Ebrié language

The sounds [v] and [z] are marginal and occur only in loanwords.{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Linguistique africaine: perspectives croisées|publisher=Institut de Phonétique|year=2018|isbn=978-29-570-8944-4|language=French|chapter=Contribution à la phonologie historique du Niger-Congo: vers la reconstruction du Proto-Potou}}

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].{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Linguistique africaine: perspectives croisées|publisher=Institut de Phonétique|year=2018|isbn=978-29-570-8944-4|language=French|chapter=Contribution à la phonologie historique du Niger-Congo: vers la reconstruction du Proto-Potou}}

Ebrié has two level tones (H and L) and a falling tone (HL).{{Cite journal|last=Dido|first=Yao Maxime|date=2018|title=Les pronoms mɛn, ɛ, an et nkɛ de l'ébrié ː morphophonologie et fonctions syntaxiques|journal=Cahiers Ivoiriens de Recherche Linguistique|volume=43|pages=37-48}} It also has floating tones, and the voiced fortis consonants have a tendency to lower the pitch of the low tone.{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Linguistique africaine: perspectives croisées|publisher=Institut de Phonétique|year=2018|isbn=978-29-570-8944-4|language=French|chapter=Contribution à la phonologie historique du Niger-Congo: vers la reconstruction du Proto-Potou}}

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.{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Linguistique africaine: perspectives croisées|publisher=Institut de Phonétique|year=2018|isbn=978-29-570-8944-4|language=French|chapter=Contribution à la phonologie historique du Niger-Congo: vers la reconstruction du Proto-Potou}}

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 .{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Linguistique africaine: perspectives croisées|publisher=Institut de Phonétique|year=2018|isbn=978-29-570-8944-4|language=French|chapter=Contribution à la phonologie historique du Niger-Congo: vers la reconstruction du Proto-Potou}}

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

{{interlinear |indent=2

| cámã́ + ńcã̀ → cámã́ǹcã̀

| {the Ebriés} {} language {} {Ebrié language}

|}}

{{interlinear |indent=2

|c1=

| átɛ̃̀ + ńtʰù → ńtɛ̃̀ǹtʰù

| fire {} sand {} ash

|}}

Nouns can be made plural through the use of nominal prefixes or plural suffixes. Certain nouns are irregular or invariable.{{Citation|last=Meyan|first=Meyan Djeya Ange Océane|title=Planning an onomasiological dictionary for Atchan: an endangered language of the Ivory Coast|year=2020}}

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 -mã́, -hɔ̃̀, or -mã́hɔ̃̀.{{Citation|last=Meyan|first=Meyan Djeya Ange Océane|title=Planning an onomasiological dictionary for Atchan: an endangered language of the Ivory Coast|year=2020}}

• áyá /ájá/ 'tree' → ńyá /ńjá/ 'trees'
• agban /àg͡bã́/ 'plate' → ngbán /ǹg͡bã́/ 'plates
• lalabhô [làlàɓô] 'duck' → ńlalabho [ńlàlàɓô] 'ducks'
• mmanhɔn [m̀mã̀hɔ̀̃] 'mothers'
• nmyahɔn [ǹmjã̂hɔ̃̀] 'spouses'{{Citation|last=Meyan|first=Meyan Djeya Ange Océane|title=Planning an onomasiological dictionary for Atchan: an endangered language of the Ivory Coast|year=2020}}

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.

For exampleː

{{interlinear |indent=2

|c1=

|mɛ̃̀ + ɓâ → mã̀ã́

|1SG {} FUT {} 1SG.FUT

|}}

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

{{interlinear |indent=2

|jàjó étʰà kpã́hɔ̃̀

|Yayo chew.PROG bread

|'Yayo eats bread.'

}}

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).{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Guide de lecture de l'ébrié|publisher=Institut de Linguistique Appliquée|year=1986|isbn=9782809101270|language=French}}

The apostrophe (') is used to mark the habitual form of the verb.{{Cite book|last=Bolê-Richard|first=Rémy|title=Guide de lecture de l'ébrié|publisher=Institut de Linguistique Appliquée|year=1986|isbn=9782809101270|language=French}}

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{{Languages of Ivory Coast}}

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Category:Potou–Tano languages

Category:Languages of Ivory Coast

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