| Southern Birifor | |
| Nativename: | Birfoɔr |
| States: | Ghana, Ivory Coast |
| Ethnicity: | Birifor |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Ref: | e26 |
| Script: | Latin (Southern 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: | biv |
| Glotto: | sout2790 |
| Glottorefname: | Southern Birifor |
Southern Birifor is a Gur language of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken by about 200,000 people, mainly in Ghana, particularly in Upper West and Northern regions, with perhaps ten thousand in Zanzan district of 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/ | |||
| 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 /ŋ/ | pronounced as /ŋ͡m/ | ||
| Approximant | plain | pronounced as /l/ | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /w/ | ||||
| glottal | pronounced as /ˀl/ | pronounced as /ˀj/ | pronounced as /ˀw/ | |||||
| Trill | pronounced as /r/ | |||||||
It is written in this alphabet:
| Majuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Ã | B | C | D | E | Ẽ | Ɛ | Ɛ̃ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ĩ | Ɩ | Ɩ̃ | J | K | Kp | L | ʹL | M | N | Ny | Ŋ | Ŋm | O | Õ | Ɔ | Ɔ̃ | P | R | S | T | U | Ũ | Ʋ | Ʋ̃ | V | W | ʹW | Y | ʹY | |
| Minuscules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | g | gb | h | i | ĩ | ɩ | ɩ̃ | j | k | kp | l | ʹl | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋm | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʋ | ʋ̃ | v | w | ʹw | y | ʹy | |
| 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/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
Long vowels are written double.