Berta proper, a.k.a. Gebeto, is spoken by the Berta (also Bertha, Barta, Burta) in Sudan and Ethiopia. As of 2006 Berta had approximately 180,000 speakers in Sudan.[2]
| Berta | |
|---|---|
| Gebeto | |
| Native to | Sudan and Ethiopia |
| Region | Benishangul-Gumuz |
| Ethnicity | Berta people, Wetawit |
Native speakers | 380,000 all Berta languages (2006–2007)[1] 100,000 monolinguals in Ethiopia[1] |
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wti (all Berta languages) |
| Glottolog | bert1248 |
The three Berta languages, Gebeto, Fadashi and Undu, are often considered dialects of a single language. Berta proper includes the dialects Bake, Dabuso, Gebeto, Mayu, and Shuru; the dialect name Gebeto may be extended to all of Berta proper.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | ||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | (cʼ) | kʼ | (ʔ) | ||
| implosive | ɗ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | ʃ | h | |
| ejective | sʼ | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | ŋ | |||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Phoneme | Allophone |
|---|---|
| /i/ | [i], [ɨ~ɘ], [ɨ], [ɪ] |
| /a/ | [a], [ə], [æ], [ɜ], [ɐ] |
| /u/ | [u], [ʉ], [ʊ] |
The pronouns of Berta are as follows:
| Topic | Postverbal subject | Postverbal object | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | àl(ì) | -lɪ́ɪ̀ | -ɟì |
| you (sg.) | (à)ŋɡó | -ŋó | -ŋɡó |
| he, she, it | ɲìnè | -né | ɲìnè, -né |
| we | χàtâŋ | -ŋàa | χàtâŋ |
| you (pl.) | χàtú | χátú | χàtú |
| they | mèrée | mérée | mèrée |
