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Gbari | |
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Native to | Nigeria |
Region | Abuja, Kaduna State, Niger State, and Nasarawa State |
Ethnicity | Gbagyi people |
Native speakers | 1,290,000 Gbagyi (2020) 550,000 Gbari (2020) |
Niger–Congo?
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:gbr – Gbarigby – Gbagyi |
Glottolog | gbag1256 |
Gwari is a Nupoid language spoken by the Gbagyi people, which make up over a million people in Nigeria. There are two principal varieties, Gbari (West Gwari) and Gbagyi (East Gwari), which have some difficulty in communication; sociolinguistically they are distinct languages.
Phonology※
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i ĩ | u ũ | |
Mid | e ẽ | o õ | |
Open | a ã |
- /i, "u," e, o/ can also have allophones ※.
- Nasal vowels /ĩ, ũ, ẽ, õ/ can also be, heard as ※.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar |
Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | (ŋ) | |||
Stop/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | (t͡ʃ) | k | k͡p | |
voiced | b | d | (d͡ʒ) | g | ɡ͡b | ||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | (ʃ) | h | ||
voiced | v | z | (ʒ) | ||||
Approximant | central | (ɹ) | j | w | |||
lateral | l |
- The following sounds may be labialized as /pʷ, bʷ, fʷ, vʷ, kʷ, ɡʷ, mʷ, k͡pʷ, ɡ͡bʷ, hʷ/ and palatalized as /pʲ, bʲ, fʲ, vʲ, kʲ, ɡʲ, mʲ, lʲ, wʲ/.
- Sounds /t, d, s, z, n/ when palatalized are always heard as ※.
- Sounds /f, b/ can be heard as bilabial sounds ※ in free variation.
- /n/ is heard as velar ※ when preceding velar consonants.
- /n/ becomes a labialized-velar ※ when preceding /w/.
- Sounds /bʷ, ɡʷ, ɡʲ/ are softened to fricatives ※ when preceding glide, in medial-intervocalic position.
- /ɡ͡b/ is heard as an implosive ※ in free variation.
- /h/ only has a limited occurrence, but it also may be allophonic with /f/ in Northern Gbagyi. In Southern Gbagyi, ※ is heard in free variation with /j/, when /j/ occurs before /i/ in syllable-final position.
- The palatalized /lʲ/ may also be heard as a central glide ※.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar |
Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | (ŋ) | |||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | k͡p | ||
voiced | b | d | g | ɡ͡b | |||
implosive | ɓ | ɗ | |||||
ejective | kʼ | ||||||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | (t͡ʃ) | ||||
voiced | (d͡ʒ) | ||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | (ʃ) | h | ||
voiced | v | z | (ʒ) | ||||
Approximant | central | (ɹ) | j | w | |||
lateral | l |
- The following sounds may be labialized as /pʷ, bʷ, fʷ, vʷ, kʷ, ɡʷ, mʷ/ and palatalized as /pʲ, bʲ, fʲ, vʲ, tʲ, dʲ, kʲ, ɡʲ, mʲ, lʲ, wʲ/.
- Stops may also be heard as post-nasalized as ※.
- Palatalized sounds /tʲ, dʲ/, typically occur as ※ or ※ in free variation. And as ※, they can be represented orthographically as <ch, j>. Sounds /s, z, n/ when palatalized are always heard as ※, and can be represented orthographically as <sh, zh, ny>.
- Sounds /f, fʲ, b/ can be heard as bilabial sounds ※ in free variation.
- /d/ can also be heard as ※.
- Sounds /b, ɡ/ and /bʷ, ɡʷ, ɡʲ/ are softened to fricatives ※ and ※ when preceding a glide, in medial-intervocalic position.
- /n/ becomes a labialized-velar ※ when preceding a /w/.
- The palatalized /lʲ/ may also be heard in free variation, as a central glide ※ or as a palatalized equivalent ※.
- /n/ when palatalized is heard as a palatal nasal ※, and is velar as ※ when preceding velar consonants.
Varieties※
Gbagye is also known as Gwari-Matai or Gwarin Ngenge, which are recently adopted cover terms.
There are two separate Gbagyi groups living in:
Gbagye is the only Nupoid language that has the bilabial implosive /ɓ/.
Gbagyi (also known as Gwari) is a cover term for all the Gbari-speaking peoples, and includes many varieties.
Gbari-Yama is a cover term used for all southern Gbari dialects. There are two closely related dialects, which are:
- Shigokpna
- Zubakpna
Gbedegi is an extinct language (possibly a Nupe dialect) spoken near Mokwa (Nadel 1941).
References※
- ^ Gbari at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Gbagyi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) - ^ Rosendall, Heidi James (1992). A phonological study of the Gwari Lects. Dallas, Tex.: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ^ Rosendall, Elias Patrick (1998). Aspects of Gbari Grammar. University of Texas at Arlington.
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list.
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