Temne language

Not to be confused with Temne people.

Temne
KʌThemnɛ
Native toSierra Leone, Guinea
RegionNorthern Sierra Leone
EthnicityTemne
SpeakersL1: 2.0 million (2021)[1]
L2: 240,000 (1981)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2tem
ISO 639-3tem
Glottologtimn1235
Temne[2]
Persona-temne
Languageka-temne

Temne (also Themne, Timne; IPA [t̪emnɛ][missing the tones]) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea and The Gambia. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, and the United States.

Phonology

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Temne is a tonal language. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.[3][4]

Consonants

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Consonants[5]
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t̪ t k
voiced b d gb
Fricative f s ʃ h
Affricate tʃ
Nasal m n ŋ
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Vowels

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Temne vowel chart[5]
Vowels[5]
Front Mid Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ
Open a

Tones

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Temne has two tones: high and low.[5]

Writing

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The alphabet of Temne includes the following characters and digraphs:[4]

a ʌ b d e ɛ ə f gb h i k kp l m n ŋ o ɔ p r s t th u w
A Ʌ B D E Ɛ Ə F Gb H I K Kp L M N Ŋ O Ɔ P R S T Th U W

Earlier,[when?] Ȧȧ was used instead of Ʌʌ.[citation needed]

Oral literature

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In 1861, C. F. Schlenker, a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, published a collection of Temne fables and proverbs in Temne with a facing-text English translation.[6] Schlenker's source was a Temne man living in Port Loko in the late 1840s; Schlenker explains that he was an old man already at that time. The book also contains some of Schlenker's translations from the Bible into Temne.[citation needed]

In 1916 Northcote Thomas published his Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone; Part 2 contains a Temne-English dictionary[7] and Part 3 contains a grammar of Temne plus 27 stories told in Temne with interlinear English translation.[8] Many of the stories are about the trickster spider, called panis in Temne; the trickster spider is a popular character in the Temne, Vai, Mende, and Limba storytelling traditions of Sierra Leone.[9] In addition, Thomas's Specimens of Languages from Sierra Leone[10] contains tables comparing Temne vocabulary to Kissi and other related languages.

References

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  1. ^ a b Temne at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Wilson, William André Auquier (2007). Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. Schriften zur Afrikanistik. Vol. 12. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
  3. ^ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 23, 42. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
  4. ^ a b Sierra Leone Temne Language Manual (PDF). Peace Corps. 1987.
  5. ^ a b c d Kanu, Sullay M.; Tucker, Benjamin V. (2010). "Temne". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (2): 249. doi:10.1017/S002510031000006X.
  6. ^ Schlenker, Christian Friedrich (1861). A Collection of Temne Traditions, Fables and Proverbs.
  7. ^ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 2: Timne-English Dictionary.
  8. ^ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 3: Timne Grammar and Stories.
  9. ^ Kilson, Marion (1984). "Spider and Royal Antelope in Sierra Leone". Anthropos. 79: 240–243.
  10. ^ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Specimens of languages from Sierra Leone.

Bibliography

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  • Bai-Sharka, Abou (1986). Temne names and proverbs. Stories and songs from Sierra Leone. Vol. 19. Freetown: People's Educational Association of Sierra Leone. LCCN 91107781. OCLC 18356374. OL 1583057M.
  • Kamarah, Sheikh Umarr (2007). A descriptive grammar of KʌThemnɛ (Temne). Munich: Lincom Europa.
  • Turay, Abdul Karim (1989). Temne stories. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 9783927620766.
  • Wilson, W.A.A. (1961). An outline of the Temne language. London: SOAS, University of London. OCLC 1848657.
  • Yillah, M. Sorie (1992). Temne phonology and morphology (Thesis). New York: City University of New York.
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