Kunama language

The Kunama language has been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family, though it is distantly related to the other languages, if at all. Kunama is spoken by the Kunama people of the Gash-Barka Region in western Eritrea and just across the Ethiopian border. The language has several dialects including: Barka, Marda, Aimara, Odasa, Tika, Lakatakura, Sokodasa, Takazze-Setit and Tigray. Ilit and Bitama are not mutually intelligible and so may be considered distinct languages.

Kunama
Baada, Baazayn, Diila
Native toEritrea, Ethiopia
Regionwestern Eritrea, northern Ethiopia
EthnicityKunama
Native speakers
240,000 (2020)[1]
Dialects
  • Barka (Berka)
  • Marda
  • Aymasa
  • Tika (Lakatakura-Tika)
  • Sokodasa
  • Takazze-Setit
  • Tigray
Latin
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3kun
Glottologkuna1268
Map of the Kunama Languages

There have been some use of the Kunama language in publications. "The first Bible translation product in Kunama was the Gospel of Mark prepared by Andersson and published in 1906."[2]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless t tʃ k
voiced b d dʒ g
Fricative f s ʃ (h)
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Approximant w j
  • /h/ is only of marginal status.
  • /k, ɡ/ are labialized as [kʷ, ɡʷ] after back vowels.
  • /k/ is heard as aspirated [kʰ] in syllable-initial position.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː (ɨ) u uː
Mid e eː (ə) o oː
Open a aː
  • /i, e/ can be heard as [ɨ, ə] when in unstressed syllable position.[3]

See also

References
  1. Kunama at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Andemariam, Senai Woldeab (2020). "The Polygon of the Bible Translation Efforts in Eritrea 1880–2012". Journal of Translation. 16 (1): 1–16. doi:10.54395/jot-d389t.
  3. Getachew, Anteneh (2018). Segmental and Non-Segmental Phonology of Kūnámá. Addis Ababa University.

Relevant literature
  • Bender, M. Lionel. 1996. Kunama. Languages of the World/Materials 59. München: Lincom Europa.
  • Bender, Marvin Lionel. 2001. English-Kunama lexicon. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 65: 201–253.
  • Idris, Nikodimos.1987. The Kunama and their language. Addis Ababa University BA thesis
  • Thompson, E. D. 1983. "Kunama: phonology and noun phrase" in Bender, M. L. (ed.): Nilo-Saharan Language Studies. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. pp. 280–322.
  • Thompson, E. David. 1989. "Kunama Verb Phrase" in Bender, M. Lionel (ed.): Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. pp. 305–346.
  • Tucker, A. N. and Bryan, M. A. 1966. "Kunama" in Linguistic Analyses: the Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London: Oxford University Press.


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