Alphabet

The alphabetical order of the words in the Cerma dictionary is listed below:

a/ã b c d e ɛ/ɛ̃ f g gb h
i/ĩ k kp l m n ny ŋ o
ɔ/ɔ̃ p r s t u/ũ v w y

Regarding the order of the oral and nasal (with tilde) vowels, it is not essential which is ordered first, but the root vowels are most important.

Consonants

b bituoŋgu canari
c ciɛŋo femme
d dũŋgu case
f fiɛlu feuille
g guoruŋgu sorgho blanc
gb gbɛ̃lŋo éléphant
h hĩɛma terre
j jarma maladie
k kolma bière de mil
kp kpɔruɔ ami
l nelle village
m mɔɛle étoile
n namma beurre, huile
ny nyuŋgo aujourd’hui
ŋ jaaŋa petit mil
p pɛrru médicament
r terre tige
s saŋga marché
t terre tige
v vaaŋo chien
w wɛima affaire
y yapaaŋo oignon

Oral vowels

a barguɔ force
e teterre chaise
ɛ bɛrru guerre
i biloŋo enfant
o korma peur
ɔ kɔllu fer
u sullu prix

Nasal vowels

ã ãŋguɔlma erreur
ɛ̃ gbɛ̃lŋo éléphant
ĩ hĩhĩlma santé
ɔ̃ kɔ̃kɔ̃l fumer pour rendre sec
ũ dũŋgu case

Tone and length in the Cerma dictionary

Cerma is a tonal language. This means that words are distinct not only by their letters (consonants and vowels), but also by their melody. In the Cerma orthography, the tones are not written because Cermaphones can usually pronounce the words because of the specific context of the sentence. But for words in isolation, without the context, it is necessary to indicate the tone, because there are words that are distinct only due to their tone. In the lexicon we have indicated the tones of lexical base forms displayed between brackets and parentheses, using the following symbols:

´ high tone
` low tone
̌ rising tone
̂ falling

Two pointsː following a vowel or the consonants l, m, n or r between phonetic brackets indicates that the vowel or consonant are long,
for example: [aː], écrit < aa > en orthographe, ou [mː], écrit < mm > en orthographe.
Examples:
The symbol ´ on the vowel indicates that the tone of the whole syllable is high:
Example:

    < hiere >  “tous”, phonetic brackets: [híeré]

The symbol ` on a vowel indicates that the tone of the whole syllable is low:
Example:

    < sɔrrɔ >  “lentement”, phonetic brackets: [sɔ̀rrɔ̀]

The symbol ̌ on the vowel indicates that the tone of the syllable is rising:
Example:

    < hũu >  “prendre”, phonetic brackets: [hũ̌ː]

The symbol ̂ on the vowel indicates that the tone of the syllable is falling:
Example:

    < hĩɛŋgu > “herbe”, phonetic brackets: [hĩ̂ɛŋgù]

For nouns, the tones indicated between phonetic brackets is the tonal melody of which the words are pronounced in isolation. For verbs, the tones are indicated for the base forms and for the completive forms. (The base form of a verb is its unmarked form in regard to tense.