Laal language
The
Laal language is a still-
unclassified language spoken by 749 people (as of 2000) in three villages in the
Moyen-Chari prefecture of
Chad on opposite banks of the
Chari River, called
Gori (
lá),
Damtar (
"ual), and
Mailao. It may be a
language isolate, in which case it would represent an isolated survival of an earlier language group of
central Africa. It is unwritten (except in
transcription by linguists). According to
SIL-Chad member David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread
Baguirmi language.
This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977, through
Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based for the most part on a single speaker, M. Djouam Kadi of Damtar.
The language's speakers are mainly
river fishermen and
farmers, who also sell
salt extracted from the ashes of
doum palms and
Vossia cuspidata. Like their neighbors the
Niellim, they were formerly cattle herders, but lost their herds around the turn of the 19th century. They are mainly
Muslims, although until the latter half of the 20th century they followed the traditional
Yondo religion of the Niellim. The area is fairly undeveloped; while there are
Qur'anic schools in Gori and Damtar, the nearest government school is 7
km away, and there is no medical dispensary in the region (as of 1995.)
The village of
Damtar formerly had a distinct dialect, called Laabe (
la:bé), with two or three speakers remaining in 1977; it was replaced by the dialect of Gori after two Gori families fled there at the end of the 19th century to escape a
war. No other dialects of Laal are known.
Under Chadian law, Laal — like all languages of Chad other than
French and
Arabic — is regarded as a
national language. While the 1996 Constitution stipulates that "the law shall fix the conditions of promotion and development of national languages", national languages are not used for education nor for official purposes, nor usually for written media, although some of the larger ones (not Laal) are used on the radio.
Laal remains
unclassified, although extensive
Adamawa-Ubangi (particularly
Bua) and to a lesser extent
Chadic influence is found. It is sometimes grouped with one of those two
language families, and sometimes seen as a
language isolate. Boyeldieu (1982) summarizes his view as "Its classification remains problematic; while it shows certain lexical, and no doubt morphological, traits with the
Bua languages (Adamawa-13,
Niger-Congo family of
Joseph H. Greenberg), it differs from them radically in many ways of which some,
a priori, make one think of geographically nearby Chadic languages." Roger Blench (2003), similarly, considers that "its vocabulary and morphology seem to be partly drawn from Chadic (i.e.
Afro-Asiatic), partly from
Adamawa (i.e. Niger-Congo) and partly from an unknown source, perhaps its original phylum, a now-vanished grouping from
Central Africa." It is the latter possibility which attracts particular interest; if this proves true, Laal may be the only remaining window on the linguistic state of Central Africa before the expansion of the main
African language families—
Afroasiatic,
Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Congo—into it.
It contains many
loanwords from
Baguirmi, since the region was for several centuries part of the
Baguirmi Empire; the local capital was
Korbol. In addition, they almost all speak
Niellim as a second language, and "at least 20%-30%" of their attested vocabulary (Boyeldieu 1977) shows similarities to that language. Their immediate neighbors speak Bua, Niellim, and
Ndam. Like the
Baguirmi, they are
Muslims; partly because of this, some
Arabic loanwords are also found.
The sounds of Laal are transcribed here using
International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. The consonants are:
Implosives and prenasalised stops, as well as h, are found only word-initially. Voiceless stops, as well as s, cannot occur at the end of a syllable. occurs only intervocalically and word-finally. appears exclusively in
loanwords and certain numbers. The prenasalized stops, as well as the implosive , are extremely rare.
The vowel system for non-initial syllables is: , and the
diphthong , with no length distinction. For initial syllables, however, it is much more complicated, allowing length distinctions and distinguishing the following additional diphthongs: (though the latter two appear only as morphologically conditioned forms of and , and are perhaps better seen as allophonic.) In addition, may occur very occasionally; Boyeldieu quotes the example of
mỳlùg "red (pl.)".
There are three level tones: high (á), middle (a), low (à). Combinations of these may occur on a single vowel, resulting in phonetic rising and falling tones; these are phonemically sequences of level tones. Such cases are transcribed here by repeating the vowel (eg àá); long vowels are indicated only by the colon (eg a:).
