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.
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 |
a | barguɔ | force | |
e | teterre | chaise | |
ɛ | bɛrru | guerre | |
i | biloŋo | enfant | |
o | korma | peur | |
ɔ | kɔllu | fer | |
u | sullu | prix |
ã | ãŋguɔlma | erreur | |
ɛ̃ | gbɛ̃lŋo | éléphant | |
ĩ | hĩhĩlma | santé | |
ɔ̃ | kɔ̃kɔ̃l | fumer pour rendre sec | |
ũ | dũŋgu | case |
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:
The symbol ` on a vowel indicates that the tone of the whole syllable is low:
Example:
The symbol ̌ on the vowel indicates that the tone of the syllable is rising:
Example:
The symbol ̂ on the vowel indicates that the tone of the syllable is falling:
Example:
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.