Lama language

Not to be confused with Lamba language (Bantu) or Lama Bai language.

Lama
Lamba
Region	Togo, Benin
Ethnicity	Lamba
Native speakers	260,000 (2006–2012) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Gur Southern Gurunsi Eastern Lama
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Benin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	las
Glottolog	lama1275

Lama is a Gur language spoken by the Lamba people in Togo, Benin, and by a few in Ghana.

Phonology

Source: ^[2]

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p	t	ɖ	tʃ	k	k͡p
Fricative	ɸ	s					h
Approximant		l		j		w

Vowels

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal
Close	i	iː	ĩ	ɨ	ɨː	ɨ̃	u	uː	ũ
Near-close	ɪ	ɪː	ɪ̃				ʊ	ʊː	ʊ̃
Close-mid	e	eː	ẽ	ə	əː	ə̃	o	oː	õ
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː	ɛ̃				ɔ	ɔː	ɔ̃
Open				a	aː	ã

Tones

	Toneme
Falling	˦˨
Level	˨
Rising	˨˦

Alphabet

Lama alphabet ^[3]

Uppercase	A	C	D	Ɖ	E	Ǝ	Ɛ	F	H	I	Ɨ	Ɩ	K	KP	L
Lowercase	a	c	d	ɖ	e	ǝ	ɛ	f	h	i	ɨ	ɩ	k	kp	l
Uppercase	M	N	Ŋ	Ñ	O	Ɔ	P	R	S	T	U	Ʋ	W	Y
Lowercase	m	n	ŋ	ñ	o	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ʋ	w	y

References

1. Lama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
3. alphabet, SIL 2014.

• SIL International (2014). "Classement alphabétique pour la langue lama". Dictionnaire lama.