Kissi (or Kisi) is a Mel language of West Africa, There are two dialects, northern and southern, and both are tonal languages. The northern dialect is spoken in

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

and in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The southern dialect is spoken in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

and

. The two dialects are notably different, but are closely related. In Guinea, the main places Kissi is spoken are the cities of

Kissidougou Kissidougou ( N’ko: ߞߛߌ߬ߘߎ߯; pronounced like Kiss-eh-dow-goo) is a city in southern Guinea. It is the capital of in the Kissidougou Prefecture. Following intensified conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fall and winter of ...

and

Guéckédou Guéckédou or Guékédou is a town in southern Guinea near the Sierra Leone and Liberian borders. It had a population of 79,140 in 1996 (census) but has grown massively since the civil wars and, , it is estimated to be 221,715. It was a centre o ...

and their préfectures.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Kissidougou dialects preserve a distinction between /r/ and /l/ phonemes that have been merged as allophones in dialects south of Guéckédou. For instance, "la huŋ" means exactly the same as "ra huŋ". Also, "Thank you" is realized as "barika" around Kissidougou and "balika" south of Guéckédou. The voiced labial-velar stop / gb/ occurs only in onomatopoeic phrases, and medial gb can be regarded as an allophone of its voiceless counterpart. *''gbaala'' 'outdoor kitchen' *''Gbaŋgbaŋ'' (a river in Kissidougou) *''gbɛŋgbɔ'' 'stool' *''maagbana'' 'city taxi'

Tone

Kissi has four tones: two register and two contour. The two register tones are level and high, and the two contour tones are a rising mid tone and the a falling high tone. Kissi also has an extra-high tone, but occurs only sparingly, functioning in only a few grammatical contexts.

Grammar (northern Kissi)

Pronouns

As you can already see from these examples, verbs aren't conjugated like English verbs, but they are inflected by tone.

Articles

Definite and indefinite articles do not exist in Kissi, so "muɛi" means "the knife" as well as "a knife". If an object has to be defined (because there are more than one, for example), "this" is used: example: muɛi coŋ - this knife If that is not exact enough, an object is described using adjectives. yɔŋgu ya muɛi. / k'ya muɛi. - Give me a/the knife. yɔŋgu ya muɛi bɛndɛi. / k'ya muɛi bɛndɛi. - Give me the big knife.

References

*G. Tucker Childs. A Grammar of Kisi, A Southern Atlantic Language. 1995. 370 pp. *G. Tucker Childs: A Dictionary of the Kisi Language. With an English-Kisi Index *Denise Paulme. Les Gens du Riz: Les Kissi de Haute-Guinée. Paris. Librairie Plon. 1954, 1970. 324 pp
Online version

External links

Sound Files - KQS Kissi-Northern at globalrecordings.netSound Files - KSS Kisi-Southern (Gissi) at globalrecordings.netSound Files - The complete New Testament in Kisi (Select language "Kisi Southern")Sample text at language-museum.com
{{Authority control Mel languages Languages of Liberia Languages of Guinea