| Kukuya | |
|---|---|
| Southern Teke | |
| Native to | Republic of the Congo |
| Region | Plateaux Department |
Native speakers | (39,000 cited 2000)[1] |
| unwritten | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kkw |
| Glottolog | teke1280 |
B.77a[2] | |
| 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. | |
TheKukuya language,Kikukuya[kìkýkȳā], also transcribedKukẅa and known asSouthern Teke, is a member of theTekedialect continuum of the Congolese plateau. It is the only language known to have a phonemiclabiodental nasal/ɱ/. The name of the language comes from the wordkuya "plateau".
The five vowels are/ie~ɛao~ɔu/, which may be long (double) or short. Other vowel sequences do not occur./u/ is realised as[y] in the environment/ɲuni/ ([ɲyni]) and also before[j] or another[y], as in the nameKukuya[kýkȳā].
| Bilabial | Labio- Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | ɱ | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||||
| Plosive | Prenasalized | ᵐpʰ | ᵐb | ⁿtʰ | ⁿd | ᵑkʰ | ᵑɡ | |||||
| Plain | p | b | t | d | k~ɡ | |||||||
| Affricate | Prenasalized | ᶬp̪fʰ | ᶬb̪v | ⁿtsʰ | ⁿdz | |||||||
| Plain | p̪f | b̪v | ts | dz | ||||||||
| Fricative | f | s | z~j | (h) | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | w | ||||||||||
Prenasalized voiceless consonants are aspirated. Depending on speaker and region, the sound represented by⟨y⟩ may be either[j] or[z], apart from the word "with", which is always[jà]. The labiodental nasal is realized as[ɱʷ] before/a/ and as[ɱ] before/i/ and/e/;Paulian (1975) suggests that this is due to a conflict between labialization and the spread front vowels. The velar stop is[k] word initially and typically[ɡ] between vowels; there is a similar alternation with[t] and[ɾ]./mpf/,/ɱʷ/,/n/ and especially/d/ are uncommon./h/ is found in a single highly frequent word,/hé/ ('also').
Cw sequences are rare and only occur before unrounded vowels; they include/tw/[tɕɥ],/sw/[ɕɥ],/ndzw/[ndʒɥ],/jw/[ʑɥ],/kw/[kɥ]. (C cannot be/f,l/.) It may be possible that the frequent sounds[pf,bv,ɱʷ] (which occur before/iau,ieau,iea/, respectively) are phonemically/pw,bw,mw/, butPaulian (1975) argues against this analysis.[ɱʷ] corresponds to[ŋ͡m~ŋʷ] in neighboring Teke languages. Cj sequences such as/pj,kj/ are also rare (a dozen cases) and only occur before/a/. It may be possible that the frequent sounds[ts,dz,ɲ] are phonemically/tj,dj,nj/, but they are not restricted as to following vowels andPaulian (1975) argues against this analysis. Diachronically, Kukwa affricates derive from stops before close vowels or vowel sequences, and/pf/ derives from *k rather than *p. The labiodentals are not found before/o/./n/ is not attested before/u/, and/ŋ/ is not found in underived words before/i,u/.
Prenasalized affricates are generally transcribedmf, mv, ns, nz. Phonemic neutralization may occur when consonants are prenasalized:
Syllables are primarily CV, with some CwV and CjV; vowel-initial syllables do not occur. Roots (not counting nominal prefixes and the like) are of the forms CV, CVV, CVCV, CVVCV, and CVCVCV. In the latter case, the middle vowel is neutralized. There are only six medial consonants,/k[ɡ],t[ɾ],n,m,l,p[b]/, and six combinations of medial C2C3 in the case of CVCVCV words,/–n–m,–t–p,–t–k,–l–p,–l–k,?/.
Paulian (1975) posits both tone and stress, with tone being high or low, though not every syllable is assigned a tone: there are five word-tone patterns in the language. Vowels may carry two tones to accomplish this.
A phonemiclabiodental nasal,/ɱ/, has only been reported from this one language. It is "accompanied by strong protrusion of both lips", being[ɱʷ] before/a/ and[ɱ] before/i/ and/e/, perhaps because labialization is constrained by the spread front vowels; it does not occur before back (rounded) vowels.[3] However, there is some doubt that a true stop can be made by this gesture due to gaps between the incisors, which arefiled to points by the Teke people and would allow air to flow during the occlusion;[4] this is particularly pertinent considering that one of the words with this consonant,/ɱáá/, means a 'gap between filed incisors'.[5] Because of these factors, Teke/ɱ/ might be better characterized as a labiodental nasalapproximant ([ʋ̃] in IPA), rather than anasal occlusive.
Given its rarity, it is worth providing some minimal pairs with other consonants:
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
