{{Short description|Teke language of Congo}} {{Infobox language |name=Central Teke |nativename= |states=[[Republic of the Congo|Congo]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] |speakers={{sigfig|45000|2}} Ngungwel |date=1988 |ref=e25 |speakers2={{sigfig|20400|2}} Boo (2000)<ref name=e25/> |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo]] |fam3=[[Benue–Congo]] |fam4=[[Southern Bantoid]] |fam5=[[Bantu languages|Bantu]] ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone B|Zone B]]) |fam6=[[Teke languages|Teke]] (B.70) |dia1=Ngungwel |dia2=Mpu (Mpumpu) |dia3=Boo (Eboo) |dia4=Ndzindziu |lc1=ngz|ld1=Ngungwel |lc2=ebo|ld2=Boo |lc3=nzu|ld3=Nzikou |glotto=ngun1278 |glottorefname=Ngungwel-Eboo |guthrie=B.72,74 }} '''Central Teke''' is a member of the [[Teke languages]] [[dialect continuum]] of the Congolese plateau. Central Teke dialects are Ngungwel and Mpu (Mpumpum), Boo (Boma, ''Eboo'' – ''cf.'' [[Boma language]]), and Nzikou (Njyunjyu/Ndzindziu).<ref>Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices</ref> They are spoken in the [[Malebo Pool]] region of the Republic of Congo, with an unknown number of Boo speakers in DRC.
== Phonology ==
=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! colspan="2" | ![[Labial consonant|Labial]] ![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ![[Velar consonant|Velar]] ![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ! rowspan="4" |[[Plosive]] !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} | |{{IPA link|k}} | |- !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|b}} |{{IPA link|d}} | |{{IPA link|ɡ}} | |- !<small>prenasal vl.</small> |{{IPA link|ᵐp}} |{{IPA link|ⁿt}} | |{{IPA link|ᵑk}} | |- !<small>prenasal vd.</small> |{{IPA link|ᵐb}} |{{IPA link|ⁿd}} | |{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}} | |- ! rowspan="4" |[[Affricate]] !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|p͡f}} |{{IPA link|t͡s}} | | | |- !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|b͡v}} |{{IPA link|d͡z}} | | | |- !<small>prenasal vl.</small> |{{IPA link|ᵐp͡f}} |{{IPA link|ⁿt͡s}} | | | |- !<small>prenasal vd.</small> |{{IPA link|ᵐb͡v}} |{{IPA link|ⁿd͡z}} | | | |- ! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]] |{{IPA link|f}} |{{IPA link|s}} |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | |{{IPA link|h}} |- ! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} |{{IPA link|ɲ}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- ! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]] | |{{IPA link|l}} | | | |- ! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]] |{{IPA link|ɥ}} | |{{IPA link|j}} |{{IPA link|w}} | |}
* /h/ is only heard in the Nzikou dialect.
=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! ![[Front vowel|Front]] ![[Central vowel|Central]] ![[Back vowel|Back]] |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]] |{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|ĩ}} | |{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|ũ}} |- |{{IPA link|ɪ}} {{IPA link|ɪ̃}} | |{{IPA link|ʊ}} {{IPA link|ʊ̃}} |- ![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]] |{{IPA link|e}} | |{{IPA link|o}} |- ![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]] |{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛ̃}} | |{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔ̃}} |- ![[Open vowel|Open]] | |{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|ã}} | |}
* /u/ when preceding a palatal /j/ is heard as [ʉ], and when preceding a /w/ is heard as [y].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raharimanantsoa |first=Ruth |title=Aspects of phonology in Eboo-Nzikou |publisher=Göteborgs Universitet |year=2012}}</ref>
==Grammar== In Teke-Eboo, verbs agree with their [[Subject (grammar)|subject]], and also take markers for [[Grammatical tense|tense]] and [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]]. This marking is distributed across the forms of the subject marker, and the final vowel that the verb takes, along with changes to the [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] of the verb. There are two [[Past tense|past tenses]], a recent past, used for events within the past day, and a general past. There is also a [[future tense]]. The future tense and the two past tenses use the same segmental agreement prefixes, but they differ in tone, both on the prefix itself, and on the tonal melody they apply to the verb stem, which also interacts with the verb stem's underlying lexical tone. Verbs in the consecutive, or narrative present (which can be considered unmarked for tense) take segmentally different subject prefixes. There are also past tense and future tense marking auxiliaries, which do not agree with the subject, and are optional, preceding the fully inflected verb.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Raharimanantsoa |first1=Ruth |title=THE PROSODY OF TENSE MARKING IN TEKE-EBOO. A Bantu B70 language of Congo-Brazzaville |date=20 June 2017 |publisher=Department of Languages and Literatures, Gothenburg University|url=https://gupea.ub.gu.se/items/8a395e9a-7201-4988-80b3-b1f0cf441f35 |language=en}}</ref>
These examples demonstrate the tonal contrasts in verb forms marking the recent past, general past, and future. Additionally, the final vowel is raised to ''i'' in the past [[Perfective aspect|perfective]]. This also shows a change in [[Noun class|noun class]] of the object, to mark a contrast in [[Grammatical number|number]], a typical feature of [[Bantu languages]]. {{interlinear|glossing=link|indent=2 |Ndyɛ́ [á-dzw-i / ǎ-dzw-i᷈ / â-dzw-á] [ntaali / a-ntaali]. |3S [3S.REC-kill-PFV / 3S.PST-kill-PFV / 3S.FUT-kill-FV] [C1.snake / C2-snake] |"He [killed(recently) / killed / will kill] the [snake / snakes]."{{sfn|Raharimanantsoa|2017|p=28-9, 36, 39, 46, 48}}}}
The verb in this example is marked for aspect with the prefix ''ma-''. In the past tense, most verbs take a [[Close vowel|close vowel]] as their final vowel, but the presence of an aspect marker blocks this.{{sfn|Raharimanantsoa|2017|p=20-1}} {{interlinear|glossing=link|indent=2 |Taará á-ma-fur-a lí-kɔ́ɔlɔ. |C1.dad C1.PST-ALREADY-pay-FV C5-school |"Dad has already paid for schooling."{{sfn|Raharimanantsoa|2017|p=20}}}}
<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/><div style="display:none;"> C1:Class 1 ALREADY:Already FV:Final vowel C5:Class 5 C2: Class 2 </div><section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)}} [[Category:Teke languages]]