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Shilluk language

{{Short description|Luo language spoken in part of South Sudan and Sudan}}

{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with the Sillok language.}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Shilluk

| nativename = Dhøg Cøllø

| pronunciation = {{IPA|shk|d̪ɔɡ cɔllɔ|}}

| states = South Sudan

| region = Upper Nile State

| ethnicity = Shilluk

| speakers = {{sigfig|574,000|2}}

| date = 2017

| ref = e26

| familycolor = Nilo-Saharan

| fam2 = Eastern Sudanic?

| fam3 = Southern Eastern?

| fam4 = Nilotic

| fam5 = Western

| fam6 = Luo

| fam7 = Northern

| dia1 = Gar

| dia2 = Kwak

| dia3 = Mwomo

| script = Latin

| nation = Shilluk Kingdom

| iso3 = shk

| glotto = shil1265

| glottorefname = Shilluk

}}

Shilluk (natively {{lang|shk|Dhøg Cøllø}}, {{IPA|shk|d̪ɔ́(ɡ) cɔ̀llɔ̀|}}){{cite web|url=http://www.openroad.net.au/languages/chollo|title=Chollo (Dhøg Cøllø)|work=openroad.net.au|access-date=26 March 2015}} is a language spoken by the Shilluk people of South Sudan. It is closely related to other Luo languages. The term Shilluk is a pronunciation of Arabic origin.{{Cite book|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=92847458920|title=An autosegmental approach to Shilluk phonology|last=Gilley|first=Leoma G.|year=1992|isbn=0-88312-106-9|editor-last=Summer Institute of Linguistics|location=Dallas, Texas|pages=214|type=revised text of a thesis, University of London}}

Phonology

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" border="1"

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

align="center"

!Close

|i {{IPAblink|i}} i̠ {{IPAblink|i̠}}
ɪ {{IPAblink|ɪ}} ɪ̠ {{IPAblink|ɪ̠}}

|

|u {{IPAblink|u}} u̠ {{IPAblink|u̠}}
ʊ {{IPAblink|ʊ}} ʊ̠ {{IPAblink|ʊ̠}}

align="center"

!Mid

|e {{IPAblink|e}} e̠ {{IPAblink|e̠}}
ɛ {{IPAblink|ɛ}} ɛ̠ {{IPAblink|ɛ̠}}

|

|o {{IPAblink|o}} o̠ {{IPAblink|o̠}}
ɔ {{IPAblink|ɔ}} ɔ̠ {{IPAblink|ɔ̠}}

align="center"

!Open

|

|ʌ {{IPAblink|ʌ}} ʌ̠ {{IPAblink|ʌ̠}}
a {{IPAblink|a}} a̠ {{IPAblink|a̠}}

|

Each of these vowels also exists in a long form and an overlong form which are phonemic.{{Cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Cynthia L.|last2=Gilley|first2=Leoma G.|date=2001|title=Evidence for ergativity in Shilluk|journal=Journal of African Languages and Linguistics|volume=22|issue=1|pages=33–68|doi=10.1515/jall.22.1.33|s2cid=144811223}}{{Cite journal|last1=Remijsen|first1=Bert|last2=Ayoker|first2=Otto G.|last3=Mills|first3=Timothy|date=2011|title=Illustrations of the IPA – Shilluk|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|volume=41|issue=1|doi=10.1017/s0025100310000289|doi-access=free}}

== Advanced and retracted tongue root ==

Shilluk, like most Nilotic languages, differentiates vowels according to their place of articulation. They are either pronounced with advancement of the root of the tongue or with retraction of the root of the tongue. Gilley uses the terms "extended larynx" or "blown vowel".

The vowels with advancement of the root of the tongue are {{IPA|[i]}}, {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[o]}}, {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, {{IPA|[a]}} and their corresponding long variants. The vowels with retraction of the root of the language are denoted by a macron below the letter: {{IPA|[i̠]}}, {{IPA|[e̠]}}, {{IPA|[o̠]}}, {{IPA|[ɔ̠]}}, {{IPA|[u̠]}} and {{IPA|[a̠]}} and their corresponding long variants.

