# Samwe language

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Gur language of Burkina

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Samwe Wara Region Burkina Faso Ethnicity Samba Native speakers (4,500 cited 1993)[1] Language family Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo? Gur? Wara–Natyoro Samwe Language codes ISO 639-3 wbf Glottolog wara1292 ELP Wara

**Samwé** (samoe), also known as **Wara** (ouara, ouala), is a [Gur language](/source/Gur_language) of [Burkina Faso](/source/Burkina_Faso). Dialects are Negueni-Klani, Ouatourou-Niasogoni, and Soulani. Niasogoni speakers have difficulty with Negueni, but not vice versa.

## Phonology

### Consonants

Consonants[2] Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial- velar Plosive voiceless p t c k kp voiced b Nasal m n Fricative f s Flap ɾ Approximant l j w

- /[b](/source/Voiced_bilabial_plosive)/ can be lenited to [[β̞](/source/Voiced_bilabial_approximant)] between vowels.[3]

- /[t](/source/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive)/ has a [free variant](/source/Free_variation) [[d](/source/Voiced_alveolar_plosive)] after nasals, vowels, and other consonants.[3]

- /[c](/source/Voiceless_palatal_plosive)/ is voiced [[ɟ](/source/Voiced_palatal_plosive)] after nasals and between vowels.[3]

- /[k](/source/Voiceless_velar_plosive)/ is often [[g](/source/Voiced_velar_plosive)] or [[ɰ](/source/Voiced_velar_approximant)] between vowels. It tends to stay voiceless at morpheme boundaries.[4]

- /[kp](/source/Voiceless_labial%E2%80%93velar_plosive)/ becomes voiced [[gb](/source/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_plosive)] between vowels or after nasals. /kp is not allowed before /[u](/source/Close_back_rounded_vowel)/.[4]

- [[ʔ](/source/Glottal_stop)], which is not phonemic, occurs intervocalically between the same vowel.[5]

- /[f](/source/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative)/ is always voiceless.[6]

- /[s](/source/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative)/ is voiced [[z](/source/Voiced_alveolar_fricative)] intervocalically and after nasals, [[ʃ](/source/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative)] before /ia/ and /ie/, and [[s](/source/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative)] elsewhere. /s/ can be lenited to [[ɹ](/source/Voiced_alveolar_approximant)], which Ouattara represents as [z̞]. As with stops, voicing and lenition are in free variation.[7]

- /[ɾ](/source/Voiced_alveolar_tap_or_flap)/ can also be realized as [[r](/source/Voiced_alveolar_trill)] or [[ɹ](/source/Voiced_alveolar_approximant)].[8] /ɾ/ is also in free variation with /n/ in some words. Sometimes, /ɾn/ becomes /nn/ or /rr/.[9]

- /[l](/source/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant)/ and /[n](/source/Voiced_alveolar_nasal)/ are contrastive, but roughly 20 words have /l~n/ in free variation.[9]

### Vowels

Samwe has 20 vowels: 7 short oral vowels, 7 long oral vowels, 3 short nasal vowels, and 3 long nasal vowels.

Oral vowels[10] Front Central Back short long short long short long Close i iː u uː Close-mid e eː o oː Open-mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː Open a aː

Nasal vowels[10] Front Central Back short long short long short long Close ĩ ĩː ũ ũː Open ã ãː

Samwe has two types of vowel harmony: [ATR](/source/Advanced_and_retracted_tongue_root) harmony and front-back harmony. /ɛ, ɔ/ do not occur in stems with /i, e, o, u/.[11] Front and back vowels (/i, e/ and /u, o) do not co-occur in disyllabic imperative verb stems, but this rule is not followed in other verb forms.[12] /a/ is neutral in both types.[13]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-e18_1-0)** [Samwe](https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/wbf/) at *[Ethnologue](/source/Ethnologue)* (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201596_2-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 96.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201598_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201598_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201598_3-2) [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 98.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201599_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara201599_4-1) [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 99.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015100_5-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 100.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015105_6-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 105.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015105–106_7-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), pp. 105–106.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015110_8-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 110.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015111_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015111_9-1) [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 111.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015120_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015120_10-1) [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 120.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015155_11-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 155.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015158_12-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 158.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOuattara2015155,_158_13-0)** [Ouattara 2015](#CITEREFOuattara2015), p. 155, 158.

## References

- Ouattara, Virpi (2015). *A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality Theory* (Thesis). University of Turku. [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[10024/104773](https://hdl.handle.net/10024%2F104773). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-951-29-6125-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-951-29-6125-2).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Samwe language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samwe_language) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samwe_language?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.