Kare language (Adamawa) explained

Kare
Nativename:nzáà kã́rĩ́
States:Central African Republic, Cameroon
Date:1996–2000
Ref:e18
Speakers2:62,000 Kare, 35,000 Tale in CAR (1996)
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Mbum–Day
Fam4:Mbum
Fam5:Central Mbum
Fam6:Karang
Iso3:kbn
Glotto:kare1338
Glottorefname:Kare (Central African Republic)
Dia1:Kare (Kari, Kali)
Dia2:? Tale

Kare (Kãrɛ̃, Kareng; autonym nzáà kã́rĩ́, where nzáà = "mouth") is a southern Mbum language of the Central African Republic, spoken by the Kare people in the mountains of the northeasterly Ouham-Pendé prefecture around Bocaranga. It is spoken by around 97,000 people in the country, and another few thousand speakers in Cameroon. The language's presence on the southeastern edge of the Mbum family is thought to reflect early 19th-century migrations from the Adamawa Plateau, fleeing Fulani raids.

Ethnologue 17 reports that Kare is intelligible with Mbum proper. However, languages more closely related to either are not reported to be intelligible. Ethnologue lists Tale (Tali) as a dialect, but Blench (2004) leaves it unclassified within the Mbum languages. Ethnologue also lists Kali as a synonym; Blench lists a Kali language in a different branch of the Mbum languages.

Phonology

Kare has the following consonantal phonemes:

+ Consonant phonemesBilabialLabiodentalAlveolarPalatalVelarLabio-
velar
Glottal
Implosivepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Stoppronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Prenasalized stopᵐbⁿdᵑgᵑɡb
Fricativepronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Prenasalized fricativeⁿz
Approximantpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /link/
Flappronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/

It has the following vowel phonemes:

 Oral vowelsNasal vowels
FrontBackFrontBack
Closealign=center pronounced as /i/align=center pronounced as /u/align=center pronounced as /ĩ/align=center pronounced as /ũ/
Close-midalign=center pronounced as /e/align=center pronounced as /o/  
Open-midalign=center pronounced as /ɛ/align=center pronounced as /ɔ/align=center pronounced as /ɛ̃/align=center pronounced as /ɔ̃/
Openalign=center colspan=2 pronounced as /a/align=center colspan=2 pronounced as /ã/

There is a phonological contrast between high and low tone (eg "say" vs. "laugh"), and a rarer phonetic mid tone whose phonological status is not established. Only monosyllabic words may bear rising or falling tone.

Grammar

The basic word order of Kare is subject-verb-object:

Negation is handled with the sentence-final particle "not"; when negated, the locative copula "be (in a place)" is replaced by , and the equative copula ɓá "be (equivalent to)" by tí ɓá.

Verbal nouns are formed by raising the last syllable's tone and adding a suffix -Cà, where C = l or r after an oral vowel, n after a nasal vowel, and is empty after a consonant: "deny" > fárà "denial", sɛ̀l "untie" > sɛ́là "untying".

Pronouns

Kare has no grammatical gender. Its personal pronouns are as follows:

Free Subject Object
I mìí
you sg. mɔ̀ɔ́ mɔ̀ mɔ́
he/she/it mɛ̀ɛ́ / kɛ́ kɛ́ rɛ́ / nɛ́
we màá
you pl. yìɓàí ɓàí
they kìí kìí

To these may be added hánà "each other, other".

Noun phrases

There is a closed class of morphologically invariant adjectives (eg "new", sɛ́ŋɛ́ "red"), which typically precede the noun but may also follow it to indicate a permanent quality, or may be used as nouns in their own right. Determiners (hánà "other", kɛ́ "the", yɛ̀í "this", yɔ̀ɔ́ "that", nɛ̄ "that yonder") follow the noun, and are followed by the plural marker :

Numerals and quantifiers come at the end, following the (optional) plural marker:

Direct genitives are formed by juxtaposition

analytic genitives use the particle ʔà

Relative clauses are formed with a demonstrative followed (not always immediately) by the relative marker ɗá

Prepositions

All adpositions in Kare precede their complement. There are four primary (pure) prepositions: "with (instrumental)", "with (comitative)", ʔá "in", báŋ "like",

Alongside these there are a number of secondary postpositions transparently derived from nouns (often body parts), eg tûl "head" > túl "on top of".

References

Bibliography