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Labial

! colspan="2" |Coronal

! colspan="2" |Dorsal

Dental

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

colspan="2" |Nasal

| m {{IPAblink|m}}

| n̪ {{IPAblink|n̪}}

| n {{IPAblink|n}}

| ɲ {{IPAblink|ɲ}}

| ŋ {{IPAblink|ŋ}}

rowspan="2" |Plosive

!{{small|voiceless}}

| p {{IPAblink|p}}

| t̪ {{IPAblink|t̪}}

| t {{IPAblink|t}}

| c {{IPAblink|c}}

| k {{IPAblink|k}}

{{small|voiced}}

| b {{IPAblink|b}}

| d̪ {{IPAblink|d̪}}

| d {{IPAblink|d}}

| j {{IPAblink|ɟ}}

| g {{IPAblink|ɡ}}

colspan="2" |Fricative

|

|

| s {{IPAblink|s}}

|

|

rowspan="2" |Liquid

!{{small|rhotic}}

|

|

| r {{IPAblink|r}}

|

|

{{small|lateral}}

|

|

| l {{IPAblink|l}}

|

|

colspan="2" |Glide

| w {{IPAblink|w}}

|

|

| y {{IPAblink|j}}

|

= Tone =

Shilluk has a rich inventory of tones, with at least seven distinctive tone patterns or tonemes.

There are three level tonemes: Low, Mid and High. In addition, there are four contours – the Rise and three falling configurations: Fall, High Fall and Late Fall. These are denoted by the following diacritics:

class="wikitable"

!

!Tone description

!Diacritic

!Tone bars

rowspan="3" |Level

|Low

| align="center" |cv̀c (grave accent) || ꜖

Mid

| align="center" | cv̄c (macron)

꜔
High

| align="center" |cv́c (acute accent)

꜒
rowspan="4" |Contoured

|Rising

| align="center" |cv̌c (caron) || ꜖꜔

Falling

| align="center" |cv̂c (circumflex)

꜔꜖
High Falling

| align="center" |cv̂́c (circumflex with acute accent)

꜒꜖
Late Falling

| align="center" | cv́c̀ (acute accent followed by grave accent)

꜒꜒꜖

= Syllable structure =

Uninflected native stem syllables are overwhelmingly monosyllabic. With few exceptions, these monosyllabic stems typically consist of an onset, a vowel (nucleus), and a coda. Their structure is: C(Cj/w)V(V)(V)C.

Grammar

=Morphology=

Monosyllabic stems give rise to polysyllabic words through processes of derivation or inflection. For verbs and nouns alike, the most common prefixes are /a- ʊ-/, and the most common suffixes are /-Cɪ -ɪ -a (-ɔ)/. Further, alternations of vowel length and tone play an important part in inflectional morphology.

= Verbs =

== Transitive verb classes ==

Shilluk transitive verbs have a phonological root that consists of a single closed syllable of the form /C(j/w)V(V)C/. "That is, the root vowel is either short or long, and clustering of consonants is restricted to the onset, where either of the semivowels /w,j/ may follow another consonant."{{Cite web|last1=Remijsen|first1=Bert|last2=Ayoker|first2=Otto Gwado|date=2018-10-22|title=LD&C SP14: A Descriptive Grammar of Shilluk|url=http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp-14-a-descriptive-grammar-of-shilluk/|access-date=2020-12-24|website=Language Documentation & Conservation|language=en-US}} There are seven classes distinguished by alternations in terms of vowel length and tone. These differences are illustrated by subject-voice past, past second-person singular, and object-voice imperfective in the table below.

class="wikitable"

|+

The Seven Classes of Transitive Verbs

! rowspan="2" |Verb

classes

! colspan="2" |Fixed short

! colspan="2" |Short with grade

! colspan="3" |Long

Low

!Low fall

!Low

!Low fall

!Low

!Low fall

!High fall

Example

!{ŋɔ̀l} ‘cut’

!{lɛ̂ŋ} ‘drum’

!{càm} ‘eat’

!{mʌ̂l} ‘roast’

!{lɛ̀ɛŋ} ‘throw’

!{mâat̪} ‘drink’

!{mấal} ‘praise’

