// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Cebaara language say to the tourist? "Bara" none.

Cebaara
Senari
Native to	Ivory Coast
Native speakers	(860,000 cited 1993)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senufo Senari Cebaara
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sef
Glottolog	ceba1235

Cebaara (Tyebala), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a major Senufo language, spoken by a million people in Ivory Coast.

Phonology

Cebaara has the following sound inventory:

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	k͡p	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ	ɡ͡b
Fricative	voiceless	f	s
	voiced	v	z
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Approximant				j		w

• /b/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [β] when in intervocalic position.
• Voiceless stops /p, t/ can occur as slightly voiced before /i/ as [p̬, t̬]
• /s/ can be palatalized before an /i/, and can be recognized as a post-alveolar fricative [ʃ] before another vowel in /siV/ position.
• Palatal sounds /c, ɟ/ can also be heard as affricate sounds [t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ] within free variation.
• /ŋ/ can also be heard as a post-nasal [ɡ ̃] within word final positions.

Vowels

	Oral vowels			Nasal vowels
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː	ĩ ĩː		ũ ũː
Close-mid	e eː	ə	o oː
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː	ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː		ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː
Open		a aː			ã ãː

• Vowels /e, o/ can be realized as [ɪ, ʊ] when in shortened form.