Tetela language
| Tetela | |
|---|---|
| Ɔtɛtɛla | |
| Native to | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Region | Northern Kasai Oriental Province |
| Ethnicity | Tetela people |
Native speakers | (760,000 cited 1991)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:tll – Tetelahba – Hamba |
| Glottolog | tete1250 Tetelahamb1245 Hamba |
C.71[2] | |
Tetela (Otetela, Kitetela, Kikitatela), also Sungu, is a Bantu language of northern Kasai-Oriental Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is spoken by the Tetela people.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | (ɡ) | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | v | |||||
| prenasal | ᶬv | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
- [ɡ] is heard as an allophone of /k/ in intervocalic positions.[3]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Noun classes
Like other Bantu languages, Tetela grammar arranges nouns into a number of classes. The ancestral system had 22 classes (counting singular and plural as distinct according to the Meinhof system), with most Bantu languages sharing at least ten of them.
class semantics prefix singular translation plural translation 1, 2 persons o-/ɔ-/w-, a- omfúnjí scribe, secretary amfúnjí scribes, secretaries 3, 4 trees, etc o-/ɔ-/w-, e-/ɛ- ojja place ejja places; region 5, 6 various di-/dy-, a- dihamvú fruit of Chrysophyllum lacourtianum ahamvú fruits of Chrysophyllum lacourtianum 7, 8 various ke-/e-, di-/dy- kesashi chief disashi chiefs 9, 10 animals, etc Ø-/N-, Ø-/N- mbódí goat mbódí goats 11, 10 abstract concepts, etc lo-, N- lolémí language némí languages 12, 13 various ka-/k-, to-/t- kashikɛ helmet (from French casque) toshikɛ helmets 19, 13 various °i- (complex morphology), to-/t- jɔ́ndɔ́ ??? tɔlɔ́ndɔ́ ???
References
- ^ Tetela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Hamba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Kamomba, Michel Wetshemongo (2020). Parler, lire et écrire la langue bantoue otetela. L'Harmattan.
Relevant literature
- Elysee Meta Okubo. 2016. A COLLECTION OF 100 TETELA PROVERBS. Proverb website
- Mukanga, Ndjeka Elizabeth, Empenge Albert Shefu, Ambaye Albertine Tshefu. 2020. Great Collection of Tetela Proverbs on the African Wisdom. Pittsburgh: Dorrance Publishers. [283 proverbs, 107 pages]