Cerma (Kirma) is a Gur language of Burkina Faso. It is spoken by the Gouin people (sometimes called Ciramba or Gouin (Gwe, Gwen)).
Phonology
Consonants
- Although is phonetically a labial-velar consonant, Lauber includes it in the dorsal/laryngeal column because its distribution is more like or than the labials or labial-velars.
- Lauber excludes , , and //N// from the continuant section because their distributions are different.
- is nasalized "in a nasal context" and a voiceless alveolar lateral at the end of an utterance.
- is a nasal tap "in a nasal context" and a voiceless tap at the end of an utterance.
- The archiphoneme //N// has the following allophones:
- before , , and
- before and
- before , , , and
- before , , and front vowels
- before , , , , and the central and back vowels
- before and
- also becomes .
- Hürlimann and Pike (1985) note that the palatals are affricates, using the symbols and .
Vowels
- Lauber treats nasalization as a feature of the syllable, not the vowel.
- In closed syllables, become near-close .
- In the last syllable of the nuclear element of the phonological word before , are lengthened .
Notes
References