| Language name: | KERA |
| UPSID number: | 4371 |
| Alternate name(s): | |
| Classification: | Afro-Asiatic, Chadic |
| This language has | 30 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.482779010 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p t k ? b d g b* d* tS dZ f h s z m n N r l j w i u "@ E O a v nj |
| Comment: | In open syllables there is a contrast between long and short vowels. Ebert notes ten words with nasalized vowels. We have interpreted these as having a palatal nasal -- medially this varies with nasalized /j/, finally it is lost leaving a nasalized vowel. Kera has 3 level tones and glides composed of their combination. There is a strong interrelationship between tone level and obstruent consonant voicing (laryngealized stops go with voiceless ones). |
| Source(s): | Ebert, K.H. 1976. Sprache und Tradition der Kera (Tschad). Teil II: Lexikon. Berlin: Verlag von Dietrich Reimer. Ebert, K.H. 1979. Sprache und Tradition der Kera; III: Grammatik. Verlag von Dietrich Reimer, Berlin. |