North Teke language explained

North Teke
Nativename:	Tɛgɛ
States:	Congo, Gabon
Date:	2000–2011
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Niger-Congo
Fam2:	Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:	Benue–Congo
Fam4:	Southern Bantoid
Fam5:	Bantu (Zone B)
Fam6:	Teke (B.70)
Iso3:	teg
Glotto:	teke1275
Glottorefname:	Teke-Tege
Guthrie:	B.71

North Teke, or Tɛgɛ (Tege, Teghe, Itege), is a member of the Teke languages dialect continuum of the Congolese plateau.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	prenasal vl.	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	prenasal vd.	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Affricate	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/	(pronounced as /link/)	pronounced as /link/
	prenasal vl.	pronounced as /link/	(pronounced as /link/)	pronounced as /link/
	prenasal vd.		(pronounced as /link/)	pronounced as /link/
Fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/			(pronounced as /link/)
	prenasal vl.	pronounced as /link/
	prenasal vd.	pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Rhotic	tap		pronounced as /link/
	trill		pronounced as /link/
Approximant		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

• /b/ can also be heard as [ɓ] in free variation.
• /ɡ/ can be heard as [ɣ] when in between vowels.^[1]
• Sounds /d͡ʒ, ⁿt͡ʃ, ⁿd͡ʒ/ can also be heard as alveolar [d͡z, ⁿt͡s, ⁿd͡z] in free variation.
• The following sounds can be labialized as [bʷ, kʷ, fʷ, sʷ, d͡zʷ, ɲʷ, lʷ, mʷ, ᵐbʷ, ⁿt͡ʃʷ, ⁿd͡ʒʷ, ᵑkʷ, ᵑɡʷ].
• The labialized sounds /kʷ, ᵑkʷ/ can also be heard as [ᵑk͡p, ᵑk͡p].
• The following sounds can be palatalized as [pʲ, bʲ, kʲ, fʲ, sʲ, t͡sʲ, lʲ, mʲ, ᵐpʲ, ᵐbʲ, ⁿt͡ʃʲ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Close-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open		pronounced as /link/

• Sounds /i, a, u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ə, ʊ] in lax position.^[2]

Alphabet

North Teke alphabet

Uppercase	A	B	D	DZ	E	F	G	I	K	L	M	N	NY	Ŋ	O	P	PF	R	S	T	TS	U	V	W	Y
Lowercase	a	b	d	dz	e	f	g	i	k	l	m	n	ny	ŋ	o	p	pf	r	s	t	ts	u	v	w	y

References

Works cited

• Web site: Pauline . Linton . L’alphabet latege . Dictionnaire latege . 2013 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Tsoue, Pamela C. . Etude des marqueurs verbaux du lètὲɣὲ: langue bantu parlee au Gabon (B71a) . Université François Rabelais de Tours . 2017.
2. Book: Linton, Pauline . L’Orthographe du Latege . 2016.