Gungu
Rugungu
Native toUganda
RegionBuliisa District
EthnicityGungu people
Native speakers
49,000 (2002 census)[1]
Early form
Pre-Rugungu
Language codes
ISO 639-3rub
Glottologgung1250
JE.101[2]

Gungu is a Bantu language spoken by the Gungu (or Bagungu) people in western Uganda.

Phonology

Consonants

Casali and Diprose tentatively argue that the labialized (Cʷ) and palatalized (Cʲ) sequences may be sequences of CuV and CiV, respectively.[3]

Gungu consonants[4]
Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lab. pal. plain lab. pal. plain lab. pal. plain lab. pal. plain lab. pal.
Nasal -nas m ⟨m⟩ mʷ ⟨mw⟩ mʲ ⟨my⟩ n ⟨n⟩ nʷ ⟨nw⟩ nʲ ⟨ni̱⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩ ɲʲ ⟨nyi̱⟩ ŋ ⟨ngh⟩ ŋʲ ⟨nghy⟩
+nas m̩m ⟨mm⟩ m̩mʷ ⟨mmw⟩ m̩mʲ ⟨mmy⟩ n̩n ⟨nn⟩ n̩nʷ ⟨nnw⟩ n̩nʲ ⟨nni⟩ ɲ̩ɲ ⟨nny⟩ ɲ̩ɲʷ ⟨nnyw⟩
Stop/
Affricate 		-voice -nas p ⟨p⟩ pʷ ⟨pw⟩ pʲ ⟨py⟩ f ⟨f⟩ t ⟨t⟩ tʷ ⟨tw⟩ tʲ ⟨ty⟩ c ⟨t͡ʃ⟩ t͡ʃʷ ⟨cw⟩ t͡ʃʲ ⟨cy⟩ k ⟨k⟩ kʷ ⟨kw⟩ kʲ ⟨ky⟩
+nas mp ⟨mp⟩ m̩pʷ ⟨mpw⟩ m̩pʲ ⟨mpy⟩ n̩f ⟨nf⟩ n̩t ⟨nt⟩ ⁿtʷ ⟨ntw⟩ ⁿtʲ ⟨nty⟩ ⁿt͡ʃ ⟨nc⟩ n̩t͡ʃʷ ⟨ncw⟩ ŋk ⟨nk⟩ ŋkʷ ⟨nkw⟩ ŋkʲ ⟨nky⟩
+voice -nas b ⟨bb⟩ bʷ ⟨bbw⟩ bʲ ⟨bby⟩ v ⟨v⟩ d ⟨d⟩ dʷ ⟨dw⟩ dʲ ⟨dy⟩ d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩ d͡ʒʲ ⟨jy⟩ g ⟨g⟩ gʷ ⟨gw⟩ gʲ ⟨gy⟩
+nas mb ⟨mb⟩ m̩bʷ ⟨mbw⟩ m̩bʲ ⟨mby⟩ ⁿv ⟨nv⟩ n̩d ⟨nd⟩ ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩ ⁿdʲ ⟨ndy⟩ ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩ n̩d͡ʒʷ ⟨njw⟩ ŋg ⟨ng⟩ ŋ̩gʷ ⟨ngw⟩ ŋ̩gʲ ⟨ngy⟩
Fricative -voice -nas s ⟨s⟩ sʷ ⟨sw⟩ sʲ ⟨sy⟩ h ⟨h⟩ hʷ ⟨hw⟩ hʲ ⟨hy⟩
+nas ⁿs ⟨ns⟩ n̩sʷ ⟨nsw⟩ n̩sʲ ⟨nsy⟩
+voice -nas β ⟨b⟩ βʲ ⟨by⟩ z ⟨z⟩ zʷ ⟨zw⟩ zʲ ⟨zy⟩
+nas n̩z ⟨nz⟩ ⁿzʷ ⟨nzw⟩ ⁿzʲ ⟨nzy⟩
Tap ɾ ⟨r⟩ ɾʷ ⟨rw⟩ ɾʲ ⟨ry⟩
Approximant ʋ ⟨b̯⟩ ʋʷ ⟨b̯w⟩ l ⟨l⟩ lʷ ⟨lw⟩ lʲ ⟨ly⟩ j ⟨y⟩ jʷ ⟨yw⟩ w ⟨w⟩

Vowels

Gungu has 14 vowel phonemes. The mid vowels are variants of the open-mid vowels. Vowels before prenasalized consonants and after labialized and palatalized consonants are always long but are written short. The close and mid vowels are considered "hard", and the others are considered "soft." Gungu has a form of vowel harmony, in which the mid vowels generally only appear in words with the "hard" close vowels.[4]

Monophthongs

Gungu vowels
Front Central Back
Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close i ⟨i̱⟩ iː ⟨i̱i̱⟩ u ⟨u̱⟩ uː ⟨u̱u̱⟩
Near-close ɪ ⟨i⟩ ɪː ⟨ii⟩ ʊ ⟨u⟩ ʊː ⟨u⟩
Mid (e ⟨e⟩) (eː ⟨ee⟩) (o ⟨o⟩) (oː ⟨oo⟩)
Open-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɛː ⟨ee⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ ɔː ⟨oo⟩
Open ä ⟨a⟩ äː ⟨aa⟩

Diphthongs

Gungu has eight diphthongs.

Gungu diphthongs
Front Hard Front Soft Back Hard Back Soft
Mid ei̯ ⟨ei̱⟩ ɛɪ̯ ⟨ei⟩ oi̯ ⟨oi̱⟩ ɔɪ̯ ⟨oi⟩
Open äi̯ ⟨ai̱⟩ äɪ̯ ⟨ai⟩ äu̯ ⟨au̱⟩ äʊ̯ ⟨au⟩

Tone

Tone is only marked on Gungu verbs indicating the recent past. This tense is marked with a plus symbol (+).[5]

Orthography

Gungu alphabet[4]
Capital Lowercase IPA
A a /ä/
Aa aa /äː/
B b /β/
B̯ b̯ /ʋ/
Bb bb /b/
C c /t͡ʃ/
D d /d/
E e /e/, /ɛ/
Ee ee /eː/, /ɛː/
F f /f/
G g /g/
H h /h/
I i /ɪ/
II ii /ɪː/
I̱ i̱ /i/
I̱I̱ i̱i̱ /iː/
J j /d͡ʒ/
K k /k/
L l /l/
M m /m/
N n /n/
Ngh ngh /ŋ/
Ny ny /ɲ/
O o /o/, /ɔ/
Oo oo /oː/, /ɔː/
P p /p/
R r /ɾ/
S s /s/
T t /t/
U u /ʊ/
Uu uu /ʊ/
U̱ u̱ /u/
U̱U̱ u̱u̱ /uː/
V v /v/
W w /w/
Y y /j/
Z z /z/

References

  1. ^ Gungu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Casali & Diprose 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Moe & Mbabazi 2008.
  5. ^ Moe & Mbabazi 2008, p. 27.

Works cited


Categories