The Kunama language has been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family, though it is distantly related to the other languages, if at all.[citation needed] Kunama is spoken by the Kunama people of the Gash-Barka Region in western Eritrea and just across the Ethiopian border. The language has several dialects including: Barka, Marda, Aimara, Odasa, Tika, Lakatakura, Sokodasa, Takazze-Setit and Tigray. Ilit and Bitama are not mutually intelligible and so may be considered distinct languages.
| Kunama | |
|---|---|
| Baada, Baazayn, Diila | |
 | |
| Native to | Eritrea, Ethiopia |
| Region | western Eritrea, northern Ethiopia |
| Ethnicity | Kunama |
Native speakers | 180,000 (2022)[1] |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kun |
| Glottolog | kuna1268 |
There have been some use of the Kunama language in publications. "The first Bible translation product in Kunama was the Gospel of Mark prepared by Andersson and published in 1906."[2]
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | t | tʃ | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | g | ||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | (h) | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
- /h/ is only of marginal status.
- /k, ɡ/ are labialized as [kʷ, ɡʷ] after back vowels.
- /k/ is heard as aspirated [kʰ] in syllable-initial position.
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | (ɨ) | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | (ə) | o oː |
| Open | a aː |
- /i, e/ can be heard as [ɨ, ə] when in unstressed syllable position.[3]
See also
edit- Kunama word list (Wiktionary)
References
edit- ^ Kunama at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ Andemariam, Senai Woldeab (2020). "The Polygon of the Bible Translation Efforts in Eritrea 1880–2012". Journal of Translation. 16 (1): 1–16. doi:10.54395/jot-d389t.
- ^ Getachew, Anteneh (2018). Segmental and Non-Segmental Phonology of Kūnámá. Addis Ababa University.
Relevant literature
edit- Bender, M. Lionel (1996). Kunama. Languages of the World/Materials. Vol. 59. München: Lincom Europa. ISBN 978-3-89586-072-0.
- Bender, Marvin Lionel (2001). "English-Kunama lexicon". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 65: 201–253.
- Idris, Nikodimos (1987). The Kunama and their language (BA thesis). Addis Ababa University.
- Thompson, E. D. (1983). "Kunama: phonology and noun phrase". In Bender, M. L. (ed.). Nilo-Saharan Language Studies. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. pp. 280–322.
- Thompson, E. David (1989). "Kunama Verb Phrase". In Bender, M. Lionel (ed.). Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. pp. 305–346.
- Tucker, A. N.; Bryan, M. A., eds. (1966). "Kunama". Linguistic Analyses: the Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315104645. ISBN 978-1-315-10464-5.
External links
edit- World Atlas of Language Structures information on Kunama
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