| fish-sell-aɡent |
s/he |
Fon (native name Fon gbè, pronounced fɔ̃̄ɡ͡bè) is part of the GbeThe Gbe languages form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe , followed by Fon...
language cluster and belongs to the Volta–NigerThe Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 50 million speakers...
branch of the Niger–Congo languagesThe Niger–Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question...
. Fon is spoken mainly in BeninBenin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
by approximately 1.7 million speakers, by the Fon peopleThe Fon people, or Fon nu, are a major West African ethnic and linguistic group in the country of Benin, and southwest Nigeria, made up of more than 3,500,000 people. The Fon language is the main language spoken in Southern Benin, and is a member of the Gbe language group...
. Like the other Gbe languages, Fon is an analytic language with an SVO basic word order.
Dialects
Capo (1988) considers Maxi and Gun to be part of the Fon dialect cluster. However, he does not include Alada or Toli (Tɔli) as part of Gun, as classified by Ethnologue, but as Phla–Pherá languages.
Phonology
Fon has seven oral vowel phonemes and five nasal vowel phonemes.
caption | Vowel phonemes of Fon
|
Front A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
|
Central A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...
|
Back A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
|
| Close A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
|
i ĩ |
|
u ũ |
| Close-Mid A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel...
|
e |
|
o |
| Open-mid An open-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from an open vowel to a mid vowel...
|
ɛ ɛ̃ |
|
ɔ ɔ̃ |
| Open An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...
|
|
a ã |
|
caption | Consonant phonemes of Fon
|
Labial Labial may refer to:*the lips*the labia *In linguistics, a labial consonant*In zoology, the labial scales...
|
Alveolar |
Post-
alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Labial-
velar |
| "Nasal A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
" |
m ~ b |
n ~ ɖ |
|
|
|
| Occlusive |
(p) |
t |
d |
t͡ʃ |
d͡ʒ |
|
k |
ɡ |
k͡p |
ɡ͡b |
| Fricative |
f |
v |
s |
z |
|
|
x |
ɣ |
xʷ |
ɣʷ |
| Approximant |
|
l ~ ɾ |
|
ɲ ~ j |
|
w |
/p/ only occurs in mimesisMimesis , from μιμεῖσθαι , "to imitate," from μῖμος , "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the...
and loanwords, though often it is replaced by /f/ in the latter, as in cɔ́fù 'shop'. Several of the voiced occlusives only occur before oral vowels, while the homorganic nasal stops only occur before nasal vowels, indicating that [b] [m] and [ɖ] [n] are allophoneIn phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s. [ɲ] is in free variation with [j̃]; Fongbe therefore can be argued to have no phonemic nasal consonants, a pattern rather common in West Africa. /w/ and /l/ are also nasalized before nasal vowels; /w/ may be assimilated to [ɥ] before /i/.
The only consonant clusters in Fon have /l/ or /j/ as the second consonant; after (post)alveolars, /l/ is optionally realized as [ɾ]: klɔ́ 'to wash', wlí 'to catch', jlò [d͡ʒlò] ~ [d͡ʒɾò] 'to want'.
Tone
Fon has two phonemic toneTone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
s, {{sc|high}} and {{sc|low}}. {{sc|High}} is realized as rising (low–high) after a voiced consonant. Basic disyllabic words have all four possibilities: {{sc|High}}–{{sc|high}}, {{sc|high}}–{{sc|low}}, {{sc|low}}–{{sc|high}}, and {{sc|low}}–{{sc|low}}.
In longer phonological wordThe phonological word or prosodic word is a constituent in the phonological hierarchy higher than the syllable and the foot but lower than intonational phrase and the phonological phrase...
s, such as verb and noun phrases, a high tone tends to persist until the final syllable; if that syllable has a phonemic low tone, it becomes falling (high–low). Low tones disappear between high tones, but their effect remains as a downstep. Rising tones (low–high) simplify to {{sc|high}} after {{sc|high}} (without triggering downstep) and to {{sc|low}} before {{sc|high}}.
| / xʷèví-sà-tɔ́ |
é |
kò |
xɔ̀ |
àsɔ̃́ |
wè / |
| [ xʷèvísáꜜtɔ́ ‖ |
é |
kó |
> |
àsɔ̃́ |
wê ‖ ] |
| fish-sell-aɡent |
s/he |
Fon (native name Fon gbè, pronounced fɔ̃̄ɡ͡bè) is part of the GbeThe Gbe languages form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe , followed by Fon...
language cluster and belongs to the Volta–NigerThe Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 50 million speakers...
branch of the Niger–Congo languagesThe Niger–Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question...
. Fon is spoken mainly in BeninBenin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
by approximately 1.7 million speakers, by the Fon peopleThe Fon people, or Fon nu, are a major West African ethnic and linguistic group in the country of Benin, and southwest Nigeria, made up of more than 3,500,000 people. The Fon language is the main language spoken in Southern Benin, and is a member of the Gbe language group...
. Like the other Gbe languages, Fon is an analytic language with an SVO basic word order.
Dialects
Capo (1988) considers Maxi and Gun to be part of the Fon dialect cluster. However, he does not include Alada or Toli (Tɔli) as part of Gun, as classified by Ethnologue, but as Phla–Pherá languages.
