Guéré | |
---|---|
Wè | |
Native to | Ivory Coast |
Region | Dix-Huit Montagnes, Moyen-Cavally |
Native speakers
|
320,000 (1998–1999) |
Niger–Congo
|
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either: – Central Gere (Southern Wee) – Neyo (Western Wee)
|
Glottolog | guer1240 |
Guéré (Gere), also called Wè (Wee), is a Kru language spoken by over 300,000 people in the Dix-Huit Montagnes and Moyen-Cavally regions of Ivory Coast.
The phonology of Guere (here the Zagna dialect of Central Guere / Southern Wè) is briefly sketched out below.
The consonant phonemes are as follows:
Allophones of some of these phonemes include:
In addition, while the nasal consonants /m, n/ and contrast with /ɓ/ and /l/ before oral vowels, and are thus separate phonemes, before nasal vowels only the nasal consonants occur. /ɓ/ and /l/ do not occur before nasal vowels, suggesting that historically a phonemic merger between these sounds and the nasals /m, n/ may have occurred in this position.
Like many West African languages, Guere makes use of a contrast between vowels with advanced tongue root and those with retracted tongue root. In addition, nasal vowels contrast phonemically with oral vowels.
Guere is a tonal language and contrasts ten tones: