Sungor language

Last updated
Sungor
Bognak-Asungorung
Assangori
Native to Chad, Sudan
Region Ouaddaï, Darfur
Ethnicity Sungor, Erenga
Native speakers
100,000 (2023) [1]
Dialects
  • Sungor
  • Walad Dulla
Unwritten
Language codes
ISO 639-3 sjg
Glottolog assa1269
ELP Assangori
Linguasphere 05-DAA-ae
Lang Status 80-VU.svg
Sungor is classified as Vulnerable by the Endangered Languages Project

Sungor (also Assangorior, Assangor, Assangori, Songor, Asongor) is an Eastern Sudanic language of eastern Chad and western Sudan and a member of the Taman branch. It is closely related to Tama with some researchers speaking of a Tama-Assangori continuum. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Sungor is spoken in an area located to the south of Biltine and to the north of Adré (Ouaddaï) in Chad, as well as in Darfur in Sudan. [5] [2] It is spoken by the Sungor people, of which a majority are Muslim. [3] The number of speakers was estimated at 23,500 according to the 1993 census of Chad. [4]

Phonology

So far, Sungor phonology is not well attested in literature and research.

Vowels

Sungor is most likely a tonal language with a high and low tone, e.g. 'worm' dút and 'big' dùt. [6] It has seven vowels and height assimilations. [7] [3] Examples for height assimilation include plural suffixes -u,-uk, and -uɲ which trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɔ/ as in 'raven' gárá changing into 'ravens' gɔrú. Another example are suffixes -i and -iŋ which trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɛ/ as in 'house' wál changing into 'houses' wἐlί. [7]

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Plosivebt, dk, g
Nasalmnŋ
Trill/Tapr
Fricativefsʃx, ɣh
Approximantljw
Affricativetsdʒ

Grammar

Source: [3]

Apart from some examples listed in the phonology tab, all words are spelled according to Lukas/Nachtigal with some limitations caused by a lack of certain characters on Wikipedia. Due to historical reasons, spelling roughly follows German spelling rules. [3]

Noun classes

Sungor, like Tama, follows a noun class system. Similarly to other Sudanese languages that also use noun classes, Sungor distinguishes meaning through the use of suffixes. However, there is little overlap between the suffixes used.

Plurals

Plurals are mostly formed by suffixion. Suffixes change depending on class and number. Lukas [3] lists 31 different suffix pairs which do not necessarily constitute separate noun classes. [3] There are six ways of forming plurals in Sungor:

  1. Most plurals are formed by changing the class suffix. Some examples are 'skin' gera| geriŋ (Singular -a, Plural -iŋ), 'love' tárī | tárā (Sg. -ī, Pl. -ā), 'name' iget | igā (Sg. -et, Pl. -ā), or arabic loan 'muslim person' miselem | muselmīn (Pl. -īn).
  2. Other plurals only take a suffix. Some arabic loanwords fall into this category. Examples include 'heart' ámel | ámelā (Pl. -ā), 'human' at | árē or árī (Pl. -ē or -ī), 'mouth' kul | kulō (Pl. -ō), 'head' ŋor | ŋūrū (Pl. -ū), 'lip' oróyik | oroyikiŋ (Pl. -iŋ).
  3. There are some broken plurals, most of which are arabic loanwords. Examples are 'scholar' fik | fókora, 'robber' afrīt | afārit, 'pet' zāmela | zwāmel, or non-arabic 'grandpa' anat | ónut.
  4. Lukas lists one example of pluralisation where the vocal length is changed 'cow' tḛ | tệ [3] .
  5. A small number of words form the singular from a collective plural. Examples are 'witch' émet | émē (Sg. -t), 'horse' ferda | fērat (Sg. -da, Pl. -at), 'wild cat' lūlut | lǘlu.
  6. Some words are irregular in the way that they form a plural. Some examples are 'woman' ī | īrin, 'dog' wī | wḗā, 'blacksmith' mēat | mīnyak.

Pronouns

SubjectOblique/ObejctPossessive
1st personsingularwa / wowaŋnar / na
pluralwē / wuiwēŋoŋon / uŋun
2nd personsingularīīŋnor / nur
pluralaieiŋō / ḗŋkun
3rd personsingularési / ísēésiŋan(er) / un
pluralésiŋ1ésiŋkoŋ2ōn / ūn

1. 3rd person Plural also exists as áiŋko

2. from ésiŋko which corresponds to áiŋko

Possessive pronouns in Sungor stand in postposition, e.g. 'his brother' bet an. If a possessive follows a plural, it is pluralised by adding -uŋ, e.g. 'our hearts' omulu uŋunuŋ.

