Beli language (South Sudan)
’Bëlï, or Jur ’Bëlï, is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Beli and Sopi people of South Sudan.
| ’Bëlï | |
|---|---|
| Jur ’Bëlï | |
| Native to | South Sudan |
Native speakers | 65,000 (2009)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | blm |
| Glottolog | beli1257 |
| ELP | Beli (Sudan)[2] |
Phonology
Consonants
Stirtz (2014) lists the following consonant phonemes:[3]
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless plosives | p | t̪ | c | k | k͡p | |
| Voiced plosives | b | d̪ | ɟ | g | g͡b | |
| Implosives | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | |||
| Prenasalised plosives | mb | nd̪ | nɟ | ŋg | ŋ͡mg͡b | |
| Nasals | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |
| Fricative | h | |||||
| Approximates | ɾ, l | j | w |
Vowels
According to Stirtz (2014),[3] ’Bëlï has nine vowel phonemes that can be divided into [+/- ATR] sets. The vowel [ə] is an allophone that does not occur in roots without other [+ATR] vowels:
| [-ATR] | [+ATR] |
|---|---|
| ɪ | i |
| ʊ | u |
| ɛ | e |
| ɔ | o |
| a | (ə) |
References
- ’Bëlï at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Endangered Languages Project data for Beli (Sudan).
- Stirtz, Timothy M. 2014. 'Bëlï Phonology, Tone and Orthography. (SIL Electronic Working Papers 2014-002.) SIL International. 34pp.
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