Sungor (also Assangorior, Assangor, Assangori, Songor, Asongor) is an Eastern Sudanic language of eastern Chad and western Sudan and a member of the Taman branch. It is closely related to Tama with some researchers speaking of a Tama-Assangori continuum.[2][3][4]
| Sungor | |
|---|---|
| Bognak-Asungorung | |
| Assangori | |
| Native to | Chad, Sudan |
| Region | Ouaddaï, Darfur |
| Ethnicity | Sungor, Erenga |
Native speakers | 100,000 (2023)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Unwritten | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sjg |
| Glottolog | assa1269 |
| ELP | Assangori |
| Linguasphere | 05-DAA-ae |
 Sungor is classified as Vulnerable by the Endangered Languages Project | |
Sungor is spoken in an area located to the south of Biltine and to the north of Adré (Ouaddaï) in Chad, as well as in Darfur in Sudan.[5][2] It is spoken by the Sungor people, of which a majority are Muslim.[3] The number of speakers was estimated at 23,500 according to the 1993 census of Chad.[4]
Phonology
editSo far, Sungor phonology is not well attested in literature and research.
Vowels
editSungor is most likely a tonal language with a high and low tone, e.g. 'worm' dút and 'big' dùt.[6] It has seven vowels and height assimilations.[7][3] Examples for height assimilation include plural suffixes -u,-uk, and -uɲ which trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɔ/ as in 'raven' gárá changing into 'ravens' gɔrú . Another example are suffixes -i and -iŋ which trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɛ/ as in 'house' wál changing into 'houses' wἐlί. [7]
Consonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t, d | k, g | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Trill/Tap | r | |||||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | x, ɣ | h | |
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Affricative | ts | dʒ |
- Final position plosives are neutralized.[6]
- The voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/ may exist as well.[6]
- /r/ may be articulated as a trill or tap.[6]
- /f/ and /h/ are infrequent in native words.[6] 80% of words with word-initial /f/ are of Arabic origin.[2] Word final /h/ is rare.[6]
- /ɣ/ seems to be adopted from Arabic.[6]
- Sungor appears to show gemination, though this is still underresearched.[6]
Grammar
editSource:[3]
Apart from some examples listed in the phonology tab, all words are spelled according to Lukas/Nachtigal with some limitations caused by a lack of certain characters on Wikipedia. Due to historical reasons, spelling roughly follows German spelling rules.[3]
Noun classes
editSungor, like Tama, follows a noun class system. Similarly to other Sudanese languages that also use noun classes, Sungor distinguishes meaning through the use of suffixes. However, there is little overlap between the suffixes used.
Plurals
editPlurals are mostly formed by suffixion. Suffixes change depending on class and number. Lukas[3] lists 31 different suffix pairs which do not necessarily constitute separate noun classes.[3] There are six ways of forming plurals in Sungor:
- Most plurals are formed by changing the class suffix. Some examples are 'skin' gera | geriŋ (Singular -a, Plural -iŋ), 'love' tárī | tárā (Sg. -ī, Pl. -ā), 'name' iget | igā (Sg. -et, Pl. -ā), or arabic loan 'muslim person' miselem | muselmīn (Pl. -īn).
- Other plurals only take a suffix. Some arabic loanwords fall into this category. Examples include 'heart' ámel | ámelā (Pl. -ā), 'human' at | árē or árī (Pl. -ē or -ī), 'mouth' kul | kulō (Pl. -ō), 'head' ŋor | ŋūrū (Pl. -ū), 'lip' oróyik | oroyikiŋ (Pl. -iŋ).
- There are some broken plurals, most of which are arabic loanwords. Examples are 'scholar' fik | fókora, 'robber' afrīt | afārit, 'pet' zāmela | zwāmel, or non-arabic 'grandpa' anat | ónut.
- Lukas lists one example of pluralisation where the vocal length is changed 'cow' tḛ | tệ[3].
- A small number of words form the singular from a collective plural. Examples are 'witch' émet | émē (Sg. -t), 'horse' ferda | fērat (Sg. -da, Pl. -at), 'wild cat' lūlut | lǘlu.
- Some words are irregular in the way that they form a plural. Some examples are 'woman' ī | īrin, 'dog' wī | wḗā, 'blacksmith' mēat | mīnyak.
Pronouns
edit| Subject | Oblique/Object | Possessive | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | singular | wa / wo | waŋ | nar / na |
| plural | wē / wui | wēŋ | oŋon / uŋun | |
| 2nd person | singular | ī | īŋ | nor / nur |
| plural | ai | eiŋ | ō / ḗŋkun | |
| 3rd person | singular | ési / ísē | ésiŋ | an(er) / un |
| plural | ésiŋ1 | ésiŋkoŋ2 | ōn / ūn | |
1. 3rd person Plural also exists as áiŋko
2. from ésiŋko which corresponds to áiŋko
Possessive pronouns in Sungor stand in postposition, e.g. 'his brother' bet an. If a possessive follows a plural, it is pluralised by adding -uŋ, e.g. 'our hearts' omulu uŋunuŋ.
