Fon language
| Fon | |
|---|---|
| Fon gbè | |
| Native to | Benin, Togo |
| Ethnicity | Fon nu |
|
Native speakers
|
2.2 million (2000–2006) |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Benin
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: fon – Fon mxl – Maxi guw – Gun gbh – Defi wem – Weme cib – Ci |
| Glottolog |
east2711 (split up in Eastern Gbe)
|
Fon (native name Fon gbè, pronounced [fɔ̃̄ɡ͡bè]) is part of the Gbe language cluster and belongs to the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo languages. Fon is spoken mainly in Benin by approximately 1.7 million speakers, by the Fon people. Like the other Gbe languages, Fon is an analytic language with an SVO basic word order.
Capo (1988) considers Maxi and Gun to be part of the Fon dialect cluster. However, he does not include Alada or Toli (Tɔli) as part of Gun, as classified by Ethnologue, but as Phla–Pherá languages.
Fon has seven oral vowel phonemes and five nasal vowel phonemes.
/p/ only occurs in linguistic mimesis and loanwords, though often it is replaced by /f/ in the latter, as in cɔ́fù 'shop'. Several of the voiced occlusives only occur before oral vowels, while the homorganic nasal stops only occur before nasal vowels, indicating that [b] [m] and [ɖ] [n] are allophones. [ɲ] is in free variation with [j̃]; Fongbe therefore can be argued to have no phonemic nasal consonants, a pattern rather common in West Africa./w/ and /l/ are also nasalized before nasal vowels; /w/ may be assimilated to [ɥ] before /i/.
...
Wikipedia