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Difference between revisions of "Typological Features Template for Luganda"

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|Vowel inventory
 
|Vowel inventory
| In this field you describe the vowel inventory of [your language]
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| Luganda has only 5 vowels: [ a, e, i, o, u ]. Any of them can be long or short.
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i: high, front
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u: high, back
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e: mid, front
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o: mid, back
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a:front, low
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|-
 
|Vowel harmony
 
|Vowel harmony
| Vowel harmony in Akan operates according to a tongue root system. Usually, nominal and verbal prefixes agree in ATR value with the vowels in the verb or noun stem.
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Nominal Vowel harmony
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Vowel harmony in Luganda relates to the Luganda Vowel Chart, which contains only five vowels. The vowel on the noun class dictates the initial vowel that the noun takes on. The Luganda noun classes allow only three vowels, namely: [u, i, a]. The occurence of any of those vowels on a noun class dictates the initial vowel in this manner: [u] harmonizes with [o], [i] harmonizes with [e] and [a] harmonizes with [a].  Examples, omuti, emiti, amata|
 +
Nominal Vowel harmony
 +
Vowel harmony in Luganda relates to the Luganda Vowel Chart, which contains only five vowels. The vowel on the noun class dictates the initial vowel that the noun takes on. The Luganda noun classes allow only three vowels, namely: [u, i, a]. The occurence of any of those vowels on a noun class dictates the initial vowel in this manner: [u] harmonizes with [o], [i] harmonizes with [e] and [a] harmonizes with [a].  Examples, omuti, emiti, amata|
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
 
|Consonant inventory
 
|Consonant inventory
| In this field you describe the consonants of [your language]  
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| There are mainly 20 consonants in Luganda: [p, b, m, w, f, v, t, d, n, l, s, z, c, j, y, ny, k, g, ŋ, nÿ ]. Bilabials [p, b, m], labiodentals [f, v], alveolars [t, d, n, l, s, z], alveopatal [nÿ], palatals [c, J,nnya], velars [k, g, ŋ], semivowels [w,y].
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Each of those consonants can combine with any vowel to form a syllable. All consonants can be  long with the exception of [w,y,l]. A long consonant is one that is pronounced with force as compared to one that is single.
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'''Consonantal length and Combinations''' [m] is followed by bilabials. [n] is followed by all other consonants except [l]. [n] is followed by all alveolars ecept [l]. [ŋ] is followed by all velars.
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'''Semi vowel combinations''' All can be followed by a semivowel except labiodentals, [f, v]. [f, v] cannot be followed by [w]. [s,z,c,J,nÿ] are not followed by [y]. [ŋ] does not allow combining with [y].
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Allophonetic sounds include: [β, ɱ,  ɽ, l]  
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|Tone
 
|Tone
|In this field you indicate if [your language] is a tone language and which tones are used; does [your language] have lexical tone?
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|Luganda is a pitch-accent or a two tone language. Tone in the roots of uttarances can be arranged as HL or HH. Sometimes a resultant HF tone may occur. The two basic tones are modified by downstepping and downdrifting. |-
|-
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|Syllable Structure
 
|Syllable Structure
|In this field you indicate the basic syllable structures of [your language].
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|Basic syllable structures: V, CV, CV:, C:V, C:V:, NCV, NCV:, Cw/yV, C:w/yV, C:w/yV:, NCw/yV, N
 
|-
 
|-
 
|'''Morpho-syntactic Features'''
 
|'''Morpho-syntactic Features'''
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|morphological classification (1)
 
|morphological classification (1)
|[Your language] could be an isolating language (not (or nearly not) making use of morphology, agglutinative, such as the Bantu languages of Africa, or synthetic, such as the Saami languages of Scandinavia, or even polysynthetic such as Greenlandic. In this field you classify [your language] according to these parameters if possible.
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|morphological classification (1)
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|Luganda is principally/basically agglutinative, which in many cases exhibit modifications in the roots of verbs when particular affixes are added.
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|-
 
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|morphological classification (2)
 
|morphological classification (2)
|Linguists have distinguished between head- and dependent-marking languages. Semitic languages are head marking languages; it is the head of the noun phrases that needs to have a special form when followed by a dependent noun; in the Germanic languages it is the head of the verb phrase that expresses person-number features of its subject. Grammatical dependencies on the other hand are in some of the Germanic languages expressed on the dependent noun phrases in form of case. [Your language] might be both, head- and dependent-marking, depending on the category of speech and or the type of feature expressed. This is what you can describe in this field.
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|Luganda is generally a head-marking language at both phrase and sentence level. For instance, Omwana (N) omuto (Adj) akuba (V) embwa (Obj) [A little child is beating a dog]. In pronominalisation forms, it is possible to have a dependent marking in the verb phrase. For instance, Omwana omuto agikuba. [A little child is beating it]. A- [Subj], -gi- [Obj], kub-a [V].
 
