| Kuliak | |
|---|---|
| Rub | |
| Geographic distribution | Karamoja region, northeasternUganda |
| Linguistic classification | Nilo-Saharan?
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Kuliak |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | kuli1252 |
 | |
TheKuliak languages, also called theRub languages,[1] orNyangiyan languages[2] are a group of languages spoken by smallrelict communities in the mountainousKaramoja region of northeasternUganda.
Nyang'i andSoo aremoribund, with a handful of elderly speakers. However,Ik is vigorous and growing.
Word order in Kuliak languages is verb-initial.[3]
The Kuliak languages are also called theRub languages by Ehret (1981), since Ehret reconstructed "Rub" to mean 'person' in Proto-Kuliak. He suggests that "Kuliak" may actually be a derogatory term used by neighboring Nilotic-speaking peoples to disparage Kuliak speakers as "poor," hence his preference for using Rub instead.[4] However, Kuliak continues to be the most widely used name, and is preferred byRoger Blench, Terrill Schrock, Sam Beer and other linguists, who note that the name "Kuliak" is not perceived as offensive or pejorative by any Kuliak speakers.[citation needed]
The Kuliak languages have previously had a much more extensive range in the past. Kuliak loanwords in theLuhya,Gusii,Kalenjin andSukuma languages show that these peoples inhabited western Kenya and the southern parts ofLake Victoria before being absorbed by the ancestors of these Bantu and Nilotic speakers. These now extinct Kuliak peoples are known as the "Southern Rub". The Southern Rub lived as far south asLake Eyasi, as shown by Kuliak loanwords inHadza andSandawe, and possibly as far east as theKilimanjaro Region, as shown by Kuliak loanwords in theChaga andThagiicu languages.[5][6]
According to the classification of Heine (1976),[7] Soo and Nyang'i form a subgroup, Western Kuliak, while Ik stands by itself.
| Kuliak | |
According to Schrock (2015), "Dorobo" is aspurious language, is not a fourth Kuliak language, and may atmost be a dialect of Ik.[8]
Heine finds the following numbers of correspondences between the languages on the 200-wordSwadesh list:
Bender (1989) had classified the Kuliak languages within theEastern Sudanic languages. Later, Bender (2000) revised this position by placing Kuliak as basal branch ofNilo-Saharan.Glottolog treats Kuliak as an independent language family and does not acceptNilo-Saharan as a valid language family.
An early suggestion for Ik as a member ofAfroasiatic was made byArchibald Tucker in the 1960s; this was criticized as weak and abandoned by the 1980s.[9]
The followingsound correspondences are identified byBernd Heine (1976),[7] who proposes also corresponding Proto-Kuliak reconstructions.
| Ik | Tepes | Nyang'i | Proto-Kuliak | Phonological environment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | b ~ p | b | *b | |
| ɓ | ɓ | ɓ | *ɓ | |
| ɗ ~ d | d | d | *d | |
| dz | ∅ | ∅ | *dz | Initially. Fricativez in Dorobo. |
| d | s | (?) | Medially. No reflexes known in Nyang'i. | |
| ɟ ~ ʄ | ɟ | ɟ | *ɟ | |
| g | g | g | *g | Initially, before back vowels |
| ɟ | g | ɟ | Initially, before front vowels | |
| g | ∅ | ∅ | Medially | |
| f | p | p | *p | |
| t | t | t | *t | |
| ts | c | c | *c | |
| c | k | k | *kj | Initially and medially |
| h | k | k | Finally | |
| k | k | k | *k | |
| kw | w | kw | *kw | Word-initially |
| k | ∅ | ∅ | *kʰ | |
| tsʼ | ʄ | ʄ | *cʼ | Initially |
| s | s | s | Medially | |
| kʼ | ɠ | ɠ | *kʼ | |
| s | s | s | *s | Initially |
| r | s | s | Medially | |
| ɬ | l | ɬ | *ɬ | Initially |
| ɬ | l | iɬ | Finally | |
