“Lugbara language”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Aringa language, also known as Low Lugbara, is closely related, and sometimes considered a dialect of Lugbara.^[2] Some scholars classify the Lugbara language itself as a dialect of the Ma'di language, though this is not generally accepted.^[3] An SIL survey report concluded that the Okollo, Ogoko, and Rigbo dialects, called "Southern Ma'di", should be classified as dialects of Lugbara.

Orthography

Lugbara was first written by Christian missionaries in 1918, based on the Ayivu dialect. In 2000, a conference was held in the city of Arua in northwestern Uganda regarding the creation of a standardised international orthography for Lugbara.^[4]

In education

In 1992, the Government of Uganda designated it as one of five "languages of wider communication" to be used as the medium of instruction in primary education; however, unlike the other four such languages, it was never actually used in schools.^[4] More recently it was included in the curriculum for some secondary schools in the West Nile region, including St. Joseph's College Ombaci and Muni Girls Secondary School, both in Arua District.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}}

Pronunciation guide

Lugbara phrases are spoken in several dialects (clan-wise) but the Muni (Ayivu) version, from which many of the explanations below are based, is the one approved for teaching in schools. The language has diphthong clusters and other noteworthy phonetics including the following:

gb as in bend, for example gbe, the ‘g’ is silent. Gb in Lugbara does not have an equivalent in English.What stands out in these Sudanic languages is the special manner in which 'kp, gb, 'd, 'b, 'y, 'w are pronounced.

z as in jean after n, for example onzi. Otherwise, most times remains z as in zebra, for example Ozu and when the first letter of a word.

Vocabulary

The Lugbara alphabet has 28 letters minus ‘q’ and ‘x’ (Alamakanda in Aringa language), which means 24 like in English and four unique ones namely: ‘b like in ‘bua, ‘d like in ‘dia, ‘w like in ‘wara and ‘y like in ‘yetaa. Letters are pronounced as follows: Ah, Ba, Cha, Da, Eh, Fa, Ga, Ha, Ie, Ja, Ka, La, Ma, Na, Oh, Pa, Ra, Sa, Ta, Uuw, Va, Wa, Ya, and Za.

Some words are borrowed from other languages, for example Safari (journey) from Swahili, Buku (book) from English, Kandi (ball) from Lingala, etc.^[5] Also in the vocabulary, there are several words that have varied meanings when pronounced differently, for instance Oli can mean air, wind (also Oliriko), whistle, cut or roll.

Numbers

Greetings and other phrases

Relationships

Days of the week

Calendar

The simplest way to refer to months (Mba in Lugbara) is to use numbers, for example January is Mba Alu, February is Mba Iri, May is Mba Towi and so on. But below is the other Latinized (and seasonal) way of mentioning them.

Common signs

Colours

Food

Learning more

To study Lugbara, you might need a language teacher or guide but knowing the pronunciation basics and vocabulary preferably from a dictionary can give you a very good start. Practice by talking to natives physically or online and listening to Lugbara music.

See also

References

1. ^{{cite encyclopedia|last=Gordon|first=Raymond|title=Lugbara language|encyclopedia=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|publisher=SIL International|location=Dallas, Texas|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lgg|year=2005}}
2. ^{{cite paper|first=Douglas|last=Boone|first2=Richard|last2=Watson|year=1999|url=http://www.sil.org/silesr/1999/001/mmsurvey-w97.pdf|title=Moru–Ma'di Survey Report|series=SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 1999-001}}
3. ^{{cite book|last=Blackings|first=Mairi|author2=Nigel Fabb |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|isbn=3-11-017940-7|year=2003|title=A Grammar of Ma'di|pages=1}}
4. ^¹{{cite journal|title=Writing unwritten languages|publisher=UNESCO|url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/16455/10893858671Writing_unwritten_languages.doc/Writing_unwritten_languages.doc|last=Da Fonseca|first=N.}}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
5. ^{{cite book| last=Ngaka|first=Willy|author2=O'du'bua, Edward |author3=Ongua, Paul Iga |publisher=Fountain Publishers|year=2009|title=Lugbara - English Dictionary}}

Classification and dialects