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The Dogon dialects of the western plains below the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali are mutually intelligible. They are sometimes called the Kan Dogon because they use the word kan (also spelled kã) for varieties of speech. The dialects are:

• Tomo kã
• Teŋu kã
• Togo kã

The latter two are traditionally subsumed under the name Tene kã (Tene Kan, Tene Tingi), but Hochstetler separates them because the three varieties are about equidistant.

There are a quarter million speakers of these dialects, about evenly split between Tomo Kan and Tene Kan, making this the most populous of the Dogon languages. There are a few Tomo-speaking villages just across the border in Burkina Faso.

Phonology

Consonants

• Consonant germination also occurs frequently among sounds .
• /z/ can only occur among loanwords.
• /ɸ/ is interchangeable with /h/.

• Consonant sound /t͡ʃ/ only rarely occurs and in almost absent.
• Consonant sounds are absent, except in loanwords.
• /ɡ/ can be realized as a fricative [ɣ] between vowel sounds /a ɔ/.
• Sounds only occur from loanwords, and are interchangeable.
• Glottal sound [ʔ] can only occur as an element in some reduplicated forms of vowel-initial words, or between vowels within a word.

Vowels

• In Tomo Kan, an extra central vowel sound [ʉ] is also attested possibly as a result of /i/ preceding a nasalised segment or a /u/. It may also regularly be pronounced as [u] as well.

References

1. Tomo Kan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Tene Kan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ Dyachkov, Vadim (2019). A Grammar of Tomo Kan Dogon.
3. Heath, Jeffrey (2015). A Grammar of Togo Kan. University of Michigan.

• Blench, Roger (2005). "A survey of Dogon languages in Mali: Overview". OGMIOS: Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages. 3.02 (26): 14–15. Retrieved 2011-06-30..
• Hochstetler, J. Lee; Durieux, J.A.; E.I.K. Durieux-Boon (2004). Sociolinguistic Survey of the Dogon Language Area (PDF). SIL International. Retrieved 2011-06-30.

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People	Dogon Related topics : Tellem Toloy Kurumba (people of Burkina Faso)
Religion	Key topics Amma Astronomy Cosmology Creation myth Dogon religion Festivals Awa Society Bado Bago Binou Bulo Dama, Dogon festival Gogo Nommo Lebe Sigi, Dogon festival Hogon Persecution Sacred sites Bandiagara Escarpment Mount Hombori Sangha, Mali Youga Dogorou
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Culture	African art in Western collections (stolen art) Dogon art Dogon culture Masks

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