Oropom language
Encyclopedia
Oropom is a dubious and, if real, almost certainly extinct
African language, purportedly once spoken in northeastern Uganda
and northwestern Kenya
between the Turkwel River
, Chemorongit Mountains, and Mount Elgon
, by the Oropom people. There is only one article containing any original research on the language, Wilson 1970, which only a handful of other articles discuss. The Wilson article furnishes only a short word list (though it says that "the process of collection is still going on"), and it was written at a time when the language, if it existed was nearly extinct. It was based mainly on the limited memories of two very old women, one "a child of one of the residual Oropom families that had remained after the break-up of the Oropom here (Matheniko county)" who "remembered a few words of the language", the other an old lady called Akol "descended from the prisoners taken by the Karimojong on the Turkwel" who was "able to furnish many Oropom words." Under the circumstances, only the barest details of the language could be ascertained. Bernd Heine
has expressed skepticism as to whether it existed at all.
On this basis, Wilson concluded that it must have had at least two dialects: one spoken around the Turkwel area, containing a significant number of Luo words, and some Bantu
words, one around Matheniko county with fewer Luo words. Both contain Kalenjin
loanword
s.
Wilson ascribes it to the Khoisan
group, seemingly based solely on their physical appearance; but this identification is unreliable (Harold Fleming describes it as a "ridiculous suggestion".) Elderkin (1983) says that "The Oropom data of Wilson (1970) shows some resemblances to Kuliak
, some of which could well be mediated through Nilotic
, with which it seems to have more resemblances (F. Rottland, personal communication)... There are many fewer resemblances worth noting with Hadza
and only a minimal number with Sandawe
." He quotes 8 potentially similar words between Oropom and Hadza, and 4 between Oropom and Sandawe. Harold Fleming also notes that "initial inspection suggests some possible commonality" between Oropom and the Kuliak languages
, a probably Nilo-Saharan
relic group found in Northern Uganda among such tribes as the Ik
. However, in the absence of further work, Oropom remains an unclassified language
.
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
African language, purportedly once spoken in northeastern Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and northwestern Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
between the Turkwel River
Turkwel River
The Turkwel River is a river flowing from Mount Elgon in the border of Kenya and Uganda to Lake Turkana. The river is called Suam River from its source to the border with the West Pokot District of Kenya...
, Chemorongit Mountains, and Mount Elgon
Mount Elgon
Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale.- Physical features :It is the oldest and largest solitary volcano in East Africa, covering an area of around 3500 km²....
, by the Oropom people. There is only one article containing any original research on the language, Wilson 1970, which only a handful of other articles discuss. The Wilson article furnishes only a short word list (though it says that "the process of collection is still going on"), and it was written at a time when the language, if it existed was nearly extinct. It was based mainly on the limited memories of two very old women, one "a child of one of the residual Oropom families that had remained after the break-up of the Oropom here (Matheniko county)" who "remembered a few words of the language", the other an old lady called Akol "descended from the prisoners taken by the Karimojong on the Turkwel" who was "able to furnish many Oropom words." Under the circumstances, only the barest details of the language could be ascertained. Bernd Heine
Bernd Heine
Bernd Heine is a German linguist and specialist in African studies.From 1978 to 2004 Heine held the chair for African Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany. His main focal points in research and teaching are African linguistics, language sociology, grammaticalization theory and language...
has expressed skepticism as to whether it existed at all.
On this basis, Wilson concluded that it must have had at least two dialects: one spoken around the Turkwel area, containing a significant number of Luo words, and some Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
words, one around Matheniko county with fewer Luo words. Both contain Kalenjin
Kalenjin language
The Nandi languages, or Kalenjin proper, are a dialect cluster of the Kalenjin branch of the Nilotic language family.In Kenya, where speakers make up 18% of the population, the name Kalenjin, a Nandi expression meaning "I say ", gained prominence in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, when several...
loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s.
Wilson ascribes it to the Khoisan
Khoisan languages
The Khoisan languages are the click languages of Africa which do not belong to other language families. They include languages indigenous to southern and eastern Africa, though some, such as the Khoi languages, appear to have moved to their current locations not long before the Bantu expansion...
group, seemingly based solely on their physical appearance; but this identification is unreliable (Harold Fleming describes it as a "ridiculous suggestion".) Elderkin (1983) says that "The Oropom data of Wilson (1970) shows some resemblances to Kuliak
Kuliak languages
-References:* Heine, Bernd The Kuliak Languages of Eastern Uganda. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.* Ehret, Christopher "The classification of Kuliak", in ed. Thilo Schadeberg & Lionel Bender, Nilo-Saharan: Proceedings of the First Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Leiden, September...
