Dza, also called Jen, is an Adamawa language of Nigeria spoken in the border regions of Gombe, Adamawa, and Taraba states along the northern bank of the Benue River.
Phonology The following is the phonology of Dza:
Vowels +Oral vowelsFrontCentralBackCloseiɨuClose-mideəoOpen-midɛɔOpena +Nasal vowelsFrontCentralBackCloseĩɨ̃ũClose-midə̃Open-midɛ̃ɔ̃Openã +Breathy vowelsFrontCentralBackClosei̤ṳClose-mide̤ə̤o̤Open-midOpena̤
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLabio-velarGlottalPlosiveplainp bt d(c) (ɟ)k ɡk͡p ɡ͡blab.pʷ bʷtʷ kʷ gʷpalat.pʲ bʲ(kʲ) (gʲ)implosive(ɓ)(ɗ)Affricateplaint͡s d͡zt͡ʃ d͡ʒlab.t͡sʷ d͡zʷt͡ʃʷ d͡ʒʷFricativeplainf vs zʃ ʒh lab.sʷ zʷpalat.fʲ ʃʲ Nasalplain(m̥) mnɲŋlab.mʷnʷɲʷŋʷpalat.mʲRhoticrApproximantlateralllat. lab.lʷplain(j̥) jlab.ɥ̥ ɥʍ w
The implosives are weak in Dza, [b] and [d] can take the place of their implosive counterparts but the implosive sounds cannot be substituted in place of [b] or [d]. The palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/ seem to be dialectal, either presenting as [c] and [ɟ] or as palatalized velar stops [kʲ] and [gʲ]. The /m̥/ phoneme is rare, only occurring in m̥ɨ́ 'five' and other related words, but its usage is very frequent. /r/ only occurs in loanwords but is frequent in use. All approximant phonemes become voiceless before nasal vowels, allowing for an allophonic [j̥] while the other voiceless approximants /ʍ/ and /ɥ̥/ are true phonemes.
Tone Like most West African languages, Dza is a tonal language. There are five main tonemes: three level tones (high, mid, and low) and two contour tones (rising and falling). Tone is not orthographically marked.
Orthography Dza uses an alphabet of 50 letters based on the Latin alphabet. Proposed in 2008, the orthography uses a combination of multigraphs and diacritics to correspond to the phonemes of Dza, using the letters <w> and <y> to represent labialization and palatalization, respectively. While [j̥] is an allophone of /j/ in Dza only occurring before nasal vowels, it has its own grapheme <hy>. When /ŋ/ is word-initial and labialized, it is represented as <n>; otherwise, it is written as <ng>. Letter(s)Phoneme(s)Examplea/a/ba /bá/ "goat"/a̤/hywa /ɥ̥à̤/ "knife"ã/ã/kã /kã̄/ "big"b/b/be /bē/ "rope"buchi /ɓút͡ʃì/ "arrow"ch/t͡ʃ/chi /t͡ʃì/ "cloud"ɔ/ɔ/yɔ /jɔ̄/ "pig"ɔ̃/ɔ̃/sɔ̃sɔ̃ /sɔ̃́sɔ̃̀/ "egret"ddəng /də̀ŋ/ "music"/ɗ/dɨ /ɗɨ̀/ "to take"dz/d͡z/idzə /ídzə̀/ "Dza language"e/e/he /hē/ "wife"/e̤/hehe /hē̤hē̤/ "tribute"ɛ/ɛ/wɛ /wɛ́/ "yam"ɛ̃/ɛ̃/hɛ̃ /hɛ̃́/ "all"ə/ə/pə /pə̀/ "to pierce, stab"/ə̤/hywə /ɥ̥ə̤̄/ "tiger"ə̃/ə̃/kə̃ /kə̃́/ "to squeeze"ffi /fǐ/ "sun, daylight"gga /gà/ "mane"gb/g͡b/gbə /g͡bə́/ "to break"gy/ɟ/gyɛ /ɟɛ̀/ "beside, near"hho /hò/ "bag"hm/m̥/bwahmɨ /bʷàm̥ɨ́/ "five"hw/ʍ/hwə /ʍə̀/ "clay"hy[j̥]hyə̃ /j̥ə̃́/ "animal, meat"hyw/ɥ̥/hywi /ɥ̥ī/ "smoke"i/i/ki /kí/ "stalk"/i̤/ki /kī̤/ "mat"ĩ/ĩ/kĩ /kĩ́/ "to clean"ɨ/ɨ/pɨ /pɨ̄/ "space"ɨ̃/ɨ̃/pɨ̃ /pɨ̃̄/ "hoe"j/d͡ʒ/ji /d͡ʒí/ "horn"k/k/ku /kú/ "head"kp/k͡p/kpɛ /k͡pɛ̌/ "eagle"ky/c/bəmpɨkyĩ /bə̀mpɨ̀cĩ́/ "tomorrow"l/l/lə /lə́/ "tongue"m/m/mi /mí/ "beer"n/n/na /nǎ/ "mother"/ŋ/nwa /ŋwá/ "mouth"ng/ŋ/ngə /ŋə́/ "to drive"ny/ɲ/nyi /ɲí/ "heart"o/o/so /sò/ "mouth cavity"/o̤/so /sò̤/ "elephant"p/p/pa /pā/ "barn"r/r/dəro /də̀rò/ "book"s/s/sa /sà/ "island"sh/ʃ/shə /ʃə̀/ "rat"t/t/ta /tǎ/ "father"ts/t͡s/tsɛ /t͡sɛ̄/ "peanut"u/u/hu /hú/ "new"/ṳ/hu /hṳ̀/ "grass"ũ/ũ/hũ /hṹ/ "shoe"v/v/vĩ /vĩ̄/ "to write"w/w/wu /wú/ "to come"y/j/yi /jǐ/ "to swimyw/ɥ/ywa /ɥá/ "wind"z/z/za /zà/ "vulture"zh/ʒ/zhĩzhĩ /ʒĩ̀ʒĩ̀/ "falcon"
References