| Loma | |
|---|---|
| Looma | |
| Lɔ̀ɔ̀màgòòi[1] /Löömàgòòi /Löghömàgòòi | |
| Pronunciation | [lɔːmàɡòːi] [lɔɣɔmàɡòːi] |
| Native to | Liberia,Guinea |
| Ethnicity | Loma |
Native speakers | 560,000 (2017–2020)[2] |
Niger–Congo
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:lom – Liberian Lomatod – Toma |
| Glottolog | loma1259 |
| People | Löömàgìtì[lɔːmàɡìtì] in Liberia Löghömagiti[lɔɣɔmaɡiti] in Guinea |
|---|---|
| Language | Löömàgòòi[lɔːmàɡòːi] Löghömàgòòi[lɔɣɔmàɡòːi] |
Loma (Loghoma, Looma, Lorma) is aMande language spoken by theLoma people ofLiberia andGuinea.
Dialects of Loma proper in Liberia are Gizima, Wubomei, Ziema, Bunde, Buluyiema. The dialect of Guinea, Toma (Toa, Toale, Toali, orTooma, theMalinke name forLoma), is an official regional language.
In Liberia, the people and language are also known as "Bouze" (Busy, Buzi), which is considered offensive.
Today, Loma uses a Latin-basedalphabet which is written from left to right. Asyllabary saw limited use in the 1930s and 1940s in correspondence between Loma-speakers, but today has fallen into disuse.[3][4][5]
Loma has 21 consonants, 28 vowels, and 2 tones.[6]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | voiced | b | d | g ~ɡ̟ | ɡ͡b | |
| implosive | ɓ | |||||
| voiceless | p | t | k ~k̟ | k͡p | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | ɣ | ||
| voiceless | f | s | x | |||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
| Approximant | ʋ | l ~ɾ | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Every vowel has 4 forms: Short and non-nasalized, Short and nasalized, Long and non-nasalized, and Long and nasalized making a total of 28 vowels.
Loma has 2 tones:the High Tone (˦)⟨á⟩ andthe Low Tone (˨)⟨à⟩.
TheLord's Prayer in Loma:[7]
Yài è ga gé ɣeeai è gee-zuvɛ,
ɓaa ɣa la yà laa-zeigi ma,
yà masadai va,
è yii-mai ɣɛ zui zu è ɣɛ velei é ɣɛɛzu la è wɔ vɛ,
è zaa mii ŋenigi ʋe gé ya,
è gé vaa ʋaitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛ,
è ɣɛ velei gá ɓalaa gé zɔitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛga la gá ʋaa yega te va.
Mɛ lɛ kɛ tɛ-ga ɔ́ wo ga gíɛ,
kɛ̀ è gé wulo tuɓo-vele-yowũ nui ya.
In the 1960s several hymns composed in Loma byBillema Kwillia were recorded by the missionary Margaret D. Miller and then adopted by the Lutheran Church, first appearing in print in Loma in 1970.[8] The most widely used, 'A va de laa' was not translated to singable English until 2004; it is also translated to German.[8]
