Kera language

Kera is an East Chadic language spoken by 45,000 people in Southwest Chad and 6,000 people in North Cameroon.

Kera
Native toChad, Cameroon
Native speakers
(50,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ker
Glottologkera1255

It was called "Tuburi" by Joseph Greenberg, a name shared with Tupuri.

In Cameroon, Kera is spoken by small, isolated and scattered groups in the southern departments of Mayo-Danay (Wina commune) and Diamaré (Ndoukoula district) in the Far North Region. It is mainly spoken in Chad. In Cameroon, the main group is near the border, south of Viri. There are about 6,000 speakers in Cameroon.[2]

Grammar

Kera is a subject–verb–object language, using prepositions. It uses exclusively borderline case-marking.

Phonology

The phonetic symbols and charts used are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Consonants
Consonants[3][4]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t tʃ k ʔ
voiced b d dʒ ɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced v z
Approximant w l j
Tap ⱱ ɾ

Vowels[5][6]

Kera's vowels are, including allophones:

front central back
close i ɨ u
mid e / ɛ o / ɔ
open a / ə

But can also be expressed as:

  • High The tongue is positioned near the top of the mouth.
  • Round The lips are rounded while the vowel is pronounced.
  • Front The tongue is positioned at the front of the mouth.
not round
front		 not round
central		 round
back
high i ɨ u
not high e / ɛ a / ə o / ɔ

Kera has vowel harmony.

In Kera, many words are required to only have vowels in the high or not high vowel class. For example, a word may have any of the vowels i ə u or any of the vowels e a o, but words containing both, e.g. words with i and o, are prohibited.

References
  1. Kera at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
  3. Atanga, Lilian Lem; Ellece, Sibonile Edith; Litosseliti, Lia; Sunderland, Jane (2013). Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tradition, Struggle and Change. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 82. ISBN 9789027218742.
  4. Pearce, Mary (2007). The interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure: evidence from Kera phonetics and phonology. University College London.
  5. "Vowels in harmony - Kera". SIL International. 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  6. ATR allophones or undershoot in Kera? Retrieved 2019-06-02.


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