Ntcham, or Basari, is a language of the Gurma people in Togo and Ghana. Akaselem (Tchamba) is frequently listed as a separate language.
Phonology The phonology used by Chanard and Hartell is given below. Abbott and Cox (1966) had a similar phonology, though the non labial-velar voiceless plosives were analyzed as aspirated, and vowel length was not distinguished., citing Badie (1995) analyzes and as and and also includes phonemic , vowel lengths, and nasalized vowels., citing
Consonants +Consonants Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-velarPlosive/Affricate voiceless voiced Fricative Nasal Trill Approximant
Vowels +Vowels Front Back Close Close-mid Open-mid Open
Tones Ntcham also has high, low, and mid tones.
Writing system
+ Ntcham Alphabet Majuscules A B C D EE F G GB I J K KP L Minuscules a b c d ee f g gb i j k kp l Majuscules M N NY Ŋ ŊM OO Ɔ P S T U W Y Minuscules m n ny ŋ ŋm oo ɔ p s t u w y
Long vowels are indicated by doubling the letter ‹aa, ii, ɔɔ, uu› and two vowels are always long ‹ee, oo›. The tones are represented by acute accents for high tone and grave accents for low tone, on the vowels and the consonants m, n, b, l : ‹ḿ, ń, b́, ĺ›, ‹m̀, ǹ, b̀, l̀›.
References