Temne is a tonal language, with four tones. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.[3][4]
The alphabet of Temne includes the following characters and digraphs:[4]
a
ʌ
b
d
e
ɛ
ə
f
gb
h
i
k
kp
l
m
n
ŋ
o
ɔ
p
r
s
t
th
u
w
A
Ʌ
B
D
E
Ɛ
Ə
F
Gb
H
I
K
Kp
L
M
N
Ŋ
O
Ɔ
P
R
S
T
Th
U
W
Earlier, Ȧȧ was used instead of Ʌʌ
Further reading
Kanu, Sullay M. and Tucker, Benjamin V. (2010). "Temne". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (2): 247–253. doi:10.1017/S002510031000006X{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.
^Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
^Kanu, Sullay M.; Tucker, Benjamin V. (2010). "Temne". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (2): 249. doi:10.1017/S002510031000006X.
Bibliography
Bai-Sharka, Abou (1986) Temne names and proverbs (Stories and songs from Sierra Leone vol. 19). Freetown: People's Educational Association of Sierra Leone.
Kamarah, Sheikh Umarr (2007) A descriptive grammar of KʌThemnɛ (Temne). Munich: Lincom Europa.