Tupuri (autonym: ), sometimes rendered as Toupouri, is a language mostly spoken in the Mayo-Kebbi Est Region of southern Chad and in small parts of northern Cameroon. It is an Mbum language spoken by the Tupuri people with approximately 352,000 speakers.
Tupuri was erroneously classified as a Chadic language by Joseph Greenberg, due to a vocabulary list that is actually that of Kera (cf. K. Ebert 1974).
Distribution Tupuri is predominantly spoken in the southeastern part of the Moulvouday plain, in: Kaélé, Porhi, Taibong villages in Moulvouday commune Guidigis commune, in Mayo-Kani department Kar-Hay, Kalfou, Datcheka, Tchatibali communes in Mayo-Danay department
The Viri or Wina are ethnically Tupuri, but today they speak a Massa dialect.
Tupuri is also spoken in Chad. In Cameroon, it has about 125,000 speakers (SIL 2000).
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosive/AffricatevoicelessvoicedprenasalimplosiveFricativeNasalRhoticLateralApproximant
Vowels +Oral vowelsFrontCentralBackClose Close-mid Open-mid Open +Nasal vowelsFrontCentralBackClose Close-mid Open
References