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Tumak language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tumak
Native toChad
RegionSouthwest
Native speakers
(25,000 cited 1993 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Tumak
  • Motun
  • Mawer
Language codes
ISO 639-3tmc
Glottologtuma1260

Tumak, also known as Toumak, Tumag, Tummok, Sara Toumak, Tumac, and Dije, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the southwestern Chadian prefectures of Moyen-Chari and Koumra. Motun (Mod) and Tumak dialects have a lexical similarity of only 70%;[1] Blench (2006) lists Tumak, Motun, and Mawer as separate languages.[2] Most Motun speakers use some Sara.[1]

The "Gulei" listed in Greenberg might be a dialect of Tumak.[3]

Phonology

[edit]
Consonants[4]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d k g
Prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdʒ ᵑg
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w r, ɽ, l j
Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid-high e ə əː o
Mid-low ɛ ɔ ɔː
Low a

Tumak also has two tones;[4] high and low.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Tumak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
  3. ^ Chadic Newsletter
  4. ^ a b c Caprile, Jean-Pierre (1975). "Lexique tumak-français (Tchad)". Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde. A (in French). 5.