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Cawyaŋ Zarma Sanni

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Pronunciation guide

Consonants, doubled and digraphs

Doubled consonants
Doubled consonants, such as 'll', 'kk', and 'rr', are distinctly pronounced in Zarma.

Consonant digraphs
Consonant digraphs are rare in Zarma. Digraphs are two consonants to be pronounced together at the beginning or end of a syllable and a different one to begin the next one.

Examples

Double consonants
Digraphs
 
 
 

Doubled consonants

When a consonant is doubled in Zarma, both of them are distinctly pronounced. The first consonant with the preceding syllable, the second to begin the following one. When two 'r' occur, this makes a distinctly 'trilled' r, like the Scotch 'burr'.
 
consonants bb kk mm rr tt yy
examples sabbu lakkal amma hiiriyaŋ fatta bayyaŋ

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs are rare in Zarma. A digraph is two consonants to be pronounced together at the beginning or end of a syllable and a different one to begin the next one. Most 'closed' syllables (those ending in a consonant), use either 'nasal' or 'liquid' consonants, i.e. m, n, ŋ, or l, r, though there are a few rare exceptions to this. There is, however, one class of nouns which begins with an 'n' plus some other consonant, where the 'n' represents a barely audible hum preceding the first syllable.
 
ng nga ngey ngoyya  
nd nda Ndunga nduɲɲa  
 
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      Dico Fraters, the Netherlands © 2004-2016      
     
Last updated: 20 Januari, 2016