Temne (also Themne, Timne; IPA [t̪emnɛ][missing the tones]) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea and The Gambia. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, the United States, and Egypt.
Temne | |
---|---|
KʌThemnɛ | |
Native to | Sierra Leone, Guinea |
Region | Northern Sierra Leone |
Ethnicity | Temne |
Speakers | L1: 2.0 million (2021)[1] L2: 240,000 (1981)[1] |
Latin | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Sierra Leone |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | tem |
ISO 639-3 | tem |
Glottolog | timn1235 |
Temne[2] | |
---|---|
Person | a-temne |
Language | ka-temne |
Temne is a tonal language, with four tones. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.[3][4]
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | voiceless | p | t̪ | t | k | ||
voiced | b | d | gb | ||||
Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | |||
Affricate | tʃ | ||||||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Lateral | l | ||||||
Approximant | w | j |
Front | Mid | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | ə | o |
Open-mid | ɛ | ʌ | ɔ |
Open | a |
The alphabet of Temne includes the following characters and digraphs:[4]
a | ʌ | b | d | e | ɛ | ə | f | gb | h | i | k | kp | l | m | n | ŋ | o | ɔ | p | r | s | t | th | u | w |
A | Ʌ | B | D | E | Ɛ | Ə | F | Gb | H | I | K | Kp | L | M | N | Ŋ | O | Ɔ | P | R | S | T | Th | U | W |
Earlier, Ȧȧ was used instead of Ʌʌ
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.