| Sukuma | |
|---|---|
| Kɪsukuma/Kisukuma | |
| Region | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity | Sukuma |
Native speakers | 8.1 million (2016)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | suk |
| ISO 639-3 | suk |
| Glottolog | suku1261 |
F.21[2] | |
Sukuma is aBantu language ofTanzania, spoken in an area southeast ofLake Victoria betweenMwanza,Shinyanga, andLake Eyasi.[3]
Dialects (KɪmunaSukuma in the west,GɪmunaNtuzu/GɪnaNtuzu in the northeast, andJìnàkɪ̀ɪ̀yâ/JimunaKɪɪyâ in the southeast) are easily mutually intelligible.[4]
It is reported that although Sukuma is very similar toNyamwezi, speakers themselves do not accept that they make up a single language.[5]
There are seven vowel qualities, which occur long and short:[6]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iiː | uuː | |
| Near-high | ɪɪː | ʊʊː | |
| Mid | eeː | ooː | |
| Low | aaː |
/ɪʊ/, which are written⟨ĩ ũ⟩, may be closer to[eo], and/eo/ may be closer to[ɛɔ].
Sukuma has gone throughDahl's Law (ɪdàtʊ́ 'three', fromProto-Bantu-tatʊ) and has voiceless nasal consonants.
It is not clear whether/cɟ/ should better be considered as stops or affricates as/tʃdʒ/ or whether they are even palatal.
Syllables are V or CV. There are four tones on short vowels: high, low, rising, and falling.
Its orthography usesRoman script without special letters, which resembles that used forSwahili, and has been used for Bible translations[7] and in religious literature.[8]
The following description is based on the JinaKɪɪya dialect. One of the characteristics of that dialect is that the noun-class prefixes subject toDahl's Law have been levelled to voiced consonants and so they no longer alternate.
Sukuma noun-class prefixes are augmented by pre-prefixesa-, ɪ-, ʊ-, which are dropped in certain constructions. The noun classes and the agreement that they trigger[9] are as follows,[6] with attested forms in other dialects being added in parentheses:
(For compatibility,/j/ is transcribed⟨y⟩.)
| Class | Prefix | Example noun | Adj. conc. | Possessive | Subject | Object | 'one/two X' | 'this X' | Semantic field | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ʊ-mu | mùùn̥ʊ̀ | 'person' | m- | o- | a- | m- | ʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | human |
| 2 | a-βaa- | βààn̥ʊ̀ | 'persons' | βa- | βa- | βa- | βa- | βaβɪlɪ | àβà | |
| 3 | ʊ-m- | ntɪ̌ | 'tree' | m- | go- | gʊ- | lɪ- | gʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | trees, etc. |
| 4 | ɪ-mi- | mɪ̀tɪ̌ | 'trees' | mi- | ya- | i- | i- | ɪ̀βɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀yɪ̀ | |
| 5 | ɪ-lɪ- (ɪ) | liisǒ | 'eye' | ɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ̀mô | ɪ̀lɪ̀ | body parts, food, common objs, (pl.) liquids |
| 6 | a-ma- | mɪ̀sǒ | 'eyes' | ma- | a- | a- | ga- | àβɪ̀lɪ́ | àyà | |
| 7 | ɪ-ɟi- (kɪ) | Jìsùgǔmà | 'Kɪsukuma' | ɟi- | ɟa- | ɟi- | ɟi- | ɟı̀mô | ɪ̀ɟì | things, language, body parts, etc. |
| 8 | ɪ-ɟi- (sɪ) | ɟítáβò | 'books' | ɟi- | ɟa- | ɟi- | i- | ɟìβɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀ɟı̀ | |
| 9 | ɪ-n- | nùúmbà | 'house' | n- | ya- | i- | i- | yɪ̀mô | ɪ̀yɪ̀ | common objects, animals, fruits, etc. |
| 10 | ɪ-n- | mbʊ̀lǐ | 'goats' | n- | ɟa- | ɟi- | ɟi- | ɪ̀βɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀ɟì | |
| 11 | ʊ-lʊ- | lʊ̀gòyè | 'rope' | lu- | lo- | lu- | lu- | lʊ̀mô | ʊ̀lʊ̀ | common objects, body parts, etc. |
| 12 | a-ga- (ka) | gàɪǎ | 'a little dog' | ga- | ga- | ga- | ga- | gàmô | àkà | diminutives[10] |
| 13 | ʊ-dʊ- (tʊ) | dʊ̀ɪǎ | 'little dogs' | dʊ- | do- | dʊ- | dʊ- | dʊ̀mô | ʊ̀tʊ̀ | |
| 14 | ʊ-βʊ- | βʊ̀sààdǔ | 'sickness' | βʊ- | βo- | βʊ- | βʊ- | βʊ̀mô | ʊ̀βʊ̀ | abstractions, insects, etc. |
| 15 | ʊ-gʊ- (kʊ) | gʊ̀tʊ̌ | 'ear' | gʊ- | go- | gʊ- | gu- | gʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | body parts and infinitives |
| 16 | a-ha- | hààn̥ʊ̀ | 'place' | ha- | ha- | ha- | ho- | hàmô | àhà | location |
| 17 | a-gʊ- (kʊ) | gʊ̀gàbáádi | 'on the cupboard' | gʊ- | ya- | gʊ- | ko- | ? | ʊ̀kʊ̀ | |
| 18 | ʊ-mu- | mʊ̀gàbáádi | 'inside the cupboard' | m- | ya- | mu- | mo- | ? | ʊ̀mù | |
Many kin terms have a reduced form of the nominal prefixes, zero andβa-, called class 1a/2a, as inmààyʊ̂ 'mother',βàmààyʊ̂ 'mothers'. Concord is identical with other class-1/2 nouns.
Singular/plural pairs are 1/2, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, and 12/13, and locative classes 16, 17, and 18 do not have plurals. Most others use class 6 for their plurals: 11/6, 14/6, 15/6, and also sometimes 7/6 and 12/6. There are also nouns that inflect as 11/4, 11/14, 14/10, and 15/8.
Infinitive verbs have the formgʊ-object-ext-ROOT-ext-V-locative, whereext stands for any of various grammatical 'extensions', and -V is the final vowel. For example, with roots in bold and tone omitted,[6]
-ĩl is theapplicative suffix, translated as 'for'. Thereciprocal prefixĩ has fused into the infinitivegũ.
-mo is a locative 'inside', as in class 18 nominal concord.
Finite verbs have the form subject-TAM-ext-object-ROOT-ext-TAM-V. For example,
The rootiiš includes a fusedcausative suffix. Tense is marked by a prefix. The subject markerβa- shows that the subject is human plural, per the noun-concord table above.
Here tense is marked by a suffix.
Here the prefix is fused tense and reciprocalĩ.
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
