| 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) |
| Language family | Niger–Congo? |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kfl |
| Glottolog | kung1260 |
| ELP | Kung |
Kung is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.
Consonants
Tatang enumerates 24 plain consonants, 9 prenasalized consonants, 7 labialized consonants, and 6 palatalized consonants, for a total of 46.
| 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/ |
Vowels
Tatang counts 10 vowel phonemes.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ | /ɨ/ | /ʉ/ | /u/ |
| Close-mid | /e/ | /o/ | ||
| Open-mid | /ɛ/ | /ɔ/ | ||
| Open | /ä/ | |||
Tones
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.
References
- Kung at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Tatang, Joyce Yasho (November 2016). Aspects of Kung Grammar (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Buea. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
Further reading
- Di Carlo, Pierpaolo; Good, Jeff (2014). "What Are We Trying to Preserve? Diversity, Change, and Ideology at the Edge of the Cameroonian Grassfields". In Austin, Peter K.; Sallabank, Julia (eds.). Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalization. doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197265765.003.0012. ISBN 9780197265765.
- Good, Jeff (2013). "A (micro-)accretion zone in a remnant zone?: Lower Fungom in areal-historical perspective". In Bickel, Balthasar; Grenoble, Lenore A.; Peterson, David A.; Timberlake, Alan (eds.). Language Typology and Historical Contingency: In honor of Johanna Nichols. Typological Studies in Language. Vol. 104. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 265–282.
- Kießling, Roland (2019). "Salient features of the Kung noun class system in a Ring perspective". In Akumbu, Pius W.; Chie, Esther P. (eds.). Engagement with Africa: Linguistic Essays in Honor of Ngessimo M. Mutaka. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. pp. 139–161. ISBN 978-3-89645-768-4.
- Lo, Ch'ang-p'ei (1945). "A Preliminary Study on the Trung Language of Kung Shan". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 8 (3/4): 343–348. doi:10.2307/2717821. JSTOR 2717821.
- Schlenker, Rebecca (2012). Das Nominalklassensystem des Kung (Graslandbantu) (MA thesis). Universität Hamburg.
| Grassfields languages | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring |
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| Eastern Grassfields |
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| Momo | |||||||||||||
| Others | |||||||||||||
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