Kung | |
---|---|
Native to | Cameroon |
Native speakers | The Nzonko dialect was spoken during the 2000s, but now probably extinct.
The Nkam dialect is originated from the frontier with Nigeria, today spoken a undated number of 12. The Zoro dialect was discovered in 2003, now at least 1 person remember words of this dialect. (2019) [1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
kfl |
Glottolog |
kung1260 |
ELP | Kung |
Kung is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.
Tatang enumerates 24 plain consonants, 9 prenasalized consonants, 7 labialized consonants, and 6 palatalized consonants, for a total of 46. [2]
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | / b/ / ᵐb/ / bʷ/ / bʲ/ | / t/ / ⁿt/ / d/ / ⁿd/ / tʲ/ | / k/ / ᵑk/ / ᵑg/ / kʷ/ / kʲ/ | / k͡p/ / g͡b/ | / ʔ/ | ||
Affricate | / ᵐb͡v/ | / t͡s/ / ⁿd͡z/ | / t͡ʃ/ / d͡ʒ/ | ||||
Fricative | / fʷ/ / fʲ/ | / s/ / z/ / ⁿz/ | / ʃ/ / ʒ/ / ⁿʒ/ / ʃʷ/ / ʒʲ/ | / ɣ/ | |||
Nasal | / m/ / mʷ/ | / n/ | / ɲ/ | / ŋʷ/ | |||
Trill | / ʙ/ | ||||||
Approximant | / l/ / lʷ/ / lʲ/ | / j/ | / w/ |
Tatang counts 10 vowel phonemes. [2]
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Close | / i/ | / ɨ/ | / ʉ/ | / u/ |
Close-mid | / e/ | / o/ | ||
Open-mid | / ɛ/ | / ɔ/ | ||
Open | / ä/ |
In addition, Kung contrasts six tones--three level tones (high, mid, low) and three contour tones (rising, high-mid, and falling). Tatang argues that the contour tones are combinations of register tones. [2]