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|'''Nominal Phrases'''
 
|'''Nominal Phrases'''
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|possession
 
|possession
|In this field you describe how possession is expressed (for example, syntactically or by use of prepositions, through juxtaposition or morphologically) Does [your language] feature possessive pronouns?
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|Luganda uses pronouns to indicate possession in different grammatical persons.
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1st person Singular, –ange
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1st person Plural, -affe
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2nd person singular, -o
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2nd person plural, -ammwe
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3rd person singular, -e
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3rd person plural, -abwe
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|pronominal system
 
|pronominal system

Revision as of 07:56, 26 May 2010

By Medadi Erisa Ssentanda

Feature Description
Phonological Features In the following fields you describe the phonological inventory o [your language]
Vowel inventory Luganda has only 5 vowels: [ a, e, i, o, u ]. Any of them can be long or short.

i: high, front u: high, back e: mid, front o: mid, back a:front, low

Vowel harmony

Nominal Vowel harmony Vowel harmony in Luganda relates to the Luganda Vowel Chart, which contains only five vowels. The vowel on the noun class dictates the initial vowel that the noun takes on. The Luganda noun classes allow only three vowels, namely: [u, i, a]. The occurence of any of those vowels on a noun class dictates the initial vowel in this manner: [u] harmonizes with [o], [i] harmonizes with [e] and [a] harmonizes with [a]. Examples, omuti, emiti, amata| Nominal Vowel harmony Vowel harmony in Luganda relates to the Luganda Vowel Chart, which contains only five vowels. The vowel on the noun class dictates the initial vowel that the noun takes on. The Luganda noun classes allow only three vowels, namely: [u, i, a]. The occurence of any of those vowels on a noun class dictates the initial vowel in this manner: [u] harmonizes with [o], [i] harmonizes with [e] and [a] harmonizes with [a]. Examples, omuti, emiti, amata|

Consonant inventory There are mainly 20 consonants in Luganda: [p, b, m, w, f, v, t, d, n, l, s, z, c, j, y, ny, k, g, ŋ, nÿ ]. Bilabials [p, b, m], labiodentals [f, v], alveolars [t, d, n, l, s, z], alveopatal [nÿ], palatals [c, J,nnya], velars [k, g, ŋ], semivowels [w,y].

Each of those consonants can combine with any vowel to form a syllable. All consonants can be long with the exception of [w,y,l]. A long consonant is one that is pronounced with force as compared to one that is single. Consonantal length and Combinations [m] is followed by bilabials. [n] is followed by all other consonants except [l]. [n] is followed by all alveolars ecept [l]. [ŋ] is followed by all velars. Semi vowel combinations All can be followed by a semivowel except labiodentals, [f, v]. [f, v] cannot be followed by [w]. [s,z,c,J,nÿ] are not followed by [y]. [ŋ] does not allow combining with [y]. Allophonetic sounds include: [β, ɱ, ɽ, l]

Tone - Syllable Structure Basic syllable structures: V, CV, CV:, C:V, C:V:, NCV, NCV:, Cw/yV, C:w/yV, C:w/yV:, NCw/yV, N
Morpho-syntactic Features In the following fields you describe some of the basic morpho-syntactic parameters of [your language]
morphological classification (1) morphological classification (1) Luganda is principally/basically agglutinative, which in many cases exhibit modifications in the roots of verbs when particular affixes are added.
morphological classification (2) Luganda is generally a head-marking language at both phrase and sentence level. For instance, Omwana (N) omuto (Adj) akuba (V) embwa (Obj) [A little child is beating a dog]. In pronominalisation forms, it is possible to have a dependent marking in the verb phrase. For instance, Omwana omuto agikuba. [A little child is beating it]. A- [Subj], -gi- [Obj], kub-a [V].
Nominal Phrases In the following fields we aim for a description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of nominal constituents
syntactic structure In this field you describe the linear order of elements in the noun phrase
nominal modification In this field you indicate the basic types of nominal modifiers (adjectives, relative clauses, adpositions...)
nominal specification In this field you list the nominal specifiers. Does [your language] have determiners, demonstratives (deixis), numerals, quantifiers. Are there affixes expressing reference, deixis.
possession Luganda uses pronouns to indicate possession in different grammatical persons.

1st person Singular, –ange 1st person Plural, -affe 2nd person singular, -o 2nd person plural, -ammwe 3rd person singular, -e 3rd person plural, -abwe

pronominal system In this field you indicate if [your language] has free pronoun forms? Are pronouns marked for their grammatical function (object versus subject pronouns)? Does your language have bound pronouns (affixes) or pronoun doubling? Are reflexives expressed by pronouns?
Verbal Phrases In the following fields serve for the description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of verbal constituents
word order In this field you indicate the basic word order of your language (SOV, SOV ...)
TAM In this field you indicate which tense and/or aspects are morphologically or tonally marked; does [your language] make use of periphrastic tense or aspect constructions?
infinitival forms In this field you indicate if [your language] makes use of an infinitive marker? How many infinitival forms does your language have?
verbal constructions In this field you indicate if [your language] has ditransitive constructions, serial verb constructions or complex verb forms composed of several verbs. Does your language have so called light verbs, perhaps only used to indicate a certain tense or aspect?
Adpositions In this field you indicate if [your language[ makes use of prepositions or postpositions. Does your language have spatial nouns? Does your language use adpositions or particles to indicate grammatical relations between the verb and a nominal argument?
Complementation In this field you describe complementation strategies. Does [your language] make use of complementizers?
Special Properties of [your language] In this field you should mention properties of [your language] which did not fit into any of the other categories mentioned in this template
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