Fur language

The Fur language (or Foor; Fur: bèle fòòr or fòòraŋ bèle; Arabic: فوراوي‎, Fûrâwî; sometimes called Konjara by linguists, after a former ruling clan) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in Western Sudan. It is part of a broader family of languages known as the Fur languages.

Fur
bèle fòòr
Native toSudan, Chad
RegionDarfur
Ethnicity9,000,000 Fur people (2014)[1]
Native speakers
(More than 11,000,000 cited 1916)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3fvr
Glottologfurr1244[2]
Linguasphere05-CAA-aa
Geographic distribution of Fur

Phonology

The consonantal phonemes are:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Plosive p[decimal 1] b t d ɟ[decimal 2] k ɡ
Fricative f[decimal 1] s (z)[decimal 3] h[decimal 4]
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Medial approximant j w
Lateral approximant l
Trill r
  1. /f/ is in free variation among a series of sounds ranging between [p] and [f]; thus some sources give the name of the language as pɔɔr.
  2. /ɟ/ can also be pronounced as [dʒ].
  3. [z] occurs only as an allophone of /j/.
  4. /h/ is very rare.

All sounds are spelt with their IPA symbols except for the following: j = [ɟ~dʒ], ñ = [ɲ] and y = [j]. Arabic consonants are sometimes used in loanwords.

The vowels are as in Latin: a e i o u. There is dispute as to whether the –ATR vowels [ɛ], [ɔ], [ɪ], [ʊ] are phonetic variants or separate phonemes.[3]

Front Central Back
Close [+ATR] i u
Near-close [-ATR] ɪ ʊ
Mid [+ATR] [e] ə [o]
Open-mid [-ATR] ɛ ɔ
Open a

There are two underlying tonemes, L (low) and H (high); phonetically, L, H, mid, HL and LH are all found.

Metathesis is an extremely common and regular grammatical phenomenon in Fur: when a consonant pronoun prefix is prefixed to a verb that begins with a consonant, either the verb's first consonant is deleted or it changes places with the following vowel. E.g.: lem- "lick" → -elm-; ba- "drink" → -ab-; tuum- "build" → -utum-. There are also various assimilation rules.

Morphology

Plurals

Noun, and optionally adjective, plurals can be formed with -a (-ŋa after vowels): aldí "story" → aldíŋá "stories", tóŋ "(a certain species of) antelope" → pira "antelopes"; piraŋa "old" → 'tooy'báiná "old (pl.)". This suffix also gives the inanimate 3rd person plural of the verb: liíŋ "he bathes" → liíŋá "they (inanimate) bathe", káliŋa "they (animate) bathe".

Vowel-final adjectives can take a plural in -lá, as well as -ŋa: lúllá "cold" → lúllála or lúlláŋa "cold (pl.)". A similar suffix (metathesized and assimilated to become -ól/-úl/-ál) is used for the plural of the verb in some tenses.

A few CVV nouns take the plural suffix H-ta; roo "river" → roota'wala gal "rooŋa' "rivers"; ra̱yi' wala gal'"ra̱y" "field" → rǎ̱ytó'wala gal' "rǎ̱ytá"fields".

At least two nouns take the suffix -i: kóór "spear" → kóórí "spears", dʉ́tʉ "mouse" → kʉ́ʉ́tɨ́ "mice".

Nouns with the singular prefix d- (> n- before a nasal) take the plural k-; these are about 20% of all nouns. In some cases (mostly body parts) it is accompanied by L. E.g.: dɨ́ló "ear" → kɨ́ló "ears"; nʉ́ŋɨ́ "eye" → kʉ́ŋɨ́ "eyes"; dági "tooth" → kagi "teeth"; dormí "nose" → kormi "noses".

  • In some cases the singular also has a suffix -ŋ, not found in the plural: daulaŋ "shoe" → kaula "shoes", dɨróŋ "egg" → kɨro "eggs".
  • Sometimes a further plural suffix from those listed above is added: nʉ́nʉm "granary" → kʉ́nʉ́ma "granaries", nʉ́ʉ́m "snake" → kʉ́ʉ́mɨ́ "snakes", dɨwwô "new" → kɨwwóla'wala gal 'kɨwwóŋa "new (pl.)"
  • Sometimes the suffix -(n)ta, is added: dewer "porcupine" → kewértá "porcupines"; da̱wi "tail" → ka̱wíntó'wala gal '"ka̱wíntá" "tails".
  • One noun, as well as the demonstratives and the interrogative "which", take a plural by simply prefixing k-L: úú "cow" → kuu'cows'; á̱yɨ "which (one)?" → ká̱yɨ "which (ones)?".
  • Several syntactic plurals with no singulars, mostly denoting liquids, have k-L-a; kewa "blood", koro "water", kona "name, song" koonà.

