Chopi language

This article is about the Bantu language. For the ethnic group, see Chopi people. For the aromatic plant, see Zanthoxylum piperitum.

Not to be confused with Chopi language (Sudanic).

Chopi
Chichopi
Native to	Mozambique
Native speakers	1.1 million (2017) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Chopi (S.60)? Chopi
Dialects	Lenge
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cce
Glottolog	chop1243
Guthrie code	S.61,611 [2]
Linguasphere	99-AUT-cc incl. varieties 99-AUT-cca...-ccd

Chopi, (also spelled Copi, Tschopi, and Txopi), is a Bantu language spoken along the southern coast of Mozambique.

Maho (2009) lists the possibly extinct Lenge dialect as a distinct language. ^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar			Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	whstld.	lateral
Click	voiceless					ᵏǃ
	aspirated					ᵏǃʰ
	voiced					ᶢǃ
	prenasal vl.					ᵑǃᵏ
	prenasal vd.					ᵑǃᶢ
Nasal	plain	m	n				ɲ	ŋ
	murmured	mʱ	nʱ				ɲʱ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t					k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ					kʰ
	voiced	b	d				ɟ	ɡ
	implosive	ɓ	ɗ				( ʄ )
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd					ᵑɡ
	murmured/pren.	ᵐbʱ	ⁿdʱ					ᵑɡʱ
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s	t͡sᶲ	t͡ɬ	t͡ʃ
	aspirated	p͡fʰ	t͡sʰ	t͡sᶲʰ	t͡ɬʰ	t͡ʃʰ
	voiced	( b͡v )	d͡z	d͡zᵝ	d͡ɮ	d͡ʒ
	prenasal	ᶬb͡v	ⁿd͡z	ⁿd͡zᵝ	ⁿd͡ɮ	ᶮd͡ʒ
	murmured/pren.		ⁿd͡zʱ		ⁿd͡ɮʱ	ᶮd͡ʒʱ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	sᶲ	ɬ	ʃ			h
	voiced	v	z [a]	zᵝ [a]	ɮ [a]	ʒ [a]
Rhotic			r
Approximant	lateral				l
	central	ʋ					j	w

1. Voiced fricative sounds are heard mostly as realizations of voiced affricates among modern speakers

• Sounds /t͡sᶲ,t͡sᶲʰ,d͡zᵝ,ⁿd͡zᵝ/, are typically heard as labial-alveolar affricates [p͡sᶲ,p͡sᶲʰ,b͡zᵝ,ᵐb͡zᵝ], however in recent years there has been a shift in pronunciation having them pronounced purely as alveolar.
• Consonants when preceding /j,w/ are always either palatalized [Cʲ] or labialized [Cʷ].
• /ɟ/ may also be heard as an implosive [ʄ] in free variation.
• /v/ may also be heard as an affricate [b͡v] in free variation.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

• Nasalized vowel sounds [Ṽ] may be heard when preceding nasal consonants. ^[3]

References

1. Chopi at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Bailey, Richard Anthony (1995). "Issues in the phonology and orthography of Chopi (ciCopi S 61)". In Traill, A.; Vossen, R.; Biesele, M. M. A. (eds.). The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 135–170. ISBN   978-3-927620-84-1.