| h | ∅ | ∅ | *h | Initially |
| ∅ | ʔ | ∅ | Finally | |
| z | (?) | s | *z | No reflex known in Tepes |
| m | m | m | *m | |
| n | n | n | *n | |
| ɲ | ɲ | ɲ | *ɲ | |
| ŋ | ŋ | ŋ | *ŋ | Initially, by default |
| ɲ | ŋ | ŋ | Initially, before *ɛ | |
| r | ? | ɲ | Medially and finally | |
| l | l | l | *l | Finally, a plosive /t/ in Dorobo. |
| r | r | r | *r | Initially and at the end of monosyllabic words |
| r | ∅ | r | Elsewhere | |
| r | r | r | *rr | Medially |
| ∅ | j | ∅ | *j | Initially and finally |
| j | j | j | Medially | |
| w | w | w | *w | Default |
| w ~ ∅ | ∅ | w | Finally after *k, *g |
| Ik | Tepes | Nyang'i | Proto-Kuliak | Phonological environment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | a | *a | Default |
| a | a | ɛ | Preceded by any non-open vowel | |
| a | e | e | Followed by a high vowel *i, *u | |
| a | ɛ | ɛ | Unstressed, when followed by a semivowel *j, *w | |
| ɛ | ɛ | ɛ | *ɛ | In Tepes and Nyang'i, /e/ and /ɛ/ can alternate morphophonologically. |
| e | e | e | *e | |
| i | e | e | *ẹ | |
| e | i | i | *I | |
| i | i | i | *i | |
| ɔ | ɔ | ɔ | *ɔ | In Tepes and Nyang'i, /o/ and /ɔ/ can alternate morphophonologically. |
| o | o | o | *o | |
| u | o | o | *ọ | |
| o | u | u | *U | |
| u | u | u | *u |
For other vowel correspondences, Heine reconstructs clusters of vowels:
Heine reconstructs two classes ofstress in Proto-Kuliak: "primary", which could occur in any position and remains in place in all Kuliak languages, and "secondary", which always occurred on the 2nd syllable of a word, and remains there in Ik and Nyang'i, but shifts to the first syllable in Tepes.
Blench[10] notes that Kuliak languages do not have extensive internal diversity and clearly had a relatively recent common ancestor. There are many monosyllabic VC (vowel + consonant) lexical roots in Kuliak languages, which is typologically unusual among Nilo-Saharan languages and is more typical of someAustralian languages such asKunjen. Blench considers these VC roots to have cognates in other Nilo-Saharan languages, and suggests that the VC roots may have been eroded from earlier Nilo-Saharan roots that had initial consonants.[10]
Significant influences fromCushitic languages,[11] and more recentlyEastern Nilotic languages, are observable in the vocabulary and phonology of Kuliak languages. Blench[10] notes that Kuliak appears to retain a core of non-Nilo-Saharan vocabulary, suggestinglanguage shift from an indigenous language like that seen inDahalo.
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Comparison of numerals in individual languages:[12]
| Language | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ik (1) | kɔ̀nʊ̀kᵓ (lit. and it's one) | lèɓètsìn (lit. and it's two) | àɗìn (lit. and it's three) | tsʼàɡùsìn (lit. and it's four) | tùdìn (lit. and it's five) | tudini ńda kɛɗɪ kɔn (5+ 1) | tudini ńda kiɗi léɓetsᵉ (5+ 2) | tudini ńda kiɗi aɗ (5+ 3) | tudini ńda kiɗi tsʼaɡús (5+ 4) | tomín |
| Ik (2) | kɔnᵃ | léɓetsᵃ | aɗᵃ / aɗᵉ | tsʔaɡúsᵃ | túdᵉ | ńda-keɗi-kɔnᵃ (5+ 1) | ńda-kiɗi-léɓetsᵃ (5+ 2) | ńda-kiɗiá-aɗᵉ (5+ 3) | ńda-kiɗi-tsʔaɡúsᵃ (5+ 4) | tomín |
| Nyang'i | nardok | nɛʔɛc | iyʔɔn | nowʔe | tud | mɔk kan kapei | mɔk tomin | |||
| Soo (Tepes) (1) | nɛ́dɛ̀s | ínɛ̀'bɛ́c | ínì'jɔ̀n | ín'ùáʔ | íntùd | ˌíntùd ká ˈnɛ́dɛ̀s (5+ 1) | ˌíntùd ká ínɛ̀'bɛ̀c (5+ 2) | ˌíntùd ká ínì'jɔ́n (5+ 3) | ˌíntùd ká ínùáʔ (5+ 4) | mì'míɾínìk |
| Soo (Tepes) (2) | ɛdɛs | nɛbɛc | iyon | nowa | tuɗ | tuɗ ka nɪ ɛdɛs (5+ 1) | tuɗ ka nɪ nɛbɛc (5+ 2) | tuɗ ka nɪ iyon (5+ 3) | tuɗ ka nɪ nowa (5+ 4) | tuɗ en-ek iɠe (hand-PL all) |
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
