowels.
- /h/ in word-final position can be heard as a fricative [x].
- /s, θ/ may sometimes occur as slightly voiced [z, ð] in vocalic or nasal environments.
Vowels
More information Front, Central ...
Close
- If a non-closed vowel sound, /ɛ/ or /ɔ/, are adjacent to a closed vowel sound like /i/ or /u/ within vowel harmony, they are then heard as more closed [e, o].[3]
More information Phoneme, Allophone ...
| Phoneme | Allophone |
|---|---|
| /i/ | [i], [ɨ~ɘ], [ɨ], [ɪ] |
| /a/ | [a], [ə], [æ], [ɜ], [ɐ] |
| /u/ | [u], [ʉ], [ʊ] |
Close
The pronouns of Berta are as follows:
More information Topic, Postverbal subject ...
| Topic | Postverbal subject | Postverbal object | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | àl(ì) | -lɪ́ɪ̀ | -ɟì |
| you (sg.) | (à)ŋɡó | -ŋó | -ŋɡó |
| he, she, it | ɲìnè | -né | ɲìnè, -né |
| we | χàtâŋ | -ŋàa | χàtâŋ |
| you (pl.) | χàtú | χátú | χàtú |
| they | mèrée | mérée | mèrée |
Close
- Berta word lists (Wiktionary)
- Torben Andersen. "Aspects of Berta phonology". Afrika und Übersee 76: pp. 41–80.
- Torben Andersen. "Absolutive and Nominative in Berta". ed. Nicolai & Rottland, Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24–29 August 1992. Proceedings. (Nilo-Saharan 10). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. 1995. pp. 36–49.
- M. Lionel Bender. "Berta Lexicon". In Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics (Nilo-Saharan 3), pp. 271–304. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag 1989.
- E. Cerulli. "Three Berta dialects in western Ethiopia", Africa, 1947.
- Susanne Neudorf & Andreas Neudorf: Bertha - English - Amharic Dictionary. Addis Ababa: Benishangul-Gumuz Language Development Project 2007.
- A. N. Tucker & M. A. Bryan. Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London: Oxford University Press 1966.
- A. Triulzi, A. A. Dafallah, and M. L. Bender. "Berta". In Bender (ed.), The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. East Lansing, Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University 1976, pp. 513–532.