Tera language

---

title: "Tera language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["biu-mandara-languages", "languages-of-nigeria"] description: "Chadic dialect cluster of northeastern Nigeria" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tera_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chadic dialect cluster of northeastern Nigeria ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Tera
region	Nigeria
speakers
date	2000
ref	e18
familycolor	Afro-Asiatic
fam2	Chadic
fam3	Biu–Mandara
fam4	Tera languages (A.1)
iso3	ttr
glotto	tera1251
glottorefname	Tera
dia1	Pidlimdi (Kurba, Hinna and Deba)
notice	IPA
nativename	Nyimalti
::

| name = Tera | region = Nigeria | speakers = | date = 2000 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Afro-Asiatic | fam2 = Chadic | fam3 = Biu–Mandara | fam4 = Tera languages (A.1) | iso3 = ttr | glotto = tera1251 | glottorefname = Tera | dia1 = Pidlimdi (Kurba, Hinna and Deba) | notice = IPA | nativename = Nyimalti

Tera is a Chadic dialect cluster spoken in north-eastern Nigeria in the north and eastern parts of Gombe State and Borno State. Blench (2006) believes Pidlimdi (Hinna) dialect is a separate language.

Varieties

Blench lists these language varieties as part of the Tera language cluster.

• Nyimatli
• Pidlimdi
• Bura Kokura

Phonology

::data[format=table title="Consonants{{Harvcoltxt|Tench|2007|p=228}}"] | Labial | Alveolar | Post-al. /Palatal | Velar | Glottal | plain | palatal. | median | lateral | plain | labial. | Nasal | Stop | plain | prenasal. | implosive | Fricative | Approximant | plain | glottal. | Trill | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

: Voiceless plosives are lightly aspirated but unreleased before another consonant. : and formally had and respectively as allophones but the two pairs have split; however, the alveolar plosives never precede front vowels and the postalveolar affricates rarely precede anything but front vowels. : is a relatively new phoneme, appearing in loanwords from English and Hausa. : derives from a that has lost its alveolar contact while retaining the palatal and glottal action.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Tera_monophthongs_chart.svg" caption="p=230}}"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Tera_diphthongs_chart.svg" caption="p=231}}"] ::

::data[format=table title="Vowels{{Harvcoltxt|Tench|2007|p=230}}"]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Mid	Open
::

• The mid vowels are true-mid .
• The open vowels are central .
• in closed syllables is [ɨ̞]

Vowel length contrasts are neutralized in monosyllabic words with no coda consonants.

All vowels but and are more open in closed syllables such as in ('to plait') and ('to cook soup'). and tend to be fronted to when following palatalized consonants.

Diphthongs, which have the same length as long vowels, consist of a non-high vowel and a high vowel: ::data[format=table]

Diphthong	Example	Orthography	Gloss
		ɓeu	'sour'
		woi	'child'
		ghai	'town'
		dlau	'sickle'
::

• Phonetically, these diphthongs are .

Tone

Tera is a tonal language, distinguishing high, mid and low tone. Tone is not indicated orthographically since no minimal trios exist; minimal pairs can be distinguished by context.

Orthography

The first publication in Tera was Labar Mbarkandu nu Yohanna Bula Ki, a translation of the Gospel of John, which established an orthographic system. In 2004, this orthographic system was revised.

References

Bibliography

• {{citation |last=Tench |first=Paul |year=2007 |title=Tera |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=228–234 |doi=10.1017/s0025100307002952 |doi-access=free

References

1. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
2. Blench, 2006. [http://rogerblench.info/Language/Afroasiatic/General/AALIST.pdf The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List] (ms)
3. Blench, Roger. (2019). "An Atlas of Nigerian Languages". Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
4. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
5. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
6. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
7. {{harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
8. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007
9. {{Harvcoltxt. Tench. 2007

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