Welcome to "Tiv Language Lessons – Episode 1: The Tiv Alphabet".
In this first episode, we begin our journey into the Tiv language by learning the Tiv alphabet, the foundation for reading, writing, and speaking Tiv correctly. Whether you are a native Tiv speaker, a learner, a student, a member of the Tiv diaspora, or simply interested in African languages, this lesson is designed to help you build a strong foundation.
Through this series, we aim to preserve, promote, and teach the Tiv language for future generations while making Tiv learning accessible to everyone around the world.
📚 In this episode, you will learn:
• The Tiv alphabet
• Letter pronunciation
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The Tiv Heritage Archive is dedicated to preserving and documenting Tiv language, history, culture, literature, oral traditions, and heritage for current and future generations.
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The Tiv alphabet uses the Latin letters, but it does not use them all, and several of them sound different from English. Learning the alphabet first makes everything that follows easier, because Tiv spelling is close to how the language sounds: once you know the sound of each letter, you can read most words aloud.
What to notice
There are five vowels, a, e, i, o and u. Each has one steady sound, without the gliding vowels of English. Most consonants sound as they do in English, with a few important exceptions. C is always said like the "ch" in church, and gh at the end of a word is not pronounced the way English speakers expect. Tiv also has letter combinations, such as gb, kp, mb, nd, ng, ny and ts, which are each said as a single sound rather than two.
How to practise
Watch the video once straight through, then again, pausing after each letter to say it aloud. Use the tables below as a reference: each letter has its sound and an example word. The combined sounds gb and kp take the longest to master, so come back to them often. When you are comfortable, move on to the separate lessons on vowels, consonants and tone, or explore every letter with audio on the alphabet page.
The vowels
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A a | /a/ said as "uh" — like u in sun, not a in cat | bar — salt |
| E e | /e/ like e in bed or net | se — we / laugh |
| I i | /i/ like ee in feet or ea in beat | ime — darkness |
| O o | /o/ like o in orbit and story | or — person |
| U u | /u/ like oo in book or look | bagu — monkey |
The consonants
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| B b | /b/ like b in boy | bam — Bank |
| C c | /tʃ/ like ch in church — Tiv C always has the "ch" sound | cia — fear |
| D d | /d/ like d in dog | ada — bow |
| F f | /f/ like f in fish | fa — know |
| G g | /ɡ/ like g in go | gar — city / town |
| H h | /h/ like h in hat | har — hang |
| J j | /dʒ/ like g in gem — soft j sound | ijen — hunger |
| K k | /k/ like k in key | koti — court |
| L l | /l/ like l in love | lam — speak |
| M m | /m/ like m in man | ma — drink |
| N n | /n/ like n in now | na — give |
| P p | /p/ like p in pen | per — cross |
| R r | /r/ a rounded r — roll it slightly as in Irish English | ruam — fufu / pounded yam |
| S s | /s/ like s in sun | sar — spread |
| T t | /t/ like t in top | ter — father |
| V v | /v/ like v in van | ivo — goat |
| W w | /w/ like w in water | wase — help |
| Y y | /j/ like y in yes | ya — eat |
| Z z | /z/ like z in zebra — used for a polite request to go | za — go (request) |
Letter combinations (digraphs)
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| GB gb | /ɡ͡b/ labial-velar stop — g and b said together as one sound | gba — fall |
| KP kp | /k͡p/ labial-velar stop — k and p said together as one sound | kper — net / tomorrow |
| CH ch | /tʃ/ like ch in church — also written as C alone in some words | chia — fear |
| SH sh | /ʃ/ like sh in shoe or ship | sha — up / away |
| NY ny | /ɲ/ palatal nasal — like ny in canyon | nyam — meat |
| GH gh | /ɣ/ comes at the end of words — silent like gh in dough or borough | sugh — thank |
| GW gw | /ɡw/ g and w blended together — like gw in Gwen | gwa — fame |
| KW kw | /kw/ like qu in queen or kw in awkward | kwase — woman |
| TS ts | /ts/ like ts in cats or fits | tsar — bridge |
| MB mb | /ᵐb/ prenasalized b — hum through the nose before the b | mban — them |
| ND nd | /ⁿd/ prenasalized d — nasal onset before the d | nder — wake up |
| NG ng | /ŋ/ nasal — like ng in sing or ring | nger — write |
| BW bw | /bw/ b and w blended — lips rounded into the b | bwagi — pick / digging tool |
These tables are drawn from the archive's own records. If you spot a mistake, please tell us through the contribution form.
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