| Chopi | |
|---|---|
| Chichopi | |
| Native to | Mozambique |
Native speakers | 1.1 million (2017)1 |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cce |
| Glottolog | chop1243 |
S.61,6112 | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-cc incl. varieties 99-AUT-cca...-ccd |
Chopi (also spelled Copi, Tschopi, and Txopi), is a Bantu language spoken along the southern coast of Mozambique.
Maho (2009) lists the possibly extinct Lenge dialect as a distinct language.2
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | whstld. | lateral | |||||||
| Click | voiceless | ᵏǃ | |||||||
| aspirated | ᵏǃʰ | ||||||||
| voiced | ᶢǃ | ||||||||
| prenasal vl. | ᵑǃᵏ | ||||||||
| prenasal vd. | ᵑǃᶢ | ||||||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| murmured | mʱ | nʱ | ɲʱ | ||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |||||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | ||||||
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | |||||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | (ʄ) | ||||||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | ||||||
| murmured/pren. | ᵐbʱ | ⁿdʱ | ᵑɡʱ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | t͡sᶲ | t͡ɬ | t͡ʃ | |||
| aspirated | p͡fʰ | t͡sʰ | t͡sᶲʰ | t͡ɬʰ | t͡ʃʰ | ||||
| voiced | (b͡v) | d͡z | d͡zᵝ | d͡ɮ | d͡ʒ | ||||
| prenasal | ᶬb͡v | ⁿd͡z | ⁿd͡zᵝ | ⁿd͡ɮ | ᶮd͡ʒ | ||||
| murmured/pren. | ⁿd͡zʱ | ⁿd͡ɮʱ | ᶮd͡ʒʱ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sᶲ | ɬ | ʃ | h | ||
| voiced | v | za | zᵝa | ɮa | ʒa | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||||
| Approximant | lateral | l | |||||||
| central | ʋ | j | w | ||||||
- Voiced fricative sounds are heard mostly as realizations of voiced affricates among modern speakers
- Sounds /t͡sᶲ, t͡sᶲʰ, d͡zᵝ, ⁿd͡zᵝ/, are typically heard as labial-alveolar affricates [p͡sᶲ, p͡sᶲʰ, b͡zᵝ, ᵐb͡zᵝ], however in recent years there has been a shift in pronunciation having them pronounced purely as alveolar.
- Consonants when preceding /j, w/ are always either palatalized [Cʲ] or labialized [Cʷ].
- /ɟ/ may also be heard as an implosive [ʄ] in free variation.
- /v/ may also be heard as an affricate [b͡v] in free variation.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
- Nasalized vowel sounds [Ṽ] may be heard when preceding nasal consonants.3
References
References
- Chopi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- Bailey, Richard Anthony (1995). "Issues in the phonology and orthography of Chopi (ciCopi S 61)". In Traill, A.; Vossen, R.; Biesele, M. M. A. (eds.). The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 135–170. ISBN 978-3-927620-84-1.