Sukuma language (original) (raw)

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Bantu language

Sukuma is a Bantu language of Tanzania, spoken in an area southeast of Lake Victoria between Mwanza, Shinyanga, and Lake Eyasi.[3]

Dialects (KɪmunaSukuma in the west, GɪmunaNtuzu/GɪnaNtuzu in the northeast, and Jìnàkɪ̀ɪ̀yâ/JimunaKɪɪyâ in the southeast) are easily mutually intelligible.[a]

It is reported that, although Sukuma is very similar to Nyamwezi, speakers themselves do not consider the two a single language.[3]

There are seven vowel qualities, which occur long and short:[4]

| | Front | Central | Back | | ------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | High | i iː | u uː | | Near-high | ɪ ɪː | ʊ ʊː | | Mid | e eː | o oː | | Low | a aː | |

/ɪ ʊ/, which are written ⟨ĩ ũ⟩, may be closer to [e o], and /e o/ may be closer to [ɛ ɔ].

Sukuma has gone through Dahl's Law (ɪdàtʊ́ 'three', from Proto-Bantu -tatʊ) and has voiceless nasal consonants.

| | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | labial | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | labial | plain | labial | | | | Nasal | voiced | m | | | | n | | | ɲ | | ŋ | | ŋʷ | | | | voiceless | m̥ | | | | n̥ | | | ɲ̊ | | ŋ̊ | | ŋ̊ʷ | | | | | Plosive | voiceless | p | ᵐp | | | t | ⁿt | tʷ | c | ᶮc | k | ᵑk | kʷ | | | | voiced | b | ᵐb | | | d | ⁿd | dʷ | ɟ | ᶮɟ | ɡ | ᵑɡ | ɡʷ | | | | | Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | | f | ᶬf | s | ⁿs | sʷ | ʃ | ᶮʃ | | | | h | hʷ | | voiced | β | | v | ᶬv | z | ⁿz | zʷ | | | | | | | | | | Approximant | | | | | l | | | j | | | | w | | | |

It is not clear whether /c ɟ/ should better be considered as stops or affricates as /tʃ dʒ/ or whether they are even palatal.

Syllables are V or CV. There are four tones on short vowels: high, low, rising, and falling.

Its orthography uses Roman script without special letters, which resembles that used for Swahili, and has been used for Bible translations[5] and in religious literature.[6]

The following description is based on the JinaKɪɪya dialect. One of the characteristics of that dialect is that the noun-class prefixes subject to Dahl's Law have been levelled to voiced consonants and so they no longer alternate.

Sukuma noun-class prefixes are augmented by pre-prefixes a-, ɪ-, ʊ-, which are dropped in certain constructions. The noun classes and the agreement that they trigger[b] are as follows,[4] with attested forms in other dialects being added in parentheses:

(For compatibility, /j/ is transcribed ⟨y⟩.)

Many kin terms have a reduced form of the nominal prefixes, zero and βa-, called class 1a/2a, as in mààyʊ̂ 'mother', βàmààyʊ̂ 'mothers'. Concord is identical with other class-1/2 nouns.

Singular/plural pairs are 1/2, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, and 12/13, and locative classes 16, 17, and 18 do not have plurals. Most others use class 6 for their plurals: 11/6, 14/6, 15/6, and also sometimes 7/6 and 12/6. There are also nouns that inflect as 11/4, 11/14, 14/10, and 15/8.

Infinitive verbs have the form _gʊ-_object-ext-ROOT-ext-V-locative, where ext stands for any of various grammatical 'extensions', and -V is the final vowel. For example, with roots in bold and tone omitted,[4]

gũ-n-tĩn-ĩl-a

'To cut for him/her'

gwĩ-tĩn-ĩl-a

'To cut for each other'

-ĩl is the applicative suffix, translated as 'for'. The reciprocal prefix ĩ has fused into the infinitive gũ.

gũ-fum-a-mo

'To get out there'

-mo is a locative 'inside', as in class 18 nominal concord.

Finite verbs have the form subject-TAM-ext-object-ROOT-ext-TAM-V. For example,

βa-lĩ-n-iiš-a

'They are feeding him/her'

The root iiš includes a fused causative suffix. Tense is marked by a prefix. The subject marker βa- shows that the subject is human plural, per the noun-concord table above.

o-dũ-saang-ile

'He found us'

Here tense is marked by a suffix.

βa-gĩ-gunaan-a

'They helped each other/themselves'

Here the prefix is fused tense and reciprocal ĩ.

1. ^ The prefixes kɪ-, gɪ-, ji- are dialectical variants.

2. ^ Adjectival concord, possessive suffixes on nouns, subject and object suffixes on verbs, and the agreeing form of -mô 'one', -βɪ̀lɪ́ 'two', and 'this'

3. ^ Including insignificance, derogation, (sg.) manner of doing

4. ^ Sukuma at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

5. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online

6. ^ a b Margaret Arminel Bryan, compiler, The Bantu Languages of Africa, Oxford University Press, 1959.

7. ^ a b c Rahma Muhdhar, 2006, Verb Extensions in Kisukuma, Jinakiiya dialect, MS dissertation, UDSM

8. ^ The Gospel in Many Tongues, The British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1965.

9. ^ Kitabo sha Sala na sha Mimbo, Diochesi ya Mwanza, edited / approved by Bishop Renatus Butibubage, 1963.