| Ceve | |
|---|---|
| Oliti | |
| Iceve | |
| Native to | Cameroon, Nigeria |
Native speakers | (12,000 cited 1990)1 |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bec |
| Glottolog | icev1238 |
| Ceve2 | |
|---|---|
| People | Baceve |
| Language | Iceve |
Ceve (Iceve), or Iceve-Maci, is a Tivoid language of the Cameroons. The divergent dialects are Ceve proper (Becheve), and Maci (Matchi, Oliti).
Writing system
| a | b | c | d | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | gh | h | i | k | kp | l | m | n | ŋ | o | ɔ | p | s | t | u | ʉ | v | w | y | z |
| Digraphs | mb | nd | ng | ny | nz | ŋw | ŋm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | mb | nd | ŋg | nj | ndz | ŋw | ŋm |
| Trigraph | mgb | ||||||
| IPA | ŋmgb | ||||||
Tone indication
| Notation | á | à or a | â | ă | àâ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tone description | High | Low | Falling | Rising | Falling-rising |
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar/Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ŋm | ||
| Plosive | p b mb | t d ⁿd | k g ŋg | kp gb ŋmgb | ||
| Affricate | t͡s ~ t͡ʃ d͡z ~ d͡ʒ ⁿd͡z | |||||
| Fricative | f v | s ~ ʃ | h | |||
| Approximant | l | j ɲj | w ⁿw |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Near-close | ʊ | ||
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open/Open-mid | a | ɔ |
Tones
There are 5 tones: high, low, falling, rising and rising-falling.
References
References
- Ceve at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- "Va, Sayegh Iceve!". SIL International. 15 September 2022.
- "Iceve-Maci language and alphabet". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.