Alphabet

The southwest Téké alphabet consists of twenty-nine (39) letters:

5 vowels: a e  i  o  u

14 single consonants: f  h  k  l  m  n  ŋ  p  r  s  t  w  y

20 consonant digraphs: bv  dz  gh  kp  mb

     mf  mp  mv  nd  ng  ngb  nk  nkp  ns  nt  ny  nz  ŋm  pf  ts

 

The headwords are displayed in alphabetical order in this dictionary, according to the initial letter (without treating the digraphs as separate letters).

 

Below is the alphabetical order used in this dictionary:

           a  b  d  e  f  g  k  l  m  n  ŋ  o  p  s  t  w  y

 

Alphabet chart

(The phonetic description is shown in brackets.)

Letter			Phonetic pronunciation	Example	Meaning
a	A		[a]	ba	palmier
b	B		[b]	baana	enfants
bv	Bv		[bv]	bvulu	ville
dz	Dz		[dz]	dzyi	amour
e	E		[ɛ]	me	moi
f	F		[f]	ofulu	souffler
gh	Gh		[ɣ]	mpughu	rat
h	H		[h]	nkehe	colère
i	I		[i]	oŋmini	vieillir
k	K		[k]	kele	pierre
kp	Kp		[kp]	okpa	mourrir
l	L		[l]	lala	folie
m		M	[m]	maama	maman
mb		Mb	[mb]	mbaa	feu
mf		f	[mpf]	mfulu	tortue
mp		Mp	[mp]	mpara	souffrance
mv		Mv	[mbv]	mvulu	pluie
n		N	[n]	naana	frère ainé
nd		Nd	[nd]	nduu	ami
ng		Ng	[ŋg]	ngili	interdit
ngb		Ngb	[ŋgb]	mungba	sel
nk		Nk	[ŋk]	nka	antilope
nkp		Nkp	[ŋkp]	nkpaã	pâte (manioc)
ns		Ns	[nts]	nsie	terre
nt		Nt	[nt]	ntala	prix
ny		Ny	[ɲ]	nyoro	soif
nz		Nz	[ndz]	nzili	chemin
ŋ		Ŋ	[ŋ]	ŋa	ici
ŋm		Ŋ	[ŋ]	ŋmini	oiseau
o		O	[o]	ndoo	sorcellerie
p		P	[p]	paba	aile
pf		Pf	[pf]	lipfu	mort, décès
r		R	[ɾ]	taara	papa
s		S	[s]	osa	faire
t		T	[t]	teme	houe
ts		Ts	[ts]	tswi	oreille
u		U	[u]	busu	visage
w		W	[w]	owa	donner
y		Y	[j]	yulu	ciel

All vowels could be nasalized at the end of a word. In that case, we add the tilde (~) over the final vowel. (If the vowel is long, the nasalization is marked by a single tilde on the final vowel.) Example:

myaã  mains              emoõ causerie