Kanembu language

Kanembu
Kanembou
كَنٜݦُ
Native to	Chad
Region	Barh el Gazel, Hadjer-Lamis
Ethnicity	Kanembu
Native speakers	880,000 (2019)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Saharan Western Kanuri Kanembu
Early form	Old Kanembu
Dialects	Karkawu Mando Nguri
Writing system	Latin Ajami
Language codes
ISO 639-2	kbl
ISO 639-3	Either: kbl – Kanembu txj – Old Kanembu
Glottolog	kane1243
Linguasphere	02-AAA-b

Kanembu is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Chad by the Kanembu people. It is also spoken by a smaller number of people in Niger. It is closely related to Kanuri.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ		h
Trill			r
Approximant		w	l	j

• /f, b/ can also have allophones of [ɸ, β].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ	ɜ	ɔ
Open		a

• Vowel length is also distributed.

Writing system

Kanembu is written with the Latin script and Ajami alphabets.

In 2009, the Chadian government standardized both Latin and Ajami scripts for all indigenous languages of the country, including Kanembu, in what is known as Chadian National Alphabet.

Kanembu Latin alphabet

A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	Ə ə	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k
[a]	[b]	[t͡ʃ]	[d]	[e]	[ə]	[f]	[g]	[h]	[i]	[d͡ʒ]	[k]
L l	M m	N n	O o	Pp	R r	S s	T t	U u	W w	Y y
[l]	[m]	[n]	[o]	[p]	[r]	[s]	[t]	[u]	[w]	[j]

The letters ⟨â, ê, î, ô, û⟩ are also used. The orthography also uses the digraphs ⟨ch, mb, nd, ng, nj⟩.

The Ajami script has been used for Kanembu, since the time of Dunama Dabbalemi, and still today in the Tarjumo language or in religious works.

Kanembu Arabic alphabet

Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	أ إ‎ ‌( - ) [∅]/[ʔ]	ب‎ (B b) [b]	ت‎ (T t) [t]	ث‎ (S s) [s]	ج‎ (J j) [ɟ]	ڃ‎ (Nj nj) [ᶮɟ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	چ‎ (C c) [t͡ʃ]	ح‎ (H h) [h]	خ‎ (Kh kh) [x]	د‎ (D d) [d]	ڊ‎ (Nd nd) [ⁿd]	ذ‎ (S s) [s]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ر‎ (R r) [r]	ز‎ (S s) [s]	س‎ (S s) [s]	ش‎ (Ch ch) [ʃ]	ص‎ (S s) [s]	ض‎ (D d) [d]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ط‎ (T t) [t]	ظ‎ (Z z) [z]	ع‎ ( - ) [ʔ]	غ‎ (Kh kh) [x]	ڠ‎ (Ng ng) [ᵑɡ]	ف‎ (F f) [f]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ق‎ (G g) [g]	ك‎ (K k) [k]	ل‎ (L l) [l]	م‎ (M m) [m]	ݦ‎ (Mb mb) [ᵐb]	ن‎ (N n) [n]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ه‎ (H h) [h]	و‎ (W w) [w]	ؤ‎ ‌( - ) [ʔ]	ي‎ (Y y) [j]	ئ‎ ‌( - ) [ʔ]

Vowel at beginning of word

A	E	Ə	I	O	U
أَ‎	إٜ‎	أ٘‎	إِ‎	أٗ‎	أُ‎
Aa	Ee	Əə	Ii	Oo	Uu
آ‎	إٜيـ‎	-	إِيـ‎	أٗو‎	أُو‎

Vowel at middle and end of word

a	e	ə	i	o	u
◌َ‎	◌ٜ‎	٘◌‎	◌ِ‎	ٝ◌‎	◌ُ‎
aa	ee	əə	ii	oo	uu
◌َا / ـَا‎	◌ٜيـ / ـٜيـ‎ ◌ٜي / ـٜي‎	٘◌ا / ـ٘ا‎	◌ِيـ / ـِيـ‎ ◌ِي / ـِي‎	ٝ◌و / ـٝو‎	◌ُو / ـُو‎

References

• Jouannet, Francis (1977). "Essai d'inventaire phonétique du parler kanembou des Ngaldoukou du Sud-Kanem". In Caprile, Jean-Pierre (ed.). Études phonologiques tchadiennes. Paris: SELAF. pp. 129–143. ISBN 2-85297-019-8.
• Jouannet, Francis (1982). Le kanembou des Ngaldoukou : langue saharienne parlée sur les rives septentrionales du lac Tchad : phonématique et prosodie. Paris: SELAF. ISBN 2-85297-129-1.
• Lukas, Johannes (1931). Die Sprache der Káidi-Kanembú in Kanem. Hamburg: C. Boysen.
• SIL Chad (2017a). Kakadu Kanembu Kərânei, Kakadu 1 [Nous lisons le kanembou, livre 2] (PDF) (in French). N’Djamena, Tchad: SIL Tchad.
• SIL Chad (2017b). Kakadu Kanembu Kərânei, Kakadu 2 [Nous lisons le kanembou, livre 2] (PDF) (in French). N’Djamena, Tchad: SIL Tchad.

External links

• PanAfriL10n page on Kanuri (includes Kanembu)
• "http://kanembou.net – photos and language recordings"
• Old Kanembu Islamic Manuscripts