Kola

Kola (Native: ጅቆለ /d͡ʒɨkʼolə/, Latin script: Jïqolä) is a Bantu language spoken by the Kola people .

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal/ Postalveolar	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	(ʈʼ)1		kʼ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	(ʈʰ)1		kʰ		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	(ɖ)1		ɡ
Affricate	ejective		t͡sʼ		t͡ʃʼ
	aspirated				t͡ʃʰ
	voiced				d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	(ʂ)1	ʃ	χ	ħ	h
	voiced	v	z	(ʐ)1	(ʒ)2	ʁ	ʕ
Approximant/Liquid		w	l	r	j

Notes:

¹ The "retroflex" consonants /ʈʼ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ʂ, ʐ/ are not truly retroflex but rather apical alveolar or post-alveolar. They occur dialectally and correspond to standard /t͡ʃʼ, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, d͡ʒ/ respectively.

² The distinction between /d͡ʒ/ and /ʒ/ has been lost in the standard language (where they occur in free variation), but is still present in some dialects.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Phonotactics

The maximum allowed syllable structure is CVCC word-finally and CVC otherwise. Consonant clusters with more than two consonants are broken up by inserting the epenthetic vowel /ɨ/.

Vowels cannot occur in hiatus. When this would occur, they are separated with epenthetic consonants such as /j/, /w/, or /ʔ/.

Historical Phonology

Grand master plan for Kola (ጅቆለ)

(Proto-Bantu reconstruction taken from Wikipedia.^[1] To avoid confusion, Proto-Bantu *j is written ɟ)

ɟ > Ø / V_a, ɲ_a

ɟ > Ø / (i/ɪ)_ (i/ɪ)

p, b > p͡f, b͡v / _i, _u

t, d > t͡s, d͡z / _i, _u

c, ɟ > c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ / _i, _u

k, g > k͡x, g͡ɣ / _i, _u

ɪ, ʊ > i, u

i, e, u, o > j, j, w, w (transfers high tone to following vowel) / _V

V́, VV, VU > V: (VV = doubled vowel; VU = vowel followed by homorganic vowel = ei, ie, ou, uo)

V > V: / _NC

ai, ae, au, ao > e:, e:, o:, o:

b, d, ɟ, g > β̞, l, j, ɰ / not preceded by nasal

p͡f, b͡v > f, v / not preceded by nasal

t͡s, d͡z > s, z / not preceded by nasal

c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ > ç, ʝ / not preceded by nasal

k͡x, g͡ɣ > x, ɣ / not preceded by nasal

c, ɟ > t͡s, d͡z / _a(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ɬ, d͡ɮ / _o(:), _u(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ / _e(:), _i(:)

[-voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate ] > [-prenasalized +aspirated] (i.e. mp, nt, etc > pʰ, tʰ, etc for all voiceless stops and affricates)

[-voiced -aspirated +stop/affricate ] > [+voiced] / in grammatical prefixes

[-voiced -aspirated +stop/affricate] > [+ejective]

[+voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate] > [-prenasalized] / #_, V:_ (i.e. mb, nd, etc > b, d, etc)

[+voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate] > [-prenasalized]: / V_

NN > N / #_, V:_

velar > palatal / before front vowel

c͡ç’, c͡çʰ, ɟ͡ʝ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ

c’, cʰ, ɟ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ

ç, ʝ > ʃ, ʒ

k͡xʰ, g͡ɣ > qʰ, ɢ

p͡fʰ, b͡v > f, v

t͡sʰ, d͡z > s, z

t͡ɬ’, t͡ɬʰ, d͡ɮ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ (dialectal t͇’, t͇ʰ, d͇, with t’, tʰ, d being dental)

ɬ, ɮ > ʃ, ʒ (dialectal θ͇, ð͇)

qʰ, ɢ (> χ, ʁ ) > ħ, ʕ

x, ɣ > χ, ʁ

ɰ > ŋ

β̞ > w

ʒ > d͡ʒ (not in all dialects)

a, e, o > ə

a:, e:, o: > a, e, o

i, u > ɨ

i:, u: > i, u

Cwɨ, Cjɨ > Cu, Ci

ɨ > Ø / _#, VC_C (starting from beginning of word) / disallowed by phonotactics

j > Ø / C_V

l > r / sporadic

χ, ħ > h / sporadic

ʕ > ʔ / sporadic