Grebo is a Kru language of Liberia. All of the Grebo languages are referred to as Grebo, though in Ivory Coast, Krumen is the usual name. The Grebo people live in the extreme south-west of Liberia, both on the coast and inland, between the rivers Cavally and Cess.[2]
| Grebo | |
|---|---|
| Kréébo (Grebo) | |
| Native to | Liberia |
Native speakers | 390,000 (2001)[1] possibly a few Southern Grebo in Ivory Coast, plus refugees |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | grb |
| ISO 639-3 | grb – inclusive codeIndividual codes: grj – Southern (including Jabo)grv – Centralgbo – Northerngec – Gboloogry – Barclayvilleoub – Glio-Ubi |
| Glottolog | greb1256 |
As in the other Kru languages, tone is extremely important. For instance, né with a high (or high-mid) tone is the first-person pronoun "I", while nè with a low tone is the singular form of "you".[3]
Phonology
editThe following discussion covers the Northern dialect of Grebo.
Consonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar/Palatal | Labial-velar | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labialized | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋmˤ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | kpˤ | k | kʷ | |
| voiced | b | d | gbˤ | ɡ | |||
| Affricate | voiceless | tʃ | |||||
| voiced | dz | ||||||
| Fricative | f | s | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ĩ | u ũ | |
| Near-close/Close-mid | ɪ ɪ̃ | o õ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛ̃ | ɔ ɔ̃ | |
| Open | a |
References
edit- ^ Barclayville Grebo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Gordon Innes, A Grebo - English Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 1967
- ^ Gordon Innes, as above. A dictionary was compiled from previous dictionaries and the speech of Assistant 1955-1957 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Mr. J.Y.Dennis
- ^ a b "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
External links
edit- John Payne (Bp.) (1860). A dictionary of the Grebo language. E.O. Jenkins. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
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