Berom language
Berom | |
---|---|
Birom | |
Cèn Bèrom | |
Native to | Nigeria |
Region | Plateau State |
Ethnicity | Berom people |
Native speakers | 1 million (2010)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bom |
Glottolog | bero1242 |
Berom[2] | |
---|---|
Person | Wòrom |
People | Berom; Birom (Du dialect) |
Language | Cèn Bèrom |
Berom or Birom (Cèn Bèrom) is the most widely spoken
Berom is spoken in a large area extending from some precolonial settlements embedded within the Jos metropolitan area to the south of
History
The Berom have a link to the Nok culture, a civilization that existed between 200 BCE to 1,000 CE.[5] Generally, the Berom speakers are identified to live in the core Jos Plateau and down the low plains of Kaduna State.[6]
Dialects
The Berom dialect clusters are:[4]
- Gyel–Kuru–Vwang
- Du–Foron
- Fan–Ropp–Rim–Riyom–Heikpang
- Bachit
- Gashish
- Rahoss-Tahoss
Phonology
Consonants
Eastern Berom consists of twenty-four consonant phonemes:[7]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t
|
k | kp | ||
voiced | b | d
|
g | gb | |||
Affricate | voiceless | (ts) | tʃ | ||||
voiced | dʒ | ||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
voiced | v | z | |||||
Nasal | m | n
|
ɲ | ŋ | |||
Rhotic | r
|
||||||
Approximant | l
|
j | w |
- /ts/ occurs in the Foron dialect.
- /p/ /b/, /m/ are bilabial, while /f/ and /v/ are labiodental.
- /tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ are palato-alveolar, while /ɲ/ and /j/ are palatal.
In Berom, approximants are found in the last position, for example, orthographic rou is /ròw/ and vei is /vèj/.
Vowels
This language consists of seven vowel phonemes:
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | o | |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |
Berom consists of three type of tones and four glide tones (Bouquiaux 1970). The glide tones are treated here as rising and falling tones. The tones are as follows:
/tút / = (to climb) for a high tone
/shɛl/ = (small) No tone mark is demonstrated for the Mid tone.
/bàsa/ = (to teach, read,) for a low tone
/nepâs/ = (new) for a falling tone
/sǎn/ = (empty) for a rising tone
Orthography
Berom orthography:[4]
a, b, c, d, e, ɛ, f, g, gb, h, i, j, k, kp, l, m, n, ng, o, ɔ, p, r, s, sh, t, ts, u, v, w, y, z
References
- ^ Berom at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- ^ a b "Berom". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
- ^ a b c Blench, Roger. 2021. Introduction to Berom: Reading and Writing Guide.
- ^ Mbamalu, Socrates (2017-02-16). "The Berom people of Nigeria". This is africa. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ Bouquiaux, L. 1970. La langue Birom (Nigéria septentrional) –phonologie, morphologie, syntaxe. Paris: Société d’édition Les Belles Lettres.
- ^ Blench, Roger M. (2006). "Plural Verb Morphology in Eastern Berom" (PDF). rogerblench.info. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2024-03-07.