Nzema language

"Appolo" redirects here. For other uses, see Appolo (disambiguation).

Nzema, also known as Nzima or Appolo, is a Central Tano language spoken by the Nzema people of southwestern Ghana and southeastern Ivory Coast.^[2] It is partially intelligible with Jwira-Pepesa and is closely related to Baoulé.^[3]

Nzema
Region	Ghana, Ivory Coast
Ethnicity	Nzema
Native speakers	430,000 (2013–2021)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kwa Potou–Tano Tano Central Tano Bia South Bia Nzema
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nzi
ISO 639-3	nzi
Glottolog	nzim1238

Being a Bia language, Nzema is one of the many Akan languages, and it has had considerable influence from other Akan languages, especially Twi and Fante.^[4] There are notable towns in Nzemaland such as Bonyere, Nkroful, Half Assini, Axim, Eikwe, Baku, Atuabo, Beyin, Essiama and Anokyi.

Phonology

Consonants

[4]		Labial	Labiodental		Dental	Alveolar			(Alveolo-) Palatal		Velar		Labial-velar
			plain	lab.		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal	plain	m			n̪	n			ɲ	ɲʷ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋm
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	tp		t̪				dʑ	dʑʷ	k	kʷ	kp
	voiced	b	db		d̪	d			tɕ	tɕʷ	ɡ	gʷ	ɡb
Fricative	voiceless		f	fʷ		s	sʷ	sʲ	ɕ	ɕʷ	x
	voiced		v	vʷ		z	zʷ	zʲ			ɣ
Trill						r
Lateral	plain					l
	nasalized					l̃
Approximant									j	ɥ		w

Vowels

[4]	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-open		ɐ
Open		a

Of Nzema's ten vowels, eight may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɪ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɐ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, /ʊ̃/ and /ɔ̃/.^[4]

Writing system

Nzema alphabet^{[5][full citation needed]}

Uppercase	A	B	D	Ɛ	E	F	G	H	I	K	L	M	N	Ɔ	O	P	R	S	T	U	V	W	Y	Z
Lowercase	a	b	d	ɛ	e	f	g	h	i	k	l	m	n	ɔ	o	p	r	s	t	u	v	w	y	z