SV past

|á-ŋɔ̀l

| á-lɛ̂ŋ

| á-càm

| á-mʌ̂l

| á-lɛ̀ɛŋ

| á-mâat̪

| á-mấal

Past 2SG

|á-ŋɔ̀l

|á-lɛ̂ŋ

|á-càaam

|á-mʌ̂ʌʌl

|á-lɛ̀ɛɛŋ

| á-mâaat̪

| á-mấaal

OV IMPF

|ʊ̀-ŋɔ̀l-ɔ̀

|ʊ̀-lɛ̂ŋ-ɔ̀

|ʊ̀-càaam-ɔ̀

|ʊ̀-mʌ̂ʌʌl-ɔ̀

|ʊ̀-lɛ̀ɛɛŋ-ɔ̀

| ʊ̀-mâaat̪-ɔ̀

| ʊ̀-mấaal-ɔ̀

= Nouns =

Noun inflection is characterized by head marking: pertensive and construct-state are both inflections that mark the head, not the dependent. For example, English has a person's rodent, where the head is rodent, and the possessive marking is on the dependent person's. In contrast, Shilluk has a pretensive affix on the head (e.g., dúup = "rodent", dû́uup = "rodent belonging to").{{Cite web|last1=Remijsen|first1=Bert|last2=Ayoker|first2=Otto Gwado|date=2017|title=Shilluk noun morphology and noun phrase morphosyntax|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316673143|website=Research gate}}

Number is marked, but no predictable system has been identified. Instead, there are over 140 different patterns of number marking on nouns.

Numerals in Shilluk are nouns.

Orthography

A Latin alphabet was developed for Shilluk by Christian missionaries in the early 20th century.{{Cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/shilluk.htm|title=Shilluk language and pronunciation|website=www.omniglot.com|access-date=2017-05-29}} There are 29 characters in Shilluk orthography; 10 vowels and 19 consonants.{{Cite web|url=http://shilluk.webonary.org/overview/alphabet/|title=Cøllø (aka Shilluk) Dictionary » Alphabet|website=shilluk.webonary.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-05-29}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; text-align: center"

|a

|á

|à

|ä

|aa

|b

|c

|d

|dh

|e

|é

|è

|ë

|ee

|f

|g

i

|í

|ì

|ï

|ii

|j

|k

|l

|lg

|lh

|ly

|m

|ng

|nh

|ny

|o

ó

|ò

|ö

|oo

|p

|q

|r

|t

|th

|u

|ú

|ù

|ü

|uu

|v

|w

x

|y

|ø

Oral literature

In 1912, Diedrich Westermann published The Shilluk People, their Language and Folklore,Westermann, Diedrich (1912). [https://archive.org/details/shillukpeoplethe00west_0/mode/2up The Shilluk People, their Language and Folklore.] which contains a wide selection of texts in the Shilluk language with English translations; there are 61 tales in addition to prayers, songs and riddles. The book also contains a Shilluk grammar.Westermann, Diedrich (1912). [https://archive.org/details/shillukpeoplethe00west_0/page/2/mode/2up?view=theater The Shilluk People, their Language and Folklore.] pp. 2-95. Here are some of the riddles:

  • "nemei ki rei gen fa gute: tune dean." "Brothers who never hurt each other: the two horns of a cow."
  • "nejok gwoti fen: dwei." "The black-white cow is making white the earth: the moon."
  • "nemei doge lun fen: orom." "Two brothers, their mouth is turned down: the nose."
  • "Agar agar, yat win: lek." "A long row of trees full of white birds: the teeth. (Along the rivers one sees frequently trees which are literally covered with snow-white birds.)"

File:Hofmayr Die Schilluk.jpgFor a selection of over 200 Shilluk proverbs and riddles with German translations, see Die Schilluk. Geschichte, Religion und Leben eines Niloten-stammes by Wilhelm Hofmayr.Hofmayr, Wilhelm (1925). [https://archive.org/details/dieschillukgesch00hofm/page/376/mode/2up?view=theater Die Schilluk. Geschichte, Religion und Leben eines Niloten-stammes. pp. 376-402-] This book also contains songs in Shilluk, and some of the songs have an accompanying musical transcription.Hofmayr, Wilhelm (1925). [https://archive.org/details/dieschillukgesch00hofm/page/403/mode/2up?view=theater Die Schilluk. Geschichte, Religion und Leben eines Niloten-stammes. pp. 403-513.]

Sample text

Shilluktext.gif|Gwɛtti Dhɔ Cɔlɔ mi tyɛli malɔ

Shilluktext000.GIF|Gwedd ki Dhøg Cøllø men nyänø

Shilluktext2.GIF|Cigg dyërø mi dhaanhø ki Dhøg Cøllø ki yij wänyø mi cigg Pödh Cøllø

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Eastern Sudanic languages}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shilluk Language}}

Category:Luo languages

Category:Languages of Sudan

Category:Languages of South Sudan