, some of which could well be mediated through Nilotic
Nilotic languages
The Nilotic languages are a group of Eastern Sudanic languages spoken across a wide area between southern Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples, particularly associated with cattle-herding...
, with which it seems to have more resemblances (F. Rottland, personal communication)... There are many fewer resemblances worth noting with Hadza
Hadza language
Hadza is a language isolate spoken by fewer than a thousand Hadza people along the shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania, the last full-time hunter-gatherers in Africa. Despite the small number of speakers, language use is vigorous, with most children learning it...
and only a minimal number with Sandawe
Sandawe language
Sandawe or Sandawi is a tonal language spoken by about 40,000 Sandawe people in the Dodoma region of Tanzania. Language use is vigorous among both adults and children, with people in some areas monolingual. Sandawe had generally been classified as a member of the defunct Khoisan family since Albert...
." He quotes 8 potentially similar words between Oropom and Hadza, and 4 between Oropom and Sandawe. Harold Fleming also notes that "initial inspection suggests some possible commonality" between Oropom and the Kuliak languages
Kuliak languages
-References:* Heine, Bernd The Kuliak Languages of Eastern Uganda. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.* Ehret, Christopher "The classification of Kuliak", in ed. Thilo Schadeberg & Lionel Bender, Nilo-Saharan: Proceedings of the First Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Leiden, September...
, a probably Nilo-Saharan
Nilo-Saharan languages
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers , including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet...
relic group found in Northern Uganda among such tribes as the Ik
Ik
The Ik are an ethnic group numbering about 10,000 people living in the mountains of northeastern Uganda near the border with Kenya, next to the more populous Karamojong and Turkana peoples. The Ik were displaced from their land to create a national park and consequently suffered extreme famine...
. However, in the absence of further work, Oropom remains an unclassified language
Unclassified language
Unclassified languages are languages whose genetic affiliation has not been established by means of historical linguistics. If this state of affairs continues after significant study of the language and efforts to relate it to other languages, as in the case of Basque, it is termed a language...
.
Wordlist
This wordlist, taken from the appendix to Wilson 1970, is based on Akol's memories (and thus is considered by Wilson as belonging to the "Turkwell dialect".) He specifically says that he collected words from the other dialect as well, but apparently never published them. The list consists of less than a hundred words, but is unfortunately quite likely to be all the vocabulary that will ever be known of the language.- man: muren
- woman: nakwanta
- child: muto
- father: mamunyu
- mother: iyoo
- brother: lukiya
- sister: pese
- old man: kuko
- old woman: kukuye
- mother-in-law: yo
- warrior: lim
- enemy: bu
- thief: mokorat
- fool: bung
- clever person: woth
- seer: murwe
- wizard: rimirim
- witch: ariet
- dog: kokuye
- cat: ariet
- cow: ngobo
- bull: losogol
- cattle: pange
- goat: ngoror
- sheep: merek
- lion: ru
- leopard: meri
- gazelle: tuth
- eland: ongor
- snake: kwolta
- crocodile: moro
- fish: karu
- egg: iken
- honey: madik
- meat: apintoo
- milk: coko
- food: araukoo
- oil: konoye
- fat: moda
- cooking pot: kodo
- cooking pot (black): kiriente
- grooved design on pots: nacipa
- eye: kongiye
- nose: torom
- ear: ki-ito
- tooth: ne-et
- breast: kisina
- penis: oyaa
- vagina: kibunte
- hand: akeleng
- foot: apaukoo
- hair: akopito
- cowrie shell: pel
- mark on forehead: nageran
- ear-ring: napiroi
- neck bangles: gorom
- women's apron: ongor
- stone wrist bangle: aurare
- spear: ngokit
- arrow: motit
- bow: terema
- soil: nyapid
- chalcedony: atunatun
- water: lata
- fire: emaa
- sun: aca
- moon: pele
- day: awar
- night: riono
- rain: lat
- house: apirgoo
- tree: telegai
- grass: purung
- white: pele
- black: timu
- red: kopurat
- blue: puthia
- good: pau
- bad: girito
- hard: keter
- soft: lujuk
- dry: de-au
- wet: ret
- to sleep: sanan
- to walk: pauwo
- to swim: redik
- to dig: chege
- to cut: tubo
- to sit: paja
- to lie down: lura
- to give: we
- to receive: aruka
- to cook: ipo
- to burn: mala
- to boil water: mak
- to speak: dokol
- to marry: ritha