Bena is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

spoken by the Bena people of the Iringa region of

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Phonology

Consonants

Voiceless sounds almost always occur as aspirated stops; , * // can be realized as [] intervocalically. * [] can occur as an allophone of // before long non high vowels. * [] can occur as an allophone of //, // in the Maswamu dialect. * [, ] can occur as allophones of //, in the Twangabita dialect. * [] can occur as an allophone of //. * [] can occur as an allophone of // in the Maswamu dialect. * [, ] can occur as allophones of // among some speakers. * Prenasalised stops may be devoiced when occurring word-finally (ex. // ~ ��b̥.

Vowels

* /, / before non-rounded vowels are recognized as glides

References

* Languages of Tanzania Northeast Bantu languages {{Bantu-lang-stub