Escarpment Dogon

{{short description|Dogon dialect}} {{Infobox language | name = Escarpment Dogon | nativename = | region = Bandiagara Escarpment | states = Mali | nation = Mali | familycolor = Niger-Congo | fam2 = Dogon | speakers = {{sigfig|155,300|2}} | date = 1998 | ref = e18 | stand1 = Tɔrɔ sɔɔ | dia1 = Tɔrɔ sɔɔ | dia2 = Tɔmmɔ sɔɔ | dia3 = Donno sɔ | dia4 = Kamma sɔ | lc1 = dts | ld1 = Tɔrɔ sɔɔ | lc2 = dds | ld2 = Donno sɔ | lc3 = dto | ld3 = Tɔmmɔ sɔ | glotto = esca1235 | glottorefname = Escarpment Dogon | dia5 = Yɔrnɔ sɔ }}

'''Escarpment Dogon''' is a continuum of Dogon dialects of the Bandiagara Escarpment, including the standard language. There are three principal dialects:

*'''Toro So''' ''Tɔrɔ sɔɔ'', called ''Bomu Tegu'' in the plains languages and also known as ''Dɔgɔsɔ'',<ref>Apparently 'Dogon language', using the exonym ''Dɔgɔ'' 'Dogon'</ref> is the standard variety of Dogon, which is one of thirteen official languages of Mali. *'''Tommo So''' ''Tɔmmɔ sɔ'', called ''Tombo so'' by Bondum Dom speakers, is spoken in a region from Kasa to Bandiagara. It is more linguistically conservative than Toro So.

The third dialect commonly listed is two subdialects without a common name: *'''Donno So''' ''Donno sɔ'' in the Bandiagara area, and *'''Kamma So''' ''Kamma sɔ'' also known as ''Kamba So'', in the Kamba area.

Hochstetler confirms that these are intelligible with each other, but not with the more populous varieties of Dogon on the neighboring plains.

While Toro So was chosen as the official standard, because it has the most in common with the largest number of Dogon languages due to its central location, and is used in educational and official contexts, Jamsay Dogon is the prestige variety and is the variety used for radio broadcasts.

== Phonology == === Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center |+ Yorno-So Consonants<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Heath|first=Jeffrey|title=A Grammar of Yorno-So|year=2017}}</ref> ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Stop/ Affricate !voiceless |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} |{{IPA link|k}} |({{IPA link|ʔ}}) |- align="center" !voiced |{{IPA link|b}} |{{IPA link|d}} |{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} |{{IPA link|g}} | |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Fricative !voiceless |({{IPA link|f}}) |{{IPA link|s}} |({{IPA link|ʃ}}) | |({{IPA link|h}}) |- align="center" !voiced | |({{IPA link|z}}) | |({{IPA link|ɣ}}) | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} |{{IPA link|ɲ}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Lateral | |{{IPA link|l}} | | | |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Tap !central | |{{IPA link|ɾ}} | | | |- !nasal | |{{IPA link|ɾ̃}} | | | |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Approximant !central |{{IPA link|w}} | |{{IPA link|j}} | | |- !nasal |{{IPA link|w̃}} | |{{IPA link|j̃}} | | |}

* {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} occurs, but only marginally. * {{IPA|/ɡ/}} can be realized as a fricative {{IPA|[ɣ]}} between vowel sounds {{IPA|/a ɔ/}}. * {{IPA|/f z h ʔ/}} can only occur among loanwords. * {{IPA|/ʃ/}} might occur as an allophone of {{IPA|/s/}} when preceding {{IPA|/i/}}.

=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" |Oral ! colspan="2" |Nasal |- !Front !Back !Front !Back |- align="center" !Close |{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}} |{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}} |{{IPA link|ĩ}} {{IPA link|ĩː}} |{{IPA link|ũ}} {{IPA link|ũː}} |- align="center" !Close-mid |{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}} |{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}} | | |- align="center" !Open-mid |{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛː}} |{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔː}} |{{IPA link|ɛ̃}} {{IPA link|ɛ̃ː}} |{{IPA link|ɔ̃}} {{IPA link|ɔ̃ː}} |- align="center" !Open | colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}} | colspan="2" |{{IPA link|ã}} {{IPA link|ãː}} |}

== Tommo So == Tommo So (a bipartite name for the language signifying the ethnicity or the location of the speakers, 'Tommo' and a word for language, 'So') is part of the Dogon language family comprising around twenty languages. The genetic relations of the languages of the Dogon country are complex, as geographical proximity does not necessarily involve genetic relation. "Despite the fact that Tommo So and Dogulu Dom are both spoken in the central area of Dogon country, the preliminary results of our current fieldwork suggest that Tommo So bears a closer relation to Najamba or Donno So."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/186148|title=A Grammar of Tommo So|date=2013-10-29|access-date=2018-05-23|language=en}}</ref>

=== Geographic distribution === Tommo sɔ is thought to be spoken on the plateau between Douentza and Bandiagara by an estimated 40,000–60,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sil.org/silesr/2004/silesr2004-004.pdf|title=Sociolinguistic survey of the Dogon language area|last=Hochstetler|first=J.Lee|display-authors=etal}}</ref> In terms of neighboring languages, Tommo so is bordered by Najamba-Kidinge to the northwest, by Nanga and Jamsay to the east, by Tiranige Diga to the west, and by Donno So and Dogulu Dom to the south.<ref name=":0" /> Some dialects of Tommo So and Donno So are mutually intelligible. Donno So, based on fieldwork data, resembles an intermediate step between Tommo So and Toro So.

==Notes== {{reflist}}

== References == * {{cite journal |last1=Blench |first1=Roger |author-link=Roger Blench |title=A survey of Dogon languages in Mali: Overview |journal=OGMIOS: Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages |year=2005 |volume=3.02 |issue=26 |pages=14–15 |url=http://www.ogmios.org/ogmios_files/266.htm |access-date=2011-06-30 }}. * {{cite book |last1=Hochstetler |first1=J. Lee |last2=Durieux |first2=J.A. |author3=E.I.K. Durieux-Boon |year=2004 |title=Sociolinguistic Survey of the Dogon Language Area |publisher=SIL International |url=http://www.sil.org/silesr/2004/silesr2004-004.pdf |access-date=2011-06-30 }} *{{Cite book|last=Douyon|first=Denis A.|title=Parlons Dogon : langue et culture Toroso d'Ireli, Mali|publisher=Paris: L'Harmattan|year=2010}}

== Further reading == * {{cite book |last=McPherson |first=Laura |year=2013 |title=A Grammar of Tommo So |series=Mouton Grammar Library 62 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin, Boston |isbn=978-3-11-030107-6 |url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/186148 |access-date=2013-10-22|doi=10.1515/9783110301076 }} * Plungian, Vladimir (1995). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fQtSAQAAIAAJ Dogon].'' LINCOM Europa.

== External links == *{{Cite news | title = Linguistics graduate student strives to preserve fading languages through her work at UCLA | work = The Daily Bruin | access-date = 2012-08-07 | date = 2012-06-11 | url = http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/06/linguistics_graduate_student_strives_to_preserve_fading_languages_through_her_work_at_ucla }} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UYAEk4qNNA Tommo So folk songs] YouTube. 2013-21-07.

Category:Dogon languages Category:Languages of Mali