Bura language

Not to be confused with Bura language (Vanuatu).

Bura (also known as Burah, Burra, Bourrah, Bura-Pabir, Babir, Babur, Barburr, Mya Bura, Kwojeffa, Huve, Huviya) is a Chadic language spoken in North-eastern Nigeria by the Bura-Pabir people. Dialects include Pela, Bura Pela, Hill Bura, Hyil Hawul, Bura Hyilhawul, and Plain Bura. The language is closely related to Kilba, Cibak, Margi and a few other north-eastern Nigerian Languages.

Bura
Mya Bura or Bura-Pabir
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Borno State, Adamawa State, Yobe State, Gombe State
Native speakers	510,000 (2020)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara Bura–Higi Bura languages (A.2) Bura
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bwr
Glottolog	bura1292
Linguasphere	(-da -db -dc) 18-GBB-d (-da -db -dc)

A Bura-Pabir woman in a traditional attire

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	lateral
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt			ᵑk
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd			ᵑɡ
	implosive/ejc.	ɓ	ɗ			kʼ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s		t͡ʃ
	voiced		d͡z		d͡ʒ
	prenasal vl.		ⁿt͡s		ⁿt͡ʃ
	prenasal vd.		ⁿd͡z		ⁿd͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ	ʃ	x	h
	voiced	v	z	ɮ	ʒ	ɣ
	prenasal vl.	ᶬf	ⁿs	ⁿɬ	ⁿʃ	ᵑx
	prenasal vd.	ᶬv	ⁿz	ⁿɮ	ⁿʒ	ᵑɣ
Approximant		w		l	j
Trill			r

Consonant clusters also occur among plosives/affricates, nasals, and fricatives.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Orthography

In the 2010 Bura-English Dictionary, Roger Blench proposed an orthography similar to that of Hausa based on the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ɓ, ɗ, ə, and ƙ, as well as the following digraphs:

IPA	Orthography
[ɬ]	tl
[ɮ]	dl
[ɣ]	gh

See also

• Bura Sign Language

References

• World Atlas of Language Structures entry for Bura-Pabir