Cerma language
Cerma is a Gur language of Burkina Faso. It is spoken by the Gouin people.
Phonology
Consonants
- Although is phonetically a labial-velar consonant, Lauber includes it in the dorsal/laryngeal column because its distribution is more like or than the labials or labial-velars.
- Lauber excludes,, and //N// from the continuant section because their distributions are different.
- is nasalized "in a nasal context" and a voiceless alveolar lateral at the end of an utterance.
- is a nasal tap "in a nasal context" and a voiceless tap at the end of an utterance.
- The archiphoneme //N// has the following allophones:
- * before,, and
- * before and
- * before,,, and
- * before,, and front vowels
- * before,,,, and the central and back vowels
- * before and
- also becomes.
- Hürlimann and Pike note that the palatals are affricates, using the symbols and.
Vowels
- Lauber treats nasalization as a feature of the syllable, not the vowel.
- In closed syllables, become near-close.
- In the last syllable of the nuclear element of the phonological word before, are lengthened.