Demonstrative

Sungor Demonstratives are quite underresearched. Examples are 'this' translating to iŋ, plural iŋkō and 'that translating to ệŋ, plural ệŋgo.

Interrogative

Interrogatives lack research as well. 'Who' translates to nấrē, 'which' to nấnē, and 'what' to nímmōrī or nim as an alternative expression. [3]

Indefinite

The word for 'human' at is used to express 'someone'. The plural is árī. To differentiate whether 'someone' refers to a man or woman, the respective terms follow. 'Man' is atma, 'woman' is atī. Following this same pattern, 'everyone' translates to at kíro, literally 'every human' with kíro being the term for 'every'. Other indefinite pronouns are 'some' kōra, 'everything' híniŋ, or 'nobody' lō. Plurals can be formed by adding the suffix -guŋ.

Numbers

1kor11mer konterek100mía1000elf
2wárē12mer warterek101mía o kor2000ta elf wárē
3íca13mer icerek102mía o wárē3000ta elf íca
4kus14mer kúserek110mía o mer5000elf másī
5másī15mer masterek120mía o tíli war100000míat elf
6tor16mer tórterek150mía o tíli másī
7kal17mer kalterek200míat wárē
8kibs18mer kibesterek300míat íca
9úku19mer ukṹterek400míat kus
10mer20tíli wárē
30tíli íca
40tíli kus
45tíli kus ge másī

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinals are derived from the cardinal numbers by adding suffixes -na or -no.

Ordinal Numbers
first1korna / korena
secondwórna / wórēna
thirdícana / ícenaí
fourthkúsono
fifthmásena
sixthtṓrena
seventhkálena
eighthkíbiseno
ninthúkuno
tenthmérena

1. "The first" (male) also has the special form kémerik

To indicate how often something happens/has happened, Sungor uses mar and the corresponding ordinal number, e.g. 'the first time' mar korena. [3]

Adverbs

Sungor has locative adverbs, temporal adverbs, and adverbs of manner. Adverbs in Sungor are not well attested for. [3] Some examples of locative adverbs are 'here' índi, 'there' ḗŋdē, 'between' rēnik, 'above' óroyē. Temporal adverbs are, for example, 'daily' abad hḯnik, 'today' dấdo, 'always' dīman, 'yesterday' ệrē, 'now' hása, 'tomorrow' súsekē. Examples for adverbs of manner are 'maybe' tấsei, 'impossible' tấsoto. 'Maybe' tấsei might not be an adjective in itself since it can be divided into tấ-sei 'it will be'. [3]

Adverbial numbers

Numbers become adverbial when they follow the arabic loanword mar, e.g. 'once' mar kor. [3]

Adjectives

In Sungor, adjectives follow and agree with the noun, for example 'white clay' ōsu aek and 'red clay' ōsu arak. Adjectives form plurals by adding a suffix, e.g. 'small, young' elit | eliŋa (Sg. -t, Pl. -ŋa), 'ripe, mature' naχed | naχedo (Pl. -o), 'older brother' jō dud | jṓā dútū. [3]

Verbs

Verbs inflect by addition of affixes to a word root. For example, 'I birth' nḗne has the root ēn. Verb roots are usually monosyllabic or disyllabic. Prefixes mark the person, whereas suffixes mark time and mood.

The verbs can be put into three groups depending on the plural-affix they take. While verbs in Group I & II follow a regular patter, group III consists of irregular affixation. [3]

Present

In the following tables, 'R' marks the verb-root, 'V' signals a vowel, sounds in brackets '()' only sometimes occur, sounds in squared brackets '[]' only rarely occur, and '/' signals different realizations according to the context of an utterance, '-' is used to signal affixes.

Group IGroup II
1st personsingularn-(V)R-[n]e/in-(V)R-i/[e]
pluraln-(V)R-[i]nyen-(V)R-e/ge1,2
2nd personsingular(V)R-[n]e/i(V)R-i/[e]
plural(V)R-[i]nye(V)R-e/ge
3rd personsingularR-[n]e/iR-i/[e]
pluralR-(i)nyeR-e/ge

1. Also occurs as eke/[inye]

2. Nasals are followed by -ge, plosives or /s/ are followed by -eke

In the present tense, verbs can be further divided up into those that have suffix -i (Group I) or -e (Group II).