Suffixes may force any of four kinds of
ablaut on the vowels of preceding words: raising (takes to ), lowering (takes to {{IPA|[ia], [a], [ua]]}), low rounding (takes and to ; to ; , and to ), and high rounding (takes and to ; and to ; , and to rather than, as expected, .
In suffixes, ə and o undergo
vowel harmony: they become ɨ and u respectively if the preceding vowel is one of {i, ɨ, u}. Likewise, r undergoes consonant harmony, becoming l after words containing l. Suffixes with neutral tone copy the final tone of the word they are suffixed to.
Syntax
The typical word order can be summarized as
subject - (verbal
particle) -
verb -
object -
adverb;
preposition -
noun;
possessed -
possessor;
noun -
adjective. Nouns can be fronted when
topicalized. See the
sample sentences below for examples, and the
conjunctions for clause syntax.
Nouns
Nouns have plural and singular forms (the latter are perhaps better viewed as
singulative in some cases), with plural formation hard to predict:
kò:g "bone" >
kuagmi "bones",
tuà:r "chicken" >
tò:rò "chickens",
ɲaw "hunger" >
ɲə̀wə́r "hungers". Nouns do not have arbitrary gender; however, as in English, three natural genders (male, female, non-human) are distinguished by the pronouns.
The possessive is expressed in two ways:
* "
inalienable", or direct, possession: by following the possessed with the possessor (and modifying the tone or ending of the possessed in some cases), eg
piá:r no "person's leg" ("leg person");
*
alienable possession: by putting a connecting word, conjugated according to number and gender, between the possessed and the possessor, eg
làgɨˋm má màr-dɨb "blacksmith's horse" ("horse CONN. man+of-forge"). This word is sometimes abbreviated to a simple high tone.
However, if the possessor is a pronoun, it is suffixed with extensive vowel
ablaut (in the first case), or prepositional forms with "at", and optionally the connector as well, are used (in the second case):
na:ra ɟá ɗe: "my man" ("man CONN. at-me"),
mùlù "her eye" ("eye-her", from
mɨla "eye"). Some nouns (eg
páw- "friend") occur only with bound pronouns, and have no independent form. This phenomenon -
obligatory possession - is found in many other languages, for instance the
Andamanese languages, usually for words referring to personal relationships. See
the pronouns section for the relevant suffixes.
A noun indicating someone who does, is, or has something can be formed with the prefix
màr, meaning roughly "he/she/it who/of":
màr jùgòr "landowner",
màr ce "farmer" (
ce = cultivate),
màr pál "fisherman" (
pál = to fish),
màr pàlà ta: "a fisher of fish".
Pronouns
Personal
In the following tables, note the distinction between
inclusive and
exclusive we, found in many other languages but not
English, and the gender differentiation of "I" in certain forms. The inanimate plural has in general been dropped by younger speakers in favor of the animate plural, though both are given below. The object paradigm for verbs is quite complex; only two of its several sets of
allomorphs are given in the table below.
| Simple | Emphatic | Benefactive | At | Possessive | Object (n-type) | Object (r-type) | | I (masc.) | ɟá | ɟá | ni | ɗe: | -↑ər | -↑ə́n | -↑ə́r |
|---|
| I (fem.) | ɟí | ɟí | ni | ɗe: | -↑ər | -↑ə́n | -↑ə́r |
|---|
| you | "ò | "ùáj | na | ɗa: | -"a | -↘(u)án | -↘á |
|---|
| he | "à | "àáj | nar | ɗa:r | -"ar | -"án | -"ár |
|---|
| she | "ɨ̀n | "ɨ̀ní | nùg | ɗò:g | -↑o(g), -↗o(g) | -↗òn | -↑ò |
|---|
| it | "àn | "àní | nàná | ɗà:ná | -"an | -"àn | -"àr, -"àn |
|---|
| we (excl.) | "ùrú | "ùrú | nùrú | ɗò:ró | -↑rú | -↗(ˋ)nùrú, -↑(ˋ)nùrú | -↗(ˋ)rùú, -↑(ˋ)rùú |
|---|
| we (incl.) | "àáŋ | "àáŋ | nàáŋ | ɗàáŋ | -↑ráŋ | -↑(ˋ)nàáŋ | -↑(ˋ)ràáŋ |
|---|
| you (pl.) | "ùn | "ùnúŋ | nùúŋ | ɗòóŋ | -↑rúŋ | -↗(ˋ)nùúŋ, -↑(ˋ)nùúŋ | -↗(ˋ)rùúŋ, -↑(ˋ)rùúŋ |
|---|
| they (anim.) | "ì | "ìrí | nìrí | ɗè:ri | -↑rí | -↑(ˋ)nìrí | -↑(ˋ)rìí |
|---|
| they (inan.) | "uàn | "uàní | nuàná | ɗuà:ná | -↘an, -↑uan | -↘àn | -↘àr, -↘àn |
|---|
Relative and indefinite pronouns
| Male sg. | Female sg. | Inanimate sg. | Animate pl. | Inanimate pl. | | who/of | ɟá | ɟí | má | jí | já |
|---|
| some ... | ɟàn | ɟìn | màn | jìn | jìn |
|---|
| such a ... | ɟuàŋá | ɟùŋú | muàŋá | jùŋú | jùŋú |
|---|
Interrogative
jé "what?",
ɟè "who?",
ɗé "where?",
sɨ̀g "how much?".
