Tetela language
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| Tetela | |
|---|---|
| Ɔtɛtɛla | |
| Native to | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Region | Northern Kasai Oriental Province |
| Native speakers | 750,000 (1991)[1] |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: tll – Tetela hba – Hamba |
| Guthrie code | C.71[2] |
Tetela (Otetela, Kitetela, Kikitatela), also Sungu, is a Bantu language of northern Kasai-Oriental Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo spoken by the Tetela people.
Ethnologue removes the Hamba dialect to a different branch of Bantu.[1] However, Maho (2009) retains it in Tetela.
Noun classes [edit]
In common with all Bantu languages, Tetela grammar arranges nouns into a number of classes. The ancestral system had 22 classes (counting singular and plural as distinct according to the Meinhof system), with most Bantu languages sharing at least ten of these.
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class semantics prefix singular translation plural translation 1, 2 persons o-/ɔ-/w-, a- omfúnjí scribe, secretary amfúnjí scribes, secretaries 3, 4 trees, etc o-/ɔ-/w-, e-/ɛ- ojja place ejja places; region 5, 6 various di-/dy-, a- dihamvú fruit of Chrysophyllum lacourtianum ahamvú fruits of Chrysophyllum lacourtianum 7, 8 various ke-/e-, di-/dy- kesashi chief disashi chiefs 9, 10 animals, etc Ø-/N-, Ø-/N- mbódí goat mbódí goats 11, 10 abstract concepts, etc lo-, N- lolémí language némí languages 12, 13 various ka-/k-, to-/t- kashikɛ helmet (from French casque) toshikɛ helmets 19, 13 various °i- (complex morphology), to-/t- jɔ́ndɔ́ ??? tɔlɔ́ndɔ́ ???
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References [edit]
- ^ a b Tetela at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Hamba at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009) - ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
External links [edit]
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