Present tense conditionals take one of three suffixes: -(V)ŋne, -kne, or -(V)ne. The plural is formed by adding a conditional suffix to a plural suffix, e.g. 'if I count' noto̯yanē | 'if we count' noto̯nyane (from no·to̯y·ny·ane). [3]

Negation happens by adding a suffix. A positive form with the suffix -e takes -ato if the verb root contains front vowels (a, e, i) or -oto if the verb root contains back vowels (o, u). If the positive form takes the suffix -i, the negative form takes the suffix -to or -(V)kto (sometimes -kāto) with some exceptions. In the plural form -kto becomes -kāto/-kōto, while -ato/-oto remains the same. [3]

Past

Preterite IPreterite II
Group IGroup IIGroup IGroup II
1st personsingularn-(V)R(V)(V)-ŋVsame as Group 1n-VR(V)(V)-ŋVŋVnot documented
pluraln-(V)R(V)-nyVŋV1n-(V)R-g/kaŋan-VR(V)-nyVŋV
2nd personsingular(V)R(V)(V)-ŋVsame as Group 1VR(V)(V)-ŋVŋV
plural(V)R(V)-nyVŋV(V)R-g/kaŋaVR(V)-nyVŋV
3rd personsingularR(V)(V)-ŋVsame as Group 1R(V)(V)-ŋVŋV
pluralR(V)-nyVŋVR-g/kaŋaR(V)-nyVŋV

1. Also n-(V)RV-aŋa

Preterite tense suffixes can sometimes be added onto the present tense suffixes -i and -e.

Preterite conditionals are formed by replacing the -ne | -nē. These conditionals have a future meaning, e.g. 'I counted' notộyiŋa (preterite I) and 'if I will count' noto̯yiŋne, 'I requested' nisekḗŋiŋa and 'if I will request' nisekḗŋiŋne. [3]

Both negatives of preterite I & II are derived from the positive by adding the suffix -to, e.g. 'I played' nagarnáŋa | 'I did not play' nagarnáŋto (preterite I) and nagarnáŋiŋa | nagarnáŋiŋto (preterite II). [3]

Future

Group IGroup II
1st personsingularn-(V)R(V)sain-(V)R(V)-sai
pluraln-(V)R(V)sinyen-(V)R(V)-saie1
2nd personsingular(V)R(V)-sai(V)R(V)-sai
plural(V)R(V)-sinye(V)R(V)-saie
3rd personsingularR(V)-sai(t)-(V)R(V)-sai
pluralR(V)-sinye(t)-(V)R(V)-saie

1. Group II plural marker saie can also be replaced by seke

Lukas suspects the future marker -sa to be an auxiliary verb in the present tens. [3]

Future tense conditionals are formed by adding suffix -ŋnē, e.g. 'to know' njel and 'if I will know' ninjilisáiŋnē. [3]

Imperative

Imperatives in Sungor differ based on the present tense verb group a word falls into. The positive singular imperative for verbs that end in -i is the verb root, although there are some exceptions. Verbs that end in -e take suffixes -a, -o, -e, and in some cases -i. For plurals, the prefix k-(V)- and suffixes -a or -o are needed. Negative imperatives are follow the either the schemata VR-aito or VR-ēto. [3]

Auxiliaries

Some auxiliaries exist in Sungor. However, due to a lack in research, auxiliaries are not well documented. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ Sungor at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 3 Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN   978-9042922372
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Lukas, J. (1938). Die Sprache der Sungor in Wadai (Aus Nachtigals Nachlaß) (in German). Mitteilungen der Ausland-Hochschule Universität Berlin. pp. 171–246.
  4. 1 2 Bombay, Elaine (2007). "Enquête sociolinguistique sur les langues tama et assangori parlers du Tchad et du Soudan". Journal of Language Survey Reports.
  5. ↑ Voeglin, C. F.; Voeglin, F. M. (1964). "Languages of the World: Africa Fascicle One". Anthropological Linguistics. 6 (5): 226. JSTOR   30022465.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Edgar, John T. (1990). Tama Group Lexicon.
  7. 1 2 Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Ahland, Colleen; Jakobi, Angelica; Kutsch Lojenga, Constance (2019). "Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan'". The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.28208.51208.


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