French
DeutschTupuri language
| Tupuri | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Chad, Cameroon |
| Ethnicity | Tupuri people |
Native speakers | 320,000 (2005–2019)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tui |
| Glottolog | tupu1244 |
Tupuri (or Toupouri) is a language mostly spoken in the Mayo-Kebbi Est Region of southern Chad and in small parts of northern Cameroon. It is an Mbum language spoken by the Tupuri people with approximately 300,000 speakers.
Tupuri was erroneously classified as a Chadic language by Joseph Greenberg, due to a vocabulary list that is actually that of Kera (cf. K. Ebert 1974).[2]
Distribution
[edit]Tupuri is predominantly spoken in the southeastern part of the Moulvouday plain, in:[2]
- Kaélé, Porhi, Taibong villages in Moulvouday commune
- Guidigis commune, in Mayo-Kani department
- Kar-Hay, Kalfou, Datcheka, Tchatibali communes in Mayo-Danay department
The Viri or Wina are ethnically Tupuri, but today they speak a Massa dialect.[2]
Tupuri is also spoken in Chad. In Cameroon, it has about 125,000 speakers (SIL 2000).[2]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ ĩː | ũ ũː | |
| Close-mid | ẽ ẽː | õ õː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
References
[edit]- ^ Tupuri at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Ruelland, Suzanne (1988). Dictionnaire Tupuri-Français-Anglais (Région de Mindaoré- Tchad). Paris: SELAF.
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