Dholuo language

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Dholuo language

Dholuo (also known as Luo; IPA with tone marks [d?ólúô]) belongs to the Luo grouping within the Western Nilotic

Western Nilotic languages

The Western Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic languages subfamily of Nilo-Saharan languages....
grouping of the Nilo-Saharan language family

Nilo-Saharan languages

The Nilo-Saharan languages are a hypothetical group of African languages spoken mainly in the upper parts of the Chari River and Nile rivers , including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet....
. It is spoken by the Luo

Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)

The Luo are an ethnic group in Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. They are part of a larger group of ethnolinguistically related Luo who inhabit an area including southern Sudan, northern and eastern Uganda, western Kenya, and northern Tanzania....
people of Kenya

Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border....
and Tanzania

Tanzania

Tanzania , officially the United Republic of Tanzania , is a country in East Africa that is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south....
, numbering about 3 million, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza is one of the Great Lakes of Africa.Lake Victoria is 68,800 square kilometres in size, making it the continent's largest lake, the largest tropical lake in the world, and the second widest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area ....
and areas south of there. It is used for broadcasts on KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is the state-run media organization of Kenya. It broadcasts in both English language and Swahili language, as well as in most local languages of Kenya....
, formerly the Voice of Kenya) and Radio Ramogi. Dholuo is closely related to Lango, Acholi

Acholi language

Acholi is a language primarily spoken by the Acholi people in the districts of Gulu District, Kitgum and Pader District, a region known as Acholiland in northern Uganda....
and Dhopadhola

Dhopadhola

Dhopadhola is the language of the Jopadhola ethnic group in Uganda. Dhopadhola is generally mutually intelligible with Acholi language, Lango language, Kumam language and Alur language of Uganda and Dholuo language of Kenya....
of Uganda

Uganda

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Encyclopedia

Dholuo (also known as Luo; IPA with tone marks [d?ólúô]) belongs to the Luo grouping within the Western Nilotic

Western Nilotic languages

Nilo-Saharan languages

Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)

Kenya

Tanzania

Lake Victoria

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Acholi language

Acholi is a language primarily spoken by the Acholi people in the districts of Gulu District, Kitgum and Pader District, a region known as Acholiland in northern Uganda....
and Dhopadhola

Dhopadhola

Uganda

The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania....
. 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.

Phonology

Phonemes

Dholuo has two sets of five vowels, distinguished by the feature [+/-ATR].

[-ATR] vowels in Dholuo
.	Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....	Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel....	Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....
Near-close Near-close vowel A near-close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted....	?		?
Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel....	?		?
Open Open vowel An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth....		?

[+ATR] vowels in Dholuo
.	Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....	Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel....	Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....
Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant....	i		u
Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel....	e		o
Open Open vowel An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth....		a

In the table of consonants below, orthographic

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
symbols are included between parentheses if they differ from the IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic....
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 /d?/ can fricativize intervocalically). When symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.

Phonetic inventory of consonants in Dholuo.
.	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
stops	p b	t? (th) d? (dh)	t d	c (ch) ? (j)	k g
fricatives	f		s			h
nasals	m		n	? (ny)	? (ng')
prenasalized stops	mb		nd	?? (nj)	?g (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. It has vowel harmony

Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance Assimilation Phonology process involving vowels in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on what vowels may be found near each other....
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/. Vowel length is contrastive.

Grammar

Dholuo is notable for its complicated phonological alternations, which are used, among other things, in distinguishing inalienable possession

Inalienable possession

Inalienable possession in linguistics is a relationship between two objects indicating that they are connected in some way that cannot be changed....
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'

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.

Dholuo language

Phonology

Phonemes

Some phonological characteristics

Grammar

Sample phrases

Bibliography

External links