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Tagoi LanguageThe Tagoi language (ŋɔ̹́gɔ̹́lɛ̹́) is a Kordofanian language, closely related to Tegali, spoken near the town of Rashad in southern Kordofan in Sudan, about 12 N, 31 E. It has about 13,000 speakers in total. Like most other Kordofanian languages, it has a complex noun class system. It has several dialects, including Tumale, Tagoi proper, Moreb, and Jebel Turjuk; the following describes the Turjuk, or Orig, dialect (ŋrig). Sounds The consonants are: | |c |k | | | |s | | | |r | | |l | | |n |ɲ |ŋ| | | | |y |w | | Stops are automatically voiced between two non-obstruents (obstruents = stops or fricatives.) Stops and sonorants may occur geminate. Some consonant clusters are allowed (almost invariably two-consonant), most involving sonorants; prenasalised ones are particularly common. ʃ, h, z are found in some Arabic loanwords. The vowel system is unclear; phonetically, it seems to be basically: a, e, i, o, u, ɛ, ɔ, ɪ, ʊ, ə. There seem to be three phonemic tones: high, low, and occasionally falling. Grammar Nouns Each noun consists of a prefix plus a stem; the prefix identifies its noun class. It changes according to number. The genders include: - w-, pl. y-: this gender seems to consist mainly of persons and animals. Eg: wttar "chief" > yttar "chiefs"; wn "snake" > ynt "snakes".
- bilabial-, pl. yi-, including several trees; eg wr "um-kaddaqi tree" > ywrn, prn "upper arm" > ybrn.
- pl. with no initial change, including a number of kinship terms; eg mr "road" > mrnt, pp "father" > ppnt
- t-, pl. y-: mostly body parts; eg trk "skin" > yrk, tŋlk "tongue" > yŋlk.
- t-, pl. ŋ-: almost exclusively body parts; eg tŋlk "tongue" > ŋŋlk, tɲn "tooth" > ŋɲn.
- t- with no plural: place names, mass nouns
- y-, pl. ŋ-: notably fruits and body parts, but also a wide variety of others. Eg y "egg" > ŋye; ymb "knee" > ŋmb.
- ŋ- with no plural: languages, liquids, possibly verbal nouns; eg ŋə̹́gdr "Arabic" (< kə̀dr "Arab"), ŋ "water".
- k-, pl. s-: seems to be the commonest gender, includes all sorts of semantic fields; eg kb "hut" > sb, km "hair" > sm, kdr "pig" > sdr.
- c-, pl. ɲ-: includes a wide variety of semantic fields; derives diminutives; eg: cŋ "child, boy" > ɲn; cdn "bird" > ɲdn.
In genitive (possessive) constructions, the head noun is followed by a linking element which agrees with it in class, followed by the possessor noun; eg ɲn ɲi-adam "children of Adam"; kʊs ki-gai "skull (ie bone of head)". Adjectives Adjectives follow the noun, and agree in noun class, ie in gender and number; eg ks kll "a thin bone" > ss sll "thin bones". Demonstratives Demonstratives too follow the noun, and agree in class. There are: - three short : -i- "this" (with the agreement prefix copied after the i as well as before), -ur, -un "that". Eg: glm kɛ́k "this pencil" > slmt sɛ́s "these pencils"; glm kur "that pencil".
- three long, formed by adding (-)-an to the previous; eg wskn wwn "this knife", glm kurkan "that pencil".
Numbers The numbers one to four are normal adjectives; eg yʊ́r ykk "two hands". Other numbers' behavior is unknown. When used without a head noun, they appear as follows, with the prefix w- for numbers 1-5: - wtt, tt
- wkkk
- wtt
- wrʊ̀m
- wʊ̹̀rm
- ɲrr
- ʊ̀mʊ̀rgʊ́
- tpp
- kʊ́mns(n)
- kʊ́mn
Pronouns The pronouns are as follows: | ndependent | Possessive (agree in class) | Verb subject | Verb object | | |ygə̹́n |-rŋ |y- |d- | | ou (sg.) | ɔ̀gə̜́n | -rɔ́ŋ | w- | n- | | e/she/it | tgə̜́n | -rŋ | - | - (-?) | | e | ngə̹́n | -rn | n- | nŋg()- | | ou (pl.) | nɔ̀gə̜́n | -rɔ́n | ŋ- | nng()- | | hey | nɛ̀gə̜́n | -rɛ́n | t- | nng()- | Examples of verbal personal inflection: Musa dbr "Musa beat me"; yy "I drink". Interrogative pronouns include agn "what?", t̹j̹n "who?", nɛ́gn "where?", cncɛ̀n "which (boy)?" Verbs There appear to be at least four basic forms: present (eg y-lm "I see"), past (eg y-lm "I saw"), imperative (eg k-lmɛ́ "see! (sg.)), and negative imperative (eg nk w-lm- "don't see! (sg.)). The difference between present and past is typically marked by tone: LH or occasionally LL in the present, HL in the past. Sometimes vowel changes are also observed. In the imperative, some verbs take a k- prefix, others do not; this may depend on whether or not the verb begins with a vowel. The verb "to be" has different roots according to tense: -ɛ́n in the present tense, -ɪ́rɪ̀n in the past tense. Negation of the verb is expressed by a prefix k-, followed by the verb "to be", inflected for person; negation of the verb "to be", by k-r in the present tense, k-ɪ̀r in the past. Verbal nouns include agent nouns in t- (eg t-ubi "beater"), gerunds in t- (eg t-y "drinkable"), and action nouns (eg ŋ-lm "sight".) Syntax The basic word order is subject-object-verb, including in the imperative. Locative complements also precede the verb. Nominal sentences use the verb "to be". Modifiers consistently follow their head nouns. Bibliography - Thilo C. Schadeberg & Philip Elias, based on the notes of Fr. Carlo Muratori. A Description of the Orig Language (Southern Kordofan). Archief voor Antropologie Nr. 26. Centre Royal de L'Afrique Centrale: Tervuren, 1979.
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