Blin (language)

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Blin

Spoken in

Eritrea
speaker 112,000 (2016)
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Recognized minority /
regional language in 		EritreaEritrea Eritrea
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

byn

Blin (also Bilin or Bilen ; own name ብሊና b (ə) lina ) is a Cushitic language spoken by 70,000 people around Keren in Eritrea .

Speech situation

The blin is in close contact with the neighboring Tigre language . In the city of Keren, many Blin speakers also speak Tigre, Tigrinya and Arabic .

Blin is recognized as one of nine "national languages" of Eritrea, which are formally regarded as equal (in fact, Tigrinya and Arabic have by far the greatest importance as official languages).

Phonology

Consonants

The status of the ʔ as a phoneme is controversial. The sound ʧ only occurs in foreign words.

bilabial labio-
dental 		alveolar post-
alveolar 		palatal velar phase-
ryngal 		glottal
stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth. stl. sth.
Plosives   b     t d         k G     ( ʔ )  
Nasals   m       n         ŋ          
Vibrants           r                    
Fricatives     f   s z ʃ       x   H ʕ H  
Approximants                   j            
lateral approximants           l                    

Vowels

front central back
ung. ger. ung. ger. ung. ger.
closed i   ɨ     u
half closed e         O
medium     ə    
open a          

font

The Ethiopian script was introduced by missionaries in the 19th century. It is mostly used today, but contains additional letters for exclusive phonemes of the blin:

According to /H/ / l / /H/ / m / / s / / ʃ / / r / / kʼ / / b / / t / / n / / ʔ / / k / / x / / w / / ʕ /
character ሀ ለ ሐ መ ሰ ሸ ረ ቀ በ ተ ነ አ ከ ኸ ወ ዐ
According to / y / / d / / ʤ / /G/ / ŋ / / tʼ / / ʧʼ / / f / / z / / ʧ / / ʃ / / kʷʼ / / kʷ / / xʷ / / ɡʷ / / ŋʷ /
character የ ደ ጀ ገ ጘ ጠ ጨ ፈ ዘ ቸ ቨ ቈ ኰ ዀ ጐ ⶓ

literature

  • Frank R. Palmer : The noun in Bilin. in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 21, 1958, pp. 376-391.
  • Leo Reinisch: The Bilin Language in Northeast Africa. Carl Gerold's son, Vienna 1882.
  • Paul D. Fallon: Some phonological processes in Bilin. in: Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2001: 49-60.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bilen. In: Ethnologue . Accessed July 11, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b c Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle: Les langues en Erythrée , in: Chroniques Yeménites 8, 2000 (French).