Lagwan language
| Lagwan | |
|---|---|
| Logone | |
| Native to | Cameroon, Chad |
| Region | Far North Province, Cameroon; west Chad |
| Ethnicity | Kotoko |
Native speakers | 10,000 in Cameroon (2004)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kot |
| Glottolog | lagw1237 |
| ELP | Lagwan |
Lagwan (Logone) is a Chadic language spoken in northern Cameroon and southwestern Chad. Dialects include Logone-Birni and Logone-Gana.
Lagwan is spoken in the northern part of Logone-Birni, from the banks of the Logone River to the Nigerian border (Logone-et-Chari Department, Far North Region). It is also spoken in Chad and Nigeria. It has 38,500 speakers in Cameroon.[2]
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Lateral alveolar | Dorsal | Labialized dorsal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | kʷ | |
| Voiced | b | d | g | gʷ | ||
| Glottalic | ɓ | ɗ | kʼ | kʷʼ | ||
| fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ɬ | χ | χʷ |
| Voiced | v | z | ɮ | ʁ | ʁʷ | |
| Glottalic | sʼ | ɬʼ | ||||
| sonorant | Nasal | m | n | |||
| Tap | ɾ | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
As is common in Chadic languages, the principal vowel is the low central vowel /a/; where there is no underlying V-slot, an epenthetic ‘zero vowel’ is inserted. Despite the limited distribution of the other vowels, /i, u, e, o/ have emerging phonological status. However, as has been observed in other Chadic languages, certain contrasts are productive only word-finally, excluding the sub-lexicon of loan words.
Lagwan has two contrastive tones, low and high. Mid tone is also found on a few nouns loaned from Classical Arabic. On intensifiers the phonological high tone has an extra-high realisation.[3]
Notes
- ^ Lagwan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
- ^ Ruff, Joy Naomi (2005). "Phonology of Lagwan": 48.
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References
- Johannes Lukas. 1936. Die Logone-Sprache im Zentralen Sudan. Leipzig: DMG.
- Joy Naomi Ruff. 2005. Phonology of Lagwan. Cameroon.