Demonstrative
editSungor Demonstratives are quite underresearched. Examples are 'this' translating to iŋ, plural iŋkō and 'that translating to ệŋ, plural ệŋgo.
Interrogative
editInterrogatives lack research as well. 'Who' translates to nấrē, 'which' to nấnē, and 'what' to nímmōrī or nim as an alternative expression.[3]
Indefinite
editThe word for 'human' at is used to express 'someone'. The plural is árī. To differentiate whether 'someone' refers to a man or woman, the respective terms follow. 'Man' is at ma, 'woman' is at ī. Following this same pattern, 'everyone' translates to at kíro, literally 'every human' with kíro being the term for 'every'. Other indefinite pronouns are 'some' kōra, 'everything' híniŋ, or 'nobody' lō. Plurals can be formed by adding the suffix -guŋ.
Numbers
edit| 1 | kor | 11 | mer konterek | 100 | mía | 1000 | elf |
| 2 | wárē | 12 | mer warterek | 101 | mía o kor | 2000 | ta elf wárē |
| 3 | íca | 13 | mer icerek | 102 | mía o wárē | 3000 | ta elf íca |
| 4 | kus | 14 | mer kúserek | 110 | mía o mer | 5000 | elf másī |
| 5 | másī | 15 | mer masterek | 120 | mía o tíli war | 100000 | míat elf |
| 6 | tor | 16 | mer tórterek | 150 | mía o tíli másī | ||
| 7 | kal | 17 | mer kalterek | 200 | míat wárē | ||
| 8 | kibs | 18 | mer kibesterek | 300 | míat íca | ||
| 9 | úku | 19 | mer ukṹterek | 400 | míat kus | ||
| 10 | mer | 20 | tíli wárē | ||||
| 30 | tíli íca | ||||||
| 40 | tíli kus | ||||||
| 45 | tíli kus ge másī |
Ordinal Numbers
editOrdinals are derived from the cardinal numbers by adding suffixes -na or -no.
| Ordinal Numbers | |
|---|---|
| first1 | korna / korena |
| second | wórna / wórēna |
| third | ícana / ícenaí |
| fourth | kúsono |
| fifth | másena |
| sixth | tṓrena |
| seventh | kálena |
| eighth | kíbiseno |
| ninth | úkuno |
| tenth | mérena |
1. "The first" (male) also has the special form kémerik
To indicate how often something happens/has happened, Sungor uses mar and the corresponding ordinal number, e.g. 'the first time' mar korena.[3]
Adverbs
editSungor has locative adverbs, temporal adverbs, and adverbs of manner. Adverbs in Sungor are not well attested for.[3] Some examples of locative adverbs are 'here' índi, 'there' ḗŋdē, 'between' rēnik, 'above' óroyē. Temporal adverbs are, for example, 'daily' abad hḯnik, 'today' dấdo, 'always' dīman, 'yesterday' ệrē, 'now' hása, 'tomorrow' súsekē. Examples for adverbs of manner are 'maybe' tấsei, 'impossible' tấsoto. 'Maybe' tấsei might not be an adjective in itself since it can be divided into tấ-sei 'it will be'.[3]
Adverbial numbers
editNumbers become adverbial when they follow the arabic loanword mar, e.g. 'once' mar kor.[3]
Adjectives
editIn Sungor, adjectives follow and agree with the noun, for example 'white clay' ōsu aek and 'red clay' ōsu arak. Adjectives form plurals by adding a suffix, e.g. 'small, young' elit | eliŋa (Sg. -t, Pl. -ŋa), 'ripe, mature' naχed | naχedo (Pl. -o), 'older brother' jō dud | jṓā dútū.[3]
Verbs
editVerbs inflect by addition of affixes to a word root. For example, 'I birth' nḗne has the root ēn. Verb roots are usually monosyllabic or disyllabic. Prefixes mark the person, whereas suffixes mark time and mood.
The verbs can be put into three groups depending on the plural-affix they take. While verbs in Group I & II follow a regular patter, group III consists of irregular affixation.[3]
Present
editIn the following tables, 'R' marks the verb-root, 'V' signals a vowel, sounds in brackets '()' only sometimes occur, sounds in squared brackets '[]' only rarely occur, and '/' signals different realizations according to the context of an utterance, '-' is used to signal affixes.
| Group I | Group II | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | singular | n-(V)R-[n]e/i | n-(V)R-i/[e] |
| plural | n-(V)R-[i]nye | n-(V)R-e/ge1,2 | |
| 2nd person | singular | (V)R-[n]e/i | (V)R-i/[e] |
| plural | (V)R-[i]nye | (V)R-e/ge | |
| 3rd person | singular | R-[n]e/i | R-i/[e] |
| plural | R-(i)nye | R-e/ge | |
1. Also occurs as eke/[inye]
2. Nasals are followed by -ge, plosives or /s/ are followed by -eke
In the present tense, verbs can be further divided up into those that have suffix -i (Group I) or -e (Group II).
