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Ebrié, or Cama (Caman, Kyama, Tchaman, Tsama, Tyama), is spoken by the Tchaman people in Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is a Potou language of the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages.

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Ebrié
Cama
Pronunciation	[tʃamã]
Native to	Ivory Coast
Region	Abidjan
Native speakers	(76,000 cited 1988 census)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kwa Potou–Tano Potou Ebrié
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ebr
Glottolog	ebri1238

Phonology

Phonemic Inventory

Consonants[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar
Fortis, voiceless	pʰ [pʰ]	tʰ [tʰ]	cʰ [cʰ, tʃ]	kʰ [kʰ]
Fortis, voiced	b	d	ɟ [ɟ, dʒ]	g	gb [g͡b]
Lenis, voiceless	p	t	c	k	kp [k͡p]
Lenis, voiced	ɓ [ɓ, m]	ɗ [ɗ, l, r, n]	j [j, ɲ]		w [w, ŋʷ]
Fricatives	f/ (v)	s/(z)		h [x, h]

The sounds [v] and [z] are marginal and occur only in loanwords.[2]

Vowels[2]

	Oral			Nasal
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o	ɛ̃		ɔ̃
Open	ɛ	a	ɔ		ã

There are no nasal consonant phonemes in Ebrié. Instead, the nasal vowels cause the voiced lenis consonant series [ɓ, ɗ, j, w] to assimilate into [m, n, ɲ, ŋʷ].[2]

Tones

Ebrié has two level tones (H and L) and a falling tone (HL).[3] It also has floating tones, and the voiced fortis consonants have a tendency to lower the pitch of the low tone.[2]

Morphology

Nominal Prefixes

The noun class prefixes in Ebrié distinguish between certain homophones and between singular and plural forms. Originally, this system would have been more robust, as seen in other Niger-Congo languages.[2]

The four nominal prefixes are á-, à-, ɛ̃́-, and ɛ̃̀-. The latter two, which are nasal vowels, can also be realized as syllabic nasals, transcribed as ɴ́- and ɴ̀- but written orthographically as <n>.[2]

Nouns with Prefixes[2]

Prefix	Noun	Gloss
á-	áɓókʰà̃	fog
à-	àlɔ̀kpɔ̀	water turtle
ɛ̃́-, ɴ́-	ɴ́cʰwè	bone
ɛ̃̀-, ɴ̀-	ɴ̀tʰè	father

The second noun in a compound retains its prefix, as shown below.

• cámã́ 'the Ebriés' + ńcã̀ 'language' → cámã́ǹcã̀ 'Ebrié language'
• átɛ̃̀ 'fire' + ńtʰù 'sand' → ńtɛ̃̀ǹtʰù 'ash'[4]

Plural Nouns

Nouns can be made plural through the use of nominal prefixes or plural suffixes. Certain nouns are irregular or invariable.[5]

When a singular noun begins with the prefix á- or à-, its plural form will have the prefix ń- or ǹ- respectively. If a singular noun lacks a prefix, it will often have the prefix ń- in the plural. Other nouns take one of the plural suffixes -má̃, -hɔ̃̀, or -má̃hɔ̀̃.[5]

• áyá /ájá/ 'tree' → ńyá /ńjá/ 'trees'
• agban /àg͡bã́/ 'plate' → ngbán /ǹg͡bã́/ 'plates
• lalabhô [làlàɓô] 'duck' → ńlalabho [ńlàlàɓô] 'ducks'
• mmanhɔn [m̀mã̀hɔ̀̃] 'mothers'
• nmyahɔn [ǹmjã̂hɔ̃̀] 'spouses'[5]

Subject Pronouns

In Ebrié, tense/aspect/mood markers are found on the verb or as separate morphemes if the subject is a noun or a plural subject pronoun. The singular subject pronouns merge with the TAM markers, resulting in morphophonemic changes.[3]

For exampleː

mɛ̃̀ (1SG) + ɓâ (FUT) → mã̀ã́ (1SG.FUT)[3]

Subject Pronouns[3]

	Singular	Plural
1	mɛ̃̀	lò
2	ɛ̀	ɔ̃́
3	ã̀	wò

Syntax

Ebrié is a SVO language, as seen in the following example.

jàjó étʰà kpã́hɔ̃̀

Yayo chew.PROG bread

'Yayo eats bread.'[3]

Orthography

Alphabet[4]

Symbol	IPA	Example	Transcription	Gloss
a	/a/	áyá	/ájá/	tree
an	/ã/	áphán	/ápʰã́/	smell
b	/b/	bɔ	/bɔ̀/	toad
bh	/ɓ/	ábhwe	/áɓwè/	canari
c	/c/	kɔcɛn	/kɔ̀cɛ̃̀/	bird
ch	/cʰ/	chralá	[cʰràlá]	pangolin
d	/d/	du	/dù/	snake
e	/e/	ńné	[ńné]	yam
ɛ	/ɛ/	ádɛ́	/ádɛ́/	palm tree
ɛn	/ɛ̃/	átɛn	/átɛ̃̀/	fire
f	/f/	áfɔn	[áfɔ̃̀]	branch
g	/g/	gwe	/gwè/	sea
gb	/g͡b/	agbu	/àg͡bù/	rifle
h	/h/	áhɔn	/áhɔ̃̀/	axe
i	/i/	ḿbi	[ḿbì]	leaf
j	/ɟ/	njɔn	[ǹɟɔ̃̀]	friends
k	/k/	akran	[àkrã̀]	bottle
kh	/kʰ/	ákhɔn	/ákʰɔ̃̀/	spear
kp	/k͡p/	ákpró	[ák͡pró]	hat
l	[l, ɗ]	álɛ	[álɛ̀]	tongue
m	[m]	mɛn	[mɛ̃̀]	I
n	[n]	nnwɛ	[nnwɛ̀]	snail
o	/o/	ákhokho	/ákʰòkʰò/	back
ɔ	/ɔ/	awɔ́	/àwɔ́/	cat
ɔn	/ɔ̃/	ácɔn	/ácɔ̃̀/	fish
p	/p/	ápɔ́	[ápɔ́]	love
ph	/pʰ/	lephan	[lèpʰã̀]	someone
r	[r]	ahran	[àhrã̀]	canoe
s	/s/	sɛ	/sɛ̀/	man
t	/t/	áta	/átà/	insult
th	/tʰ/	átha	[átʰà]	war
u	/u/	ńdu	[ńdù]	water
v	(v)	nvra	[ǹvrà]	appatam
w	/w/	áwɔ́	/áwɔ́/	ten
y	/j/	yɔ	/jɔ̃̀/	good
z	/z/	nzrɔ	[ǹzrɔ̀]	bag

The high tone is marked with the acute accent (ájí 'respect'), and the low tone is left unmarked (aji 'clay'). The falling tone is marked with a circumflex (â).[4]

The apostrophe (') is used to mark the habitual form of the verb.[4]

References

На других языках

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[de] Tschaman

Das Tschaman (ISO 639-3: ebr[1]), auch Ebrie genannt, ist eine Kwa-Sprache aus der Sprachfamilie der Niger-Kongo-Sprachen und wird in der Elfenbeinküste von insgesamt 75.900 Personen (Volkszählung 1988) in 57 Ortschaften im Departement Abidjan[2] gesprochen.

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- [en] Ebrié language

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[fr] Tchaman

Le tchaman ou ébrié est une langue parlée en Côte d'Ivoire essentiellement dans les villages qui bordent la lagune d'Abidjan.

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