Typological Features Template for Luganda
| Feature | Description | |||
| Phonological Features | ||||
| 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. | |||
| Verbal Vowel harmony | This harmony occurs on suffixes only. This harmony follows this manner: verbs whose penultimate syllable has [a, u, i] harmonizes with [i] in suffixing the root. Verbs whose penultimate syllable has [e, o] harmonizes with [e] in suffing the root.
Examples: sab-a = sabira, fun-a = funira, sib-a = sibira, som-a, sek-a = sekera, simool-a = simoolera | |||
| 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 Combinations | [m] is followed by bilabials. [n] is followed by all other consonants except [l]. [n] is followed by all alveolars except [l]. [ŋ] is followed by all velars. | |||
| Semi vowel combinations | All consonants 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 | 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. | |||
| 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 | ||||
| morphological classification (1) | Luganda is principally/basically agglutinative, which in many cases exhibit modifications in the roots of verbs when particular affixes are added. Among the affixes present in Luganda are: prefixes, suffixes and infixes. | |||
| 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 the following fields a description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of nominal constituents are given. | |||
| Nominal modification | Luganda is one of the Bantu languages with a noun class system (sometimes referred to as gender). Of the 23 Bantu noun classes, Luganda has 21:
IOMU singular, 2ABA plural, 3OMU singular, 4EMI plural, 5ELI singular, 6AMA plural, 7EKI singular, 8EBI plural, 9EN singular, 10EN plural, 11OLU singular, 12AKA singular, 13OTU plural 14OBU singular, 15OKU singular, 16WA 17KU,18MU, 20OGU singular, 22AGA plural. 23E. The class underwhich a noun falls may be determined by the prefix. A Luganda noun is glutinable for number and gender. The linear ordering in a noun phrase is: Determiner-Noun-Possessor-Numeral-Quantifier-Modifier-Verb. Just like the grammars of most Bantu languages, the grammar of Luganda can be said to be noun-centred: most words in a sentence agree with a noun. Agreement is based on the noun class (this is comparatively referred to as gender) and number. This agreement is realised by prefixes attached to the start of word stems. The parts of speech that manifest agreement are: verb (for subject and object); adjective; pronoun and possessive. [edit] | |||
| Nominal specification | To specify a noun, Luganda uses determiners, demonstratives, numerals, quantifiers and nominal specifiers. | |||
| Possession | Luganda uses pronouns to indicate possession in different grammatical persons. | Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | ||||
| -affe | ||||
| 2nd | ||||
| -ammwe | ||||
| 3rd | ||||
| -abwe | ||||
| Possession in other noun classes (impersonal pronouns) | 1OMU wa e.g Omwana wa Mukasa 'Mukasa's child'
2 ABA ba e.g Abaana ba Mukasa 'Mukasa' children' 3 OMU ga e.g Omuti gwa Mukasa 'Mukasa's tree' 4 EMI gya e.g Emisooli gya Mukasa 'Mukasa trees' 5 ELI lya e.g Eliiso lya Mukasa 'Mukasa's eye' 6 AMA ga e.g Amaaso ga Mukasa 'Mukasa's eyes' 7 EKI kya e.g Ekikopo kya Mukasa 'Mukasa's cup' 8 EBI bya e.g Ebikopo bya Mukasa 'Mukasa's cups' 9 EN ya e.g Embuzi ya Mukasa 'Mukasa's goat' 10 EN za e.g Embuzi za Mukasa 'Mukasa's goats' 11 OLU lwa e.g Olugoye lwa Mukasa 'Mukasa's cloth' 12 AKA ka e.g Engoye za Mukasa 'Mukasa's clothes' 13 OTU twa e.g Otulo twa Mukasa 'Mukasa's sleep' 14 OBU bwa e.g Obutungulu bwa Mukasa 'Mukasa's onions' 15 OKU kwa e.g Okugulu kwa Mukasa 'Mukasa's leg' 20 OGU gwa 'all nouns here are derogatory' 22 AGA ga 'all nouns here are derogatory' | |||
| Pronominal system | Luganda has both free and bound pronoun forms.
