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<sup><small>1. "The first" (male) also has the special form ''kémerik''</small></sup>
<sup><small>1. "The first" (male) also has the special form ''kémerik''</small></sup>

To indicate how often something happens/has happened, Sungor uses ''mar'' and the corresponding ordinal number, e.g. "the first time" ''mar korena.''


=== Adverbs ===
=== Adverbs ===
Line 269: Line 271:


==== Adverbial numbers ====
==== Adverbial numbers ====
Numbers become adverbial when they come after arabic loanword ''mar,'' e.g. "once" ''mar kor.'' To indicate the instance in time something happens, Sungor uses ''mar'' and the corresponding ordinal number, e.g. "the first time" ''mar korena.''
Numbers become adverbial when they follow arabic loanword ''mar,'' e.g. "once" ''mar kor.''


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 12:45, 6 December 2023

Sungor
Assangori
Native toChad, Sudan
RegionOuaddaï, Darfur
EthnicitySungor, Erenga people
Native speakers
(24,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sjg
Glottologassa1269
ELPAssangori
Linguasphere05-DAA-ae

Sungor (also Assangorior, Assangor, Assangori) is a language of eastern Chad and western Sudan and a member of the Taman language family. It is closely related or identical to Tama.[2][3]

Sungor is spoken in an area located to the south of Biltine and to the north of Adré in Chad, as well as in Darfur in Sudan.[4][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.[1]

Grammar

Source:[3]

Noun classes

Sungor, 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

Plurals are mostly formed by suffixion. Suffixes change depending on class and number. Lukas lists 31 different suffix pairs which do not necessarily constitute separate noun classes[3]. There are six ways of forming plurals in Sungor:

  1. 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" miselem | muselmīn (Pl. -īn).
  2. 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).
  3. 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.
  4. Lukas lists one example of pluralisation where the vocal length is changed "cow" tḛ | tệ[3].
  5. 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.
  6. Some words do not follow a regular pattern. Some examples are "woman" ī | īrin, "dog" wī | wḗā, "blacksmith" mēat | mīnyak.

Pronouns

Nominative Oblique 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 are 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

"This" translates to iŋ, plural iŋkō. "That" translates to ệŋ, plural ệŋgo.

Interrogative

"Who" translates to nấrē, "which" translates to nấnē. "What" translates to nímmōrī or nim.

Indefinite

The word for "human" at is used to say "someone". The plural is árī. To differentiate whether "someone" refers to a man or woman, the respective words follow at. "Man" is at ma, "woman" is at ī. "Some" translates to kōra. "Every" translates to kíro, "everyone" is at kíro. "Everything" is híniŋ, plurals can be formed by adding the suffix -guŋ. "Nobody" translates to lō.

Numbers

Number Number Number Number
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

Ordinals 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.

Adverbs

Lukas lists locative adverbs, temporal adverbs, and adverbs of manner[3]. Some examples of locative adverbs are "here" índi, "there" ḗŋdē, "between" rēnik, "above" óroyē. Examples for temporal adverbs include "daily" abad hḯnik, "today" dấdo, "always" dīman, "yesterday" ệrē, "now" hása, "tomorrow" súsekē. Examples for adverbs of manner are "maybe" tấsei, "impossible" tấsoto. Lukas says of tấsei that it might not be an adjective in Sungor but can be divided into tấ-sei "it will be"[3].

Adverbial numbers

Numbers become adverbial when they follow arabic loanword mar, e.g. "once" mar kor.

References

  1. ^ a b Sungor at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-9042922372
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lukas, J. (1938). Die Sprache der Sungor in Wadai (Aus Nachtigals Nachlaß) (in German). Mitteilungen der Ausland-Hochschule Universität Berlin. pp. 171–246.
  4. ^ Voeglin, C. F.; Voeglin, F. M. (1964). "Languages of the World: Africa Fascicle One". Anthropological Linguistics. 6 (5): 226. JSTOR 30022465.

Guinet, X. 1973. Esquisse d’une phonologie du Sungor. in Boyeldieu, P. (éd.), Problèmes de phonologie, Bibliothèque de la SELAF, 38 :73-100. Nachtigal, G. 1938. Die Sprache der Sungor in Wadai. [J. Lukas ed.] Mitteilungen der Ausland- Hochschule und Universität, Berlin, 41: 171-246.


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