Bongo language
Bongo (Bungu), also known as Dor, is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Bongo people in sparsely populated areas of Bahr al Ghazal in South Sudan.
| Bongo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | South Sudan |
| Ethnicity | Bongo people |
Native speakers | 21,000 (2017)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bot |
| Glottolog | bong1285 |
| ELP | Bongo |
A 2013 survey reported that ethnic Bongo reside in Bussere Boma, Bagari Payam, Wau County, South Sudan.[2]
Tone
Bongo is tonal language that has the high (á), mid (ā), low (à) and falling (â) tones.
All falling tones occur on either long vowels or on vowel clusters or glides. When the tonal fall is not due to a preceding high tone, it can be indicated by a high tine followed by a low tone
| Ton | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| high | bʊ́ | hungry |
| low | tɪ̀ɪ̀ | Pounded sesame |
| falling | tââ /táà/ | when |
Numerals
Bongo has a quinary-vigesimal numeral system.[3]
| Number | Bongo word |
|---|---|
| 1 | kɔ̀tʊ́ |
| 2 | ŋɡɔ̀r |
| 3 | mʊ̀tːà |
| 4 | ʔɛ́w |
| 5 | múì |
| 6 | dɔ̀kɔtʊ́ |
| 7 | dɔ́ŋɡɔr |
| 8 | dɔ̀mʊ́tːà |
| 9 | dɔ̀mʔɛ́w |
| 10 | kɪ̀ː |
| 11 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) kɔ̀tʊ́ |
| 12 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) ŋɡɔ̀r |
| 13 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) mʊ̀tːà |
| 14 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) ʔɛ́w |
| 15 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) múì |
| 16 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀kɔtʊ́ |
| 17 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ́ŋɡɔr |
| 18 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀mʊ́tːà |
| 19 | kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀mʔɛ́w |
| 20 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ |
| 21 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː kɔ̀tʊ́ |
| 22 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː ŋɡɔ̀r |
| 23 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː mʊ̀tːà |
| 24 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː ʔɛ́w |
| 25 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː múì |
| 26 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀kɔtʊ́ |
| 27 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ́ŋɡɔr |
| 28 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀mʊ́tːà |
| 29 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀mʔɛ́w |
| 30 | mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː |
| 40 | mbàba ŋɡɔ̀r |
| 50 | mbàba ŋɡɔ̀r dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː |
| 60 | mbàba mʊ̀tːà |
| 70 | mbàba mʊ̀tːà dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː |
| 80 | mbàba ʔɛ́w |
| 90 | mbàba ʔɛ́w dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː |
| 100 | mbàla múì |
| 200 | mbàba múì dɔ̀ː múì |
| 1000 | mbuda kɔ̀tʊ́ |
| 2000 | mbuda ŋɡɔ̀r |
Scholarship
The first ethnologists to work with the Bongo language were John Petherick, who published Bongo word lists in his 1861 work, Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa; Theodor von Heuglin, who also published Bongo word lists in Reise in das Gebiet des Weissen Nil, &c. 1862-1864 in 1869; and Georg August Schweinfurth, who contributed sentences and vocabularies in his Linguistische Ergebnisse, Einer Reise Nach Centralafrika in 1873.[4] E. E. Evans-Pritchard published additional Bongo word lists in 1937.[5]
More recent scholarship has been done by Eileen Kilpatrick, who published a phonology of Bongo in 1985.[6]
References
- Bongo at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- "Village Assessment Survey". International Organization for Migration South Sudan. 2013.
- Bongo at Numeral Systems of the World's Languages Archived 2014-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
- The Bongo. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Sudan Notes and Records (1929): 1-62.
- The non-Dinka peoples of the Amadi and Rumbek Districts. Evans-Pritchard, E. E.. Sudan Notes and Records (1937): 156-158
- Bongo Phonology. Eileen Kilpatrick. Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages 4 (1985): 1-62.
Further reading
- A Small Comparative Vocabulary of Bongo Baka Yulu Kara Sodality of St Peter Claver, Rome, 1963.
- A Reconstructed History of the Chari Languages - Bongo - Bagirmi - Sara. Segmental Phonology, with Evidence from Arabic Loanwords. Linda Thayer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1974. Typewritten thesis 309 pages. Copy held by J.A. Biddulph (Africanist publisher, Joseph Biddulph, Pontypridd, Wales).