Kung language (Cameroon)
(Redirected from ISO 639:kfl)
| Kung | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Cameroon |
Native speakers | The Nzonko dialect was spoken during the 2000s, but now probably extinct.
The Nkam dialect is originated from the frontier with Nigeria, today spoken a undated number of 12. The Zoro dialect was discovered in 2003, now at least 1 person remember words of this dialect. (2019)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kfl |
| Glottolog | kung1260 |
| ELP | Kung |
Kung is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Tatang (2016) enumerates 24 plain consonants, 9 prenasalized consonants, 7 labialized consonants, and 6 palatalized consonants, for a total of 46.[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal (-alveolar) |
Velar | Labial -velar |
Glottal | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pren. | pal. | lab. | plain | pren. | pal. | lab. | plain | pren. | pal. | lab. | plain | pren. | pal. | lab. | ||||
| Nasal | m | mʷ | n | ɲ | ŋʷ | ||||||||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | ⁿt | tʲ | k | ᵑk | kʲ | kʷ | kp | ʔ | |||||||||
| voiced | b | ᵐb | bʲ | bʷ | d | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ɡb | |||||||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | tʃ | ||||||||||||||||
| voiced | ᵐbv | ⁿdz | dʒ | ||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | fʲ | fʷ | s | ʃ | ʃʷ | |||||||||||||
| voiced | z | ⁿz | ʒ | ⁿʒ | ʒʲ | ɣ | |||||||||||||
| Approximant | l | lʲ | lʷ | j | w | ||||||||||||||
| Trill | ʙ | ||||||||||||||||||
Vowels
[edit]Tatang (2016) counts 10 vowel phonemes.[2]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | ʉ | u |
| Close-mid | e | o | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | ä | |||
Tones
[edit]Kung contrasts six tones: three level tones (high, mid, low) and three contour tones (rising, high-mid, and falling). Tatang (2016) argues that the contour tones are combinations of register tones.[2]
References
[edit]- ↑ Kung at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- 1 2 3 Tatang, Joyce Yasho (November 2016). Aspects of Kung Grammar (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Buea. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Di Carlo, Pierpaolo; Good, Jeff (2014). "What Are We Trying to Preserve? Diversity, Change, and Ideology at the Edge of the Cameroonian Grassfields". In Austin, Peter K.; Sallabank, Julia (eds.). Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalization. doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197265765.003.0012. ISBN 9780197265765.
- Good, Jeff (2013). "A (micro-)accretion zone in a remnant zone?: Lower Fungom in areal-historical perspective". In Bickel, Balthasar; Grenoble, Lenore A.; Peterson, David A.; Timberlake, Alan (eds.). Language Typology and Historical Contingency: In honor of Johanna Nichols. Typological Studies in Language. Vol. 104. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 265–282.
- Kießling, Roland (2019). "Salient features of the Kung noun class system in a Ring perspective". In Akumbu, Pius W.; Chie, Esther P. (eds.). Engagement with Africa: Linguistic Essays in Honor of Ngessimo M. Mutaka. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. pp. 139–161. ISBN 978-3-89645-768-4.
- Lo, Ch'ang-p'ei (1945). "A Preliminary Study on the Trung Language of Kung Shan". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 8 (3/4): 343–348. doi:10.2307/2717821. JSTOR 2717821.
- Schlenker, Rebecca (2012). Das Nominalklassensystem des Kung (Graslandbantu) (MA thesis). Universität Hamburg.
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