Sungor language

Sungor
Bognak-Asungorung
Assangori
Native to	Chad, Sudan
Region	Ouaddaï, Darfur
Ethnicity	Sungor, Erenga people
Native speakers	(24,000 cited 1993)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Astaboran Taman Tama–Sungor Sungor
Dialects	Sungor Walad Dulla
Writing system	Unwritten
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sjg
Glottolog	assa1269
ELP	Assangori
Linguasphere	05-DAA-ae

Sungor (also Assangorior, Assangor, Assangori) is a Eastern Sudanic language of eastern Chad and western Sudan and a member of the Taman language family. It is closely related to Tama with some resarchers speaking of a Tama-Assangori continuum.

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. It is spoken by the Sungor people, of which a majority are Muslim. The number of speakers was estimated at 23,500 according to the 1993 census of Chad.

Phonology

So far, Sungor phonology is not well attested in literature and research.

Sungor has seven vowels and height assimilations. The plural suffixes -u,-uk, and -uɲ trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɔ/. Suffixes -i and -iŋ trigger the root vowel /a/ to be raised to /ɛ/. Examples include "raven" gárá changing into "ravens" gɔrú or "house" wál changing into "houses" wἐlί.

Sungor has consonants /d/ and /f/ attested for. 80% of words with word-initial /f/ are of Arabic origin.

Grammar

Source:

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. 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.
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

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. 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".

Adverbial numbers

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

Adjectives

In 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, examples are "small, young" elit | eliŋa (Sg. -t, Pl. -ŋa), "ripe, mature" naχed | naχedo (Pl. -o), "older brother" jō dud | jṓā dútū.

Verbs

Verbs 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.

Present

In the following tables, "—" marks the verb-root, "‿" signals a vowel, sounds in brackets "()" only sometimes occur, sounds in squared brackets "[]" only rarely occur, "/" signals a sound that may differ in another context.

		Group I	Group II
1st person	singular	n(‿)—[n]e/i	n(‿)—i/[e]
	plural	n(‿)—[i]nye	n(‿)—e/ge1,2
2nd person	singular	(‿)—[n]e/i	(‿)—i/[e]
	plural	(‿)—[i]nye	(‿)-e/ge
3rd person	singular	—[n]e/i	—i/[e]
	plural	—(i)nye	—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: -(‿)ŋne, -kne, or -(‿)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).

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 -(‿)kto (sometimes -kāto) with some exceptions. In the plural form -kto becomes -kāto/-kōto, while -ato/-oto remains the same.

Past

		Preterite I		Preterite II
		Group I	Group II	Group I	Group II
1st person	singular	n(‿)—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿	same as Group 1	n‿—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿ŋ‿	not documented
	plural	n(‿)—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿1	n(‿)—g/kaŋa	n‿—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿
2nd person	singular	(‿)—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿	same as Group 1	‿—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿ŋ‿
	plural	(‿)—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿	(‿)—g/kaŋa	‿—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿
3rd person	singular	—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿	same as Group 1	—(‿) (‿)ŋ‿ŋ‿
	plural	—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿	—g/kaŋa	—(‿)ny‿ŋ‿

^{1. Also n(‿)—‿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.

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).

Future

		Group I	Group II
1st person	singular	n(‿)—(‿)sai	n(‿)—(‿)sai
	plural	n(‿)—(‿)sinye	n(‿)—(‿)saie1
2nd person	singular	(‿)—(‿)sai	(‿)—(‿)sai
	plural	(‿)—(‿)sinye	(‿)—(‿)saie
3rd person	singular	—(‿)sai	(t)(‿)—(‿)sai
	plural	—(‿)sinye	(t)(‿)—(‿)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.

Future tense conditionals are formed by adding suffix -ŋnē, e.g. "to know" njel and "if I will know" ninjilisáiŋnē.

Imperative

Imperatives in Sungor differ based on their present tense verb group. 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(‿)- and suffixes -a or -o are needed. Negative imperatives are follow the either the schemata ‿—aito or ‿—ēto.

Auxiliaries

Some auxiliaries exist in Sungor, however Lukas remarks that there is still little research into Sungor, so auxiliaries are not documented extensively.

References

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.

External links

• Erenga basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database