Nubi language
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other The Nubi language (also called Ki-Nubi, Template:Langx) is a Sudanese Arabic-based creole language spoken in Uganda around Bombo, and in Kenya around Kibera, by the Ugandan Nubians, many of whom are descendants of Emin Pasha's Sudanese soldiers who were settled there by the British colonial administration. It was spoken by about 15,000 people in Uganda in 1991 (according to the census), and an estimated 10,000 in Kenya; another source estimates about 50,000 speakers as of 2001. 90% of the lexicon derives from Arabic,<ref name=":1">Ineke Wellens. The Nubi Language of Uganda: An Arabic Creole in Africa. BRILL, 2005 Template:ISBN</ref> but the grammar has been simplified,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as has the sound system. Nairobi has the greatest concentration of Nubi speakers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Nubi has the prefixing, suffixing and compounding processes also present in Arabic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Many Nubi speakers are Kakwa who came from the Nubian region, first into Equatoria, and from there southwards into Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They rose to prominence under Ugandan President Idi Amin, who was Kakwa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Jonathan Owens argues that Nubi constitutes a major counterexample to Derek Bickerton's theories of creole language formation, showing "no more than a chance resemblance to Bickerton's universal creole features" despite fulfilling perfectly the historical conditions expected to lead to such features.Template:Citation needed Scholars (Sebit, 2023) have suggested that the Nubi Language was the main point of unity among the Nubi community in east Africa, to survive the hardship they experienced from different community components.
PhonologyEdit
VowelsEdit
Sources:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
There are five vowels in Nubi. Vowels are not distinguished by length except in at least two exceptions from Kenyan Nubi (which are not present in Ugandan dialects) where {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means "outside" and is an adverb while {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means "the outside" and is a noun, and also where {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meaning "bewitch" is compared to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meaning "herd, cattle". Despite this, there is a tendency for vowels in stressed syllables to be registered as long vowels.<ref name=":1" />
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPAlink | Template:IPAlink |
| Mid | Template:IPAlink | Template:IPAlink |
| Low | Template:IPAlink | |
Each of the vowels has multiple allophones and the exact sound of the vowel depends on the surrounding consonants.<ref name=":1" />
ConsonantsEdit
Sources:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Speakers may use Standard Arabic phonemes for words for which the Arabic pronunciation has been learned. The retroflex version of the /r/ sound may also occur and some dialects use /l/ in its place. Geminates are very unusual in Nubi. These less common phonemes are shown in brackets.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Ineke Wellens gives the following orthography for Nubi where it differs from the IPA symbols: /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = sh; /t{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = ch; /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = j; /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = ny; /w/ = w or u; /j/ = y or i; /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = th; /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = dh; /x/ = kh; /{{#invoke:IPA|main}}/ = ḥ.<ref name=":1" />
Syllable StructureEdit
Syllables typically have a CV, VC, V or CVC structure with VC only occurring in initial syllables. Final and initial CC occur only in a few specific examples such as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} which means "school" or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} which means "sun".<ref name=":0" />
Stress can change the meaning of words for example {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means "seven" or "morning" depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllables respectively. Vowels are often omitted in unstressed, final syllables and sometime even the stressed final "u" in the passive form may be deleted after "m", "n", "l", "f" or "b". This can cause syllables to be realigned even across words.<ref name=":0" />
GrammarEdit
NominalsEdit
Nouns are inflected by number only (taking a singular or plural form) although for most nouns this does not represent a morphological change. Jonathan Owens gives 5 broad inflectional categories of nouns:<ref name=":0" />
- Nouns which undergo a stress shift when the plural is formed.
- Nouns which undergo apophony.
- Nouns which take a suffix and undergo a stress shift in the plural form.
- Nouns which form the plural by suppletion
- Bantu loan-words which take different prefixes in the singular and plural forms
The table below shows examples of each type of pluralisation. The apostrophe has been placed before the stressed syllable:<ref name=":0" />
| Type of
Pluralisation |
Singular Form | Plural Form | English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yo'wele | yowe'le | boy(s) |
| 2 | ke'bir | ku'bar | big [thing(s)] |
| 3 | 'tajir | taji'rin | rich person(s) |
| 3 | 'seder | sede'ra | tree(s) |
| 4 | 'marya | nus'wan | woman / women1 |
| 5 | muze | waze | old man / old men |
1{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} may be supplemented by a suffix as if it were type 3, thus, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} could also mean "women".<ref name=":0" />
Adjectives follow the noun and some adjectives have singular and plural forms which must agree with the noun. Adjectives may also take the prefixes {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} which mark them as habitual. Possessor nouns follow the possessed, with a particle {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} placed in between. In the case of inalienable possession the particle is omitted.<ref name=":0" />
See alsoEdit
BibliographyEdit
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- Nakao, Shuichiro. 2018. "Mountains do not meet, but men do." Arabic in Contact, edited by Stefano Mandfredi and Mauro Tosco, 275-294. John Benjamins Publishing.
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ReferencesEdit
Template:Eastern Sudanic languages Template:Languages of Kenya Template:Languages of Uganda Template:Varieties of Arabic