Lele language (Chad)
{{Short description|East Chadic language of Chad}}
{{Distinguish|Lele language (Papua New Guinea)|Lele language (Bantu)|Lele language (Guinea)}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Lele
|nativename=
|states=Chad
|region=
|speakers=26,000
|date=1991
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Afro-Asiatic
|fam2=Chadic
|fam3=East Chadic
|fam4=East Chadic A
|fam5=Nancere (A.2.1)
|iso3=lln
|glotto=lele1276
|glottorefname=Lele (Chad)
}}
Lele is an East Chadic language spoken in the Tandjilé Region, in the Tandjilé Ouest department, south of Kélo.
Phonology
=Vowels=
Lele has five underlying vowels. The mid vowels are lower mid rather than higher mid. All vowels may have long variants.{{cite book|last1=Frajzyngier|first1=Zygmunt|title=A Grammar of Lele|date=2001|publisher=CSLI Publications|location=Stanford, California}}
:
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ IPA chart of vowels ! ! Front ! Central ! Back |
| High
| {{IPAblink|i}} || || {{IPAblink|u}} |
|---|
| Mid
| {{IPAblink|e}} || || {{IPAblink|o}} |
| Low
| || {{IPAblink|a}} || |
=Consonants=
There are some asymmetries in Lele's consonant inventory.
:
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Consonants ! colspan=2| ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! Glottal |
| colspan=2| Nasal
| {{IPAblink|m}} | {{IPAblink|n}} | {{IPAblink|ɲ}} | {{IPAblink|ŋ}} | | |
|---|
| rowspan=4| Plosive
! {{small|voiceless}} | {{IPAblink|p}} | {{IPAblink|t}} | | {{IPAblink|k}} | {{IPAblink|kp}} | |
| {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPAblink|b}} | {{IPAblink|d}} | | {{IPAblink|ɡ}} | {{IPAblink|ɡb}} | |
| {{small|implosive}}
| {{IPAblink|ɓ}} | {{IPAblink|ɗ}} | | | | |
| {{small|prenasalized}}
| {{IPAblink|ᵐb}} | {{IPAblink|ⁿd}} | | | {{IPAblink|ᵑb}} | |
| colspan=2| Fricative
| | {{IPAblink|s}} | | | | {{IPAblink|h}} |
| colspan=2| Trill
| | {{IPAblink|r}} | | | | |
| rowspan="2" | Approximant
!{{small|central}} | {{IPAblink|w}} | | {{IPAblink|j}} | | | |
| {{small|lateral}}
| |{{IPAblink|l}} | | | | |
Grammar
=Nouns=
Nouns are grammatically masculine or feminine, but there are no morphological markings of gender on the nouns.{{rp|55}} This distinction is only seen in the agreement system (covert gender). Only a subset of nouns are marked for plural: large animals, kinship terms and a few inanimate objects. Plurals nouns are marked in a variety of ways including a suffix /-e/ or /-we/ and an infix /-a-/.{{rp|56}} There are three nouns that have irregular plural forms: "woman", "hen" and "person".{{rp|58}}
There is a grammatical distinction between alienable and inalienable possession in the noun phrase. In inalienable possession, a singular possessor is marked by a suffix on the noun indexing the possessor (possessor agreement suffix). In plural inalienable possession and all alienable, the possessor is indexed by a pronominal word following the noun.{{rp|61}}
=Verbs=
The tense-aspect-mood system includes four verbal forms labeled "past", "future", "nominal" and "imperative". The "past" form normally has a stem-final vowel /i/. The "future" and "nominal" forms both have a stem-final vowel /e/. They are distinguished from each other by a high tone on the first syllable of the "future" form. The imperative form normally has a stem-final vowel /a/ or /u/.{{rp|44}}
Some verbs also have a plural form indicated by a suffix /-wi/ or a devoiced initial consonant. The plural form of the verb can indicate the plurality of an action, a plural intransitive subject, or a plural object.{{rp|124}} Verbs can also be modified by adverbs, including a class of ideophones,{{rp|164}} by a "ventive" marker (derived from the verb "come") following the verb, or an "inceptive" marker (derived from the verb "leave") preceding the verb.
=Pronouns=
The reference system makes a 10-way distinction. Gender is distinguished in second and third person singular pronouns. The first person non-singular pronouns include a dual inclusive form, a plural inclusive form, and a plural exclusive form. The plural inclusive form is a bimorphemic pronoun which combines the first person dual inclusive form with the second person plural form.{{rp|100}}
=Word order=
In a pragmatically neutral sentence, nominal arguments occur in a SVO word order. However, third person subject pronouns usually follow the verb.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- Cope, Pamela Simons. 1993. [http://main.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/index.php/downloads/summary/66-volume2301/316-the-plural-in-lele The plural in Lele]. JWAL 23(1)
- Cope, Pamela Simons and Donald A. Burquest. 1986. [http://main.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/index.php/downloads/summary/46-volume1602/205-some-comments-on-nasalisation-in-lele Some comments on nasalization in Lele]. JWAL 16(2)
- {{Cite book |last= Cope |first=Pamela Simons|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/608164729 |title=Dictionnaire lélé-français : suivi d'un index français-lélé. Essai de description lexicale de la langue tchadique parlée dans la région de Kélo, Tchad |date=2010 |publisher=L'Harmattan |others=Nicolas Quint |isbn=978-2-296-10335-1 |location=Paris |oclc=608164729|language=fr}}
- Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 1995. Two complementizers in Lele. In Ibriszimow, Dymitr and Leger, Rudolf (eds.), Studia chadica et hamitosemitica: Akten des internationalen Symposions zur Tschadsprachenforschung Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 6.-8. Mai 1991, 163-170. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 2001. A grammar of Lele. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
- Lami, Pierre. 1942. Etude succincte de la langue lélé et du dialecte nantchoa. Beirut: Imprimérie Catholique. 197pp.
- Lami, Pierre. 1951. Le nombre et le genre dans la langue lélé. In Comptes rendus du première conférence international des africanistes de l'ouest, Dakar 1945, 197-208. Dakar: Inst. Français de l'Afrique Noire (IFAN).
- Simons, Pamela. 1982. [https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/sal/article/view/1122/1145.html Nè... be marking in Lele: a cleft construction]. Studies in African Linguistics 13. 217-229.
External links
- {{WALS|lel|Lele }}
{{East Chadic languages}}
{{Authority control}}