The free pronoun forms are: Singular Plural 1sr Person Nze ‘I’ Ffe ‘We’ 2nd Person Ggwe ‘You’ Mmwe ‘You’ 3rd Person Ye ‘He/She’ Bo ‘They’ All pronouns are marked for their grammatical functions: there are subject and object pronouns. All pronouns in Luganda appear as prefixes. Luganda is also rich in double object constructions. | |||
| Subject and Object Personal pronouns | Subject Pronouns
Singular Plural 1st Person n- tu- 2nd Person o- mu- 3rd Person a- ba- | |||
| Object Pronouns | 1st Person Singular -n-, Plural -tu-; 2nd Person Singular -ku-, Plural; -ba-; 3rd Person singula -mu- , Plural -ba- | |||
| Subject pronouns: example sentences | Nsoma ekitabo ‘I am reading a book’
Osoma ekitabo ‘You are reading a book’ Asoma kitabo ‘He/She is reading a book’ Tusoma ekitabo ‘We are reading a book’ Musoma ekitabo ‘We are reading a book’ Basoma ekitabo ‘They are reading a book’ | |||
| Object pronouns: examples | Ansomesa ‘S/he is teaching me’
Atusomesa ‘S/he is teaching us’ Akusomesa ‘S/he is teaching you’ [singular] Abasomesa ‘S/he is teaching you’ [2nd person plural] Abasomesa ‘S/he is teaching them’ [3rd person plural] Yeesomesa ‘S/he is teaching him/herself’(reflexive) | |||
| Verbal Phrases | In the following fields a description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of verbal constituents is given. | |||
| Word order | The word order in Luganda is SVO | |||
| TAM | A Luganda verb is agglutinable for 3 tenses: the present tense, the past and the future.
The present tense is zero marked. E.g Nfumba emmere ‘I cook food’or ‘I am cooking food.’ Past tense is marked by three aspect constructions which appear either as prefixes and suffixes. i.e. Nfumbye emmere ‘I have cooked food.’ Nafumbye emmere ‘I cooked food.’ Nafumba emmere ‘I cooked food’ [far past] Future tense is marked by two aspect constructions. Banaafumba emmere ‘They will cook food’ Balifumba emmere ‘They will cook food’ [far future] In some constructions, Luganda displays periphrastic tenses. E.g Nfumba emmere bulijjo ‘I always cook food’ Nja kufumba emmere ‘I will cook food’ Ntera okufumba emmere [I sometimes cook food]. The perfective aspect in Luganda involves various morpho-phonetic changes depending on the phonological environment at hand. For instance all verbs ending in /b, p, m/ will manifest this aspect as '-ye'; all verbs ending in /t,k/ will attract a phonological change, where /t,k/ will change into '-se'. The rest of other phonemes change according to established phonological rules. | |||
| Mood | Luganda makes use of the following moods: imperative mood, conditional mood, subjunctive mood, indicative mood and infinitive mood. When the imperative mood is applied to second person, the person is not manifest on the verb; | |||
| infinitival forms | Luganda has one infinitive form marked by (o)ku-. It should be noted that all Luganda verbs are bound morphs, except about two only that appear as free morphs. The infinitive (o)ku- relates to the 15Oku noun class. | |||
| Verbal constructions | Luganda has transitive, intransitive, ditranstive and auxiliary verbs. A Luganda verb is glutinable for person, tense, aspect, and mood. Luganda verbs are also known to take on verb extensions common in Bantu languages including causative, applicative, reflexive, reciprocal, capable, passive. | |||
| Adpositions | Luganda has prepositions at both word and phrase level. E.g mu ‘in’, ‘among’, ‘within’, ‘to’, ‘from’; ku ‘at’, ‘on’, ‘to’; e ‘to’ etc. At phrase level, they appear as, waggulu ku… ‘on top of…’, waggulu wa… ‘above’ etc.
In indicating the grammatical relation between the verb and the noun, Luganda concordial agreements based on the noun class system. | |||
| Complementation | In this field you describe complementation strategies. Does [your language] make use of complementizers? | |||
| Special Properties of Luganda | Negative sentences in Luganda are usually formed by prefixing si- for 1st person singular (this replaces the 1st person personal pronoun, n-). For all other persons, the prefix te- is used coming before the subject pronoun. Depending on the morpho-phonological environment, the negators, si- and te- change. In environments where the negator comes but not next to a verb, it is an independent entity. | |||
| Demonstratives | Luganda, has different forms of demonstratives that correspond to the Luganda noun class system. These demonstratives express spatial relations in three distinct ways: proximate [-no], intermediate [-o] (distal) and most distal [-li] (non-proximal).
Examples: Omuti guno gwange, This tree is mine; Omuti ogwo gwange, That tree is mine; Omuti guli gwange, The other tree is mine. | |||
| Short Bibliography | #Ashton, Ethel O., and others (1954) A Luganda Grammar, London: Longmans, Green.
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