Northern Birifor language
# Northern Birifor language

Northern Birifor or Malba Birifor is a Gur language of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken by a few hundred thousand people, mainly in the southwest of Burkina Faso, particularly in the provinces of Bougouriba, Ioba, Noumbiel and Poni and in western Ivory Coast.

## Phonology

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i iː ĩ ĩː | | u uː ũ ũː |
| Near-close | ɪ ɪː ɪ̃ ɪ̃ː | | ʊ ʊː ʊ̃ ʊ̃ː |
| Close-mid | e eː ẽ ẽː | | o oː õ õː |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː | | ɔ ɔː ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː |
| Open | | a aː ã ãː | |

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | c | k | k͡p | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |
| Implosive | voiced | ɓ | | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | | | h |
| Fricative | voiced | v | | | | | |
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | | ŋ͡m | |
| Approximant | plain | | l | j | | w | |
| Approximant | glottal | | ˀl | ˀj | | | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | | | |

## Orthography

It is written in this alphabet:

Majuscules :

| A | Ã | B | Ɓ | C | D | E | Ẽ | Ɛ | Ɛ̃ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ĩ | Ɩ | Ɩ̃ | J | K | Kp | L | ʹL | M | N | Ny | Ŋm | O | Õ | Ɔ | Ɔ̃ | P | R | S | T | U | Ũ | Ʋ | Ʋ̃ | V | W | Y | Ƴ |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Minuscules ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | ɓ | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | g | gb | h | i | ĩ | ɩ | ɩ̃ | j | k | kp | l | ʹl | m | n | ny | ŋm | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʋ | ʋ̃ | v | w | y | ƴ |
| Phonetic value ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ã | b | ɓ | c | d | e | ẽ | ɛ | ɛ̃ | f | ɡ | ɡ͡b | h | i | ĩ | ɪ | ɪ̃ | ɟ | k | k͡p | l | ˀl | m | n | ɲ | ŋ͡m | o | õ | ɔ | ɔ̃ | p | r | s | t | u | ũ | ʊ | ʊ̃ | v | w | j | ˀj |

Long vowels are written double but without doubling the nasal tilde, e.g. ⟨ẽe⟩ for /ẽː/

