Bilen language
| Bilen | |
|---|---|
| ብሊና | |
| Region | central Eritrea and eastern Sudan |
| Ethnicity | Bilen people |
|
Native speakers
|
91,000 (2006) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | bili1260 |
The Bilen language (ብሊና b(ɨ)lina) is spoken by the Bilen people in and around the city of Keren in Eritrea and Kassala in eastern Sudan. It is the only Agaw (Central Cushitic) language spoken in Eritrea.
"Blin" is the English spelling preferred by native speakers, but Bilin and Bilen are also commonly used. Bilin is the reference name arbitrarily used in the current initial English editions of ISO 639-3, but Blin is also listed as an equivalent name without preference. In the English list of ISO 639-2, Blin is listed in first position in both English and French lists, when Bilin is listed as an alternate name in the English list, and Bilen is the alternate name in the French list. The Ethnologue report lists Bilen as the preferred name, but also Bogo, Bogos, Bilayn, Bilin, Balen, Beleni, Belen, Bilein, Bileno, North Agaw as alternative names.
It is not clear if Bilen has tone. It may have pitch accent (Fallon 2004) as prominent syllables always have a high tone, but not all words have such a syllable.
Note: /tʃ/ is found in loans, and the status of /ʔ/ as a phoneme is uncertain.
/r/ is typically realised as a tap when it is medial and a trill when it is in final position.
Fallon (2001, 2004) notes intervocalic lenition, such as /b/ → [β]; syncope, as in the name of the language, /bɨlín/ → [blín]; debuccalization with secondary articulation preserved, as in /dérekʷʼa → [dɛ́rɛʔʷa] 'mud for bricks'. Intriguingly, the ejectives have voiced allophones, which according to Fallon (2004) "provides an important empirical precedent" for one of the more criticized aspects of the glottalic theory of Indo-European. For example,
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