Cebaara (Tyebala), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a major Senufo language, spoken by a million people in Ivory Coast.
Phonology
Cebaara has the following sound inventory:
Consonants
- /b/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [ò] when in intervocalic position.
- Voiceless stops /p, t/ can occur as slightly voiced before /i/ as [pì, tì]
- /s/ can be palatalized before an /i/, and can be recognized as a post-alveolar fricative [ÃÂ] before another vowel in /siV/ position.
- Palatal sounds /c, ÃÂ/ can also be heard as affricate sounds [táÃÂ, dáÃÂ] within free variation.
- /Ã
Â/ can also be heard as a post-nasal [á ÃÂ] within word final positions.
Vowels
- Vowels /e, o/ can be realized as [ê, ÃÂ] when in shortened form.
References