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Concept
Gwari language
Summary
Gwari is a Nupoid language spoken by the Gbagyi people, which make up over a million people in Nigeria. There are two principal varieties, Gbari (West Gwari) and Gbagyi (East Gwari), which have some difficulty in communication; sociolinguistically they are distinct languages.
/i, u, e, o/ can also have allophones [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ʌ].
Nasal vowels /ĩ, ũ, ẽ, õ/ can also be heard as [ɪ̃, ʊ̃, ɛ̃, ʌ̃].
The following sounds may be labialized as /pw, bw, fw, vw, kw, ɡw, mw, k͡pw, ɡ͡bw, hw/ and palatalized as /pj, bj, fj, vj, kj, ɡj, mj, lj, wj/.
Sounds /t, d, s, z, n/ when palatalized are always heard as [tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ, ɲ].
Sounds /f, b/ can be heard as bilabial sounds [ɸ, β] in free variation.
/n/ is heard as velar [ŋ] when preceding velar consonants.
/n/ becomes a labialized-velar [ŋw] when preceding a /w/.
Sounds /bw, ɡw, ɡj/ are softened to fricatives [βw, ɣw, ɣj] when preceding a glide, in medial-intervocalic position.
/ɡ͡b/ is heard as an implosive [ɓ] in free variation.
/h/ only has a limited occurrence, but it also may be allophonic with /f/ in Northern Gbagyi. In Southern Gbagyi, [h] is heard in free variation with /j/, when /j/ occurs before /i/ in syllable-final position.
The palatalized /lj/ may also be heard as a central glide [ɹ].
The following sounds may be labialized as /pw, bw, fw, vw, kw, ɡw, mw/ and palatalized as /pj, bj, fj, vj, tj, dj, kj, ɡj, mj, lj, wj/.
Stops may also be heard as post-nasalized as [pm, bm, tn, dn, kŋ, ɡŋ, k͡pm, ɡ͡bm].
Palatalized sounds /tj, dj/, typically occur as [tʃ, dʒ] or [tj, dj] in free variation, and as [tʃ, dʒ], they can be represented orthographically as . Sounds /s, z, n/ when palatalized are always heard as [ʃ, ʒ, ɲ], and can be represented orthographically as .
Sounds /f, fj, b/ can be heard as bilabial sounds [ɸ, ɸj, β] in free variation.
/d/ can also be heard as [ɾ].
Sounds /b, ɡ/ and /bw, ɡw, ɡj/ are softened to fricatives [β, ɣ] and [βw, ɣw, ɣj] when preceding a glide, in medial-intervocalic position.
/n/ becomes a labialized-velar [ŋw] when preceding a /w/.
Official source
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