West Teke language

West Teke is a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

West Teke
Native to	Republic of Congo, Gabon
Ethnicity	Teke, Bongo Pygmies
Native speakers	(120,000 cited ca.2000)[1] (some figures undated)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu (Zone B) Nzebi (B.50) (traditionally Teke, B.70) West Teke
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: tyi – Tsaayi lli – Laali iyx – Yaa tyx – Tyee (Kwe)
Glottolog	west2969  West Kasai-Ngounie
Guthrie code	B.73[2]

West Teke is a dialect continuum. The varieties are Tsaayi (Ge-Tsaya, Tyaye, Tsayi), Laali, Yaa (Yaka), and Tyee (Tee, Kwe). The dominant variety by far is Tsaayi.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋ͡m
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑk͡p
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑɡ͡b
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s
	voiced	b͡v	d͡z
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp͡f	ⁿt͡s
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb͡v	ⁿd͡z
Fricative		f	s		ɣ		h
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant		(ɥ)	l	j		w

• Sounds /k͡p, ᵑk͡p, ᵑɡ͡b/ are sometimes pronounced as labialized sounds [kʷ, ᵑkʷ, ᵑɡʷ].
• /ɡ/ when preceding /w/ or /j/, may labialize or palatalize as [ɡʷ, ɡʲ].
• /s/ may often be pronounced as [ʃ] when before /u/ or /w/.
• /j/ when preceding a /w/ or /u/, is pronounced as a labial-palatal [ɥ].
• /t͡s, ⁿt͡s, d͡z, ⁿd͡z/ may also be pronounced as [t͡ʃ, ⁿt͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ⁿd͡ʒ] when before /u/, /w/ or /j/.^[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ		u ũ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ ɛ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã

• Sounds /ɛ, ɔ/ may also be heard as more closed [e, o] in different positions.
• Vowel length is also distinctive.

References

1. Tsaayi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Laali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Yaa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Tyee (Kwe) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Ntsiba Ngolo, Edouard; Raharimanantsoa, Ruth (2015). Petit guide d’orthographique et de grammaire du Téké du sud-ouest. Brazzaville: SIL Congo.

External links

Dictionnaire Teke-Tyee