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South Teke Language
The Kukuya language, ''Kikukuya'' , also transcribed Kukẅa and known as Southern Teke, is a member of the Teke dialect continuum of the Congolese plateau. It is the only language known to have a phonemic labiodental nasal . The name of the language comes from the word ''kuya'' "plateau". Phonology The five vowels are , which may be long (double) or short. Other vowel sequences do not occur. is realised as in the environment () and also before or another , as in the name ''Kukuya'' . Prenasalized voiceless consonants are aspirated. Depending on speaker and region, the sound represented by may be either or , apart from the word "with", which is always . The labiodental nasal is realized as before and as before and ; suggests that this is due to a conflict between labialization and the spread front vowels. The velar stop is word initially and typically between vowels; there is a similar alternation with and . and especially are uncommon. is found in a single h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plateaux Department (Republic Of The Congo)
Plateaux is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the central part of the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette, Lékoumou, and Pool, and internationally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the east and Gabon on the west. The regional capital is Djambala. Principal cities and towns include Gamboma and Lekana. Administrative divisions Plateaux Department is divided into eleven districts: Districts # Djambala District # Lekana District # Gamboma District # Abala District # Allembé District # Makotimpoko District # Mbon District # Mpouya District # Ngo District # Ollombo District # Ongogni District Ongogni is a district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several munici ... References Republic of the Congo at GeoHive Departments of the Republic of the Congo { ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatal Consonant
Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteristics The most common type of palatal consonant is the extremely common approximant , which ranks as among the ten most common sounds in the world's languages. The nasal is also common, occurring in around 35 percent of the world's languages, in most of which its equivalent obstruent is not the stop , but the affricate . Only a few languages in northern Eurasia, the Americas and central Africa contrast palatal stops with postalveolar affricates—as in Hungarian, Czech, Latvian, Macedonian, Slovak, Turkish and Albanian. Consonants with other primary articulations may be palatalized, that is, accompanied by the raising of the tongue surface towards the hard palate. For example, English (spelled ''sh'') has such a palatal component ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Approximant Consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like (as in ''rest'') and semivowels like and (as in ''yes'' and ''west'', respectively), as well as lateral approximants like (as in ''less''). Terminology Before Peter Ladefoged coined the term "approximant" in the 1960s, the terms "frictionless continuant" and "semivowel" were used to refer to non-lateral approximants. In phonology, "approximant" is also a distinctive feature that encompasses all sonorants except nasals, including vowels, taps and trills. Semivowels Some approximants resemble vowels in acoustic and articulatory properties and the terms ''semivowel'' and ''glide'' are often used for these non-syllabic vowel-like segme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Tooth Sharpening
Human tooth sharpening is the practice of manually sharpening the teeth, usually the front incisors. Filed teeth are customary in various cultures. Many remojadas figurines found in part of Mexico have filed teeth and it is believed to have been common practice in their culture. The Zappo Zap people of the Democratic Republic of Congo are believed to have filed their teeth. Historically it was done for spiritual purposes, with some exceptions, but in modern times it is usually aesthetic in nature as an form of body modification. History Many cultures have practiced this form of body modification. In Bali, in a ritual known as Potong gigi or cut teeth, teenagers have their canine teeth filed down because it is thought they represented negative emotions such as anger and jealousy. It is also seen as a way to spiritually separate them from their animalistic instincts and ancestors. After this tradition is completed the teens are now considered adults and are allowed to have sex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Approximant Consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like (as in ''rest'') and semivowels like and (as in ''yes'' and ''west'', respectively), as well as lateral approximants like (as in ''less''). Terminology Before Peter Ladefoged coined the term "approximant" in the 1960s, the terms "frictionless continuant" and "semivowel" were used to refer to non-lateral approximants. In phonology, "approximant" is also a distinctive feature that encompasses all sonorants except nasals, including vowels, taps and trills. Semivowels Some approximants resemble vowels in acoustic and articulatory properties and the terms ''semivowel'' and ''glide'' are often used for these non-syllabic vowel-like segme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fricative Consonant
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in the case of German (the final consonant of ''Bach''); or the side of the tongue against the molars, in the case of Welsh (appearing twice in the name ''Llanelli''). This turbulent airflow is called frication. A particular subset of fricatives are the sibilants. When forming a sibilant, one still is forcing air through a narrow channel, but in addition, the tongue is curled lengthwise to direct the air over the edge of the teeth. English , , , and are examples of sibilants. The usage of two other terms is less standardized: "Spirant" is an older term for fricatives used by some American and European phoneticians and phonologists. "Strident" could mean just "sibilant", but some authors include also labiodental and uvular fricatives in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
