Nzema language

Nzema, also known as Nzima or Appolo, is a Central Tano language spoken by the Nzema people of southwestern Ghana and southeastern Ivory Coast. It is partially intelligible with Jwira-Pepesa and is closely related to Baoulé.

Nzema
Region	Ghana, Ivory Coast
Ethnicity	Nzema
Native speakers	430,000 (2013–2021)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kwa Potou–Tano Tano Central Tano Bia South Bia Nzema
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nzi
ISO 639-3	nzi
Glottolog	nzim1238

Being a Bia language, Nzema is one of the many Akan languages, and it has had considerable influence from other Akan languages, especially Twi and Fante. There are notable towns in Nzemaland such as Bonyere, Nkroful, Half Assini, Axim, Eikwe, Baku, Atuabo, Beyin, Essiama and Anokyi.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Labiodental		Dental	Alveolar			(Alveolo-) Palatal		Velar		Labial-velar	Glottal
			plain	lab.		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.		plain	lab.
Nasal	plain	m			n̪	n			ɲ	ɲʷ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋm
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	tp		t̪				tɕ	tɕʷ	k	kʷ	kp	ʔ
	voiced	b	db		d̪	d			dʑ	dʑʷ	ɡ	gʷ	ɡb
Fricative	voiceless		f	fʷ		s	sʷ	sʲ	ɕ	ɕʷ	x			h	hʷ
	voiced		v	vʷ		z	zʷ	zʲ			ɣ			ɦ
Trill						r
Lateral	plain					l
	nasalized					l̃
Approximant									j	ɥ		w

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-open		ɐ
Open		a

Of Nzema's ten vowels, eight may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɪ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɐ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, /ʊ̃/ and /ɔ̃/.

Writing system

Nzema alphabet^{[full citation needed]}

Uppercase	A	B	D	Ɛ	E	F	G	H	I	K	L	M	N	Ɔ	O	P	R	S	T	U	V	W	Y	Z
Lowercase	a	b	d	ɛ	e	f	g	h	i	k	l	m	n	ɔ	o	p	r	s	t	u	v	w	y	z

References

1. Nzema at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. "Nzema". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
3. Burmeister, Jonathan L. (1976). "A comparison of variable nouns in Anyi-Sanvi and Nzema". Annales de l'Université d'Abidjan. H (Linguistique 9): 7–19.
4. Berry, J. (1955). "Some Notes on the Phonology of the Nzema and Ahanta Dialects". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 17 (1): 160–165. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00106421. ISSN 1474-0699.
5. Chinebuah, Isaac Kodwo (1973). Grammatical categories of the verbal piece in Nzema. University of London.
6. Language Guide, 1977

External links

• Nzema language dictionaries

Nzema language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator