Kissi (also Kisi or Kisiei) is a Mel language of West Africa, There are two dialects, northern and southern, and both are tonal languages. The northern dialect (kisiduei) is spoken in Guinea and in Sierra Leone. The southern dialect (kpekeduei) is spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone.: Keita (1979) identifies two major dialects, a northern dialect kisiduei (with many borrowings from Maninka (=Mandingo)) and a southern dialect kpekeduei. The second of these can be divided into three separate dialects. Grimes (1988) says only that Northern. Kisi and Southern Kisi are "different" from each other, and reports four different dialects for Northern Kisi: Liaro, Kama, Teng, Tung. The two dialects are notably different, but are closely related.
In Guinea, the main places Kissi is spoken are the cities of Kissidougou and Guéckédou and their préfectures.
Phonology
Vowels FrontBackCloseClose-midOpen-midOpen can also approximate to the sounds .
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarGlottalStopvoicelessvoiced/imp.()prenasalized()AffricateFricativeNasalApproximant Kissidougou dialects preserve a distinction between and phonemes that have been merged as allophones in dialects south of Guéckédou. For instance, means exactly the same as . Also, "thank you" is realized as around Kissidougou and south of Guéckédou. is considered an allophone of in Kissidougou.
can also have an allophone of when preceding front vowel sounds.
The voiced labial-velar stop occurs only in onomatopoeic phrases, and medial gb can be regarded as an allophone of its voiceless counterpart.
'outdoor kitchen' (a river in Kissidougou) 'stool' 'city taxi'
Tone Kissi has four tones: two register and two contour. The two register tones are level and high, and the two contour tones are a rising mid tone and a falling high tone. Kissi also has an extra-high tone, but occurs only sparingly, functioning in only a few grammatical contexts.
Grammar (northern Kissi) Pronouns
Kissi pronoun Pronunciation English pronoun Kissi example English translation I I'm going there. you You're going there. he/she He's going there. we We're going there. you (plural) You're going there. they They're going there.
As can already be seen from these examples, verbs are not conjugated like English verbs, but they are inflected by tone.
Kissi pronoun Pronunciation English pronoun Kissi example English translation me He's going to beat me.Give me that. you I'm going to beat you. him/her I'm going to beat him / her.He's going to beat himself. us He's going to beat us. you (plural) He's going to beat you. them He's going to beat them.
Articles Definite and indefinite articles do not exist in Kissi, so means "the knife" as well as "a knife". If an object has to be defined (because there are more than one, for example), "this" is used:
example: - this knife
If that is not exact enough, an object is described using adjectives.
- Give me a/the knife.
- Give me the big knife.
References
G. Tucker Childs: A Dictionary of the Kisi Language. With an English-Kisi Index Denise Paulme. Les Gens du Riz: Les Kissi de Haute-Guinée. Paris. Librairie Plon. 1954, 1970. 324 pp. Online version
External links UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive - Sound Files Kissi-Northern Sound Files - KQS Kissi-Northern at globalrecordings.net Sound Files - KSS Kisi-Southern (Gissi) at globalrecordings.net Sound Files - The complete New Testament in Kisi (Select language "Kisi Southern") Sample text at language-museum.com