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Berta proper, a.k.a. Gebeto, is spoken by the Berta (also Bertha, Barta, Burta) in Sudan and Ethiopia. As of 2006 Berta had approximately 180,000 speakers in Sudan.[2]


The three Berta languages, Gebeto, Fadashi and Undu, are often considered dialects of a single language. Berta proper includes the dialects Bake, Dabuso, Gebeto, Mayu, and Shuru; the dialect name Gebeto may be extended to all of Berta proper.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiced b d ɟ g
ejective pʼ tʼ (cʼ) kʼ (ʔ)
implosive ɗ
Fricative voiceless f θ s ʃ h
ejective sʼ
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Approximant j w
  • Voiced plosives /b, d, ɡ/ may be heard as voiceless [p, t, k] in free variation, word-initially or word-finally.
  • A glottal stop [ʔ] mainly occurs between vowels, and may also be heard before word-initial vowel sounds.
  • Nasal-stop sequences may occur morpheme-initially as [mb, nd, ŋɡ, ŋkʼ].
  • /ŋ/ is heard as [ɲ] when preceding a front vowel /i/ or /e/.
  • /kʼ/ is heard as a palatal [cʼ] when before front vowels.
  • /ɡ/ can be heard as voiced palatal [ɟ] or as a voiceless palatal [c] when before front vowels.
  • /h/ in word-final position can be heard as a fricative [x].
  • /s, θ/ may sometimes occur as slightly voiced [z, ð] in vocalic or nasal environments.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
  • If a non-closed vowel sound, /ɛ/ or /ɔ/, are adjacent to a closed vowel sound like /i/ or /u/ within vowel harmony, they are then heard as more closed [e, o].[3]
Phoneme Allophone
/i/ [i], [ɨ~ɘ], [ɨ], [ɪ]
/a/ [a], [ə], [æ], [ɜ], [ɐ]
/u/ [u], [ʉ], [ʊ]

Pronouns

The pronouns of Berta are as follows:

Topic Postverbal subject Postverbal object
I àl(ì) -lɪ́ɪ̀ -ɟì
you (sg.) (à)ŋɡó -ŋó -ŋɡó
he, she, it ɲìnè -né ɲìnè, -né
we χàtâŋ -ŋàa χàtâŋ
you (pl.) χàtú χátú χàtú
they mèrée mérée mèrée

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Berta at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Berta". Ethnologue. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  3. ^ Neudorf, Susanne (2016). Phonology of Berta. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.

Bibliography

  • Torben Andersen. "Aspects of Berta phonology". Afrika und Übersee 76: pp. 41–80.
  • Torben Andersen. "Absolutive and Nominative in Berta". ed. Nicolai & Rottland, Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24–29 August 1992. Proceedings. (Nilo-Saharan 10). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. 1995. pp. 36–49.
  • M. Lionel Bender. "Berta Lexicon". In Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics (Nilo-Saharan 3), pp. 271–304. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag 1989.
  • E. Cerulli. "Three Berta dialects in western Ethiopia", Africa, 1947.
  • Susanne Neudorf & Andreas Neudorf: Bertha - English - Amharic Dictionary. Addis Ababa: Benishangul-Gumuz Language Development Project 2007.
  • A. N. Tucker & M. A. Bryan. Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London: Oxford University Press 1966.
  • A. Triulzi, A. A. Dafallah, and M. L. Bender. "Berta". In Bender (ed.), The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. East Lansing, Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University 1976, pp. 513–532.

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