Gungu language

Gungu is a Bantu language spoken by the Gungu (or Bagungu) people in western Uganda.

Phonology

Consonants

Casali and Diprose tentatively argue that the labialized (Cʷ) and palatalized (Cʲ) sequences may be sequences of CuV and CiV, respectively.^[3]

Vowels

Gungu has 14 vowel phonemes. The mid vowels are variants of the open-mid vowels. Vowels before prenasalized consonants and after labialized and palatalized consonants are always long but are written short. The close and mid vowels are considered "hard", and the others are considered "soft." Gungu has a form of vowel harmony, in which the mid vowels generally only appear in words with the "hard" close vowels.^[4]

Monophthongs

Diphthongs

Gungu has eight diphthongs.

Tone

Tone is only marked on Gungu verbs indicating the recent past. This tense is marked with a plus symbol (+).^[5]

Orthography

References

^ Gungu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
^ Casali & Diprose 2007.
^ a b c Moe & Mbabazi 2008.
^ Moe & Mbabazi 2008, p. 27.

Works cited

Casali, Rod; Diprose, Martin (2007). Lugungu Phonology Statement (PDF). SIL International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-21.
Moe, Ronald; Mbabazi, James (May 2008). Lugungu orthography guide (2nd ed.). SIL. OCLC 555770294.
Robert, Businge Makolome; Diprose, Martin (2016). "The Lugungu Alphabet". Lugungu Dictionary.