Bep language
See also the romanization system which resembles pronunciation and looks nice, and the transcription system which faithfully maps the native script to latin.
| Bep | |
|---|---|
| bep but in bep | |
| phono of bep but in bep | |
| Speakers: | 310-470 million (up to 320 million L1 speakers) |
| Script: | Bep |
The Bep language represents a variably defined dialect- & register continuüm spoken chiefly in the Bep domain, by something to the tune of 310 to 470 million people depending on who’s counting and what they regard as “Bep”. Most estimates fall somewhere between the two numbers, often swayed by factors such as various communities desiring or rejecting inclusion of themselves or each other. Standard Broadcast Bep (SBB) is understood by most who can claim to speak some form of Bep, but is only used day-to-day in certain contexts and social strata. SBB is considered a secondary register, or even language, for a vast majority of Bep speakers. Still, due to its quasi-universality, it’s commonly used as a reference point for describing all Bep.
Counting native speakers of Bep is difficult and prickly, as it requires us to decide what is and isn’t Bep. We can however give a rough figure of how many speakers of Bep and Bep-adjacent languages speak something completely different natively; about 110 to 150 million. Fewer definitive 2nd-language speakers acquire disputed Bep registers (~26%) compared to the proportion of disputed Bep native speakers (up to 34%), presumably due to media influence and perçeived prestige. In any case, these 2nd-language speakers let us make an upper estimate of ~320 million native speakers of Bep and Bep-adjacent languages combined, with no good way to decombine them.
Classification
Geographic Distribution
History
Dialectal variation
Simplified rundown
Trimming down standard Bep to get rid of any underlying forms or mechanics, such as might be done for the purposes of language learning, we get the following:
Phonology
| Labial | Alv.dental, Alveolar | Palatal | Velar, Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ [m] | /n/ [n] | /ɲ/ [ɲ] | /ŋ/ [ŋ] |
| Stops, affricates | /p/ [p~p͡ɸ] | /t/ [t̪] /d/ [d] /t͡s/ [t͡s̪] |
/t͡ɕ/ [t͡ɕ̞] /d͡ʑ/ [d͡ʑ̞~d͡ʝ] /ç/ [c͡ç~ç~j] |
/k/ [k] /g/ [ɡ͡ɣ~ɣ~ɰ] |
| Preasp. stops | /ʰp/ [ʰp] | /ʰt/ [ʰt̪] | /ʰk/ [ʰk] | |
| Fricatives | /f/ [ʍ~ɸ] | /s/ [s̪] /z/ [z] |
/ɕ/ [ɕ] /ʑ/ [ʑ] |
/ʍ/ [ɯ̯̊~x͡ʍ] /ʂ/ [e̯̊~ʂ] |
| Miscellaneous | /ʰr/ [ʰr̪̊~r̊] /r/ [r] /l/ [l~ɽ] |
/ʎ̥/ [ʎ̥~ɹ̥] /ʎ/ [l~ʎ~ɹ] |
/ɪ̊/ [ɪ̯̊~ç]¹ /ħ/ [ɑ̯̊~ħ] |
¹may be approximated w/ [θ] by some
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ [i] | /ɨ/ [ɨ] | /ɯ/ [ɯ~ʷ] |
| Mid, Mid-low | /e/ [e~æ] | /ɘ/ [ɘ] | /ɤ/ [ɤ~ɔ̃] |
| Low | /a/ [ä~ʌ] |
The syllable structure in standard is (C(R))N, where C is any consonant, R is any glide (/r~ʳ/ or nonsyllabic vowel), and N is any nucleus. Nonsyllabic vowels are ordinary vowels at the beginning of a legal diphthong. Nuclei are typically vowels, but may also be syllabic consonants in medial syllables with no onset.
| nuclei→ ↓glides |
ɨ | ɯ | ɤ | ɘ | a |
| i | iɤ | ||||
| e | ea → ʲʌ | ||||
| ɯ | ɯɤ → ʷɔ | ɯɘ → ʷɘ | ɯa → ʷɑ | ||
| ɘ | ɘɨ → ɘ͡ɨ | ɘɤ → ɘ͡ɤ | ɘa → ɰ͡ɑ (cf. ɡa→ɰʌ) | ||
| a | aɨ → ɑ͡ɨ | aɤ → ɑ͡ɰ̩ |
Syllable level (V₁.V₂, V₁.CV₂): ɘ raises to ɨ around i,ɯ (height matching) ɘ merges to e,ɤ (height matched; assimilate) ɯ fronts to ɨ when adjacent to i,ɨ,e (fronting ?)
Sub-syllable level (V̯₁V₂): ɯ̯,ɘ̯ mutually merge; ɯ̯ɘ→ɘɘ, ɘ̯ɯ→ɯɯ ɤ,ɯ merge to ʷ before a
| V: | i | ɨ | e | ɘ | a | ɤ | ɯ |
| ʟ: | li | lɨ | le | lɘ | lʌ | lɤ | lɯ |
| ʎ: | li | lɨ | le | ʎɘ | ʎa | ʎɔ | ʎɯ |