Berta language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berta
Spoken in:	Sudan, Ethiopia
Region:	Benishangul-Gumaz
Total speakers:	146,799
Language family:	Nilo-Saharan Berta
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`ssa`
ISO 639-3:	`wti`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The Berta language is spoken in Sudan and Ethiopia, and is generally classified as a branch of Nilo-Saharan. It has the typical word order Subject Verb Object. It is a tonal language. It has significantly influenced some of the Eastern Jebel languages. The Arabic name "Beni-Shangul" (as in the Ethiopian province of Benishangul-Gumaz) derives from a Berta expression (with bele "mountain" misanalyzed as Arabic beni "sons".)

[edit] Pronouns

The pronouns of Berta are as follows:

	Topic	Postverbal subject	Postverbal object
I	àl(ì)	-lɪ́ɪ̀	-ɟì
you (sg.)	(à)ŋgó	-ŋó	-ŋgó
he, she, it	ɲìnè	-né	ɲìnè, -né
we	χàtâŋ	-ŋàa	χàtâŋ
you (pl.)	χàtú	χátú	χàtú
they	mèrée	mérée	mèrée

[edit] Bibliography

Torben Andersen. "Aspects of Berta phonology". Afrika und Übersee 76: pp. 41-80.
Torben Andersen. "Absolutive and Nominative in Berta". ed. Nicolai & Rottland, Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 August 1992. Proceedings. (Nilo-Saharan 10). Koeln: Koeppe Verlag. 1995. pp.36-49.
M. Lionel Bender. "Berta Lexicon". In Bender (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics (Nilo-Saharan 3), pp. 271-304. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag 1989.
E. Cerulli. "Three Berta dialects in western Ethiopia", Africa, 1947.
A. N. Tucker & M. A. Bryan. Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. London: Oxford University Press 1966.
A. Triulzi, A. A. Dafallah, and M. L. Bender. "Berta". In Bender (ed.), The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. East Lansing, Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University 1976, pp. 513-532.