Nyoro-Tooro language

Nyoro-Tooro
Nyoro-Tooro
Runyoro-Rutooro
Orunyoro-Orutooro
Native to	Uganda
Region	Bunyoro, Tooro Kingdom
Ethnicity	Banyoro people, Batooro people
Native speakers	1,155,000 (2002/1991 census)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu West Nyanza Rutara North Rutara Nkore-Kiga-Nyoro-Tooro Nyoro-Tooro; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Standard forms	Runyakitara;
Dialects	Nyoro; Tooro;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; nyo – Nyoro; ttj – Tooro
Glottolog	nyor1247
Guthrie code	JE.11–12

Nyoro-Tooro is a language spoken by around 1,200,000 people living in western Uganda. It is often defined as two separate languages: Nyoro and Tooro, though it is defined as one language by the Ministry of Education in Uganda.^[3]^{: 143–144} It is closely related to Runyankore-Rukiga.

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...

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More information 1947 (modern), IPA ...

Nyoro-Tooro orthography^[4]^[5]
1947 (modern)^[6]	1901^[7]	IPA
a	a^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/a/^{[lower-alpha 1]}
aa	a^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/aː/
b	b	/β/
bb	b	/b/
c	c	/tʃ/
d	d	/d/
e	e^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/e/
ee	e^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/eː/
f	f	/f/
g	g	/g/
h	h	/h/
i	i^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/i/
ii	ī^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/iː/
j	j	/dʒ/
k	k	/k/
l	l	/l/
m	m	/m/
n	n	/n/
ny^{[lower-alpha 2]}^{[lower-alpha 3]}	ny^{[lower-alpha 2]}^{[lower-alpha 3]}	/ɲ/
o	o^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/o/
oo	o^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/oː/
p	p	/p/
r	r	/ɾ/
rr	'r	/r/
s	s	/s/
t	t	/t/
u	u^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/u/
uu	u^{[lower-alpha 1]}	/uː/
v	—	/v/
w	u, w^{[lower-alpha 4]}	/w/
y	y	/j/
z	z	/z/

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In the 1901 orthography, short and long vowels were not usually distinguished except for /iː/ ⟨ī⟩. If a lack of distinction causes severe ambiguity, short vowels would be marked with a breve and long vowels with a macron.
In the modern orthography, /nj/ is written as ⟨ni⟩ in all contexts (e.g. okunia "to defecate"). The 1901 orthography did not distinguish between /nj/ and /ɲ/.
In the modern orthography, /ɲː/ (normally pronounced [ɲ], but still lengthens the vowel before it) is written as ⟨nny⟩ (e.g. okunnyaga "to kidnap me"). The 1901 orthograhy did not distinguish between /ɲː/ and /ɲ/.
Maddox states that "before vowels either u or w may be written, for no definite rule has yet been formed".

Nyoro and Tooro are very similar in many aspects, but differ in several ways as well.

Tone

Both languages are tonal languages where high and low tones (or H and L) are the essential tones. However, Nyoro has both lexical and grammatical tone, whereas Tooro only has grammatical tone. This means that some homophones in Tooro are differentiated in Nyoro.^[8]

More information Tooro pronunciation, Proto-Bantu word ...


Nyoro-Tooro word	Nyoro pronunciation	Tooro pronunciation	Proto-Bantu word^[9]	Part of speech	English (definition)
enda	/êːnda/	/éːnda/	*ndà	Noun	abdomen
enda	/éːndâ/	/éːnda/	*ndá		louse
ekyenda	/ekjênda/	/ekjénda/	kɪ́á ndà (> ekya enda)		intestine
ekyenda	/ekjéndâ/	/ekjénda/	*kɪ̀jèndá		(group of) ninety
engo	/êːŋgo/	/éːŋgo/	*ngò		leopard(s)
engo	/éːŋgô/	/éːŋgo/	*ngó		fences^{[lower-alpha 1]}

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Word formation

There are many instances where the two languages have slightly different words. These minor variations include different consonants, vowels or vowel lengths.

More information Summary, Tooro ...

Summary	Nyoro	Tooro	Part of speech	English (definition)
Consonants	enkwahwa	enkwaha	Noun	armpit(s)
Vowels	enkokora	enkokera	Noun	elbow
Formation	ngenzere	ngenzire	Verb	I have gone
Formation	nkozere	nkozire	Verb	I have done
Mixed	sso	iso	Noun	(his/her) father

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The singular for engo (meaning 'fences') is orugo.

