The Ki language, Tuki (Baki, Oki), is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon. It is spoken by 26,000 people in the Central Province of Cameroon, in the Lekie division and in the Mbam and Kim division, along the Sanaga river.[3]
The dialects are Kombe (Tukombe), Cenga (Tocenga), Tsinga (Tutsingo), Bundum, Njo (Tonjo), Ngoro (Tu Ngoro), Mbere (Tumvele)[3] and possibly Leti/Mengisa[4] and Mbwasa.
Phonology
Tuki distinguishes six phonetic vowels. It distinguishes between long and short vowels.[5]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
The consonants are as follows.[5]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar/Glottal | Labiovelar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop/Affricate | Voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | k͡p |
| Voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | g͡b | |
| Prenasalized | ⁿb | ⁿd | ⁿd͡ʒ | ⁿg <ng> | ⁿg͡b | |
| Fricative | Voiceless | s | h | |||
| Voiced | β | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ <ny> | ŋ <ng> | ||
| Approximant | ɾ | j | w | |||
Grammar
As in most Bantu languages, the noun consists of a class prefix and a stem. Verbs are conjugated for the noun class of the subject and object.[3] The primary word order is SVO.[6]
References
- ^ Ki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Leti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Mengisa (duplicate code) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ a b c Biloa, E. (2013). Syntax of Tuki : A Cartographic Approach. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- ^ Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
- ^ a b Essono, Jean-Jacques [Marie] (1974). Description phonologique du tuki (ati), langue Sanaga (PDF) (masters thesis) (in French). Université de Yaoundé.
- ^ Biloa, Edmund (1997). Functional Categories and the Syntax of Focus in Tuki. Munchen: Lincom Europa. ISBN 9783929075496.
