Guéré (Gere), also called Wè (Wee), is a
Kru language
The Kru languages are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the west of Ivory Coast.
Classification
According to Güldemann (2018), Kru lacks sufficient lexical resemblances and noun class resemblances to conclude a relati ...
spoken by over 300,000 people in the
Dix-Huit Montagnes and
Moyen-Cavally
Moyen-Cavally Region is a defunct region of Ivory Coast. From 2000 to 2011, it was a first-level subdivision region. The region's capital was Guiglo and its area was 14,268 km2. Since 2011, the area formerly encompassed by the region is part o ...
regions of
Ivory Coast.
Phonology
The
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
of Guere (here the Zagna dialect of Central Guere / Southern Wè)
is briefly sketched out below.
Consonants
The consonant phonemes are as follows:
Allophones of some of these phonemes include:
* is an allophone of before nasal vowels
* is an allophone of before nasal vowels
* is an allophone of before nasal vowels
* is an allophone of in word-initial position
* is an allophone of after a
coronal consonant (alveolar or palatal)
In addition, while the nasal consonants and contrast with and before oral vowels, and are thus separate phonemes, before nasal vowels only the nasal consonants occur. and do not occur before nasal vowels, suggesting that historically a
phonemic merger between these sounds and the nasals may have occurred in this position.
Vowels
Like many
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
n languages, Guere makes use of a contrast between
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s with
advanced tongue root
In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR) and retracted tongue root (RTR) are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Africa, but also in Kazakh and Mong ...
and those with
retracted tongue root
In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR) and retracted tongue root (RTR) are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Africa, but also in Kazakh and Mong ...
. In addition,
nasal vowels contrast phonemically with
oral vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced witho ...
s.
Tones
Guere is a tonal language and contrasts ten tone (linguistics), tones:
See also
*
Wobe Northern Wè
References
{{Kru languages
Wee languages
Languages of Ivory Coast