Prepositions
Prepositions precede their objects:
gɨ̀ pə:l "in(to) the village",
kɨ́ jà:ná "to his body" (="to near him".)
Verbs
The verb does not vary according to the person or gender of the subject, but some verbs (about a quarter of the verbs attested) vary according to its number:
no kaw "the person eats",
mùáŋ kɨw "the people eat". The plural form of the verb is hard to predict, but is often formed by ablaut (typically raising the vowel height) with or without a suffix
-i(ɲ) or
-ɨɲ and tonal change. The verb does, however, change according to the
direct object. It takes personal suffixes to indicate a pronominal
direct object, and commonly changes when a non-pronominal direct object is added to a
transitive form with final low tone (formed similarly to the "centripetal", for which see below); eg
"à ná ká "he will do";
"à ná kàrà mɨ́ná "he will do something";
"à kú na:ra "he sees the man";
"à kúù:rùúŋ "he sees you (pl.)".
The verb has three basic forms: simple, "centripetal", and "participative" (to
calque Boyeldieu's terminology.) The simple form is used in the simple
present tense or the
imperative, eg
"à duàg jə́w gə̀m "he goes down the riverbank" (lit. "he descend mouth riverbank.") The "centripetal" indicates action "hither", either spatially - motion towards the speaker - or temporally - action up to the present moment; it is formed mainly by suffixing a vowel (often, but not always, identical to the last vowel in the word), eg
"à duàgà jə́w gə̀m "he comes down the riverbank (towards me)". The "participative" - generally formed like the centripetal, but with final high tone - generally indicates an omitted object or instrument, eg
"à sá ɗa:g "à sɨ̀rɨ́ su "he takes a
calabash and drinks water with it" (lit. "he take calabash he drink-participative water".)
Immediately before the verb, a particle may be placed to indicate forms other than a simple present tense; such particles include
ná (pl.
ní) marking future tense,
taá:/teé: (pl.
tií:) marking continuous action,
wáa: (pl.
wíi:) marking motion,
náa: (pl.
níi:) being apparently a combination of
ná and
wáa:,
mà (pl.
mì) meaning "must",
mɨ́ marking reported speech (apparently an
evidential),
mɨ́nà (pl.
mínì) expressing intention,
kò marking habitual action,
"ə́l or
ga (pl.
gi) marking incomplete action, and
wó (always accompanied by
"àle after the verb) meaning "maybe".
Mediopassives (see
passive voice,
middle voice) can be formed from
transitive verbs by adding a suffix
-↑ɨ́ɲ: eg
no siár sà:b "someone ripped the cloth" >
sà:b sérɨ́ɲ "the cloth ripped". For the inverse operation - forming transitive verbs from
intransitives - tonal changes, or changes to the plural, sometimes occur.
Verbal nouns can sometimes be formed, mainly from intransitives, by the addition of a suffix -(vowel)
l, sometimes with
ablaut and tone change; eg
wal "fall" >
wàlál "a fall",
sùbá "lie" >
sɨ́blál (pl.
súbɨ̀r) "a lie". The
l here becomes
n near a nasal, and
r near
r:
man "taste good",
manan "a good taste".