Present tense conditionals take one of three suffixes: -(V)ŋne, -kne, or -(V)ne. The plural is formed by adding a conditional suffix to a plural suffix, e.g. 'if I count' noto̯yanē | 'if we count' noto̯nyane (from no·to̯y·ny·ane).[3]
Negation happens by adding a suffix. A positive form with the suffix -e takes -ato if the verb root contains front vowels (a, e, i) or -oto if the verb root contains back vowels (o, u). If the positive form takes the suffix -i, the negative form takes the suffix -to or -(V)kto (sometimes -kāto) with some exceptions. In the plural form -kto becomes -kāto/-kōto, while -ato/-oto remains the same.[3]
Past
edit| Preterite I | Preterite II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group I | Group II | Group I | Group II | ||
| 1st person | singular | n-(V)R(V)(V)-ŋV | same as Group 1 | n-VR(V)(V)-ŋVŋV | not documented |
| plural | n-(V)R(V)-nyVŋV1 | n-(V)R-g/kaŋa | n-VR(V)-nyVŋV | ||
| 2nd person | singular | (V)R(V)(V)-ŋV | same as Group 1 | VR(V)(V)-ŋVŋV | |
| plural | (V)R(V)-nyVŋV | (V)R-g/kaŋa | VR(V)-nyVŋV | ||
| 3rd person | singular | R(V)(V)-ŋV | same as Group 1 | R(V)(V)-ŋVŋV | |
| plural | R(V)-nyVŋV | R-g/kaŋa | R(V)-nyVŋV | ||
1. Also n-(V)RV-aŋa
Preterite tense suffixes can sometimes be added onto the present tense suffixes -i and -e.
Preterite conditionals are formed by replacing the -ne | -nē. These conditionals have a future meaning, e.g. 'I counted' notộyiŋa (preterite I) and 'if I will count' noto̯yiŋne, 'I requested' nisekḗŋiŋa and 'if I will request' nisekḗŋiŋne.[3]
Both negatives of preterite I & II are derived from the positive by adding the suffix -to, e.g. 'I played' nagarnáŋa | 'I did not play' nagarnáŋto (preterite I) and nagarnáŋiŋa | nagarnáŋiŋto (preterite II).[3]
Future
edit| Group I | Group II | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | singular | n-(V)R(V)sai | n-(V)R(V)-sai |
| plural | n-(V)R(V)sinye | n-(V)R(V)-saie1 | |
| 2nd person | singular | (V)R(V)-sai | (V)R(V)-sai |
| plural | (V)R(V)-sinye | (V)R(V)-saie | |
| 3rd person | singular | R(V)-sai | (t)-(V)R(V)-sai |
| plural | R(V)-sinye | (t)-(V)R(V)-saie | |
1. Group II plural marker saie can also be replaced by seke
Lukas suspects the future marker -sa to be an auxiliary verb in the present tens.[3]
Future tense conditionals are formed by adding suffix -ŋnē, e.g. 'to know' njel and 'if I will know' ninjilisáiŋnē.[3]
Imperative
editImperatives in Sungor differ based on the present tense verb group a word falls into. The positive singular imperative for verbs that end in -i is the verb root, although there are some exceptions. Verbs that end in -e take suffixes -a, -o, -e, and in some cases -i. For plurals, the prefix k-(V)- and suffixes -a or -o are needed. Negative imperatives are follow the either the schemata VR-aito or VR-ēto.[3]
Auxiliaries
editSome auxiliaries exist in Sungor. However, due to a lack in research, auxiliaries are not well documented.[3]
References
edit- ^ Sungor at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ a b c Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-9042922372
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Lukas, J. (1938). Die Sprache der Sungor in Wadai (Aus Nachtigals Nachlaß) (in German). Mitteilungen der Ausland-Hochschule Universität Berlin. pp. 171–246.
- ^ a b Bombay, Elaine (2007). "Enquête sociolinguistique sur les langues tama et assangori parlers du Tchad et du Soudan". Journal of Language Survey Reports.
- ^ Voeglin, C. F.; Voeglin, F. M. (1964). "Languages of the World: Africa Fascicle One". Anthropological Linguistics. 6 (5): 226. JSTOR 30022465.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Edgar, John T. (1990). Tama Group Lexicon.
- ^ a b Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Ahland, Colleen; Jakobi, Angelica; Kutsch Lojenga, Constance (2019). "Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan'". The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.28208.51208.
