A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Buli | |
|---|---|
| Kanjaga | |
| Native to | Ghana |
| Speakers | 170,000 (2013)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bwu |
| Glottolog | buli1254 |
| ELP | Buli |
Buli, or Kanjaga, is a Gur language of Ghana primarily spoken in the Builsa District, located in the Upper East Region of the country. It is an SVO language and has 200 000 speakers.
The Buli dialects are not well researched and claims about these dialects are therefore inconsistent. One dialect is Chuchuliga, spoken in the northern part of Ghana close to Navrongo.[2] This dialect is influenced by Kasem, which is another Gur language spoken in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana and in Burkina Faso. Chuchuliga has specific morphological features such as the lack of diphthongs, a richer nominal morphology and the lack of low tones, which are similar to other varieties of Buli.[2] According to Ethnologue, Buli does not show dialectal variation and is reportedly similar to Konni, which is spoken in the districts of Nangurima and Yikpabongo. Moreover, Buli is lexically similar with Mampruli (77%).[3]
Phonology
Source:[4]
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | k͡p |
| Voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | |||
| Voiced | v | z | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | r | j | w | |||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u(ː) | ||
| Mid | e(ː) | ø(ː) | ɘ | o(ː) |
| Low | a(ː) | |||
Tones
There are three tonal levels in Buli, i.e. high, mid and low, and the tone phenomena are very complex. Words deviate from their basic tonal patterns when they occur in a syntactic schema.[5]
| Toneme | |
|---|---|
| High level | ˦ |
| Weak high falling | ˦˧ |
| Heavy high falling | ˦˨ |
| Mid level | ˧ |
| Mid peaking | ˧˦˧ |
| Mid falling | ˧˨ |
| Mid dipping | ˧˨˧ |
| Low level | ˨ |
| Heavy low rising | ˨˦ |
| Weak low rising | ˨˧ |
Lexical function
Bāng
"bangle"[5]
bàng
"lizard"[5]
Grammatical function
Grammar
Noun Class System
There are four singular classes and five plural classes. While the singular class identifiers are not markers of number, the plural markers mark number. This classification is based on semantics rather than morphology. Items in class one are and the suffixes do not mark number, but they mostly serve as determiners. The items in all other classes are and their plural suffixes mark number.[5]
| Class | Singular | Plural | Example | Semantics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | wà | bà | núr ''man'' | human / loan words |
| II | dì | ŋà | yérí ''house'' | dependent entities (body parts, fruits, languages) |
| III | kà | sì | bàŋ̩ ''lizard'' | ethnonyms, trees, diminuitives |
| IV | kù | tì | síuk ''path'' | animals, instruments, mass and abstract nouns |
| V | bù | - | trees, body parts. animals, liquids, abstract |
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns/ Possessive Pronouns
In Buli, there is a distinction between speaker, hearer and topic. The speaker corresponds to the first person, while the hearer is second person. Topic on the other hand refers to the third person, but is treated differently from first and second person in that the third person form corresponds to a nominal class pronoun. In contrast, the first and second person pronouns are formed by a strong or weak person pronoun form. In general, these pronouns show number agreement. Moreover, the topic forms not only express person and number, but also gives rise to the differentiation between the five singular and four plural forms of the noun class system.[2]
There is a distinction between strong and deficient (weak) pronouns which differ in their tonal appearance.[6] The strong forms have a high tone, whereas the deficient forms have a low tone. An overview of the inventory of the personal pronouns in Buli is given in the table below.