Alur dialect

Alur
Lur
Region Orientale Province (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Uganda
Ethnicity Alur
Native speakers
 1.4 million (2001–2002)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 alz
Glottolog alur1250[2]

Alur is a dialect of Southern Luo spoken in northwestern Uganda and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Alur people. The language's subialects are Jokot, Jonam/Lo-Naam (mainly spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Mambisa and Wanyoro.

Phonetics

Vowels

Alur has 9 vowels.

FrontCentralBack
Closei u
Near-closeɪ ʊ
Close-mide o
Open-midɛ ɔ
Open a

Note that all the vowels are paired except for /a/. Though all nine vowels are phonemic, each pair of vowels is represented by a single letter in the orthography:

/u/ and /ʊ/ are represented by 'u'.

/o/ and /ɔ/ are represented by 'o'.

/i/ and /ɪ/ are represented by 'i'.

/e/ and /ɛ/ are represented by 'e'.

Consonants

Alur has 23 consonants.

Phonetic inventory of consonants in Alur
Labial Labio-dental Inderdental Alveolar Palato-Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive p b t̟ d̟ t d k ɡ
Fricative f v s z h
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Trill r
Approximant w l j

Orthography

The Alur language has no officially accepted orthography. However, informal conventions have been established in written materials and road signs.

First, there is usually no written tonal distinction. Second, the phonemic distinction between /ŋ/ and /ng/ is occasionally reflected in the orthography, with /ŋ/ represented by 'ŋ' and /ng/ represented by 'ng'. However, /ŋ/ is also frequently written as 'ng', confusing it orthographically with /ng/.

References

  1. ↑ Alur at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Alur". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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