A cross dialectal variation between Likwála and Likuba

Abstract

This study scrutinises whether Likwála C26 and Likuba C27 are two dialects or independent languages within the Group C20 with a particular regard to the phonemic analysis. It results from the comparative phonematic analysis that, in spite of some full sound pairs of words, consonantal and vocalic distribution, as well as allophonic variation of some segments in intervocalic position, the degree of opacity between the two languages is more than the degree of stability in terms of intercomprehension. So, it comes out that Likwála (C26) and Likuba (C27) are not two dialects of either of the two language, but rather two different languages within the group C20.