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Bongo language

Last updated: 2025-08-02 02:11:34

Bongo language
Bongo
Ndüü Böngö
Native toSouth Sudan
EthnicityBongo
Native speakers
21,000 (2017)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3bot
Glottologbong1285
ELPBongo

Bongo (Bungu), also known as Dor, is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Bongo people in sparsely populated areas of Bahr al Ghazal in South Sudan.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-velar Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩ ŋ ⟨ꞌng⟩
Stop Voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t̪ ⟨t⟩ c~s ⟨c⟩ k ⟨k⟩ k͡p ⟨kp⟩
Voiced b ⟨b⟩ d̪ ⟨d⟩ ɟ ⟨j⟩ g ⟨g⟩ g͡b ⟨gb⟩
Nasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ᶮɟ ⟨nj⟩ ᵑg ⟨ng⟩ ᵑg͡b ⟨ngb⟩
Implosive ɓ ⟨ꞌb⟩ ɗ ⟨ꞌd⟩ ʄ ⟨ꞌj⟩
Tap ɾ ⟨r⟩
Fricative f ⟨f⟩ h ⟨h⟩
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩

Vowels

Bongo has ten vowel qualities,[2] which can be long or short.[3]

FrontCentralBack
Close i ⟨ï⟩u ⟨ü⟩
Near-close ɪ ⟨i⟩ʊ ⟨u⟩
Mid e ⟨ë⟩ə ⟨ä⟩o ⟨ö⟩
Near-open ɛ ⟨e⟩ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩

Bongo also has vowel harmony. The "heavy" vowels, written with diaereses, (/i/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /ə/) contrast with the "light" vowels (/ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ɛ/, /ɔ/, /a/).[4]

Tone

Bongo is tonal language that has the high (á), mid (ā), low (à) and falling (â) tones.

All falling tones occur on either long vowels or on vowel clusters or glides. When the tonal fall is not due to a preceding high tone, it can be indicated by a high tone followed by a low tone.

ToneExampleTranslation
highbʊ́'hungry'
lowtɪ̀ɪ̀'pounded sesame'
fallingtââ /táà/'when'

Numerals

Bongo has a quinary-vigesimal numeral system.[5]

NumberBongo word
1kɔ̀tʊ́
2ŋɡɔ̀r
3mʊ̀tːà
4ʔɛ́w
5múì
6dɔ̀kɔtʊ́
7dɔ́ŋɡɔr
8dɔ̀mʊ́tːà
9dɔ̀mʔɛ́w
10kɪ̀ː
11kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) kɔ̀tʊ́
12kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) ŋɡɔ̀r
13kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) mʊ̀tːà
14kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) ʔɛ́w
15kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) múì
16kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀kɔtʊ́
17kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ́ŋɡɔr
18kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀mʊ́tːà
19kɪː̀ (dɔ̀ː) dɔ̀mʔɛ́w
20mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́
21mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː kɔ̀tʊ́
22mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː ŋɡɔ̀r
23mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː mʊ̀tːà
24mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː ʔɛ́w
25mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː múì
26mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀kɔtʊ́
27mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ́ŋɡɔr
28mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀mʊ́tːà
29mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː dɔ̀mʔɛ́w
30mbàba kɔ̀tʊ́ dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː
40mbàba ŋɡɔ̀r
50mbàba ŋɡɔ̀r dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː
60mbàba mʊ̀tːà
70mbàba mʊ̀tːà dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː
80mbàba ʔɛ́w
90mbàba ʔɛ́w dɔ̀ː kɪ̀ː
100mbàla múì
200mbàba múì dɔ̀ː múì
1000mbuda kɔ̀tʊ́
2000mbuda ŋɡɔ̀r

Scholarship

The first ethnologists to work with the Bongo language were John Petherick, who published Bongo word lists in his 1861 work, Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa; Theodor von Heuglin, who also published Bongo word lists in Reise in das Gebiet des Weissen Nil, &c. 1862-1864 in 1869; and Georg August Schweinfurth, who contributed sentences and vocabularies in his Linguistische Ergebnisse, Einer Reise Nach Centralafrika in 1873.[6] E. E. Evans-Pritchard published additional Bongo word lists in 1937.[7]

More recent scholarship has been done by Eileen Kilpatrick, who published a phonology of Bongo in 1985.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Bongo at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Moi et al. 2018a, p. 5.
  3. ↑ Moi et al. 2018a, p. 34.
  4. ↑ Moi et al. 2018b, p. 5.
  5. ↑ "Bongo at Numeral Systems of the World's Languages".
  6. ↑ Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1929). "The Bongo". Sudan Notes and Records. pp. 1–62.
  7. ↑ Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1937). "The non-Dinka peoples of the Amadi and Rumbek Districts". Sudan Notes and Records. pp. 156–158.
  8. ↑ Kilpatrick, Eileen (1985). "Bongo Phonology". Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 4: 1–62.

Further reading

  • Crystal, Kathryn; Armand, Matthew; Armand, Breanna (2020). Sociolinguistic Survey of the Bongo of South Sudan (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2020–010. Dallas: SIL International.
  • Moi, Daniel Rabbi; Kuduku, Mario Lau Babur; Michael, Sister Mary Mangira; John, Simon Hagimir; Mafoi, Rapheal Zakenia Paul; Kuduku, Nyoul Gulluma (2018a). Bongo Grammar Book (PDF) (3rd trial ed.). Juba: SIL-South Sudan.
  • Moi, Daniel Rabbi; Kuduku, Mario Lau Babur; Michael, Sister Mary Mangira; John, Simon Hagimir; Mafoi, Rapheal Zakenia Paul; Kuduku, Nyoul Gulluma (2018b). Bongo Consonant and Vowel Book (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-02-18.
  • Santandrea, Stefano (1963). A Small Comparative Vocabulary of Bongo Baka Yulu Kara. Rome: Sodality of St Peter Claver.
  • Thayer, Linda Jean (1974). A Reconstructed History of the Chari Languages: Comparative Bongo-Bagirmi-Sara Segmental Phonology With Evidence From Arabic Loanwords (PhD thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. hdl:2142/63560.

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