Kuria language
| Kuria | |
|---|---|
| Igikuria | |
| Native to | Kenya, Tanzania[1] |
| Ethnicity | Kuria people |
Native speakers | 690,000 (2005–2009)[2] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin, Arabic | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kuj |
| Glottolog | kuri1259 |
JE.43,431–434[3] | |
Kuria is a Bantu language spoken by the Kuria people of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya.
Maho (2009) treats the Simbiti, Hacha, Surwa, and Sweta varieties as distinct languages.
Alphabet
| Kuria alphabet (Kenya)[4][5][6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uppercase | A | B | Ch | E | Ë | G | H | I | K | M | N | Nd | Ny | Ng' | O | Ö | R | Rr | S | T | U | W | Y | ||||
| Lowercase | a | b | ch | e | ë | g | h | i | k | m | n | nd | ny | ng' | o | ö | r | rr | s | t | u | w | y | ||||
| IPA Symbol | a | β | t͡ʃ | e | ɛ | ɣ | h | i | k | m | n | n͡d | ɲ | ŋ | o | ɔ | ɾ | r | s | t | u | w | j | ||||
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | t | k | |||
| Fricative | β | s | ɣ | h | |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Trill | r | ||||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||
| Glide | j | ||||
| Prenasalized Stops | m͡b | n͡d | ŋ͡g | ||
| Affricates | t͡ʃ |
Vowels
| Advanced Tongue Root (+ATR) | -ATR | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u | ||||
| Close-Mid | e | o | ||||
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||||
| Open | a | |||||
All vowels contrast length, and can be either short or long.
Bibliography
- Jelle Cammenga, Igikuria phonology and morphology : a Bantu language of South-West Kenya and North-West Tanzania, Köppe, Köln, 2004, 351 p. ISBN 3896450298 (revised text of a thesis)
- S. M. Muniko, B. Muita oMagige and M. J. Ruel (ed.), Kuria-English dictionary, LIT, Hambourg, 1996, 137 p. ISBN 3825829510
- W. H. Whiteley, The structure of the Kuria verbal and its position in the sentence, University of London, 1955, 161 p. (thesis)
- Phebe Yoder, Tata na Baba = Father and Mother : a first Kuria reader, Musoma Press, Musoma, Tanganyika, 1949, 44 p.
References
- ^ Ethnologue entry for Kuria
- ^ Kuria at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Rhonda L. Hartell, ed. 1993. The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and Summer Institute of Linguistics
- ^ a b c Nyauma, Shem (2014). "A Phonological Reconstruction Of Ekegusii And Egekuria Nouns: A Comparative Analysis" (PDF). Masters Thesis, University of Nairobi.
- ^ Hartell, Rhonda, ed. (1993). Alphabets of Africa. UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar (BREDA). p. 186. ISBN 92-9091-020-3.
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