[1]
Nyoro at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Tooro at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
[2]
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
[3]
Ladefoged, Peter; Glick, Ruth; Clive, Criper (1972). Language in Uganda. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-436101-9.
[4]
Bickmore, Lee (2021-08-22). "Phonological and Morphological Influences on Vowel Hiatus Resolution in Rutooro". Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. 62: 2. doi:10.5842/62-0-900. ISSN 2224-3380.
[5]
Rubongoya, L.T. (2013). Katondogorozi y'Orunyoro-Rutooro n'Orungereza [Runyoro-Rutooro-English and English-Runyoro-Rutooro dictionary] (PDF). Kampala, Uganda: Modrug Publishers. ISBN 978-9970-9160-0-9.
[6]
Kaji, Shigeki (2007). A Rutooro Vocabulary. PanLex Project The Long Now Foundation. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA). ISBN 978-4-87297-890-2.
[7]
Maddox, Henry Edward (1902). An Elementary Lunyoro Grammar. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
[8]
Kaji, Shigeki (5 March 2018). "From Nyoro to Tooro: Historical and Phonetic Accounts of Tone Merger". In Kubozono, Haruo; Giriko, Mikio (eds.). Tonal Change and Neutralization. De Gruyter Mouton.
[9]
"Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3 | Royal Museum for Central Africa - Tervuren - Belgium". www.africamuseum.be. Retrieved 2024-04-03.

This Bantu language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[vowels-8] In the 1901 orthography, short and long vowels were not usually distinguished except for /iː/ ⟨ī⟩. If a lack of distinction causes severe ambiguity, short vowels would be marked with a breve and long vowels with a macron.

[ni-9] In the modern orthography, /nj/ is written as ⟨ni⟩ in all contexts (e.g. okunia "to defecate"). The 1901 orthography did not distinguish between /nj/ and /ɲ/.

[nny-10] In the modern orthography, /ɲː/ (normally pronounced [ɲ], but still lengthens the vowel before it) is written as ⟨nny⟩ (e.g. okunnyaga "to kidnap me"). The 1901 orthograhy did not distinguish between /ɲː/ and /ɲ/.

[11] Maddox states that "before vowels either u or w may be written, for no definite rule has yet been formed".

[14] The singular for engo (meaning 'fences') is orugo.

[e16-1] [1]
Nyoro at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Tooro at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)

[Guthrie-2] [2]
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online

[3] [3]
Ladefoged, Peter; Glick, Ruth; Clive, Criper (1972). Language in Uganda. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-436101-9.

[4] [4]
Bickmore, Lee (2021-08-22). "Phonological and Morphological Influences on Vowel Hiatus Resolution in Rutooro". Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. 62: 2. doi:10.5842/62-0-900. ISSN 2224-3380.

[:8-5] [5]
Rubongoya, L.T. (2013). Katondogorozi y'Orunyoro-Rutooro n'Orungereza [Runyoro-Rutooro-English and English-Runyoro-Rutooro dictionary] (PDF). Kampala, Uganda: Modrug Publishers. ISBN 978-9970-9160-0-9.

[:3-6] [6]
Kaji, Shigeki (2007). A Rutooro Vocabulary. PanLex Project The Long Now Foundation. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA). ISBN 978-4-87297-890-2.

[7] [7]
Maddox, Henry Edward (1902). An Elementary Lunyoro Grammar. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

[12] [8]
Kaji, Shigeki (5 March 2018). "From Nyoro to Tooro: Historical and Phonetic Accounts of Tone Merger". In Kubozono, Haruo; Giriko, Mikio (eds.). Tonal Change and Neutralization. De Gruyter Mouton.

[13] [9]
"Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3 | Royal Museum for Central Africa - Tervuren - Belgium". www.africamuseum.be. Retrieved 2024-04-03.

[3]

[1]

[2]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[8]

[9]

[lower-alpha 1]

Nyoro-Tooro language

Tone

Word formation

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Nyoro-Tooro language

Tone

Word formation

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Orthography

Comparison of Nyoro and Tooro

Notes

References

Nyoro-Tooro
Runyoro-Rutooro
Orunyoro-Orutooro
Native to	Uganda
Region	Bunyoro, Tooro Kingdom
Ethnicity	Banyoro people, Batooro people
Native speakers	1,155,000 (2002/1991 census)^[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu West Nyanza Rutara North Rutara Nkore-Kiga-Nyoro-Tooro Nyoro-Tooro
Standard forms	Runyakitara
Dialects	Nyoro Tooro
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: `nyo` – Nyoro `ttj` – Tooro
Glottolog	`nyor1247`
Guthrie code	`JE.11–12`^[2]