Guere language should not be confused with Neyo language.
| Guéré | |
| Nativename: | Wè |
| States: | Ivory Coast |
| Region: | Dix-Huit Montagnes, Moyen-Cavally |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Kru |
| Fam4: | Western Kru |
| Fam5: | Wee |
| Fam6: | Guere–Krahn |
| Lc1: | gxx |
| Ld1: | Central Gere |
| Lc2: | wec |
| Ld2: | Neyo |
| Glotto: | guer1240 |
| Glottorefname: | Guere |
| Notice: | IPA |
Guéré (Gere), also called Wè (Wee), is a Kru language spoken by over 300,000 people in the Dix-Huit Montagnes and Moyen-Cavally regions of Ivory Coast.
The phonology of Guere (here the Zagna dialect of Central Guere / Southern Wè)[1] is briefly sketched out below.
The consonant phonemes are as follows:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Labialized velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
Allophones of some of these phonemes include:
In addition, while the nasal consonants pronounced as //m, n// and contrast with pronounced as //ɓ// and pronounced as //l// before oral vowels, and are thus separate phonemes, before nasal vowels only the nasal consonants occur. pronounced as //ɓ// and pronounced as //l// do not occur before nasal vowels, suggesting that historically a phonemic merger between these sounds and the nasals pronounced as //m, n// may have occurred in this position.
Like many West African languages, Guere makes use of a contrast between vowels with advanced tongue root and those with retracted tongue root. In addition, nasal vowels contrast phonemically with oral vowels.
| Oral | Nasal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | Front | Back | ||
| Close (ATR) | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /u/ | pronounced as /ĩ/ | pronounced as /ũ/ | |
| Close (RTR) | pronounced as /ɪ/ | pronounced as /ʊ/ | pronounced as /ɪ̃/ | pronounced as /ʊ̃/ | |
| Mid (ATR) | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /o/ | pronounced as /õ/ | ||
| Mid (RTR) | pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /ɔ/ | pronounced as /ɛ̃/ | pronounced as /ɔ̃/ | |
| Open (RTR) | pronounced as /a/ | pronounced as /ã/ | |||
Guere is a tonal language and contrasts ten tones:
| Tone | IPA | Example | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | pronounced as /˩/ | pronounced as /ɡ͡ba˩/ | "to scatter" | |
| Mid | pronounced as /˧/ | pronounced as /ɡ͡ba˧/ | "to destroy" | |
| High | pronounced as /˦/ | pronounced as /mɛ˦/ | "to die" | |
| Top | pronounced as /˥/ | pronounced as /ji˥/ | "full" | |
| Low–high rising | pronounced as /˩˦/ | pronounced as /ɡ͡bla˩˦/ | "hat" | |
| Low–top rising | pronounced as /˩˥/ | pronounced as /k͡plɔ̃˩˥/ | "banana" | |
| Mid–high rising | pronounced as /˧˦/ | pronounced as /ɓlo˧˦/ | "wall" | |
| High–top rising | pronounced as /˦˥/ | pronounced as /de˦˥/ | "younger brother" | |
| High–low falling | pronounced as /˦˩/ | pronounced as /ɡ͡ba˩a˦˩/ | "goat" | |
| Mid–low falling | pronounced as /˧˩/ | pronounced as /sre˧˩/ | "penis" |