Adjectives
Adjectives do not seem to constitute an independent category in Laal; to all intents and purposes, they behave just like verbs. Eg
gò: "ì:r "the goat is black". Attributively, they are typically linked as a
relative clause:
gò: má "ì:r "the black goat" (literally "goat which black".)
Numbers
The numbers include
"ɨ̀dɨ́l "one",
"isi "two",
"isan "four". No other numbers are given specifically in the works so far published.
Adverbs
Adverbs generally come at the end of the clause. Some important adverbs are:
Adverbs of location:
* "here":
ɗágàl, núŋú* "there":
ɗaŋ* "over there, yonder":
ɗàŋáTemporal adverbs:
* "day before yesterday":
tá:r* "yesterday":
"iè:n* "today":
cicam,
tari-màá* "recently":
bèrè* "soon":
sugo* "tomorrow":
jìlí-kà:rì* "day after tomorrow":
miàlgàModals
Among the most important modals are:
*Before the verb:
mɨ́ "(say) that",
gàná "then"
*After the verb:
wó "not",
("à)le "maybe",
"ə́l "again",
"á or
gà "already",
à interrogative,
wá exclamatory,
ta "now",
cám "again, anew".
Conjunctions
Syntactically, these can be divided into five types:
* only {
main clause -
conjunction -
subordinate clause}:
mɨ́ "(say) that",
"ə "because"
* either {main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - main clause}:
ɟò "if",
dànngà (possibly from Baguirmian) "when"
* circumposed: either {conjunction - main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - conjunction - main clause}:
ɟò... gàná "if"
*
coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause:
ní "then afterwards",
ku "then",
kó "nonetheless",
á or
ná "and",
"e: "or",
"àmá (from Arabic or Baguirmian) "but".
* circumposed: conjunction - coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause:
ku... ku "then",
jàn... jàn "both... and".
mùáŋ lá tií: kìrì jé? "What do the people of Gori do?" (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural do-plural-transitive what?")
mùáŋ lá tií: pál. "The people of Gori fish." (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural fish.")
màr-ce "ɨ́lá mɨ́ "bɨ̀là, "ò teé: ɗɨ̀grɨ̀r". "The farmer said 'No way! You're tricking me.'" (lit. "man+who-cultivate say that no-way you progressive trick-me".)
*
ɟá ná wùsù na pè:rí ní "árí "ò ná kìnì jé? "If/When I take out the snake, what will you give me?" (lit. "I(masc.) will take+out-transitive for-you(sg.) snake then first you give-me-transitive what?")
*
jà kàskàr mà mùáŋ lá sə̀ɲə́ be. "It's with swords that the people of Gori fight." (lit. "with swords emphatic(inan.) people Gori fight-participative battle.")
* Roger Blench.
Archaeology, Language, and the African Past. Altamira Press forthcoming.
* Pascal Boyeldieu. 1977. "Eléments pour une phonologie du laal de Gori (Moyen-Chari),
Etudes phonologiques tchadiennes, Paris, SELAF (Bibliothèque, 63-64), p. 186-198.
* Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982.
Deux études laal (Moyen-Chari, Tchad), in
Verbindung mit SELAF, Paris. Berlin: Reimer. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde: Ser. A, Afrika; Bd. 29. ISBN 3-496-00557-2.
* Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982. "Quelques questions portant sur la classification du laal (Tchad)". in JUNGRAITHMAYR, H.,
The Chad languages in the Hamitosemitic-Nigritic Border Area (Papers of the Marburg Symposium, 1979). Berlin : Reimer, p. 80-93. Coll. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde, Serie A : Afrika.
* Pascal Boyeldieu. 1987. "Détermination directe/indirecte en laal". in BOYELDIEU, P.,
La maison du chef et la tête du cabri : des degrés de la détermination nominale dans les langues d'Afrique centrale. Paris : Geuthner, p. 77-87. ISBN 2-7053-0339-1
* David Faris, 19 September 1994. "In-House Summary: Laal/Gori language".
SIL/
Chad Survey Team. (Unpublished.)
*
Laal at LLACAN
*
Laal at the
Ethnologue
