Nyole language (Uganda)
| Nyole | |
|---|---|
| Lunyole | |
| Native to | Uganda |
| Region | Tororo District |
Native speakers | 340,000 (2002 census)[1] |
|
Niger–Congo
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
nuj |
| Glottolog |
nyol1238[2] |
JE.35[3] | |
Nyole (also LoNyole, Lunyole, Nyuli) is a Bantu language spoken by the Luhya people in Tororo District, Uganda near Lake Kyoga. There is 61% lexical similarity with a related but different Nyole language in Kenya.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | g | |
| voiced prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑg | |
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | s | ɸ | |
| voiced | β | ||||
| Approximant | w | l~ɾ | j | (w) | |
Nyole has series of voiceless, voiced, and prenasalized stops. /w/ is labio-velar.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
Historical changes
Nyole has an interesting development from Proto-Bantu *p → Nyole /ŋ/. Schadeberg (1989) connects this sound change to rhinoglottophilia, where the sound change developed first as *[p] → [ɸ] → [h]. Then, given the acoustic similarity of [h] and breathy voice to nasalization, the sound change progressed as [h] → [h̃] → [ŋ]. The velar place of articulation development is due to velar nasals being the least perceptible of the nasals and its marginal status in (pre-)Nyole and other Bantu languages. In closely related neighboring languages, *p developed variously into /h/ or /w/ or was deleted.
This historical development results in so-called "crazy" alternations, like /n/ + /ŋ/ resulting in /p/ as in the following:
- n-ŋuliira ("hear" stem form) : puliira "I hear"
- n-ŋumula ("rest" stem form) : pumula "I rest"
In the above two words, when the first person singular subject prefix /n-/ is added to the stem starting with /ŋ/, the initial consonant surfaces as /p/. In other forms (like /oxu-ŋuliira/ "to hear" and /oxu-ŋumula/ "to rest"), the original stem-initial /ŋ/ can be seen.
See also
References
- ↑ Nyole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Nyole". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- Eastman, Carol M. (1972). Lunyole of the Bamenya, JAL, 11 (3), 63-78.
- Morris, H. F. (1963). A note on Lunyole. Uganda Journal, 27, 127-134.
- Schadeberg, Thilo C. (1989). The velar nasal in Nyole (E. 35). Annales Aequatoria, 10, 169-179. (Available online).
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