| Izere | |
| Also Known As: | Afusare |
| Nativename: | Izarek |
| Region: | Kaduna State, Bauchi State, Plateau |
| States: | Nigeria |
| Date: | 2006–2016 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam4: | Plateau |
| Fam5: | Central ? |
| Fam6: | Izeric |
| Lc1: | izr |
| Ld1: | NE & NW Izere |
| Lc2: | cen |
| Ld2: | Cèn (Chen) |
| Lc3: | gne |
| Ld3: | Ganàng (Gashish) |
| Glotto: | none |
| Glotto2: | izer1242 |
| Glottoname2: | Izeric, incl. Firan |
| Glottorefname2: | Izeric |
Izere is a dialect continuum of Plateau languages in Nigeria. According to Blench (2008), it is four languages, though Ethnologue does not distinguish NW and NE Izere. The Cen and Ganang varieties are spoken by only 2000 each. Cen has added Berom noun-class prefixes and consonant alternation to an Izere base.
Blench (2019) lists the following Izere dialects.[1]
The Izere phonetic inventory includes 29 consonants and seven vowels and distinguishes three tone levels; two additional contour tones appear only rarely, in loanwords and due to onomatopoeia.[2]
The consonant phonemes of Izere are shown in the following table.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial–velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pronounced as /p/ pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /t/ pronounced as /d/ | pronounced as /c/ pronounced as /ɟ/ | pronounced as /k/ pronounced as /ɡ/ | pronounced as /k͡p/ pronounced as /ɡ͡b/ | ||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /ɲ/ | pronounced as /ŋ/ | pronounced as /ŋ͡m/ | ||||
| Trill | (pronounced as /r/) | ||||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /f/ pronounced as /v/ | pronounced as /s/ pronounced as /z/ | pronounced as /ʃ/ pronounced as /ʒ/ | pronounced as /h/ | |||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /ts/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /j/, pronounced as /ɥ/ | pronounced as /w/ | |||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /l/ |
The vowel phonemes of Izere are shown in the following table.
| Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | ||
There are three level (L, M & H) and two contour tonemes (LM & HL) in Izere; the latter two are found only in loanwords and onomatopoeia.