Nalu | |
---|---|
Native to | Guinea, Guinea-Bissau |
Native speakers | 23,000 (2017–2018) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | naj |
Glottolog | nalu1240 |
ELP | Nalu |
Nalu (nalɛ, nul; [2] also spelled Nalou [3] ) is an Atlantic language of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, spoken by the Nalu people, a West African people who settled the region before the arrival of the Mandinka in the 14th or 15th centuries. [4] It is spoken predominantly by adults. It is estimated to be spoken by a range of 10,000 to 25,000 people, [3] whereas Wilson (2007) reports that there are around 12,000 speakers. [2] It is considered an endangered language due to its dwindling population of speakers. [5]
Contrary to prior classifications, Güldemann (2018) classifies Nalu as unclassified within Niger-Congo. It also does not form a subgroup with the Rio Nunez languages. [6]
Nalu is traditionally classified as Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Mbulugish-Nalu. [7] [8]
The Nalu people who speak Nalu have been described as settling in West Africa before the Mandinka people. [9] This would place them as existing in West Africa between the 14th and 15th centuries. Wilson (2007) reports that the Nalu people had originally come from Guinea-Bissau. [2]
Today, the Nalu speakers are shifting toward the Susu language which is gaining more popularity in Guinea. [10] It has a predominantly adult-speaking population. The next generation is being passed on the language, however, in a few remote villages around Katoufoura.
Nalu is spoken predominantly on the littorals, or shore regions, of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. [11] Most Nalu speakers in Guinea live north of the Nuñez River on the Tristão islands, in the sub-prefecture of Kanfarandé which is the prefecture of Boké. In Guinea-Bissau, most speakers of Nalu live in the Cacine estuary in the Tombali region. [12]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | p b | t d | c | g | gb |
Fricative | f | θ , s | h | ||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
Approximant | w | r , l | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i iː | u uː | |
Mid-high | e eː | o oː | |
Mid-low | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
Low | a aː |
Nalu underwent a sound change in its language. [13] Sound change generally occurs due to what sounds require less effort for the speaker. These sound changes are usually limited to each dialect in a language and examples of the Nalu language sound changes are in the section below. Nalu has six dialects. Three are spoken in Guinea-Conakry and three are spoken in Guinée-Bissau. [13] However, the relationship between the dialects is unknown.
English | Nalu |
---|---|
man | be-cel |
dirty/black | m-balax |
cold | m-hon |
arrow | n-kiam |
axe | n-wōfañ |
blood | a-nyak |
bow | m-firl |
brother | n-wōke |
chief/king | m-fem/be-fem |
devil/evil spirit | m-banjon |
medicine man (doctor) | mi-let |
fire | met |
god | gu-dana |
moon | m-bilañ |
night | fot |
slave | m-bōl |
snake | mi-sis |
Verbs [14]
English | Nalu |
---|---|
to come | m-ba |
to kill | rama |
to die | n-ref |
Sound Changes Over Time [13]
English | Pre-Sound Change Nalu | Post-Sound Change Nalu |
---|---|---|
bone | nhol | a-hol |
mouth | n-sol | a-sol |
to kill | m-rama | rama |
man | nlam-cel | be-cel |
eye | n-cet | a-cet |
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The West Atlantic languages of West Africa are a major subgroup of the Niger–Congo languages.
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The Manding languages are a dialect continuum within the Mande language family spoken in West Africa. Varieties of Manding are generally considered to be mutually intelligible – dependent on exposure or familiarity with dialects between speakers – and spoken by 9 million people in the countries Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Gambia. Their best-known members are Mandinka or Mandingo, the principal language of The Gambia; Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of Guinea and Mali; and Jula, a trade language of Ivory Coast and western Burkina Faso. Manding is part of the larger Mandé family of languages.
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The Atlantic–Congo languages are the largest demonstrated family of languages in Africa. They have characteristic noun class systems and form the core of the Niger–Congo family hypothesis. They comprise all of Niger–Congo apart from Mande, Dogon, Ijoid, Siamou, Kru, the Katla and Rashad languages, and perhaps some or all of the Ubangian languages. Hans Günther Mukarovsky's "Western Nigritic" corresponded roughly to modern Atlantic–Congo.
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The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic and the DR Congo. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, including one of its official languages, Sango. They are also spoken in Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The Senegambian languages, traditionally known as the Northern West Atlantic, or in more recent literature sometimes confusingly as the Atlantic languages, are a branch of Atlantic–Congo languages centered on Senegal, with most languages spoken there and in neighboring southern Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. The transhumant Fula, however, have spread with their languages from Senegal across the western and central Sahel. The most populous unitary language is Wolof, the national language of Senegal, with four million native speakers and millions more second-language users. There are perhaps 13 million speakers of the various varieties of Fula, and over a million speakers of Serer. The most prominent feature of the Senegambian languages is that they are devoid of tone, unlike the vast majority of Atlantic-Congo languages.
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