| Malba Birifor | |
| Nativename: | Bɩrfʋɔr |
| States: | Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast |
| Ethnicity: | Birifor |
| Speakers: | in Burkina Faso |
| Date: | 1993 |
| Ref: | e26 |
| Script: | Latin (Malba Birifor alphabet) |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Gur |
| Fam4: | Northern |
| Fam5: | Oti–Volta |
| Fam6: | Moré–Dagbani |
| Fam7: | Moré |
| Fam8: | Dagaare–Birifor |
| Fam9: | Birifor |
| Iso3: | bfo |
| Glotto: | malb1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Malba Birifor |
Northern Birifor or Malba Birifor is a Gur language of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken by a few hundred thousand people, mainly in the southwest of Burkina Faso, particularly in the provinces of Bougouriba, Ioba, Noumbiel and Poni and in western Ivory Coast.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /i/ pronounced as /iː/ pronounced as /ĩ/ pronounced as /ĩː/ | pronounced as /u/ pronounced as /uː/ pronounced as /ũ/ pronounced as /ũː/ | ||
| Near-close | pronounced as /ɪ/ pronounced as /ɪː/ pronounced as /ɪ̃/ pronounced as /ɪ̃ː/ | pronounced as /ʊ/ pronounced as /ʊː/ pronounced as /ʊ̃/ pronounced as /ʊ̃ː/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /e/ pronounced as /eː/ pronounced as /ẽ/ pronounced as /ẽː/ | pronounced as /o/ pronounced as /oː/ pronounced as /õ/ pronounced as /õː/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ɛ/ pronounced as /ɛː/ pronounced as /ɛ̃/ pronounced as /ɛ̃ː/ | pronounced as /ɔ/ pronounced as /ɔː/ pronounced as /ɔ̃/ pronounced as /ɔ̃ː/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /a/ pronounced as /aː/ pronounced as /ã/ pronounced as /ãː/ |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /p/ | pronounced as /t/ | pronounced as /c/ | pronounced as /k/ | pronounced as /k͡p/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /d/ | pronounced as /ɟ/ | pronounced as /ɡ/ | pronounced as /ɡ͡b/ | |||
| Implosive | voiced | pronounced as /ɓ/ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /f/ | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /h/ | ||||
| voiced | pronounced as /v/ | |||||||
| Nasal | plain | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /ɲ/ | pronounced as /ŋ͡m/ | |||
| Approximant | plain | pronounced as /l/ | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /w/ | ||||
| glottal | pronounced as /ˀl/ | pronounced as /ˀj/ | ||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /r/ | |||||||
It is written in this alphabet:[1]
| Majuscules | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ã | B | Ɓ | C | D | E | Ẽ | Ɛ | Ɛ̃ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ĩ | Ɩ | Ɩ̃ | J | K | Kp | L | ʹL | M | N | Ny | Ŋm | O | Õ | Ɔ | Ɔ̃ | P | R | S | T | U | Ũ | Ʋ | Ʋ̃ | V | W | Y | Ƴ | |||
| Minuscules | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | ɓ | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | g | gb | h | i | ĩ | ɩ | ɩ̃ | j | k | kp | l | ʹl | m | n | ny | ŋm | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʋ | ʋ̃ | v | w | y | ƴ | |||
| Phonetic value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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/ | 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/ | 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/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
Long vowels are written double but without doubling the nasal tilde, e.g. for pronounced as //ẽː//