Baïnounk Gubëeher

Baïnounk Gubëeher
Baïnounk Gubëeher
Native to	Senegal[1]
Native speakers	less than 1000 Gubeeher proper (2011)[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Wolof–Nyun Nyun-Buy Banyum[3][4] Baïnounk Gubëeher
Dialects	Gubeeher Gufangor Gubelor
Writing system	Latin script[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	gube1234[5]

Baïnounk Gubëeher is a minority language of Senegal, whose speakers are concentrated in Djibonker, Casamance.^[1]

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant phonemes of Baïnounk Gubëeher are as follows:^[6]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		x	h
Approximant		w	l	j
Flap			ɾ

Notes

• Phonemic status of geminated consonants is uncertain.^[6] There are a few words that have them, but there are no minimal pairs.^[6]
• Word-final /ɾ/ can be pronounced as a voiceless uvular trill by some speakers.^[6]

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Baïnounk Gubëeher are as follows:^[7]

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Near-close	j	ɪː			ʊ	ʊː
Close-mid	e	eː			o	oː
Mid			ə	əː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː			ɔ	ɔː
Open			a	aː

Length is phonemic for all vowels. The difference between /i, u/ and /ɪ, ʊ/ is hard to perceive; the minimal pairs are rare.^[8]

References

1. Cobbinah (2013:3)
2. "Baïnounk Gubëeher" (PDF).
3. "Endangered Languages Project - Baïnounk Gubëeher".
4. Cobbinah (2013:22)
5. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Gubeeher-Gufangor-Gubelor". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
6. Cobbinah (2013:166)
7. Cobbinah (2013:167)
8. Cobbinah (2013:167–168)

Bibliography

• Cobbinah, Alexander Yao (2013), Nominal classification and verbal nouns in Baïnounk Gubëeher (PDF), University of London