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[2] The Bilen language (ብሊና b(ɨ)lina or ብሊን b(ɨ)lin) is spoken by the Bilen people in and around the city of Keren in Eritrea . It is the only Agaw (Central Cushitic) language spoken in Eritrea. It is spoken by about 120,000 people.

Bilen
ብሊና, ብሊን
Regioncentral Eritrea
EthnicityBilen people
Native speakers
91,000 (2006)[1]
Language family
Afro-Asiatic
Writing system
Geʽez script
Language codes
ISO 639-2byn
ISO 639-3byn
Glottologbili1260
ELPBilen
Linguistic map of Eritrea; Bilen is spoken in the dark blue region
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Spelling of the name


"Blin" is the English spelling preferred by native speakers,[citation needed] but Bilin and Bilen are also commonly used. Bilin is the reference name arbitrarily used in the current initial English editions of ISO 639-3, but Blin is also listed as an equivalent name without preference. In the English list of ISO 639-2, Blin is listed in first position in both English and French lists, when Bilin is listed as an alternate name in the English list, and Bilen is the alternate name in the French list. The Ethnologue report lists Bilen as the preferred name, but also Bogo, Bogos, Bilayn, Bilin, Balen, Beleni, Belen, Bilein, Bileno, North Agaw as alternative names.


Phonology


It is not clear if Bilen has tone. It may have pitch accent (Fallon 2004) as prominent syllables always have a high tone, but not all words have such a syllable.


Vowels


Vowel phonemes
  Front Central Back
High i ɨ u
Mid e ə o
Low a

Consonants


Note: /tʃ/ is found in loans, and the status of /ʔ/ as a phoneme is uncertain.

/r/ is typically realised as a tap when it is medial and a trill when it is in final position.

Consonant phonemes
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar
or palatal
Velar Pharyn-
geal
Glottal
plain labialized
Plosive /
Affricate
voiceless t () k (ʔ)
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
ejective tʃʼ kʷʼ
Nasal m n ŋ ŋʷ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x ħ h
voiced z ʕ
Rhotic r
Approximant l j w

Fallon (2001, 2004) notes intervocalic lenition, such as /b/[β]; syncope, as in the name of the language, /bɨlín/[blín]; debuccalization with secondary articulation preserved, as in /dérekʷʼa/[dɛ́rɛʔʷa] 'mud for bricks'. Intriguingly, the ejectives have voiced allophones, which according to Fallon (2004) "provides an important empirical precedent" for one of the more criticized aspects of the glottalic theory of Indo-European. For example,

Ejective consonantVoiced allophoneGloss
/laħátʃʼɨna/[laħádʒɨna]'to bark'
/kʼaratʃʼna/[kʼaradʒna]'to cut'
/kʷʼakʷʼito/[ɡʷaʔʷito]'he was afraid'

Writing system



Ge'ez abugida


A writing system for Bilen was first developed by missionaries who used the Ge'ez abugida and the first text was published in 1882. Although the Ge'ez script is usually used for Semitic languages, the phonemes of Bilen are very similar (7 vowels, labiovelar and ejective consonants). The script therefore requires only a slight modification (the addition of consonants for ŋ and ŋʷ) to make it suitable for Bilen. Some of the additional symbols required to write Bilen with this script are in the "Ethiopic Extended" Unicode range rather than the "Ethiopic" range.

Blin Ethiopic Characters
IPAeuiaieɨ/-oʷeʷiʷaʷieʷɨ/-
h  
l  
ħ  
m  
s  
ʃ  
r  
ʁ
b  
t  
n  
ʔ  
k
x
w  
ʕ  
j  
d  
 
ɡ
ŋ
 
tʃʼ  
f  
z  
ʒ  
 
ɲ  
 
 
p  
v  
IPAeuiaieɨ/-oʷeʷiʷaʷieʷɨ/-

Latin alphabet


In 1985 the Eritrean People's Liberation Front decided to use the Latin script for Bilen and all other non-Semitic languages in Eritrea. This was largely a political decision: the Ge'ez script is associated with Christianity because of its liturgical use. The Latin alphabet is seen as being more neutral and secular. In 1993 the government set up a committee to standardize the Bilen language and the Latin-based orthography. "This overturned a 110-year tradition of writing Blin in Ethiopic script." (Fallon, Bilen Orthography [3])

As of 1997, the alphabetic order was:

e, u, i, a, é, o, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z, ñ, ñw, th, ch, sh, kh, kw, hw, qw, gw.

Also khw.

Their values are similar to the IPA apart from the following:

LetterValue
éɨ
cʕ
j
q
xħ
yj
ñŋ
th
chtʃʼ
shʃ
khx

See also



References


  1. Bilen at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Michie, James (1982). "Good Morning, Good Evening". Grand Street. 1 (4): 110. doi:10.2307/25006440. ISSN 0734-5496. JSTOR 25006440.
  3. Paul D. Fallon (18 September 2006). "Blin Orthography: A History and an Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved 1 June 2014.



Further reading



На других языках


[de] Blin (Sprache)

Blin (auch Bilin oder Bilen; Eigenbezeichnung ብሊና b(ə)lina) ist eine kuschitische Sprache, die von 70.000 Menschen um Keren in Eritrea gesprochen wird.
- [en] Bilen language

[fr] Bilen

Le bilen, aussi appelé bilin ou blin, est une langue afro-asiatique faisant partie du groupe des langues agew des langues couchitiques, parlée par les Bilens, ethnie habitant dans le centre de l’Érythrée, dans la région de Keren, et à Kassala dans l’Est du Soudan. Elle est parlée par environ 100 000 personnes.

[ru] Билин (язык)

Билин (блин, билен, богос, северноагавский; ብሊና, b(ə)lin / bɨlin) — язык народа бого (билин), распространённый в Эритрее в городе Кэрэн и прилегающей местности. Относится к центральной ветви кушитских языков. Число носителей — около 70 000 человек.



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