Phonology
Fon has seven oral vowel phonemes and five nasal vowel phonemes.
caption | Vowel phonemes of Fon
|
Front A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
|
Central A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...
|
Back A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
|
| Close A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
|
i ĩ |
|
u ũ |
| Close-Mid A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel...
|
e |
|
o |
| Open-mid An open-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from an open vowel to a mid vowel...
|
ɛ ɛ̃ |
|
ɔ ɔ̃ |
| Open An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...
|
|
a ã |
|
caption | Consonant phonemes of Fon
|
Labial Labial may refer to:*the lips*the labia *In linguistics, a labial consonant*In zoology, the labial scales...
|
Alveolar |
Post-
alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Labial-
velar |
| "Nasal A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
" |
m ~ b |
n ~ ɖ |
|
|
|
| Occlusive |
(p) |
t |
d |
t͡ʃ |
d͡ʒ |
|
k |
ɡ |
k͡p |
ɡ͡b |
| Fricative |
f |
v |
s |
z |
|
|
x |
ɣ |
xʷ |
ɣʷ |
| Approximant |
|
l ~ ɾ |
|
ɲ ~ j |
|
w |
/p/ only occurs in mimesisMimesis , from μιμεῖσθαι , "to imitate," from μῖμος , "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the...
and loanwords, though often it is replaced by /f/ in the latter, as in cɔ́fù 'shop'. Several of the voiced occlusives only occur before oral vowels, while the homorganic nasal stops only occur before nasal vowels, indicating that [b] [m] and [ɖ] [n] are allophoneIn phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s. [ɲ] is in free variation with [j̃]; Fongbe therefore can be argued to have no phonemic nasal consonants, a pattern rather common in West Africa. /w/ and /l/ are also nasalized before nasal vowels; /w/ may be assimilated to [ɥ] before /i/.
The only consonant clusters in Fon have /l/ or /j/ as the second consonant; after (post)alveolars, /l/ is optionally realized as [ɾ]: klɔ́ 'to wash', wlí 'to catch', jlò [d͡ʒlò] ~ [d͡ʒɾò] 'to want'.
Tone
Fon has two phonemic toneTone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
s, {{sc|high}} and {{sc|low}}. {{sc|High}} is realized as rising (low–high) after a voiced consonant. Basic disyllabic words have all four possibilities: {{sc|High}}–{{sc|high}}, {{sc|high}}–{{sc|low}}, {{sc|low}}–{{sc|high}}, and {{sc|low}}–{{sc|low}}.
In longer phonological wordThe phonological word or prosodic word is a constituent in the phonological hierarchy higher than the syllable and the foot but lower than intonational phrase and the phonological phrase...
s, such as verb and noun phrases, a high tone tends to persist until the final syllable; if that syllable has a phonemic low tone, it becomes falling (high–low). Low tones disappear between high tones, but their effect remains as a downstep. Rising tones (low–high) simplify to {{sc|high}} after {{sc|high}} (without triggering downstep) and to {{sc|low}} before {{sc|high}}.
| / xʷèví-sà-tɔ́ |
é |
kò |
xɔ̀ |
àsɔ̃́ |
wè / |
| [ xʷèvísáꜜtɔ́ ‖ |
é |
kó |
> |
àsɔ̃́ |
wê ‖ ] |
| fish-sell-aɡent |
s/he |
{{sc |
buy |
crab |
two |
- Hwevísatɔ́, é ko hɔ asón we.
- "The fishmonger, she bought two crabs"
In OuidahOuidah , also Whydah or Juda, is a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin.The commune covers an area of 364 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people.-History:...
, a rising or falling tone is realized as a mid tone. For example, mǐ 'we, you', phonemically high-tone /bĩ́/ but phonetically rising because of the voiced consonant, is generally mid-tone [mĩ̄] in Ouidah.
Orthography
Fon alphabet
| Majuscule |
A |
B |
C |
D |
Ɖ |
E |
Ɛ |
F |
G |
GB |
I |
J |
K |
KP |
L |
M |
N |
NY |
O |
Ɔ |
P |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
| Minuscule |
a |
b |
c |
d |
ɖ |
e |
ɛ |
f |
g |
gb |
i |
j |
k |
kp |
l |
m |
n |
ny |
o |
ɔ |
p |
r |
s |
t |
u |
v |
w |
x |
y |
z |
| Sound |
a |
b |
tʃ |
d |
ɖ |
e |
ɛ |
f |
ɡ |
ɡb |
i |
dʒ |
k |
kp |
l |
m |
n |
ɲ |
o |
ɔ |
p |
ɣ |
s |
t |
u |
v |
w |
x |
j |
z |
X is used for /x/ in some orthographies, h in others. In many texts ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩ are used in nasal contexts: me [mɛ̃], Fon [fɔ̃]. Tone is generally not written except when necessary.
Sample text
From the Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
- {{unicode|GBETA GBƐ Ɔ BI TƆN EE ƉƆ XÓ DÓ ACƐ E GBƐTƆ ƉÓ KPODO SISI E ƉO NA ƉÓ N'I LƐ KPO WU E WEXWLE}}
- {{unicode|Ee nyi ɖɔ hɛnnu ɖokpo mɛ ɔ, mɛ ɖokpoɖokpo ka do susu tɔn, bɔ acɛ ɖokpo ɔ wɛ mɛbi ɖo bo e ma sixu kan fɛn kpon é ɖi mɛɖesusi jijɛ, hwɛjijɔzinzan, kpodo fifa ni tiin nu wɛkɛ ɔ bi e ɔ, ...}}
External links
{{Portalbox|Benin|Languages}}
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