Loma language

Not to be confused with Lomakka language.

Loma
Looma
Lɔ̀ɔ̀màgòòi [1] / Löömàgòòi / Löghömàgòòi
Pronunciation	[lɔːmàɡòːi] [lɔɣɔmàɡòːi]
Native to	Liberia, Guinea
Ethnicity	Loma
Native speakers	560,000 (2017–2020) [2]
Language family	Niger–Congo Mande Western Mande Southwestern Mende–Loma Loma
Dialects	Toma
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: lom  – Liberian Loma tod  – Toma
Glottolog	loma1259

People	Löömàgìtì [lɔːmàɡìtì] in Liberia Löghömagiti [lɔɣɔmaɡiti] in Guinea
Language	Löömàgòòi [lɔːmàɡòːi] Löghömàgòòi [lɔɣɔmàɡòːi]

A Loma speaker, recorded in Liberia.

Loma (Loghoma, Looma, Lorma) is a Mande language spoken by the Loma people of Liberia and Guinea.

Dialects of Loma proper in Liberia are Gizima, Wubomei, Ziema, Bunde, Buluyiema. The dialect of Guinea, Toma (Toa, Toale, Toali, or Tooma, the Malinke name for Loma), is an official regional language.

In Liberia, the people and language are also known as "Bouze" (Busy, Buzi), which is considered offensive.

Writing systems

Today, Loma uses a Latin-based alphabet which is written from left to right. A syllabary saw limited use in the 1930s and 1940s in correspondence between Loma-speakers, but today has fallen into disuse. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Phonology

Loma has 21 consonants, 28 vowels, and 2 tones. ^[6]

Loma consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Stop	voiced	b	d		g ~ ɡ̟	ɡ͡b
	implosive	ɓ
	voiceless	p	t		k ~ k̟	k͡p
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
Fricative	voiced	v	z		ɣ
	voiceless	f	s		x
Semivowel		w		j
Approximant		ʋ	l ~ ɾ

Loma vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Every vowel has 4 forms: Short and non-nasalized, Short and nasalized, Long and non-nasalized, and Long and nasalized making a total of 28 vowels.

Loma has 2 tones: the High Tone ( ˦ ) ⟨á⟩ and the Low Tone ( ˨ ) ⟨à⟩.

Sample

The Lord's Prayer in Loma: ^[7]

Yài è ga gé ɣeeai è gee-zuvɛ,
ɓaa ɣa la yà laa-zeigi ma,
yà masadai va,
è yii-mai ɣɛ zui zu è ɣɛ velei é ɣɛɛzu la è wɔ vɛ,
è zaa mii ŋenigi ʋe gé ya,
è gé vaa ʋaitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛ,
è ɣɛ velei gá ɓalaa gé zɔitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛga la gá ʋaa yega te va.
Mɛ lɛ kɛ tɛ-ga ɔ́ wo ga gíɛ,
kɛ̀ è gé wulo tuɓo-vele-yowũ nui ya.

Hymns

In the 1960s several hymns composed in Loma by Billema Kwillia were recorded by the missionary Margaret D. Miller and then adopted by the Lutheran Church, first appearing in print in Loma in 1970. ^[8] The most widely used, 'A va de laa' was not translated to singable English until 2004; it is also translated to German. ^[8]

References

1. Dwyer, David J.; Bodegie, Pewu B.; Bague, James D. (1981). A Learner Directed Approach to Lorma. A Handbook on Communication and Culture with Dialogs, Texts, Cultural Notes, Exercises, Drills and Instructions. African Studies Center of Michigan State University. p. 109.
2. Liberian Loma at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
   Toma at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
3. Everson, Michael (2010-01-21). "N3756: Preliminary proposal for encoding the Loma script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
4. Everson, Michael (2016-07-22). "N4735: Update on encoding the Loma script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
5. "Loma syllabary".
6. Christopher Green and Steven Moran . 2019. Loma (Liberia) sound inventory (GM). In: Moran, Steven & McCloy, Daniel (eds.) PHOIBLE 2.0. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. (Available online at http://phoible.org/inventories/view/1517, Accessed on 2023-04-25.)
7. Matthew 6:9-13 in Deʋe niinɛ [New Testament in Loma]. Monrovia: Bible Society in Liberia, 1971. This excerpt was visible at http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-loma.html, see archived version at https://web.archive.org/web/20160306074512/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-loma.html.
8. C. MICHAEL HAWN/S T KIMBROUGH, JR. (with appreciation for information provided by Daniel W. Sopo). "Billema Kwillia." The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 24, 2021, http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/billema-kwillia.

Bibliography

• Rude, Noel. 1983. Ergativity and the active-stative typology in Loma. Studies in African Linguistics, 14:265–283.
• Sadler, Wesley. 1951. Untangled Loma: a course of study of the Looma language of the Western Province, Liberia, West Africa. Published by Board of Foreign Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Liberia.

External links

• ISO proposal for Looma 'macrolanguage'