| Koyra Chiini | |
|---|---|
| koyra ciini / jenne ciini كࣷيْرَ ٺِينِ / جٜنّٜ ٺِينِ | |
| Native to | Mali |
| Region | Niger River |
Native speakers | (200,000 cited 1999)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin Arabic | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | khq |
| Glottolog | koyr1240 |
 | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Koyra Chiini ([kojratʃiːni], figuratively "town language"), orWestern Songhay, is a member of theSonghay languages spoken inMali by about 200,000 people (in 1999) along theNiger River inTimbuktu and upriver from it in the towns ofDiré,Tonka,Goundam andNiafunké as well as in theSaharan town ofAraouane to its north. In this area, Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and thelingua franca, although minorities speakingHassaniya Arabic,Tamasheq andFulfulde are found.Djenné Chiini[dʒɛnːɛtʃiːni], the dialect spoken inDjenné, ismutually comprehensible, but has noticeable differences, in particular two extra vowels (/ɛ/ and/ɔ/) and syntactic differences related tofocalisation.
East of Timbuktu, Koyra Chiini gives way relatively abruptly to another Songhay language,Koyraboro Senni.
Unlike most Songhai languages, Koyra Chiini has no phonemictones and hassubject–verb–object word order rather thansubject–object–verb. It has changed the original Songhayz toj.[3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
All vowels have lengthened counterparts.[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | (p) | t | t͡ʃ | k | (ʔ) |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | (ʃ) | (x) | h |
| voiced | (z) | (ʒ) | ||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
Table below illustrates the Latin alphabet for Koyra Chiini in Mali, as standardized by "DNAFLA".
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | F f | G g | H h | I i | J j | K k | L l | M m | N n |
| [a] | [b] | [t͡ʃ] | [d] | [e] | [f] | [ɡ] | [h] | [i] | [d͡ʒ] | [k] | [l] | [m] | [n] |
| Ɲ ɲ | Ŋ ŋ | O o | P p | R r | S s | Š š | T t | U u | W w | Y y | Z z | Ž ž | |
| [ɲ] | [ŋ] | [o] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [ʃ] | [t] | [u] | [w] | [j] | [z] | [ʒ] |
Table below illustrates the Arabic (Ajami) alphabet for Koyra Chiini, based onUNESCO.BREDA report on standardization of Arabic script in published in 1987 inBamako.[5][6]
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ا ( - ) [∅]/[ʔ] | ب (B b) [b] | ت (T t) [t] | ٺ (C c) [t͡ʃ] | ث (S s) [s] | ج (J j) [d͡ʒ] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ح (H h) [h] | خ (Kh kh) [x] | ݗ (Ŋ ŋ) [ŋ] | د (D d) [d] | ذ (Z z) [z] | ر (R r) [r] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ز (Z z) [z] | ژ (Ž ž) [ʒ] | س (S s) [s] | ش (Š š) [ʃ] | ص (S s) [s] | ض (D d) [d] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ط (T t) [t] | ظ (Z z) [z] | ع ( - ) [ʔ] | غ (G g) [ɡ] | ݝ (G g) [ɡ] | ڢ (F f) [f] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ݠ (P p) [p] | ڧ (K k) [k] | ك (K k) [k] | ل (L l) [l] | م (M m) [m] | ن (N n) [n] |
| Arabic (Latin) [IPA] | ه (H h) [h] | و (W w) [w] | ؤ ( - ) [ʔ] | ي (Y y) [j] | ئ ( - ) [ʔ] | ࢩ (Ɲ ɲ) [ɲ] |
| A | E | I | O | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short Vowels | ||||
| اَ | اٜ | اِ | اࣷ | اُ |
| Long Vowels | ||||
| Aa | Ee | Ii | Oo | Uu |
| آ | اٜيـ / اٜي | اِيـ / اِي | اࣷو | اُو |
| a | e | i | o | u |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short Vowels | ||||
| ◌َ | ◌ٜ | ◌ِ | ◌ࣷ | ◌ُ |
| Long Vowels | ||||
| aa | ee | ii | oo | uu |
| ◌َا / ◌َـا | ◌ٜيـ / ◌ٜـيـ ◌ٜي / ◌ٜـي | ◌ِيـ / ◌ِـيـ ◌ِي / ◌ِـي | ◌ࣷو / ◌ࣷـو | ◌ُو / ◌ُـو |
Below is a sample text, a portion of a monologue recorded inTimbuktu in 1986. It describes the 1840 battle of Toya in which Tuaregs defeated a force from the Fula "Empire" which had its capital inHamdullahi.[7]
| English Translation | The Tuaregs, when they began — They took a great deal of this land's taxes, they oppressed them (=local people) with their iron rule. They took taxes to the point that they oppressed the people very much. So, they (=people) wrote to them (=distant leaders). They went toHamdullahi, They told (=asked) Sékou (=a leader) to help them fight the Tuaregs. Sékou, he found one of his (own) pupils, whom they called 'Amadou Sambourou Kolado Doursoudi'. A pupil of his whom he had much confidence in. Sekou asked him (=Amadou), well, what did he (=Amadou) want? |
|---|---|
| Latin Alphabet | surgu di yo saa di kaa na i šintii hisa ka din gandoo alkaasu, i faraandi gi nda laamu, i din alkaasu di hal i hisa ka faraandi boro di yo saa di i hantum i se i koy hamdallaay, i har seeku se a ma faaba ŋgiye nda, ka yenje surgu di yo. seeku, a gar ŋgu wane taalib foo kaa se i-i har 'aamadu samburu koolado dursudi'. ŋga wane taalib foo kaa a-a hisa ka naaney ga, seeku har a se kaa aywa maa na a-a baa? |
| Arabic Alphabet | سُرْݝُ دِ يࣷ سَا دِ كَا نَ اِ شِنْتِي هِسَ كَ دِنْ ݝَنْدࣷ اَلْكَاسُ، اِ ڢَرَاندِ ݝِنْدَ لَامُ، اِ دِنْ اَلْكَاسُ دِ حَل اِ هِسَ كَ فَرَاندِ بࣷرࣷ دِ يࣷ سَا دِ اِ هَنْتُمْ اِ سٜ اِ كࣷيْ حَمدَلَّايْ، اِ هَرْ سٜيكُ سٜ اَ مَ فَابَ ݗْݝِيٜ نْدَ، كَ يٜنْجٜ سُرݝُ دِ يࣷ. سٜيكُ، اَ ݝَر ݗْݝُ وَنٜ طَالِب فࣷو كَا سٜ اِئِ هَر «آمَدُ سَمْبُرُ كࣷولَدࣷ دُرسُدِ».ݗْݝَ وَنٜ طَالِب فࣷو كَا اَأَ هِسَ كَ نَانٜي ݝَ، سٜيكُ هَرْ اَ سٜ كَا اَيْوَ مَا نَ اَأَ بَا؟ |
ThisNilo-Saharan languages–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
