• Source: Temne language

Temne (also Themne, Timne; IPA [t̪emnɛ]) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea and The Gambia. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, and the United States.




Phonology


Temne is a tonal language. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.




= Consonants

=




= Vowels

=



Tones

Temne has two tones: high and low.




Writing


The alphabet of Temne includes the following characters and digraphs:

Earlier, Ȧȧ was used instead of Ʌʌ.




Oral literature


In 1861, C. F. Schlenker, a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, published a collection of Temne fables and proverbs in Temne with a facing-text English translation. Schlenker's source was a Temne man living in Port Loko in the late 1840s; Schlenker explains that he was an old man already at that time. The book also contains some of Schlenker's translations from the Bible into Temne.
In 1916 Northcote Thomas published his Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone; Part 2 contains a Temne-English dictionary and Part 3 contains a grammar of Temne plus 27 stories told in Temne with interlinear English translation. Many of the stories are about the trickster spider, called panis in Temne; the trickster spider is a popular character in the Temne, Vai, Mende, and Limba storytelling traditions of Sierra Leone. In addition, Thomas's Specimens of Languages from Sierra Leone contains tables comparing Temne vocabulary to Kissi and other related languages.




References






Bibliography


Bai-Sharka, Abou (1986). Temne names and proverbs. Stories and songs from Sierra Leone. Vol. 19. Freetown: People's Educational Association of Sierra Leone. LCCN 91107781. OCLC 18356374. OL 1583057M.
Kamarah, Sheikh Umarr (2007). A descriptive grammar of KʌThemnɛ (Temne). Munich: Lincom Europa.
Turay, Abdul Karim (1989). Temne stories. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 9783927620766.
Wilson, W.A.A. (1961). An outline of the Temne language. London: SOAS, University of London. OCLC 1848657.
Yillah, M. Sorie (1992). Temne phonology and morphology (Thesis). New York: City University of New York.




External links


Temne Words and Phrases
Grammar of the Temne language, 1864 – Rev. C. F. Schlenker
CIA Sierra Leone file
PanAfrican L10n page on Temne
Listening example: Kassirie Stories
OLAC resources in and about the Timne language
Temne story "Mr. Spider and the Rotten Skin" with English rough translation
Glottolog page for Timne
Peace Corps Sierra Leone Temne Language Manual
Lets Learn Thaymneh (Temne)

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Orang Temne
• Yamko Rambe Yamko
• Bahasa Krio
• Sierra Leone
• Samuel Ajayi Crowther
• Daftar bahasa menurut ISO 639-2
• Temne language
• Temne people
• Temne
• Port Loko
• Gujarati language
• Bullom So language
• Kasseh
• Languages of Sierra Leone
• Baga languages
• Mel languages