| Kpwe | |
|---|---|
| Mokpwe | |
| Native to | Cameroon |
| Ethnicity | Kpwe,Mboko |
Native speakers | (25,000 cited 2000–2014)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:bri – Kpwebqm – Mboko (Wumboko)kme – Kole (Bakole) |
| Glottolog | mokp1239 Mokpwewumb1241 Wumbokobako1250 Bakole |
A.21,22,231[2] | |
| ELP | Bakole |
| People | Bekpak |
|---|---|
| Language | Rikpa |
Kpwe (Mokpwe) is aBantu language of Cameroon. It is mutually intelligible withKole, and probably withMboko (Wumboko) as well.
There are multiple variants of the name: based on 'Kpwe' (Bakpwe, Mokpwe), on 'Kpe' (Mokpe), on 'Kweɾi' (Kwedi, Kweli, Kwili, Kwiri, Bakwedi, Bakwele, Bakweri, Vakweli, Bekwiri), as well asUjuwa andVambeng.
The Kpwe phonological inventory is as follows,[3]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋʷ ·ŋm | ||
| Plosive | prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡb |
| voiced | (b) | dʒ | (ɡ) | ɡb | ||
| voiceless | (p) | t | k | kp | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | ||||
| voiced | β | |||||
| Rhotic | zr§ | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
§/zr/, the 'liquidized alveolar fricative', may be realized as[zr],[ʒr],[rz] or[rʒ]. This sound is rendered/s/ in some sources, and is cognate to/s/ inBubia.
/p/ and/ɡ/ in parentheses are only found in loans, while/b/ is very uncommon and in many inflections freely alternates as[w].
Kpwe contrasts fivetones on short syllables: high,downstepped high, low, rising and falling.
The first portions of the Bible were made available in Mokpwe in 2009.[4] This was followed by the New Testament, translated with help from the Bakweri Language and Literacy Association, (BALALIA) on 29 March 2025.[5] The New Testament is available online, in places such as YouVersion.[6]
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