Tumak language

Tumak
Native toChad
RegionSouthwest
Native speakers
(25,000 cited 1993 census)
Dialects
  • Tumak
  • Motun
  • Mawer
Language codes
ISO 639-3tmc
Glottologtuma1260

Tumak, also known as Toumak, Tumag, Tummok, Sara Toumak, Tumac, and Dije, is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the southwestern Chadian prefectures of Moyen-Chari and Koumra. Motun (Mod) and Tumak dialects have a lexical similarity of only 70%; Blench (2006) lists Tumak, Motun, and Mawer as separate languages. Most Motun speakers use some Sara.

The "Gulei" listed in Greenberg might be a dialect of Tumak.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d dʒ k g
Prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdʒ ᵑg
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w r, ɽ, l j
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i iː u uː
Mid-high e eː ə əː o oː
Mid-low ɛ ɔ ɔː
Low a aː

Tumak also has two tones; high and low.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tumak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Blench, 2006. The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List (ms)
  3. ↑ Chadic Newsletter
  4. 1 2 3 Caprile, Jean-Pierre (1975). "Lexique tumak-français (Tchad)". Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde. A (in French). 5.