| Oluʼbo | |
|---|---|
| Loluʼbo | |
| Native to | South Sudan |
| Ethnicity | Oluʼbo |
Native speakers | 33,000 (2017)[1] |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lul |
| Glottolog | olub1238 |
Oluʼbo or Loluʼbo is a Central Sudanic language spoken by 33,000 Oluʼbo people in Southern Sudan.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | |||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t̪ | tʃ | ʈ | k | kp | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d̪ | dʒ | ɖ | g | gb | ||||
| prenasalized | ᵐb | ⁿd̪ | ⁿdʒ | ᶯɖ | ᵑg | ᵑᵐgb | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | |||||||
| voiced | v | z | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||||||
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a |
Vowels form two vowel harmony sets, based on advanced and retracted tongue root. The [−ATR] group is commonly transcribed as /ɪ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ/, and the [+ATR] group as /i, e, o, u/.[3] /a/ is phonetically [−ATR] but is found in roots of both sets.[4]
There is a tenth vowel quality [ɤ], which only occurs after /u/. When /u/ and [ɤ] are in separate morphemes, [ɤ] is in free variation with [o].[5]
Tones
Oluʼbo has high /˦/, mid /˧/, and low /˨/ tones.There are also six compound tones, low-mid /˨˧/, low-high /˨˦/, mid-low /˧˨/, mid-high /˧˦/, high-low /˦˨/, and high-mid /˦˧/.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Oluʼbo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Andersen 1987, p. 45.
- 1 2 Andersen 1987, p. 40.
- ↑ Andersen 1987, p. 41.
- ↑ Andersen 1987, p. 44.
- ↑ Andersen 1987, p. 48.
References
- Andersen, Torben (1987). "An outline of Lulubo phonology". Studies in African Linguistics. 18: 39–65. doi:10.32473/sal.v18i1.107478.
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