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| Luo Dholuo |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Kenya, Tanzania | |
| Region: | East of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya and Northern Tanzania | |
| Total speakers: | 3 million | |
| Language family: | Nilo-Saharan Eastern Sudanic Western Nilotic Luo Southern Luo Luo-Acholi Luo |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | luo | |
| ISO 639-3: | luo | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Dholuo (also known as Luo; IPA with tone marks [d̪ólúô][1]) belongs to the Luo grouping within the Western Nilotic grouping of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is spoken by the Luo people of Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania, numbering about 3 million, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Lake Victoria and areas south of there. It is used for broadcasts on KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, formerly the Voice of Kenya) and Radio Ramogi. Dholuo is closely related to Lango, Acholi and Dhopadhola of Uganda. It is not to be confused with the fellow Western Nilotic language Luwo (spoken in Sudan); in addition, both of the aforementioned languages Lango and Acholi have the alternative names Lwo or Lwoo[2].
Contents |
Phonology
Phonemes
Dholuo has two sets of five vowels, distinguished by the feature [+/-ATR].
| . | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | ɐ |
| . | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
In the table of consonants below, orthographic symbols are included between parentheses if they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the following: the use of ‘y’ for IPA [j], common in African orthographies; 'th, dh' are plosives, not fricatives as in Swahili spelling (but phoneme /d̪/ can fricativize intervocalically)[3]. When symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.
| . | labial | dental | alveolar | palatal | velar | glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stops | p b | t̪ (th) d̪ (dh) | t d | c (ch) ɟ (j) | k g | |
| fricatives | f | s | h | |||
| nasals | m | n | ɲ (ny) | ŋ (ng') | ||
| prenasalized stops |
mb | nd | ɲɟ (nj) | ŋg (ng) | ||
| trills | r | |||||
| approximants | w | l | j (y) |
Some phonological characteristics
Dholuo is a tonal language. There is both lexical tone and grammatical tone, e.g., in the formation of passive verbs[4]. It has vowel harmony by ATR status: the vowels in a noncompound word must be either all [+ATR] or all [-ATR]. The ATR harmony requirement extends to the semivowels /w, y/[5]. Vowel length is contrastive.
Grammar
Dholuo is notable for its complicated phonological alternations, which are used, among other things, in distinguishing inalienable possession from alienable, e.g. The first example is a case of alienable possession, as the bone is not part of the dog.
- cogo guok
- bone dog
- 'the dog's bone' (which it is eating)
The following is however an example of inalienable possession, the bone being part of the cow:
- cok dhiang'
- bone (construct state) cow
- 'a cow bone'[6]
Sample Phrases
- Hello, (how are you?)
- Nang'o
- I'm fine,
- Adhi Maber
- What is your name?,
- Nyingi Ng'a
- My name is ___ ,
- Nying'a en ____
- I am happy to see you,
- Amor Kaneni
- Good morning,
- oyawore
- Good afternoon,
- Oimore
- God Bless you,
- Nyasaye ogwedhi
- Good Job/work,
- Tich maber
- Goodbye,
- Oriti
- I want water,
- adwaro pi
- I am thirsty,
- riyo nega OR riyo maka
- Thank you,
- erokamano
- Child,
- nyathi
- Student,
- nyathi skul
- Sit,
- bed
- Stand,Stop,
- chung'
- Hunger,
- kech
- I am starved,
- kech kaya
- Father,
- wuor [Dinka] wur
- Mother,
- min [Dinka] mor
- God,
- Nyasaye
- God is Good,
- Nyasaye Ber
- To help,
- konyo [Dinka] ba kony
- Man,
- dichuo
- Woman,
- dhako
- Boy,
- wuoyi
- Girl,
- nyako [Dinka] nya
- Book,
- buk
- Youth,
- rawera
- Pen,
- kalam
- Shorts,
- siruari
- Trousers,
- long'; siruach long'
- Table,
- mesa
- Plate,
- san
- lock,
- rarind OR ralor
- Leader,
- jatelo,ruoth
- Bring,
- kel
- Go,
- dhi
- Go back,
- dog
- Come back,
- dwog
- Run,
- ring [Dinka]
- Walk,
- wuoth
- Jump,
- dum
- Rain,
- koth
- Sun,
- chieng'
- Moon,
- duwe
- Fish,
- rech [Dinka]
- I want to eat,
- adwaro chiemo
- Grandpa,
- kwaro [Dinka] kwar
- Grandma,
- dayo [Dinka] day
- White man,
- ja rachar; odiero
- black man,
- ja rateng'
- Car,
- nyamburko
- Cow,
- dhiang'
- sing,
- wer [Dinka]
- marriage,
- keny [Dinka] keny is the process but thiek is the marriage
- tomorrow,
- kiny
- today,
- kawuono
- child,
- nyathi
- money,
- omenda, chung', oboke, sendi, pesa
- gun,
- bunde
- I want Ugali
- Adwaro Kwon
- Maize/Corn
- Oduma; bando
- Maize and Beans
- Nyoyo
- Taxi
- Matatu (Swahili)
Bibliography
- Gregersen, Edgar (1961) Luo: A grammar. Dissertation: Yale University.
- Stafford, Roy L. (1965) An elementary Luo grammar with vocabularies. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
- Omondi, Lucia Ndong'a (1982) The major syntactic structures of Dholuo. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
- Tucker, Archibald N. (ed. by Chet A. Creider) (1994) A grammar of Kenya Luo (Dholuo). 2 vols. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Okoth Okombo, Duncan (1997) A Functional Grammar of Dholuo. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Odaga, Asenath Bole (1997) English-Dholuo dictionary. / Asenath Bole Odaga. Lake Publishers & Enterprises, Kisumu.
- Odhiambo, Reenish Acieng' and Aagard-Hansen, Jens (1998) Dholuo course book. Nairobi.
References
External links
- Luo phrases and basics
- Ethnologue on Luo
- Luo and the Nilo-Saharan family
- Rice University Owlnet Luo Homepage
- PanAfrican L10n page on Luo
