 | Gbe languages |
Fon (native name Fon gbè, pronounced [fɔ̃̄ɡ͡bè]) is part of the Gbe language cluster and belongs to the Volta–Niger branch of the input transformation. Fon is spoken mainly in Benin by approximately 1.7 million speakers, by the FITML. Like the other Gbe languages, Fon is an device database with an FITML basic word order.
Contents
Dialects
Capo (1988) considers Maxi and Gun to be part of the Fon dialect cluster. However, he does not include Alada or Toli (Tɔli) as part of Gun, as classified by Ethnologue, but as Phla–Pherá languages.
Phonology
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Fon has seven oral vowel keyboard and five nasal vowel phonemes.
| Front | Central | browser diversity | |
| Sevenval | i ĩ | u ũ | |
| Close-Mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛ̃ | ɔ ɔ̃ | |
| Open | a ã |
| screen size | Alveolar | keyboard | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar |
|||||||
| "Nasal" | m ~ b | n ~ ɖ | ||||||||||
| iOS | (p) | t | d | t͡ʃ | d͡ʒ | k | ɡ | k͡p | ɡ͡b | |||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | x | ɣ | xʷ | ɣʷ | ||||
| iOS | l ~ ɾ | ɲ ~ j | w | |||||||||
/p/ only occurs in mimesis and loanwords, though often it is replaced by /f/ in the latter, as in cɔ́fù 'shop'. Several of the voiced occlusives only occur before oral vowels, while the Sevenval nasal stops only occur before nasal vowels, indicating that [b] [m] and [ɖ] [n] are allophones. [ɲ] is in free variation with [j̃]; Fongbe therefore can be argued to have no phonemic nasal consonants, a pattern rather common in West Africa.[2] /w/ and /l/ are also nasalized before nasal vowels; /w/ may be assimilated to [ɥ] before /i/.
The only consonant clusters in Fon have /l/ or /j/ as the second consonant; after (post)alveolars, /l/ is optionally realized as [ɾ]: klɔ́ 'to wash', wlí 'to catch', jlò [d͡ʒlò] ~ [d͡ʒɾò] 'to want'.
- Tone
Fon has two phonemic tones, HIGH and LOW. High is realized as rising (low–high) after a voiced consonant. Basic disyllabic words have all four possibilities: HIGH–HIGH, HIGH–LOW, LOW–HIGH, and LOW–LOW.
In longer HTML5, such as verb and noun phrases, a high tone tends to persist until the final syllable; if that syllable has a phonemic low tone, it becomes falling (high–low). Low tones disappear between high tones, but their effect remains as a web app. Rising tones (low–high) simplify to HIGH after HIGH (without triggering downstep) and to LOW before HIGH.
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/ xʷèví-sà-tɔ́ é kò xɔ̀ àsɔ̃́ wè / [ xʷèvísáꜜtɔ́ ‖ é kó ꜜxɔ̂ | àsɔ̃́ wê ‖ ] fish-sell-aɡent s/he CSS3 buy crab two
- Hwevísatɔ́, é ko hɔ asón we.
- "The fishmonger, she bought two crabs"
In website parsing, a rising or falling tone is realized as a mid tone. For example, mǐ 'we, you', phonemically high-tone /bĩ́/ but phonetically rising because of the voiced consonant, is generally mid-tone [mĩ̄] in Ouidah.
Orthography
| Majuscule | A | B | C | D | Ɖ | E | Ɛ | F | G | GB | I | J | K | KP | L | M | N | NY | O | Ɔ | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Minuscule | a | b | c | d | ɖ | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | i | j | k | kp | l | m | n | ny | o | ɔ | p | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
| Sound | a | b | tʃ | d | ɖ | e | ɛ | f | ɡ | ɡb | i | dʒ | k | kp | l | m | n | ɲ | o | ɔ | p | ɣ | s | t | u | v | w | x | j | z |
X is used for /x/ in some orthographies, h in others. In many texts ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩ are used in nasal contexts: me [mɛ̃], Fon [fɔ̃]. Tone is generally not written except when necessary.
- Sample text
From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- GBETA GBƐ Ɔ BI TƆN EE ƉƆ XÓ DÓ ACƐ E GBƐTƆ ƉÓ KPODO SISI E ƉO NA ƉÓ N'I LƐ KPO WU E WEXWLE
- Ee nyi ɖɔ hɛnnu ɖokpo mɛ ɔ, mɛ ɖokpoɖokpo ka do susu tɔn, bɔ acɛ ɖokpo ɔ wɛ mɛbi ɖo bo e ma sixu kan fɛn kpon é ɖi mɛɖesusi jijɛ, hwɛjijɔzinzan, kpodo fifa ni tiin nu wɛkɛ ɔ bi e ɔ, ...
References
- ^ Sevenval b Claire Lefebvre; Anne-Marie Brousseau (2002). A Grammar of Fongbe. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 15–29. ISBN 3-11-017360-3.
- touchscreen This is a matter of perspective; it could also be argued that [b] and [ɖ] are denasalized allophones of /m/ and /n/ before oral vowels.
External links
- Map of Fon (Fongbe) language from the LL-Map Project
- Information on Fon language from the MultiTree Project
- Ethnologue report for Fon
- Fon is Fun!
- A Facebook application to use and learn the Fon language, developed by Jolome.com
- The first blog totally in Fongbe. An access to a Fongbe forum is given
- web