Nouns

The locative can be expressed by the suffix -le or by reversing the noun's final tone, e.g.: tòŋ "house" → toŋ "at the house"; loo "place", kàrrà "far" → loo kàrrà-le "at a far place".

The genitive (English 's) is expressed by the suffix -iŋ (the i is deleted after a vowel.) If the relationship is possessive, the possessor comes first; otherwise, it comes last. E.g.: nuum "snake" → nuumiŋ tàbù "snake's head"; jùtà "forest" → kàrabà jùtăŋ "animals of the forest".

Pronouns

Independent subject:

SingularFurPluralFur
Iká' wekɨ́
you (sg.)jɨ́you (pl.)bɨ́
he, she, ityétheyyɨeŋ + yeeŋ

The object pronouns are identical apart from being low tone and having -ŋó added to the plural forms.

Prefixed subject pronouns:

SingularFurPluralFur
I- (triggers metathesis)wek-
you (sg.)j-you (pl.)b-
he, she, it- (causes raising; *y-)they (animate)y- (+pl. suffix)
they (inanimate)(*y-) (+pl. suffix)

Thus, for example, on the verb bʉo- "tire":

EnglishFurEnglishFur
I'm tiredká ʉmowe tiredkɨ́ kʉmo
you (sg.) tiredjɨ́ jʉmoyou (pl.) tired bɨ́ bʉmo
he/it/she tiredyé bʉothey tiredyɨeŋ kʉme + yeeŋ bʉe

gi, described as the "participant object pronoun", represents first or second person objects in a dialogue, depending on context.

Possessives (singular; take k- with plural nouns):

SingularFurPluralFur
mydúíŋourdáíŋ
your (sg.)dɨ́ɨ́ŋyour (pl.)dɨ́eŋ
his, hers, itsdééŋtheirdɨ́eŋ

Verbs

The Fur verbal system is quite complicated; verbs fall into a variety of conjugations. There are three tenses: present, perfect, and future. Subjunctive is also marked. Aspect is distinguished in the past tense.

Derivational suffixes include -iŋ (intransitive/reflexive; e.g. lii "he washes" → liiŋ "he washes himself) and gemination of the middle consonant plus -à/ò (intensive; e.g. jabi "drop" → jappiò/jabbiò "throw down".)

Negation is done with the marker a-...-bà surrounding the verb; a-bai-bà "he does not drink".

Adjectives

Most adjectives have two syllables, and a geminate middle consonant: e.g. àppa "big", fùkka "red", lecka "sweet". Some have three syllables: dàkkure "solid".

Adverbs can be derived from adjectives by addition of the suffix -ndì or L-n, e.g.: kùlle "fast" → kùllendì or kùllèn "quickly".

Abstract nouns can be derived from adjectives by adding -iŋ and lowering all tones, deleting any final vowel of the adjective, e.g.: dìrro "heavy" → dìrrìŋ "heaviness".

Media in Fur language

Radio Dabanga - broadcasts daily news in the Fur language and in other languages local to Darfur.

gollark: Hey, I was kind of right!
gollark: Weird.
gollark: ???
gollark: You can write both pretty simply using `peripheral.find`.
gollark: Do you want to keep the manual modem configuration or have it autodetect one?

References
  1. Fur at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Fur". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Kutsch-Lojenga, Constance; Christine, Waag (2004). The Sounds and Tones of Fur. Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9: Entebbe: SIL-Sudan.CS1 maint: location (link)

Sources
  • A. C. Beaton. A Grammar of the Fur Language. Linguistic Monograph Series, No. 1. Khartoum: Sudan Research Unit, Faculty of Arts, University of Khartoum 1968 (1937).
  • Angelika Jakobi, A Fur Grammar. Buske Verlag: Hamburg 1989.
  • Constance Kutsch-Lojenga & Christine Waag, "The Sounds and Tones of Fur", in Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9. Entebbe: SIL-Sudan 2004.
  • Georgianna Noel, An Examination of the Tone System of Fur and its Function in Grammar, University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.
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