K’abeena phonology

Abstract

The article provides descriptive analysis of the phonology of K'abeena, a language belonging to the Afro-Asian phylum, spoken in central Ethiopia. In this article, I identify 25 consonant phonemes and 3 loan phonemes. The loan phonemes are included as they are used in the current language's orthography. The language has five vowels. Vowel length and Gemination of consonants are phonemic in the language. With the exception of /h/ and /f/, which never geminate in the language, the rest of the consonant phonemes appear together to geminate. This only happens in the medial position of the words. Consonant clusters are allowed in word medial position with a maximum of two consonants. The phonological process identified in this article involves processes like assimilation, palatalization and deletion. Kabeena does not appear to be a pitch-accent language, but further research is needed to establish confirmed statements.