Grebo language

Grebo
Kréébo (Grebo)
Native to	Liberia
Native speakers	390,000 (2001)[1] possibly a few Southern Grebo in Ivory Coast, plus refugees
Language family	Niger–Congo? Kru Western Kru Grebo languages Grebo
Language codes
ISO 639-2	grb
ISO 639-3	grb – inclusive code Individual codes: grj – Southern (including Jabo) grv – Central gbo – Northern gec – Gboloo gry – Barclayville oub – Glio-Ubi
Glottolog	greb1256

Grebo is a Kru language of Liberia. All of the Grebo languages are referred to as Grebo, though in Ivory Coast, Krumen is the usual name. The Grebo people live in the extreme south-west of Liberia, both on the coast and inland, between the rivers Cavally and Cess.^[2]

As in the other Kru languages, tone is extremely important. For instance, né with a high (or high-mid) tone is the first-person pronoun "I", while nè with a low tone is the singular form of "you".^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Labio- velar	Glottal
					plain	lab.
Nasal	voiced	m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋ͡m
	voiceless	m̥	n̥
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k		k͡p
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ		ɡ͡b
Fricative		f	s					h
Approximant	voiced	w	l	j
	voiceless	w̥	l̥

Vowels

Oral vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	plain	ret.		plain	ret.
Close	i			u
Close-mid	e	e̠		o	o̠
Open-mid	ɛ			ɔ
Open			a

Nasal vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ĩ		ũ
Close-mid	ẽ		õ
Open-mid	ɛ̃		ɔ̃
Open		ã

Vowels /e̠, o̠/ are considered as retracted or "muffled" vowels according to source.^[4]

References

1. Barclayville Grebo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Gordon Innes, A Grebo - English Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 1967
3. Gordon Innes, as above. A dictionary was compiled from previous dictionaries and the speech of Assistant 1955-1957 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Mr. J.Y.Dennis
4. Innes, Gordon (1966). An Introduction to Grebo. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

External links

• John Payne (Bp.) (1860). A dictionary of the Grebo language. E.O. Jenkins. Retrieved 25 August 2012.