Bari language
| Bari | |
|---|---|
| Karo, Kutuk | |
| Region | South Sudan and Uganda |
| Ethnicity | Bari people |
Native speakers | ca. 750,000 (ca. 2000)[1] |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Variously: bfa – Bari keo – Kakwa mqu – Mandari |
Bari is the Nilotic language of the Karo people, spoken over large areas of Central Equatoria state in South Sudan, across the northwest corner of Uganda, and into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bari is spoken by several distinct tribes: the Bari people themselves, the Pojulu, Kakwa, Nyangwara, Mundari, and Kuku. Each has their own dialect. The language is therefore sometimes called Karo or Kutuk ('mother tongue') rather than Bari.
Dialects are:
- Bari proper (Beri)
- Pöjulu (Pajulu, Fadjulu, Fajelu, Madi)
- Kakwa (Kakua, Kwakwak) [radio broadcasts in Uganda]
- Nyangbara (Nyangwara, Nyambara)
- Mandari (Mondari, Mundari, Chir, Kir, Shir)
- Kuku
- Nyepu (Nyefu, Nyepo, Nypho, Ngyepu)
- Ligo (Liggo).
Bari is a tone language. It has vowel harmony, subject–verb–object word order, and agglutinative verbal morphology with some suppletion. A very competent dictionary and grammar were published in the 1930s, but are very difficult to find today. More recently, a dissertation has been published on Bari tonal phonology, and another dissertation on Bari syntax is available.
Phonology
Bari has a cross-height vowel-harmony system.[2]
Orthography
The Bari alphabet is used by the Bari proper and Kuku in South Sudan. There are four digraphs, 'B, 'D, 'Y and Ny, and the letter eng, Ŋ.
| Uppercase | A | B | 'B | D | 'D | E | G | J | I | Y | 'Y | K | L | M | N | Ŋ | Ny | O | Ö | P | R | S | T | U | W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase | a | b | 'b | d | 'd | e | g | j | i | y | 'y | k | l | m | n | ŋ | ny | o | ö | p | r | s | t | u | w |
| Uppercase | Ŋ | Ö |
|---|---|---|
| Lowercase | ŋ | ö |
| Alternatives | ng | o |
| Uppercase Unicode (hexadecimal) | 014A | 00D6 |
| Lowercase Unicode (hexadecimal) | 014B | 00F6 |
| Unicode Character Code Chart | Latin Extended A | Latin-1 |
References
- ↑ Bari reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
Kakwa reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
Mandari reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) - ↑ SIL Bibliography: Yokwe and Hall 1981
General References
- Bari Language, Sudan Primer: Sillabari Ko Kutuk Na Bari. The Catholic Press Institute. Juba, Sudan.
- Owen, R.C.R. Bari grammar and vocabulary. 1908. OCLC: 25040516
- Spagnolo, Lorenzo M. Bari grammar. 1933. Verona, Missioni Africane.. OCLC: 34898784
- Yokwe, Eluzai. The tonal grammar of Bari. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 1987.
External links
- Kitap Kwakwaset The Book of Common Prayer in Bari (1953)
- http://www.openroad.net.au/languages/african/