Kaba (Kabba), or Kabba of Goré, is a language of the Sara people in Central African Republic and Chad, with around 100,000 speakers.

Kaba
Kabba of Gore
Native toCentral African Republic, Chad
EthnicitySara people
Native speakers
(72,000 Kaba in CAR cited 1996, and 11,000 in Chad cited 1971)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ksp
Glottologkaba1281

There are several languages named Kaba, which is a local generic term approximately equivalent to Sara. Kaba of Gore is confusing classified as a Sara rather than as a Kaba language.

Kabba is a tonal language. There are three tones, High (H) Mid (M) and Low (L).

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ (ŋ)
Plosive voiceless p t k (ʔ)
voiced b d g
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ
Affricate voiceless (ts)
voiced (dz)
prenasal (ⁿdz) ⁿdʒ
Fricative s (h)
Tap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j
  • The glottal stop [ʔ] is only heard in word-initial position, before vowels.
  • /h/ occurs only in limited distribution.
  • Sounds /t, d, ⁿd/ are heard in complimentary distribution with affricate sounds [ts, dz, ⁿdz] when in word initial position before /i/.
  • /ɗ/ may have a retroflex [ɽ] or trill [r] allophone, when in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɾ/ may also be heard as a retroflex [ɽ] in free variation.
  • [ŋ] occurs as an allophone of /n/ when before a velar stop, or when at the end of root words or morphemes.[2]

Vowels

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Oral vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː (ɨ) u uː
Close-mid e eː ə o oː
Open-mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
  • /ə/ is heard as [ɨ] when in CVCV open syllables.
Nasal vowels
Front Central Back
Close ĩ ũ
Mid ɛ̃ ə̃ ɔ̃
Open ã

References

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  1. ^ Kaba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Moser, Rosmarie (2004). Kabba: A Nilo-Saharan Language of the Central African Republic. München: Lincom.