View source for Sucite language

{{Short description|Senufo language spoken in West Africa}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Siccité
|states=[[Burkina Faso]], [[Mali]]
|region=[[Sikasso Region]]
|speakers=38,000
|date=1999–2007
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
|fam3=[[Senufo languages|Senufo]]
|fam4=[[Suppire–Mamara languages|Suppire–Mamara]]
|iso3=sep
|glotto=sici1249
|glottorefname=Sicite Senoufo
|notice=IPA
}} 

The '''Sucite language''' or '''Sicite''' is a [[Senufo languages|Senufo]] language spoken in southwestern [[Burkina Faso]] and [[Mali]] by approximately 35,000 people. Sucite is a close neighbour of the [[Supyire language]], spoken in southeastern Mali. Sucite is sometimes regarded as the northern extension of the Supyire language. The two dialects are, according to Garber (1987), ‘quite mutually intelligible’. Sometimes speakers of Sucite will even refer to themselves as speaking Supyire. Another closely related lect is [[Mamara language|Mamara]] (also known as Minyanka).

Some other Senufo groups refers to the Sùcìté people as Tagba, because they live on the Tagouara plateau. There are various ways to spell the dialect names. Variants of Sucite include Sicite, Sipiite, and Sicire. The [[SIL International|SIL]] language code is SEP.

==Sounds==
===Vowels===
All vowels can be lengthened and [[nasalization|nasalized]]. The schwa /ə/ is included in brackets because it is found only in two specific environments, where it appears to be in [[allophone|complementary distribution]] with some other vowel.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Phonetic inventory of vowels{{sfn|Garber|1987}}
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ĩ}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ẽ}}
|({{IPA link|ə}}) 
|{{IPA link|o}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|õ}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ɛ̃}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|ã}}
|
|}

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! ([[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-]])<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Labial–velar consonant|Labio-velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive/<br>Affricate
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|t͡ɕ}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|d͡ʑ}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ͡b}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[geminate]]}}
| {{IPA link|bː}}
| {{IPA link|dː}}
| {{IPA link|d͡ʑː}}
| {{IPA link|ɡː}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[prenasalized]]}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿb}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd͡ʑ}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿɡ͡b}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|nʲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ͡m}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Fricative
| {{IPA link|f}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|fʲ}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
| {{IPA link|x}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Glide
| {{IPA link|w}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|wʲ}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|
|}

Geminate voiced stops/affricates are cognate to prenasalized voiceless stops in [[Supyire language|Supyire]],{{sfn|Garber|1987|p=15}} and are indicated orthographically as {{angbr|mp, nt, ...}} in Garber (1987).

===Tone===
Sucite is a [[tonal language]] with three surface tone levels: High, Mid, and Low. Garber (1987) and Carlson (1994) analyse the Northern Senufo system as having two different Mid tones, a strong mid (Ms) and a weak mid (Mw). The Ms tone undergoes substantially less tonal alternations than the Mw tone. Garber (1988) suggests that this peculiarity may have its origin in a [[tone (linguistics)#tonal split|tonal split]].

Glides formed by combining pairs of tones exist, the most common being HL and ML.

==Grammar==
===Nouns===
Like the other Senufo languages, Sucite employs a [[noun class]] system of five genders: three pairings of singular/plural classes and two mass/collective classes.

Nouns take class-specific suffixes for definiteness. For example:
{| class="wikitable"
! Gloss
! Indef.
! Def.
! Gender
! Class
|-
| 'river'
| {{lang|sep|gba}}
| {{lang|sep|gba-ŋé}}
| rowspan="2" align="center" | ''wi''
| 1
|-
| 'rivers'
| {{lang|sep|gba-ála}}
| {{lang|sep|gba-á-bí}}
| 2
|-
| 'house'
| {{lang|sep|gba-xa}}
| {{lang|sep|gba-ké}}
| rowspan="2" align="center" | ''ki''
| 3
|-
| 'houses'
| {{lang|sep|gba-ya}}
| {{lang|sep|gba-nyɛ́}}
| 4
|-
| 'forehead'
| {{lang|sep|gba-là}}
| {{lang|sep|gba-à-ne}}
| rowspan="2" align="center" | ''li''
| 5
|-
| 'foreheads'
| {{lang|sep|gbà-ʔala}}
| {{lang|sep|gbà-ʔà-ki}}
| 6
|}
{{sfn|Garber|1987|pp=25-26}}

===Pronouns===
Each noun class has its own set of pronouns. These may be general (clitic), emphatic, [[partitive]], interrogative, demonstrative, or relative.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Pronouns{{sfn|Garber|1987|p=26}}
! Class
! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8
|-
! Clitic
| wu || bi || kə || yi || lə || ki || tə || bə
|-
! Emphatic
| wurə̀ || perə̀ || kərə̀ || yirə̀ || lərə̀ || kerə̀ || tərə̀ || pərə̀
|-
! Partitive
| wà || pì || kà || yà || là || kì || tà || pà
|-
! Demonstrative
| ngə́ || mpí || nkə́ || njí || ndə́ || nkí || ntə́ || mpə́
|-
! Interrogative
| ngə || mpi || nkə || nji || ndə || nki || ntə || mpə
|}

==References==
<references />

== Sources ==
*Carlson, Robert (1994) ''A Grammar of Suppyire''. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
*Garber, Anne (1980) 'Word order change and the Senufo languages.' In ''Studies in the Linguistic Sciences'', 10, 1, 45-57.
*Garber, Anne (1987) ''A Tonal Analysis of Senufo: Sucite dialect (Gur; Burkina Faso)''. PhD dissertation, Urbana: University of Illinois / Ann Arbor: UMI. [http://www.aegk.finespun.net/aeg_dissertation.php5]
*Garber, Anne (1988) 'A double tiered analysis of Sicite tone'. In ''Journal of West African languages'', 18, 2, 21-33.

==See also==
*[[Senufo languages]]
*[[:Image:Senufo languages.png|Map of the Senufo language area]]

{{Languages of Burkina Faso}}
{{Gur languages}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sucite Language}}
[[Category:Suppire–Mamara languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Burkina Faso]]